Courtesy of the UFL
Here are five takeaways from Houston Roughnecks’ defeat of the Memphis Showboats. Memphis was mistake-prone all day and Houston took advantage of their chances.
Houston’s defense was responsive and opportunistic. The key play of the game was a scoop-and score by the Houston defense. Biggest play of the game was a hard, crunching sack by Armani Marsh on QB Winn. He fumbled the ball, and coming up the middle to scoop it up and rumble for the touchdown was lineman T.J. Franklin for the Roughnecks.
Memphis was sloppy and mistake-prone all day. On the very first play, Memphis RB Deneric Prince broke the first play from scrimmage for a TD, which was called back for offensive holding. The only Houston touchdown in the second half was a sack, fumble, and return for touchdown. A Ja’Quan Shephard interception led to their other first-half score, a field goal with seven minutes left. Interestingly, Shephard was on the Showboat’s team just a few weeks ago, and he seemed to bait Winn’s throw. The pass seemed to be directly to him. Besides those mistakes, punter Matt Mengel had two punts partially blocked, one resulting in a very short punt that gave Houston great field position. For Houston, though their offense was held in check most of the day, they had no turnovers to aid Memphis.
This Game Was in Doubt the Whole Day
One of the more balanced games you’ll see in any league. Neither team had a two touchdown lead this game. After early domination by Houston, Memphis was dominant until the fourth quarter. Memphis led much of the game 14-10, before it was cut to 14-13, then Houston 21-14, then Houston with the 21-20 final. McLendon was good as the Houston quarterback, but he led towards the only offensive TD in the first half.
Special teams kept Memphis in the game when the game started to slip away. Isaiah Henne had another long runback this week, so in the fourth quarter the Showboats were inside the Roughnecks’ 40-yard line with a chance to win. The kicker Coghlin didn’t miss any FGs.
A rare UFL game where the two coaches had different strategies on the extra point plays. Houston went for 1 on their first extra point attempt. Memphis at this point is 1-5 and could be 4-2 with just three different 2-point conversions. As most people know by now, you can go for 1 from the 2-yard-line, 2 from the 5, and 3 from the ten-yard-line. (Except for OT, where it’s a best-of-three shootout from the 2-yard-line.). Michigan converted a 2-pointer from the five, while Memphis took their shot from the 5 and missed. That combination was a 4-point swing and the Showboats lost by 1 point.
