Week 3 Miller Preview
MILLER PREVIEW WEEK 3
Hello everyone! It's your favorite reporter Jason Miller here on this beautiful Friday morning to give you the latest in the SFL. I was actually talking a while back to my friend and Indianapolis Ramblers owner Chad Roland about how he took my advice on doing the Friday Five podcast. Since I was in hiding due to personal reasons, I was unable to catch the show when he was still doing it. As kids we used to sit around on Fridays in study hall and discuss what we were looking forward to during that weekend in sports. We would end up at each other's houses anyway to watch the games, so it made it fun to see who was right on how things would unfold. I asked him recently if I can put the Friday Five in word form and he gave me the go ahead since he is doing nothing anyway. This article will be going forward called The Friday Five. So here are the 5 things I am looking forward to this weekend.
MEXICO CITY VS MINNESOTA
First game on the docket is a Friday night matchup as MXC travels to the unfriendly confines of Northwoods Stadium to take on the Legend. The Legend are coming off of their first game of the season as they lost to a very good Ft Worth team 31-19. In that game it was Tee Daqueen that balled out with 11 rec 136 yards and 1TD. The run game that the Legend are known for was contained as they only got 27 yards total on the ground. If they want any shot of winning this game at home they are going to have to get that run game going. They are facing a secondary that has 2 HOF in Max Jackson and Jeffrey Daggs. This defense can stop any pass offense on any given night. In MXC's last game they held MCV to just over 200 yards passing and created 2 turnovers. The main matchup to watch here is Legend RBs vs MXC Front 7. They were able to contain MCV run game. No offense to MCV, but that backfield isn't even able to wear Colin Hart's jockstrap. It will be interesting to see if Hart can get back on track this week at home.
SAN DIEGO VS PORTLAND
In “The Streets Are Talkin” server I called this game “The Battle That No One Watches”. Now was that a little harsh?? Maybe.. But I stand by what I said. A ton of people put Portland as a contender to make the playoffs but when you watch them it's more like a contender for #1 pick in the upcoming draft. This team has “good pieces'' but it solely runs through RB Ezekiel Love. QB Cyris Jive has been in this league for 4 seasons now and I don't know if I have ever watched a game of his thinking “Yes he is a SFL QB”. And it shows so far this season as they have only scored 19 points this season in 2 games. That needs to be the only thing SD HC Mike O'neal needs to worry about. If you stop Love, you stop Portland. I feel like this a big game for McWaffle as last week Portland gave up over 150 yards to Duane Sammons of Louisiana. But let's not forget how terrible SD has looked also. They have only scored 21 points this season and that defense has been a JOKE. Now let me say this, Houston and Vancouver have looked good so far this season so maybe calling them a joke is a little rough. But I'm sure if Mike O’neal read this, he would agree. They have to tighten that defense up. My main matchup to look for is going to be an easy one. Love vs SD defense. If SD contains Love, then they get their first win. If Love goes off Portland could pull off the upset. My feeling is that it will be a low scoring game due to how awful both offenses have been. But both defenses have not been great so who knows what is going to happen.
BALTIMORE VS CANTON
Now this will be the Game of the Week I am sure of. Baltimore, who comes in after that big win on Monday night against Seattle taking on a Canton team that shut out Arizona in Week 1 and gave up 2 FGs to Indy in Week 2. This will be a defensive battle for sure. The question is going to be on the offensive side of each team. For Baltimore, will they find the kink in the armor of that Canton defense? If anyone can do that it would be the coaching staff of Baltimore. On the flip side, Will Canton OL be able to stop the blitzing of the Baltimore front 7? They looked impressive as they had 8 sacks against Seattle. But this OL of Canton is loaded up with talent. That is where my key matchup is. Canton OL vs BAL Front 7. If Canton can contain that blitz and take advantage of it, then I see Canton being able to give Baltimore their second loss in this young season. Baltimore blitzed I would assume due to the running ability of Ty Ptak. They don't have to worry about that with Scar Patterson. If they are able to bring pressure, stop the run game of Johnson/Lee (which Indy actually did well last week with) then I can see Baltimore having a shot. I see this as another low scoring game in the SFL slate this weekend.
ALAMO CITY VS HOUSTON
Anytime you see two teams in the South face off, you have to take notice. And that is what we have here as ACA “travels” to Houston to take on the HeadHunters. Houston leads the all-time series 11-9 but ACA has won the last 3 meetings. Houston has come in and started off this season well as they were able to stomp SD in the opening week and pull out a tough win against a rising QCC team. The running game of Houston continued to shine as each back was able to get over 50 yards a piece, with Wells getting 2TDs in that game. The passing game looked great in Week 1 against a weak SD defense, but QCC was able to contain it, making QB Dave Burr turn the ball over twice. And that is where I think Burr needs to go back to Week 1 Burr this week as he is going to need to be sharp against this ACA defense. On the flip side ACA has done a good job on defense so far holding teams to average passing numbers. The run defense gave up 75 to Rivera last week so they will be tested against this Houston run game. My matchup pick for this one is the secondary of ACA against this HOU passing game. If Burr can have a clean game and throw over 250 and 2TDs and the run game does what it has done this season so far, I think Houston can take this at home. But if that secondary of ACA can contain DR Sim (who hasn't done much at all this season) and MSG I think ACA can take this game. It's another battle in the South that will have all the fans watching.
TULSA VS MOTOR CITY
I know people will ask me why I am naming this game as one to watch but it's for a lot of reasons. Tulsa had a bye week last week and in the only game they had they put up 52 on Carolina. Now I don't see Carolina as a threat this season but is that game due to them playing a subpar team? Or are they legit. The bad thing for SFL fans is that we may not find out in this game if they are since they are playing MCV. I can bring up how new QB Michael Brown put up 5TDs and Gabe Manning caught 4 of those for 236 yards. I can talk about Phoenix Jones Tulsa debut as he ran for 112 yards. But I just feel all those numbers are not an accurate description of how this team truly is. I kind of wish they were playing someone else, but it is what it is. Flipping to MCV. How can I put this without being too rude. I just don't know what is going on there. I can go on and on about calling for the firing of Drew Really. I do like the combination of King Jackson at QB and Herannaqueen Jackson at WR. But that's not their offensive focus. Their top WR has 3 catches for 39 yards! All that speed for nothing. It's just Coach Really once again wasting talent as that has been happening really since I believe Season 16. Maybe I’ll go into more detail of that in the next Miller Report. Anyway, back to the game here. MCV needs to get things moving on offense if they want any shot at winning. If Tulsa gets up early (which this reporter thinks they will) then it will be lights out by the second quarter for them. I truly hope MCV can turn this around. But the faith for this coaching staff and ownership is on a VERY SHORT LEASH.
There you have it folks. The Friday Five written edition. Keep an eye on my twitter for all news and story lines for the upcoming SFL weekend!