Other AAF - Alliance of American Football League

[Exe Gesis]

Johnny Manziel won’t start Sunday, but he’s ready “right now”
Posted by Charean Williams on March 22, 2019, 10:50 PM EDT

Getty Images
Johnny Manziel won’t start Sunday for the Memphis Express. Instead, Brandon Silvers will make his first career start in the Alliance of American Football, the third starting quarterback for the Express this season.
Manziel, though, took the second-most reps behind Silvers this week.
“I think he’s ready right now, just because he knows so much of our offense right now,” co-offensive coordinator Bobby Blizzard said, via Dylan Rubino of The Alliance. “He’s building chemistry already with the weapons we have and the offensive line. He’s familiar with everything that we do. If he gets in the game, I will call a play that he’s familiar with.”
Blizzard adopted some of Kevin Sumlin’s offense from Texas A&M when Manziel won the Heisman Trophy, so the quarterback didn’t have to learn to speak a second language.
“I mentioned the type of offense I ran, shouted some of the terminology I use, and his eyes lit up,” Blizzard said. “He was calling out the plays before I even said anything. I looked at coach [Mike] Singletary and gave him a thumbs up.
“[Manziel] probably knew 75-to-80 percent of the offense before he even took a snap at practice.”
Manziel said his “firm foundation” of the offense will serve him well if called upon Sunday.

 

[Exe Gesis]

I'm being deadly serious. I really think the AAF is a better representation of football than the NFL has become. The amount of rules that the NFL have brought in recent years, plus the type of rules they're proposing for this season, the NFL is becoming a real eye-sore, a drag as a spectator.

The AAF might not have the history and star players, but their rules are incredibly efficient and smarter. For instance...the onside rule in the AAF is perfect. Only when you're down by 17+ or it's under 5 mins left in the game, can you do the 4th and 15 offensive play, but you can keep doing it if you need to. Whereas the NFL's proposal of this, is you're only allowed to do it once in the 4th Qtr.........for instance, the overtime rules. For instance.....The Sky Judge, the NFL is going to shoot that idea down and instead opt for even MORE everything can be challenged, even a coach can challenge a play where no foul was committed to pinpoint a foul that might've occurred. Etc.

The AAF is really fun. And I've actually grown to love the no PATs idea, the amount of various ideas teams use for the 2 pt try are interesting. Because they HAVE TO go for it after every TD, then they have to come up with more wrinkles and gadget ideas.

It's a shame the AAF is affiliated to the NFL, because it would've been good if the AAF continued to grow and actually threatened the NFL, such that it forced the NFL to ADOPT and ADAPT to what the AAF is doing.

 

[Exe Gesis]

WEEK 7 - HIGHLIGHTS - SATURDAY

 

[Exe Gesis]

Orlando Apollos clinch AAF playoff berth

Posted by Mike Florio on March 24, 2019, 12:13 AM EDT

Getty Images


The Orlando Apollos rebounded from their first loss of the season by becoming the first team in the Alliance of American Football to clinch a playoff berth.
The Apollos blew out the Atlanta Legends on Saturday afternoon, 36-6, to move to 6-1 and to ensure a spot in the four-team AAF postseason.
The game also marked the fastest in AAF history, taking only two hours and 15 minutes to complete. The Orlando offense scored touchdowns on four of their seven possessions. The defense added a touchdown, on an interception return.
Running back De’Veon Smith scored three touchdowns for Orlando, and quarterback Garrett Gilbert threw for 217 yards and a touchdown.

 

[Exe Gesis]

WEEK 7 - HIGHLIGHTS - SUNDAY

 

[Exe Gesis]

Johnny Manziel plays three series in AAF debut
Posted by Charean Williams on March 25, 2019, 12:15 AM EDT

Getty Images
Johnny Manziel played three series in his Alliance of American Football debut Sunday night.
The former Heisman Trophy winner went 3-for-5 for 48 yards, rushed for 20 yards, took one sack and had a failed two-point conversion as the Memphis Express rallied for a 31-25 overtime victory over the Birmingham Iron.
Brandon Silvers made his first professional start, the third starting quarterback for the Express, and went 24-of-35 for 266 yards and two touchdowns.
But those who tuned in did so to see Manziel, who struggled in two NFL seasons and for his eight-game stint in the Canadian Football League.
Co-offensive coordinator Bobby Blizzard said last week, after only a couple of practices, that Manziel was ready to play. The Express offense is similar to the offense that the Heisman Trophy winner ran at Texas A&M.

 

[Exe Gesis]

AAF plays its first overtime, giving NFL something to ponder
Posted by Michael David Smith on March 25, 2019, 5:05 AM EDT

Getty Images
The NFL owners will vote this week on a proposal to change overtime by ensuring each team gets a possession, but the league hasn’t given much consideration to the more radical proposal of adopting a college-style overtime, in which teams alternate possessions.
That’s what the Alliance of American Football does, and on Sunday night, an AAF game went to overtime for the first time.
In the AAF, teams alternate first-and-goal possessions from the 10-yard line. Each team gets one try at scoring a touchdown, no field goals are permitted, and teams scoring touchdown can try two-point conversions only, as the AAF has no extra point kicks.
On Sunday night, Birmingham went four-and-out on the first overtime possession, and Memphis then won the game with a touchdown pass on its possession. It made for an entertaining ending to a good game.
The alternating possessions style of overtime, which is used in high school, college, Canadian football and the AAF, hasn’t gained a lot of traction with the NFL, But the league ought to look at it. It makes for exciting endings.

 

[rumply]

Was just watching the Iron Express highlights on yt & next thing Johnny Manziel is out there at qb, bit of a surprise & he didn't look too bad.

Like those overtime rules, would need tweaking for playoffs but perfect for regular season games imo.

 

[Exe Gesis]

I can't stress it enough. You guys really ought to be getting into the AAF. The first few weeks were mediocre, naturally, because it was a whole startup league, with coaches and players all needing to mesh. But every game now is just packed with amazing plays, huge hits, and weird incredible happenstance things. The intensity is even better than the NFL due to players having more freedom to hit, and offenses more gusto to go deep, whereas the NFL is mired down by coaches who play it safe a lot, don't want to lose games rather than want to win games. And a bunch of innovations/rules they're using are really cool. Eg, only going for 2 pt conversions....I would've been against that on paper, but seeing it in action it's fun.



I strongly recommend you hit youtube, go to a channel called Highlights Heaven, and just go thru watching all the highlights of games for the entire season, chronologically, and you'll see what I mean, and I would be skeptical if any of you didn't fall in love with it like I have.

 

[rumply]

Standard looks to have improved in the few weeks since I last watched.

That Richardson for the Iron should get another crack at NFL, makes it look easy at this level.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Standard looks to have improved in the few weeks since I last watched.

That Richardson for the Iron should get another crack at NFL, makes it look easy at this level.

He's a short yardage monster, also some players I scouted for fantasy leagues ages ago are looking good like Kenneth Farrow and Juhrell Pressley. Also a lot of DBs, LBs, DTs, and some WRs will surely have made NFL teams take notice.

 

[Exe Gesis]

you can now buy onfield jerseys with players names.

example....

 

[Exe Gesis]

AAF may not make it to Year 2
Posted by Michael David Smith on March 27, 2019, 1:16 PM EDT

AP
Tom Dundon, the majority owner of the Alliance of American Football, is sounding the alarm that his league could be one-and-done.
Dundon told USA Today that the AAF may need the NFL Players Association to agree to allow young NFL players to play in the AAF next year, and if that doesn’t happen there may not be a next year for the AAF.
“If the players union is not going to give us young players, we can’t be a development league,” said Dundon. “We are looking at our options, one of which is discontinuing the league.”
Dundon bought into the AAF shortly after the inaugural season launched in February, and he indicated that he saw it as a long-term investment. But he has also indicated that he sees the future of the league as being an official minor league of the NFL. If he can’t work out such a deal with both NFL players and NFL owners, he may not keep the league afloat much longer.

 

[Broken]

What a waste.

 

[Exe Gesis]

What a waste.

nfl feels threatened

 

[Exe Gesis]

AAF may not make it beyond this weekend
Posted by Mike Florio on March 27, 2019, 11:20 PM EDT

AP
It’s true that the Alliance of American Football may not make it to Year 2. It’s also true that the AAF may not make it to Final Four weekend.
Per a source with knowledge of the league’s plans, games will be played this weekend, Week Eight of the inaugural season. Beyond this weekend, however, it’s entirely possible that the plug will be pulled.
The problem arises from the upstart league’s inability to come to an agreement that would result in certain NFL players being available to the AAF. The NFL is willing to allow players who sign “futures” contracts after the conclusion of a given season to play in the AAF. The NFL Players Association has not yet agreed to the terms of what would amount to a modification of the labor deal between the NFL and the players’ union.
Modification of the labor deal is needed in large part because players who are loaned by NFL teams to the AAF would need protection against serious injury suffered while playing in the developmental league. As the source explained it, those players would receive the same payment that a practice squad player receives if he suffers a season-ending injury. Players also would receive extra compensation from the AAF for games played there, but not necessarily the full salary that gets paid to AAF players with no NFL connection.
An agreement, if one were to be reached, also would allow players under “futures” contracts to play in the XFL, given the obvious antitrust ramifications that flow from allowing NFL players to play only in the AAF and not in what will be its top competitor.
Absent a deal between the NFL and the NFLPA, AAF majority owner Tom Dundon quite possibly will choose to stop funding the league. This would force the league either to find another investor who would keep it afloat (like the league did when it tracked down Dundon) or go out of business.
It’s not the first existential threat the AAF has faced this season. As a different source with knowledge of the courtship of Dundon to buy controlling interest in the league has told PFT, the AAF was “done” before Dundon signed on. If he now signs off, the AAF may indeed be out of business.
And that would truly be a shame. Beyond providing game reps for would-be NFL players who otherwise get none, the AAF gives opportunities to coaches, coordinators, executives, officials, and more. There’s currently talk of ensuring that even more former NFL players would get more of the AAF assistant coaching positions, if the league survives.
For now, underscore the word “if.” Dundon’s comments to USA Today were not posturing or grandstanding. Without a mechanism for using NFL players in its 2020 season, the AAF may not make it to the end of its 2019 season.

 

[rumply]

Well this is all going swimmingly.

 

[Exe Gesis]

NFLPA has no real incentive to help developmental leagues

Posted by Mike Florio on March 29, 2019, 2:02 PM EDT

AP


There’s a common belief that a developmental league would be good for football. But it definitely wouldn’t be good for all football players.
With the Alliance of American Football staking its survival on doing a deal to secure bottom-of-the-roster NFL players and with the NFL Players Association so far unwilling to do a deal that would allow that to happen, there’s an important question to consider as it relates to the finite nature of NFL rosters: Should the union help the new developmental leagues to develop current NFL players?
The NFL-NFLPA labor deal pays players based on seniority, with a higher minimum salary triggered by greater years of experience. The longer a player has played, the more expensive he becomes.
This creates a natural inclination for teams to skew younger, if they can justify entrusting a roster spot to someone with limited experience. A developmental league gives those inexperienced players live reps, making those players better (in theory) and in turn making it easier for NFL teams to justify rolling the dice with one of the 53 jobs on a player who has fewer years of NFL service and thus a lower price.
So if the NFL and the NFLPA agree to make players who have signed “futures” contracts available to developmental leagues like the AAF or the XFL and if those younger players indeed develop in developmental leagues, those younger, cheaper players may supplant older, more expensive ones.
Even though union dues aren’t based on a percentage of a player’s salary, it generally makes sense for the union to want teams to pay as much as possible to its players. Developmental leagues tend to cut against that dynamic, giving the NFLPA no real reason to support a system that makes it harder for established, proven players to fend off their inevitable replacement by a player whose youth allows him to move faster, jump higher, push harder, and basically perform the various requirements of the job better.
That’s not to say the NFLPA should work against developmental leagues. But the perception that developmental leagues are good for the NFL isn’t necessarily a reality for the NFLPA, since there will still be only 53 roster spots per team, no matter how many chances the players competing for those jobs have to develop their skills beyond the confines of NFL offseason workouts, preseason training camp, in-season practices, and game reps.

 

[Exe Gesis]

 

[Exe Gesis]

SATURDAY - WEEK 8 - HIGHLIGHTS - early game

wow, AAF so much intensity by the players/coaches, some dust ups, coaches on the field, end of game shenanigans.

 

[Exe Gesis]

 

[nobbyiscool]

Reports today that they’re “suspending football operations.”

https://www.actionnetwork.com/nfl/aaf-suspending-football-operations-darren-rovell

 

[rumply]

AAF will reportedly cease operations today
Another minor league bites the dust
By Dave Mangels@Southern_Philly Apr 2, 2019, 2:25pm EDT
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Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
The Alliance of American Football, an independent football league that was destined to fail without the financial support of the NFL, has failed. With two games remaining in the regular season, the AAF will announce today that it is suspending operations, according to multiple reports.
Though premature, this was always the destiny of the AAF. Every independent 11 on 11 football league that has come before the AAF has folded due to financial difficulty, from the USFL in the 1980s to the XFL in 2001 to the UFL from 2009-2012 and everything in between. Even the Arena Football League ceased operations for the 2009 season and had just four teams in 2018 (though have added two teams for this upcoming season), down from 17 in 2008.
The AAF had promise. Filled with former and hopeful NFL players and some high profile coaches, the AAF was attractive to viewers. Even after the novelty of Week 1 wore off, viewership was respectable. And the league was a viable testing ground for rule changes.
But from the get go, there were problems. After just two weeks, the AAF needed a financial injection simply to meet payroll. Despite respectable TV ratings, attendance was terrible, with five of the league’s eight teams (Birmingham, Memphis, Atlanta, Arizona, and Salt Lake) drawing fewer than 15,000 a game.
On Monday, AAF Chairman Tom Dundon, the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes who provided the in-season cash to continue operations in exchange for taking over the league, said that without the ability to bring in players under contract with the NFL (read: free labor), the league could not survive.

After the deal with Dundon, sources say it became clear to league co-founders Charlie Ebersol and Bill Polian that Dundon’s objectives were different from the original plan.
Ebersol and Polian’s plan was to develop the league for three years on its own before becoming a feeder system to the NFL. Dundon, however, wanted to create that minor league relationship immediately and sought to use the leverage of folding the AAF to get a deal with the NFL Players Association to better insure a flow between leagues.
As it stood, the NFL collective bargaining agreement would not allow several of Dundon’s asks, including a flexible system between AAF players and NFL practice squads.
While Dundon funded the league payroll, sources say he did not pay vendors that worked with the AAF, many of whom are still looking for their money. It’s of debate what party — either Dundon or the first ownership group, which was diluted by Dundon’s investment — should foot the vendor bills.​

It’s a shame. The NFL needs its own proper minor league. It needs a league where young players can grow, fringe veterans can get another chance, where coaches can develop, and where the league can try things out. The AAF’s plan to become that was ambitious but ultimately fruitless, because they didn’t have the financial backing to survive, and then when they did get a cash influx, had to hand over the keys to someone who entered after the season started and changed the direction of the league.
Next year, the XFL is slated to reboot. It too will fail. And so will the next one, and the one after that. The only solution is a fully NFL-backed league.

 

[rumply]

So why wont the NFL develop it's own minor league? Or does it see the college system just that?

 

[drd23]

So why wont the NFL develop it's own minor league? Or does it see the college system just that?

I'm guessing its the latter, which is free to the NFL.

And as an article GG posted earlier said, its in the interest of a majority of the players already in the NFLPA not to increase competition for roster spots