Around the League

ORLANDO AND SACRAMENTO SHAKE THINGS UP

Both teams who were winless entering this weekends games were very active in trading, Orlando have two new offensive linemen and a new HB in BJ Askew, Sacramento made changes all over their roster, traded their starting HB and promoted Kory Chapman. The results, Sacramento upset Mexico in a huge upset to get their first win of the year and Orlando were unlucky not to beat Montreal. Both teams looked far better this week and could cause some more upsets in the upcoming weeks.

RHEIN UNLUCKY AGAIN

A week after losing to a last second FG it looked like Rhein would get their first win of the year against Berlin. However on Berlins 15 yard line with 54 seconds left in a tied 10-10 ball game rookie HB Tony Hollings fumbled the ball away and Berlin recovered and forced overtime. Shortly afterwards Berlin won the game in OT. Hollings tried to get some extra yards to set up a late second FG but instead helped lose Rhein the game.

Further heartbreak occurred on the final play of the game, Berlin punted and Rhein took over on its own 17 yard line and they went for the hail mary. QB Jared Allen launched a huge bomb which Mike Bush caught 77 yards later at the Berlin 6 yard line but time expired !!!

MEXICO DB IN TROUBLE

CB2 Chris Williams of Mexico could be in for a huge tirade of abuse from Mexico GM Joe Jackson. Williams covered Surge WR Carlyle Holiday and the results werent pretty as Holiday caught 6 passes for 225 yards and two long td's ! Williams was having a great year but fell apart against Sacramento.

LONDON NEED A DE TO STEP UP

London are having a great year, the defense are playing brilliantly but for some reason no one at DE2 seems to make any plays. Earlier in the season Eric Powell was the starter but gained 0 sacks, Danny Watts then had a start but did nothing, finally the team traded for Orlando DE Nick Burley. Burley started a few days later in Week 5 and didnt even have a tackle let alone a sack. Burley will get more chances but DE2 appears to be the weak link on the Monarchs defense.

CRAWFORD GETS ANOTHER SACK

DE Derrick Crawford who is amazingly playing at DE2 is having a huge huge year, he leads the league in sacks and had another one this week to give him 11 in 5 games and on pace easily for a 20+ sack year. Crawford says the play of DE1 Josiah helps him so much as Josiah often gets double teamed allowing Crawford to get the sack on a 1 on 1 battle. Crawford is having a fine yaer and is on his way to Defensive Player of the Year awards.

MOST IMPROVED TEAM

Has to be London, 5-8-1 last year and this year 5-0 ! The Monarchs management are keeping their feet on the ground knowing there is much more work to be done but they must fancy their chances of the playoffs as they face 2-3 Berlin at home this week but do face a very tough second half to the schedule with games against Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Austria (twice) and away to Scotland.

BJ SYMONS ON THE MOVE AGAIN ?

Poor QB BJ Symons. Symons has great talent but for some reason has moved several times in his career, he was a backup with London, then moved to Austria and had a few starts and then moved to Scotland in a surprise trade, now Symons is being offered in a trade again as he is wishing to leave Scotland to start elsewhere. Most of the QB positions in the NFL seem full so its seems unlikely another team will trade for him. A shame as Symons has looked great when he has started but perhaps the FWL is full up of good QB's for now.

HUTCHINSON AIMS TO KEEP THE JOB

When QB Chad Hutchinson was traded to Mexico he wanted to make the job his own, he played well but JT O'Sullivan then came back with a career year and Hutchinson sat on the bench all year. This week with an injury to Sullivan, Hutchinson came in and played great in mop up duty against Sacramento. He may get the start this week as Sullivan is P-1 but if he does watch for Hutchinson to try to have the best game of his career as he wants to keep the job.

TATUM WATCH

With 7 tackles this week LB Kinnon Tatum now has 980 for his career and is now just 20 away from the magical 1000 mark.