This past weekend, we didn’t have to worry about experiencing life after football because a new football league made it’s grand debut over the weekend there were some issues that I noticed. Of course, the play left a lot to be desired outside of the Orlando Apollos, some of the camera angles need to be removed, and no way to get stats on their app. Also, Arizona Hotshots jerseys are the absolute worst I’ve ever seen.
That being said, the Alliance of American Football got a lot right in my book and here’s three things that I enjoyed over the course of opening weekend of the new football league.
My favorite thing that the AAF got right was without a doubt the replay official cam. As someone who is tired of hearing the talking head give his take on calls that are being reviewed. I understand that these “talking heads” are former officials, but it doesn’t mean that you’re getting the whole story. I mean they usually are talking about it after the play was determined to go either way. Give me the transparency of an official going through every angle and determining if it was a completed pass, a fumble, or whatever any day over Mike Pereira or Mike Carey breaking it down from a plush studio.
When it comes to the on the field product, the Apollos gave me a lot to enjoy during opening night. The wide-open offense that we saw from the Old Ball Coach was nothing short of spectacular and made it seem like a sustainable product on primetime television and the numbers showed with it beating out a primetime NBA matchup on ABC. That being said, Steve Spurrier needs to mic’d up for as long as the AAF is around. The stuff that came out of his mouth was nothing short of amazing even saying that a player needs to catch it this time. They won’t always do that live to make sure people use the app to predict the next play, but it’s a great moment to use from time to time.
Another thing that I enjoyed was that defensive players can hit. I mean Shaan Washington damn near decapitated Mike Bercovici in the opening five minutes of the ballgame was jarring because of the fact that we never see something like this in the NFL. Also credit to the QB getting back up after that monster hit.
If the opening weekend was a sign of things to come, the AAF can be a sustainable spring football league and be just as entertaining as their big brother the NFL.