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On Sunday we had a great ballgame; not what we expected. The Birmingham Stallions had an amazing comeback victory over the Houston Roughnecks. Here’s five Takeaways from the exciting game.
Birmingham stellar defense had no answer for the Houston Roughnecks’ offense early. On the first drive, pads were popping and there were gaping holes ripped open for the Houston RB Person, who was impressive all day. The other RB White fell in for an athletic 6-yard TD. The whole first half featured the running game, with an occasional great pass by QB Jalan Mclendon.
Maybe the best UFL saying is “Let Case Cookus”. But early he had great strikes but also some wild throws that almost cost him. But one in the first half did cost him. Cookus threw left sideline, and the Roughneck’s Arnette swooped in for an interception, He ran it back 50 yards for a touchdown. The Roughnecks remarkably were up 18-6.
Post Topper
The UFL is consistently surprising in the referee corrections and in-your-face interviews. Dean Blandino overturned 2 calls in the game that were long (in)completions Both were clear to the casual viewer; but a closeup from a different angle showed Blandino correct. And an offensive call “Topper” was described, the two Ps mean it’s two posts. And the most unusual, the Birmingham QB J’mar Smith was interviewed just after a TD and extra point play. He spoke for a moment; then had to be rushing back onto the field when the Roughnecks fumbled the kickoff runback.
The Stallions do not fear a huge deficit. A defense averaging 13 points allowed is not used to giving coach Skip Holtz a 25-6 deficit. Before half, Sternberger caught a nine-yard pass for a TD. The first three drives of the second half ended with Kicker Mevis booting three field goals to cut it to 25-21. The defense seemed to solve the Jalan McLendon problem while Birmingham was coming back.
Weird story of the game: the emergency quarterback J’Mar Smith came because of a Cookus hand injury late in the game. He was in a bye week from his Arena League team, so he was made available. Smith seemed a little rusty, but he had some tough scrambles too. He led the drive downfield and had a 1-yard go-ahead touchdown. A fumble on the Roughnecks kickoff runback by Keyes doomed them to an incredible comeback win by Birmingham 33-25. This effectively ended a game that was one of the UFL’s best this year.
