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Fox Sports
3 days ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
UFL Week 9 By The Numbers: Cornell Powell, Justin Hall shine
Week 9 of the 2025 UFL season featured some dominant performances and down-to-the-wire finishes. The St. Louis Battlehawks , Birmingham Stallions , Arlington Renegades and Houston Roughnecks were victorious, while the San Antonio Brahmas , Michigan Panthers , Memphis Showboats and DC Defenders fell flat. [MORE: What is the UFL? Everything to know about the 2025 United Football League ] Here are the numbers to know after Week 9. 5: Birmingham beat Michigan, 26-22, sweeping the season series and improving the Stallions' record to 5-0 vs the Panthers in the UFL since the start of last season (and 7-0 dating back to their meetings in the USFL). After scoring the go-ahead TD with just over 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Birmingham's defense held strong, halting Michigan's comeback attempt with four stops from inside their own 10-yard line. The Panthers will have one more chance to break their skid against the Stallions when they meet in a rematch of last year's Conference Championship Game in Birmingham in two weeks. 7: DC wide receiver Cornell Powell is up to a league-best seven receiving touchdowns on the season after his second straight multi-TD game. Powell went for eight catches for 104 yards and two TDs against Houston on Sunday, including a TD grab with three seconds left in the fourth quarter that gave DC a shot at tying the game with a 3-point conversion. The former Clemson wideout has been on a tear in the second half of the year with five TDs over his last three games. 10: Houston's Justin Hall became the first player in UFL history with back-to-back games with 10 catches. The 26-year-old Hall had 10 receptions, 126 yards, and a TD in the 24-21 win over DC. The league-leader in catches this season had 11 catches a week ago and is now up to 58 on the season – 18 clear of the next closest player in the league. 39: The 7-2 St. Louis Battlehawks have now rolled off five straight wins as they dispatched San Antonio 39-13 in their final home game of the regular season. The 39 points set a single-game high in the UFL this season. QB Max Duggan played the first half, leading the team to 21 points (including one defensive TD) before backup Brandon Silvers came on and played well in the second half as the Battlehawks tacked on another 18 points after halftime. 70: St. Louis CB Micah Abraham had a debut to remember. Playing in his first game since being signed two weeks ago, Abraham forced a fumble, scooped it up and returned it 70 yards for a TD in the second quarter on Friday night. Making the moment even more special: Micah's father, Donnie, is the Battlehawks Defensive Coordinator. 107: Arlington's Tyler Vaughns posted his second 100-yard receiving game of the season with his eight-catch, 107-yard, one-TD game in the win over Memphis. Vaughns put the Renegades ahead for good with his 41-yard TD in the third quarter as Arlington rolled to a 30-12 win. 307: Birmingham QB J'Mar Smith threw for 307 yards and two TDs in the Stallions' comeback win over Michigan. After leading the defending champs to a win off the bench two weeks ago, Smith now has his first win as a starter. Smith connected with Deon Cain for his second TD of the day with 2:22 left in the fourth quarter to put Birmingham in front. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily ! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience United Football League recommended Get more from United Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bucs Vault Into Top-10 Ranking With 'Spectacular' Promise
There haven't been many teams that have been as consistent as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the last five seasons. With two different head coaches and quarterbacks, the Buccaneers have still found ways to reach the playoffs. They have won the NFC South for four straight years as part of that run. Advertisement A big reason for their success has been the talent on the roster outside of just the quarterback. General manager Jason Licht has been able to keep Tampa Bay's title window open despite having many aging stars on the roster. Licht's work this offseason alone is why the team stands at eighth in Bleacher Report's latest NFL power rankings by analyst Brent Sobeleski. 'The Buccaneers offense has the potential to be spectacular in 2025, with Baker Mayfield getting better each year, Chris Godwin's return and the first-round acquisition of Ohio State's Emeka Egbuka to make the team's group of wide receivers deadly. The Bucs finished third overall in total offense last year. They're now aiming for that No. 1 spot," Sobeleski wrote. The problematic part facing the Bucs isn't that they have been consistent; it's that they haven't been able to take the next step since their Super Bowl win in 2021. Tampa Bay has won two playoff games since its victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, but has not reached the Conference Championship Game since then. Advertisement Being a consistent playoff contender is one thing. Building a championship-contending roster is something else. And as the Buccaneers get ready for another season under head coach Todd Bowles, they are looking to make sure the roster is good enough not just to finish eighth in the league. They are looking to win the whole thing. Related: Buccaneers Reveal Post-Draft Roster Moves Related: Bucs GM Jason Licht Reveals Emeka Egbuka Pick Was With Chris Godwin In Mind
Forbes
26-03-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Barry Sanders On Why The Detroit Lions Are Set Up For Success Moving Forward: ‘We Still Have A Great Nucleus'
Barry Sanders believes the Detroit Lions are set up for success moving forward despite their recent ... More playoff setbacks. (Photo by) Barry Sanders is impressed by the Detroit Lions' recent success in the Dan Campbell era. Although the Lions had a disappointing finish to last season after losing their first playoff game against the Washington Commanders, their recent two-year run has been their most successful stretch since the start of the Super Bowl era. The Lions finished with an NFL and franchise-best 15-2 record and advanced to the Conference Championship Game in 2023 after winning their first postseason game since 1991 — when Sanders was in his third year in Detroit. "Absolutely, because I think even though there's just been two playoff runs, before that we saw improvement," says Sanders in a one-on-one interview when asked if he's been impressed by this golden era of Lions football. "You look at the season before we made the playoffs and we go into Green Bay and beat Aaron Rogers and we won nine games. you could see that that team was building towards something." The Lions have the most wins of any NFL team over the past two seasons with 27 total victories. That's more than the Kansas City Chiefs (26) who have been to the past three Super Bowls. After entering the playoffs as many peoples' pick to win the Super Bowl, Detroit lost at home to the wild card Commanders. As disappointing as their finish to the season was, the Lions are built to be Super Bowl contenders for the next several years. They have a young nucleus led by quarterback Jared Goff and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown along with potential Defensive Player of the Year Aidan Hutchinson, who was lost for most of last season due to an injury. "When you look at NFC Football over the last handful of years, the Lions have played as well as anyone, maybe with the exception of the Eagles," says Sanders. "We're right there in the conversation." It's worth mentioning that the Lions — in the Super Bowl era -- have never been a winning product. Prior to Sanders' arrival in 1989, Detroit had just three playoff appearances since 1958. They didn't win a playoff game after winning the 1957 NFL Championship until 1991. Sanders was able to catapult many mediocre teams into the playoffs due to his tremendous play — he had posted four straight 1,500-yard seasons — and led the Lions to five playoff appearances in his 10 seasons in Detroit. However, they won just one playoff game and that lack of team success played a role in Sanders retiring at the age of 30. Between 1999 and 2022, the Lions made four playoff appearances with zero postseason wins. In other words, the Lions are experiencing unprecedented success and they're not going anywhere anytime soon as a contender. Their playoff shortcomings in recent years will only help make them better as they aim to win the first Super Bowl in franchise history. "Winning the division last year and having a first round bye, that's what you dream of, right? We weren't able to take full advantage of that," says Sanders. "But that's still something that you want. That's still a great advantage to have to be able to put yourself in that position. That means you're that much closer to winning a Super Bowl, and the next time you're in that position, you understand more what's at stake. If you've never been in that position, you don't really understand it." Sanders makes sure to mention how Detroit returns its "nucleus" in 2025, which means the Lions should again be one of the NFC's top contenders. "We still have a great nucleus," says Sanders. "We still have a great coach in coach Campbell. We still have a lot of the same people in the building. We lost some valuable coaching in our offensive coordinator (Ben Johnson) and we understand that. But that's a part of this game. We still have the main ingredient, which is the head coach and the players." The 56-year-old Sanders is speaking on behalf of his partnership with Sleep Number. The partnership is notable because Sanders has dealt with sleep apnea, which is a health disorder that sees one's breathing start and stop throughout the night. Sleep Number is releasing a new health app that helps people better understand their sleeping patterns. Many sleep apnea cases go undiagnosed -- something that Sanders wants to change. "They're doing a wonderful service and job and just helping people sleep better and detect things like sleep apnea," says Sanders. "They have an app called Breathe IQ where it'll record your snoring. You can see where in your throat the snore is coming from and any kind of breathing irregularities. "It'll connect you to a virtual care clinic where you can talk to someone in more detail if some of these things relate to you," Sanders continues to say. "There's so many people that snore -- over a hundred million people -- and so many of those cases go undiagnosed."
