Courtesy of the UFL
Here are five unbelievable moments from the Memphis Showboats‘ win over the Birmingham Stallions:
1. Dresser Winn, first-time starter for the Showboats started slowly. Just as the announcers said, “Winn doesn’t have a completion yet, he threw a right sideline fly pattern to Dee Anderson, who caught it in stride for a 78-yard touchdown pass.” It was the longest play from scrimmage for the UFL this year. With the 2-point conversion the score was a quick 8-0 lead for the Showboats after the conversion.
Rough Start for the Stallions Defense
2. The Stallions seemed disinterested in the first half. The Stallions defense for the most part held the Showboats to low production, but this was the second big moment. Dee Anderson had the longest completion for the UFL season in the first quarter. But Isiah Henne in the second quarter had the longest special teams play of the year. Stallions’ kicker Mevik lined up to try a 63-yard field goal attempt with :04 remaining first half. Henne caught the wide right kick just short of the end line. He cut to the right side of the field, and he found a lane. He cut back to the middle, picked up a wall of blockers, and raced for a touchdown. So in one half of football, you found the lowest ranked team in the UFL have the longest play from scrimmage and also on special teams against the three-time champions Stallions.
3. Case Cookus, the QB for the Stallions was an unexpected source of offense. After recovering from a leg injury last year, he looked strong and ran away from defenders early and often. Cookus had a long scramble up the middle for 30 yards in the second quarter, but several times he broke containment and picked up a needed first down. On the day the Stallions QB was unexpectedly their high rusher with 83 yards. The way the Showboats defense dropped so many people in coverage you could guess they didn’t respect his speed. But Cookus picked his spots and made the most of clutch situations to bring them back to a tie game, forcing overtime.
The Exciting Conclusion to the Showboats’ Comeback
4. What a difference a week makes. The new offensive coordinator for the Memphis Noel Mazzone, has been a college and NFL offensive coordinator for decades, notably in Seattle, and also Arizona and Ole Miss NCAA. Pregame the Showboats shared that they’d simplified concepts, and formations, but they had installed a whole new offense in a week. Early in the game you could see that complicated shifts, and some of the wide-open West coast offense formations were gone. Though the methods were vanilla, what they executed on offense was crisp and confident. The offense looked much more cohesive, and there were several substantial drives. The new quarterback made a difference, but the running game also performed above their 0-4 start.
5. Overtime in the UFL was also a star of the night. It’s a best-of-3 rule, and teams choose whether to go for1 from the 2, for 2 from the 5 or for 3 from the 12. Both teams elected to go for 2, with the Showboats being successful. On the second round each team was unsuccessful. That meant as the Showboats went first in the third round, they were successful, to close out an exciting and shocking 24-20 victory in Birmingham. It was the Stallions first home loss since 2023, and the Showboats first victory of the 2025 season. Next week Birmingham plays host to the San Antonio Brahmas, and Memphis travels to play the Houston Renegades.
