u/ChampionshipKooky156

Other folks have dropped their power rankings after week eight, so I thought I’d do something a little different. Because teams get so little practice and there was relatively little continuity in staff and player personnel from last season, there can be a big difference from one week to the next in the growth or lack thereof. Power rankings take into account previous games and overall record, but this ranking is just based on what I saw on the field the previous week.

1. Louisville
2. Orlando
3. DC
4. Houston
5. St. Louis
6. Birmingham
7. Dallas
8. Columbus

Louisville continues to improve as Redman and his players figure things out. They will be dangerous for the rest of the season, and it would be a shame if they don’t make the playoffs. Orlando is just consistent, but it also seems to me they haven’t hit their ceiling yet and if they clean a few things up, they will be hard to beat. I just think Louisville has a higher ceiling.

Obviously, DC had a big continuity advantage on all the other teams, and that showed up for most of the season, but I think some of the other teams are catching up now and losing JT is potentially devastating.

I think St. Louis is probably a better team than Houston, but they didn’t show it last week, And Houston has room to grow. Perez hasn’t figured things out as quickly as I think everyone expected, and that should be alarming for BattleHawk fans.

The bottom three teams are just not playing good football, but the stallions are the most talented of the bunch.

For background - I’ve followed this team since the USFL reboot and have been to nearly all the home games. I’m an avid football fan (primarily college - Clemson) and have watched most of the USFL/XFL/UFL games.

This is obvious to regular football fans, but the Stallions are poorly coached. The offense and defensive schemes are bland and the play calling is all over the place. The first offensive play they put 81 in motion and rolled DTR out and I thought maybe they were adjusting the O to DTR‘s strengths, but they didn’t move the pocket again until the end of the game. On D, they telegraph the blitzes and the coverages. When they finally brought a blitz that wasn’t just a LB running into the middle of the line, they got a huge sack. Special teams had two stupid penalties that are just the result of poor practice habits.

I don’t have any inside info, but based on watching the players on the sidelines and some of the things said during player interviews I get the impression these guys are mostly coaching/leading themselves. DTR has made a huge difference with his energy and leadership as much as his play. AJ clearly wasn’t motivating the players. Such a difference from Skip Holtz.

Obviously, I’m happy for the W and I think we have a great shot at making the playoffs with our remaining schedule, but I don’t see how the Stallions beat DC or STL in a first round game. The talent is there, but they will thoroughly outcoached in either of those matchups (or with Louisville or ORL).