Each week, Greg will present what we learned from UFL games over the previous weekend.
-Don't bronze that spring football Hall of Fame bust of Austin Reed just yet. Reed took the spring football world by storm, setting a UFL record in passing yards in week one, then following it up with a four-touchdown performance in week two. In the ensuing weeks, though, Reed's play has gotten progressively worse, hitting rock bottom in week five when he tossed four interceptions against Louisville, two of which were returned for touchdowns. The good news is Dallas, at 3-2, has a firm grasp on a playoff spot. That could change if Reed doesn't up his game. It's going to be a challenge this week as they face off against a D.C. defense that leads the league in takeaways.
-Dallas's backup QB is...a wide receiver? Dallas was in a unique situation this past week where they had just two quarterbacks rostered after the trade of Luis Perez to St. Louis. So when head coach Rick Neuheisel pulled Austin Reed in the blowout against Louisville, it was presumed that Luke Lehnen, the only other player on the roster at that position, would get mop-up duty. Wrong. Instead, WR Greg Ward Jr., a former college QB, stepped in. And offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone wasn't shy about calling pass plays either: Ward finished 6-of-7 passing for 74 yards and a touchdown. Neuheisel confirmed after the game that Ward is the backup, despite not appearing as such on the team's depth chart. In that case, the Renegades may not add a QB to replace Perez. It's hard not to see this as an indictment of Lehnen's progress.
-Two trades paid immediate dividends. It was the first set of games after a massive reshuffling of the quarterback position around the league. Two teams have to be pretty confident about the changes they made. Though Birmingham wasn't able to pick up the win on Friday night, Dorian Thompson-Robinson played well enough to give head coach A.J. McCarron some hope moving forward. On a short week with limited reps in a new offense, Thompson-Robinson completed 65% of his passes and threw for two touchdowns against a difficult draw in D.C.'s aggressive defense. Later in the weekend, Chandler Rogers made his first start at QB for Louisville after the team traded its number one, Jason Bean, to D.C. Though the defense roughed up Dallas en route to the Kings' second win, Rogers guided the offense to over 30 points with limited mistakes.
-Louisville's transactions were about more than on-field performance. Louisville has made weekly transactions turning over parts of its roster, but at no time was that more urgent than last week. In addition to trading their starting quarterback, they also parted ways with their starting running back (Benny Snell) as well as both starters along the left side of the offensive line (Leroy Watson and Nash Jensen). It was assumed the moves were performance-related, but it was strongly hinted on the broadcast of this week's Kings game that at least a few of the moves were made to root out bad apples. New starting QB Chandler Rogers was lauded for his leadership skills all but stating outright that Bean was lacking in that department. There were other comments made indicating Louisville was ready to cleanse its locker room of attitude problems prior to week five.
-Maybe Harrison Frost IS it. After I wrote last week that "Harrison Frost ain't it," the young QB responded by leading St. Louis to a victory, handing Orlando its first loss. Frost wasn't perfect - he threw two interceptions - but he showed some positives as well, accounting for two touchdowns (one passing, one rushing). The question for the Battlehawks is whether or not they're willing to put up with the up-and-down performances we've seen from Frost, or whether a team in the thick of the playoff race would prefer to have the steadier hand of veteran Luis Perez at the helm.
-The last undefeated team falls. Orlando was beaten by St. Louis at home, rendering the Storm 4-1 and leaving the UFL with no more unbeaten teams (and no winless teams, for that matter). QB Jack Plummer experienced some of the same issues that have plagued Reed the last few weeks, simply unable to hook up with his receivers on a consistent basis. Orlando also ran the ball just 18 times compared to 44 pass attempts despite losing by one score. Both Dallas and Orlando have talented backs and could stand to run the ball more to take some of the pressure off their QB's shoulders. With five games remaining for each team, none are more than two games out of a playoff spot, so it'll be a tight battle down the stretch.