Week 7 Rundown: Welcome back Tulsa; 3-2 madness

by Cameron Irvine

Now's just about the time of year where teams playing checkers get complacent, predictable and are searching for anyone but the mirror to blame (don't be those people, it's not a good look), while the teams at the top find new creative ways to get it done each week. Let's not be complacent here and get into the nitty-gritty of these matchups. 

Each week, the SFL will run through the biggest headlines of the week, touching on every result and every preview in the process. Let's go >>>>>>>>

  • What I want to know most about this week, is if Canton (3-2) can in fact play with Florida (5-0) - Saturday 1:15 pm ET. Ron Cockren still has the highest completion percentage (.772) but has come back down to earth just a bit. It's no mistake that the top 7 in completions have a positive touchdown/interception ratio - Cockren's is 7/2. And while you might think Bullet Biletsky is the story, maybe it's the 'other' running back, Robert Johnson. Johnson is actually averaging more yards per game now than Bullet is - his 89 yard rush last week was the longest play from scrimmage in the SFL this season.
  • Watch out Fort Worth. No, I mean it. It's the Toros (5-0) vs. the Aztecs (0-5) Saturday, 6:45 pm ET. Mexico City's had two weeks to prepare and I doubt they've used that time to party hard. This is still a division rivalry, of which the Aztecs have already taken a 27-3 Week 1 beating. But its tough to beat a team twice in a season, let alone twice in six weeks. Since then, Mexico City has lost three of its last four games by a combined 10 points and Fort Worth has won three of its last four by a combined nine points. I'm not sleeping on it, you may be sorry if you miss out.
  • Saturday at 6:30 pm ET, Jacksonville (2-3) and Carolina (3-2) meet in what feels like a big-time prove it game. Both offenses have struggled in recent weeks. The Skyhawks put up just six points in a loss to D.C., while the Kings have scored just 24 points in seven of their last eight quarters. During that span, quarterback OJ Bruin has thrown 9 interceptions - 23 other quarterbacks haven't thrown 9 interceptions all season. So who will prove it? It feels like Bruin and Jacksonville need the rebound more, but recently you can never count out Carolina, especially if the field goal unit is out there.
  • Welcome back to the field, Tulsa. The Desperados have already had two bye weeks and are the only team to have played just four games this season (1-3). The last time we saw them, they won one of the best games of the year on the back of a backup quarterback and star wideout Gabriel Manning. They've had two weeks to prep for Alamo City (5-0) who visits LucyRed Stadium Saturday, 1:00 pm ET - yes, another Saturday game that needs attention from your college football drool. Beating Mexico City is one thing, topping the Artillery at home - now that would be another.
  • Vancouver has been good this season. How good? Christian Brown has 6 TDs and just 1 INT - the fewest interceptions of any quarterback (min. 100 attempts). The backfield of Logan Lee and Robert Redford have combined to rush for 965 yards. If the duo were a solo act, they'd trail only Colin Hart in rushing yards this season. They have the league-leader in sacks (A. Papatonis, 5.0) and have the fifth-ranked scoring defense in the league (24.0 PPG). Their losses are to Arizona (4-1) and Alamo City (5-0). We'll find out just how much better they are than Portland (2-3) - if at all - Friday in the late window at 10:15 pm ET. The Fleet could be 5-0 or 0-5 - all five of their games this season have been decided by seven points or less.
  • One of two games that feature two teams with a winning record, Baltimore (3-2) heads to Motor City (3-2) Friday at 8:15 pm ET. Talk about teams people love to get riled up about. The Vultures have been sporting their new five-time champion rings that were delivered by league partner Zolnier this week, while the V8s are trying to figure out how to get their offensive weapons involved. All four of their wide receivers have less than 10 receptions this season, taking out Terrazas' eye-popping performance earlier this season. Baltimore's won three in a row in the final minute all by a defensive stop.
  • This is the second 13-game slate of the season. There's two more to go - one in Week 9 and one the final week of the regular season. This week, only Louisiana (3-3) is on bye, waiting for 3-2 dominos to fall. We've talked about four of them already - there are nine in total. Keep an eye on Houston (3-2) who may be staring a trap game against Los Angeles (1-4) - Saturday, 9:00 pm ET - in the face. The HeadHunters are coming off a high beating Minnesota and a brutal gauntlet of opponents. Might want to keep an eye on Minnesota too, on the road against Denver (2-3). The Nightwings are sneaky - they have the second-highest point differential with a losing record. The kicker? This will be Denver's first game against a team with a winning record. Their last four games: at Vancouver, vs. Seattle, at Arizona, at San Diego.

You're all caught up. We'll leave you with some facts and figures we've seen so far this season:

  • In six weeks, we've seen four overtime games. The road team has won two of them and all of them have ended in a game-winning field goal.
  • Kickers have been surprisingly accurate this season. 222 field goals have been attempted this season, 217 have been made (97.7%). NFL kickers averaged 85% makes in 2022. With that being said, no kicker missed in the first four weeks but have had some trouble in the last couple. Expect that trend to continue as fall rolls in.
  • Colin Hart's Week 1 performance is still the best single-game rushing performance this season - 312 yards. Back in Season 8, the last time the SFL had individual game log data through its stat partner, 19 players rushed for over 200 yards in a game during the 56-game regular season. This season, 21 times rushers have tallied over 200 yards in the first 68 games of the now much longer SFL regular season - 7 of those 21 times either LA or San Diego has been on the losing end of those battles. In the pass game, Motor City's game not included, Los Angeles' Sully Richardson holds this season's high mark with 428 passing yards in a loss to Vancouver just last week. Chris Lee in that same game went off for 221, the top receiving mark of the season so far. In total, 14 times have QBs gone over 350 and 21 times receivers have eclipsed 150 so far this season.