Tattoo Crew breaks into win column, keeps Dozen out of it

After facing the top scoring team in the league in each of the first two weeks, the Tattoo Crew(1-2) faced a team that has now lost their last 15 games as the Tattoo Crew beat the Dirty Dozen(0-3) by a score of 76-41. "It's about time. We've had the toughest schedule in the UFFA thus far. And it was good to get a game like this one. We were clicking on every level and now we have to look and make it 2 in a row and get back in this thing," said Tattoo Crew QB Tom Brady. Brady was the key player in this game as he threw 4 TDs, including 3 from over 10 yards and had 410 yards passing to come out with a 25. "He looked good, as he has all season. He knows what it takes to put up points and win ballgames," said Tattoo Crew WR David Boston. 2nd year RB LaDainian Tomlinson ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns as he scored 16 points. RB Deuce McAllister had his first poor game of the season as he only rushed for 45 yards, but the rest of the team more than made up for his performance. WR Donald Driver started and scored 11 points. In week 4, the Tattoo Crew close out their 3-game homestand as the 0-3 expansion Wolfpack come to town. The Dirty Dozen saw the same thing that has plagued them all season bring them to their 15th regular season loss in a row. They had nobody to complement a solid outing by one of their players as K Ryan Longwell scored 18 points. QB Rich Gannon and RB Mike Alstott were dealt to the Fightin' Antz after the game as team owner Tom Losch continiues to make moves to try to bring this skid to an end. Week 4 will bring on an undefeated team as the Dirty Dozen travel to the T-Bone Dome to take on T.N.T.

T.N.T. continues their run, Outlaws their funk

A year after starting the season 0-3, T.N.T. continued it's strong start as they moved to 3-0 with a victory over the Outlaws, 66-28. The Outlaws(0-3) are one of the league's mysteries as they can not seem to find a way to break into the win column in 2002. T.N.T.'s surprise keeper WR Antonio Freeman finally played like a keeper should play as he scored on a 59-yard TD reception and had 18 points. But the player of the game was QB Aaron Brooks. He ran a TD in and had 3 more in the air and threw for 233 yards to give him 24 points. "We knew we could do what we wanted later in the game. That was a very encouraging win. Let's see how far this can take us. You guys are surprised. We aren't. As bad as last year was, we knew we had a good team but were just unfortunate to get racked with injuries," said Freeman. "And now we are showing that last season was a fluke year and we're ready to play every week." T.N.T. now goes into a very dangerous game. They play the Dirty Dozen, who've lost 15 in a row. "Any team can beat any other team on any given week. We just have to make sure that next week the streak goes to 16," said head coach Randy White, who has won his first 3 games as head coach. The Outlaws continue to search for answers. WR Troy Brown caught 16 passes for 176 yards, but was the only weapon they had all night. QB Daunte Culpepper, a keeper for the Outlaws, was terrible as he threw for only 191 yards and 4 int's to end up with a horrific score of -5. "He has to do better than that. We need Daunte to step up and be the leader that we feel he can be," said owner Brian Rupnick. "If he doesn't, we could be in for a long season. And after last season's success, our fans demand more. And rightfully so." The Outlaws play a Halas division rival in week 4 when they face the Slackers.

Night Hawks squeak out another one, take Halas division lead

The Night Hawks over the last two seasons have been the epitome of the term winning ugly. And week 3 of the 2001 season was no different. Keeping their streak of never losing 2 games in a row intact, the Night Hawks(2-1) had just 2 players in double digits and were led by rookie TE Randy McMichael's 13 points as they fought a close game with the Wolfpack(0-3) and won 51-48. "We do what we have to do. That is what we did last season, and look where it took us. Don't get me wrong, I wish we could just blow everybody out of the water week in, week out. But the fact is that we don't have that kind of team," said Hawks' WR Isaac Bruce. WR Eric Moulds had a big day as he caught a TD pass among his 9 catches for 96 yards. That helped QB Drew Bledsoe win his 2002 debut. He had been benched in the first two weeks of the season as Shane Matthews was given the chance to start. There is no question in head coach Tom Landry's mind who is the guy. "Drew is my starter and he will be the rest of the season. And there is no doubt im my mind that he will get the job done and we'll make the plays necessary around him to make him a successful UFFA QB." "That's nice to hear the coaches have confidence in me," said Bledsoe. "But I still have to make the plays. We still have 10 weeks left in the season. Hopefully I can do well enough so that those 10 weeks are not it for this team." The Wolfpack had yet another close game not go their way. "It's frustrating," said QB Brett Favre, who led the team with 13. "To come in here and be an expansion team and not be able to pull these out sucks. Because judging from the outcomes of the last 2 games, we've hung around with 2 very solid ballclubs. So we know we can get it done. But what we know and what we show have been 2 different things so far." The Wolfpack will get the Tattoo Crew in week 4 while the Night Hawks have to avoid a letdown when they renew a very old rivalry with the Jorsemen.

Slackers luck runs out, Jorsemen win another one

The Slackers QB Kurt Warner has looked mortal in the first 3 weeks of the season. And that has translated into a 1-2 record after they were beaten by the Jorsemen(2-1) by a score of 56-38. Warner threw 4 interceptions to help pave the way for the Jorsemen. Slackers owner Tim Johnson started WR Jimmy Smith, even though Smith had the week off. "I thought we'd have a better chance with Jimmy at 0% than with anybody else off my crappy team at 100%. Our team really sucks. And to be honest, I don't know how we managed one win. Let alone think we could actually win again." Warner didn't like the tone of Johnson's statements. "That's very unprofessional. I saw Smith's name in the lineup and I was wondering what we were going to do when we called a play to Jimmy. So I just threw the ball to the other team. Something has to be done about our ownership. Maybe if we had a coach around here, or somebody with some football knowledge we'd be better off. But that is not for us to decide. All we can do is go out and bust our asses and hope for the best." On a positive note, the Slackers continued to get major production out of RB Ricky Williams as he scored 17 points on 151 yds. rushing and a 53-yd. TD run. The Jorsemen continue to win despite QB Jeff Garcia. With a -2 this week, he now has a total of just 8 points after being selected as the top pick in the expansion draft. Garcia led the league in scoring last season with 184 points but was affected by a virus in week 3. He would have to average 17 points a game the rest of the way to match his output for 2001. The surprise of the Jorsemen has been their backfield. After Charlie Garner scored big in the first 2 weeks, RB James Stewart scored 17 to lead the Jorsemen as Garner was resting up. "I'll have to look at the film, but yeah, he definitely earned a second look to see if we can get him and Charlie in there," said owner Jose Guzman. The Jorsemen play against the Night Hawks in week 4 while the Slackers play the Outlaws.

Roscoes break 100 point mark, defeat the Rynos

Roscoes owner Sam Grana has been after this one since last year. He defeated the Rynos last season in the playoffs, but couldn't do it in the regular season. He ended up finishing 5-8 prompting many in the league to consider his postseason run a fluke. Well in 2002, the Roscoes(3-0) are showing that it may not have been. They defeated the Rynos (2-1), considered by many to be the best in the UFFA, by becoming the first team to score in triple digits this season 113-81. QB Peyton Manning had a HUGE game with 2 TDs of over 40 yards and 272 yards passing. The Roscoes managed over 100 points despite having WR Randy Moss score 0 points with just 4 catches for 16 yards. "Now what? What is your excuse now? We know we're undefeated. And we are going to go far. I've been saying it since we started this damn season and nobody will listen. Well now that the Genius' pretty boys are taken care of, I think some people will listen. Just ask those guys in the other locker room. They know how good we are," said Moss. WR Brian Finnneran was the surprise leader in the game for the Roscoes as he scored 23 points. Manning ended the game with 20 and K Mike Vanderjagt kicked 3 FGs and 2 XPs for a 13. They will take on the Fightin' Antz next week in their first home game of the season. The Rynos didn't have a bad game offensively, but were unable to make the really big play at the end to pull this one out. RB Priest Holmes continued his outstanding season as he scored 28 points to take over the league scoring lead with 68 total points. RB Shaun Alexander didn't score and has now scored just 18 points in three games after being held over in a weird trend in the UFFA. They don't have much time to think this one over as they play the other remaining 3-0 team in week 4 the Warriors.

Warriors homefield mastery continues

The Warriors saw their home winning streak reach double digits in week 3. They beat the Fightin' Antz 80-54. Dating back to the 2001 season, the Warriors(3-0) have never been beaten at the Beaver Dome. Last season they won 7 straight regular season games and one playoff game. Along with their 2-0 record this season at home and they've won 10 games in a row. QB Donovan McNabb became the first Warrior ever to win the player of the week award as he threw 3 TDs and ran another one in. He ended up with 31. "I couldn't do anything wrong out there. It seems as if when we play here, the crowd gets us pumped and the next thing you know it is the end of the game and we are winning. We have a good crowd here. Probably the best crowd in the UFFA. And today was just another day. We know what it takes to make the Magoo Bowl. But we have to learn what it takes to win one," he said. K David Akers scored 19 points and WR Qadry Ismail had a big day with 12 points to lead the way. Next week there is a big Halas division matchup as they go against the Rynos. "We can't let up. They have a good team, but so do we. If we execute, we'll win. But if we don't, they will definitely take advantage of our mistakes. So we can't make any," said WR Marvin Harrison about next week's opponent. The Fightin' Antz(1-2) fell under .500 and now have to face the hottest team in the UFFA in the Roscoes. And they may have to do that without RB Marshall Faulk. He was injured on Monday night and was to be re-evaluated this week. "We'll have to make do," said QB Steve McNair. "Hopefully he's ok. But if he isn't, we have to play anyway. So we can't dwell on it." A silver lining for the Antz was rookie WR Donte Stallworth as he scored for the third game in a row.