On Sunday afternoon, the Memphis Showboats were eliminated from playoff contention as a result of their bruising 19-9 loss to the St. Louis Battlehawks.
Despite a season filled with chaos and numerous off-field challenges, interim head coach Jim Turner fought hard to turn the team’s season around. Turner, together with DC Jarren Horton and OC Noel Mazzone have produced some promising results. Unfortunately, the Showboats’ win/loss record says it all. It just wasn’t enough.
Now, with the team facing a second consecutive losing season, what lies ahead for the Showboats? Here are five takeaways from this week’s game.
Revolving Quarterback Situation Resolved
Although all three quarterbacks had an opportunity this season, UFL rookie Dresser Winn has the strongest case to remain the Showboats starting quarterback. Despite a 1-2 record, Winn has proven more productive than E.J. Perry and Troy Williams. Completing 61.2% of his passes for 638 yards with three touchdowns, he surpassed Perry’s output (509 yards and two touchdowns in five games) and Williams who recorded 180 yards in three games.
On Sunday, Winn earned 184 yards on 21/35 passes with one touchdown. It was his first game with less than 200 passing yards this season. However, Winn’s stats were superior to Battlehawks’ quarterback Max Duggan who completed 15 of 23 attempts for 144 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
In addition, Winn has been successful on the ground, rushing for another 38 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries. Perry has 17 carries in five games for 74 yards with one touchdown.
Winn’s biggest challenges are ball control issues. On Sunday, St. Louis’ Kyler Baugh forced a fumble. It was Winn’s third fumble this season; two of which resulted in takeaways.
Receiving Corps: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Jonathan Adams continues to lead the team in receptions this year with 30 receptions for 407 yards and two touchdowns. On Sunday, he had four catches for 69 yards and a touchdown. Adams got his second score of the season coming up with a five-yard end zone catch in the midst of heavy traffic.
In addition to Winn’s fumbles, the other big challenge is his receivers dropping several crucial passes. Although Eli Stove hauled in a nice 22-yard gain late in Sunday’s game, Kai Locksley failed to reel in another pass that might have provided a much-needed score.
In his long awaited return from injury this season, All-UFL Team receiver Daewood Davis failed to record a single reception on Sunday. Cleaning up the turnovers and making these necesary receptions could be the difference between a Showboats win and a loss.
Special Teams Player of the Year
One of the bright spots for Memphis this season has been their special teams. Isiah Hennie continues to be amongst the top return specialists in the UFL. On Sunday, Hennie added another 97 yards with four kickoff returns for a total of 455 all-purpose yards this season.
D.C. Defenders and last years Special Teams Return Specialist of the Year, Chris Rowland has a combined 454 yards on kickoff and punt returns. Lawrence Keys, the Houston Roughnecks star special teams player, currently leads the league with 479 yards on combined kickoff and punt returns. But if Hennie continues his outstanding season, he could give Keys a real challenge for the UFL’s top return spot.
Defense Continuing To Improve on Takeaways and Sacks
DC Horton’s hard-charging defense recorded a huge interception this week. Cornerback Kyree Woods picked off Duggan and returned it 36 yards to set up a 27-yard Matt Coghlin field goal.
Wood’s INT was only the Showboats second of the season, however, this is an area that the defense is showing recent improvement with both turnovers occurring in games over the last three weeks. Eli Walker had the other interception in Week 5 when he picked off Birmingham Stallions’ quarterback from Case Cookus.
Steele Chambers, Eli Walker, Andrew Dowell and Keaton Ellis led the team with five tackles each. Two of Ellis’ tackles were for a loss. Jaylon Allen and DeVere Levelston each had sacks in the game.
Attendance and Ratings
Winning teams definitely help to draw a crowd but the lack of attendance for Memphis home games is not entirely the result of a losing record.
The official attendance figure at Simmons Liberty Bank Stadium for the game between the Battlehawks and the Showboats was a dismal 4,215. Sadly, this figure is on par with the attendance for the past two seasons.
Last year’s low attendance could be due to the lack of advance marketing caused by a compressed time frame ahead of the season opening. This year, a great deal more effort was put forth to create and build community engagement. By comparison, the 1-6 San Antonio Brahmas average attendance this season is 11,888.
On a more positive note, the TV ratings a week ago for the Memphis-Houston game on Saturday May 3rd averaged 874,000 on ABC. It was the week’s highest-rated game by far.
On Friday, May 16, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. CT the Showboats travel to San Antonio to take on the Brahmas at the Alamodome. The game will be televised on FOX UFL Friday.
1 Comment
by 4th&long
Not as entertaining as the other 3 games but not bad either – overall a really great week on the field.
Rooting for Memphis but Turner going for 2 and not taking the early FG cost them. I really DO NOT LIKE the XFL/UFL PAT. Why would they make a 2 pt PAT harder than the CFB/NFL equivalent?
Memphis can’t afford to not take points when they are easy. An early FG would have kept it to one score to the buzzer. The 1 point PAT makes a TD or 2 FGs a tie. Always take the points.
Winn was trying Wayyyyyy to hard late and held the ball too long resulting in errand passes and big sacks. That’s got to be avoided in the future.
Memphis stayed in the game but can do better.
Does the crowd look better at Memphis … maybe the seating arrangements were changed?