The Fan Morning Show Is All In On The AAF

The guys chose their allegiances in new football league

Matt Koll
February 08, 2019 - 12:36 pm
Atlanta Legends

Alliance of American Football

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan)- We love football in Pittsburgh. Everyone knows that.

This time of year, the sports calendar slows down as the NFL season comes to an end with a long offseason ahead.

But wait!

A new 8-team football league called the Alliance of American Football starts up this weekend with two games at 8 pm Saturday night on CBS (Atlanta @ Orlando & San Diego @ San Antonio) and two games on Sunday (Memphis @ Birmingham 4 pm, Salt Lake @ Arizona 8 pm). 

Now, we know it's not going to be the NFL. In fact, the game itself has some new, odd rules including: 

  • A "sky judge." A ninth official of the officiating crew who will be in the press box and can instantly correct "obvious and egregious" officiating errors. 
  • Games will start without kickoffs. The winner of the coin toss will elect to receive or defer and the team with the ball will start the drive from their 25-yardline. 
  • The play clock is 35 seconds. 5 seconds shorter than the NFL's
  • Overtime will allow both teams to have the ball once, first-and-goal from the 10. Teams have to score a touchdown and go for two points while field goals are not allowed. Games can end in a tie after the overtime period.

There are more little adjustments as well. You can read about them here. 

The Fan Morning Show has chosen to embrace this league and the guys picked their team allegiances, as well as why they chose that team, on the show Friday.

Colin Dunlap

Team: Birmingham Iron

Why: First, because he can call them the "I-rrrnnn" like a good Pittsburgher and Birmingham is considered to be the "Pittsburgh of the south."  They have plenty of Pittsburgh connections on their coaching staff including head coach Tim Lewis, a Pitt man. They also have RB Trent Richardson and QB Blake Sims, both former Alabama Crimson Tide members and Colin believes they have to start no matter how bad they are because the team is in Birmingham.   

Chris Mack

Team: San Antonio Commanders

Why: Chris spent time living in Texas. They have a Pitt man in Jaryd Jones-Smith, but more intriguingly they have WR Darius Prince rostered. He played basketball at West Mifflin. He then went on to play basketball for Penn State-Greater Allegheny and then finished up at Penn State-Beaver. He also played for the Philadelphia Soul in the Arena League. 

Jim Colony

Team: Arizona Hotshots 

Why: Not because they appeared as the top team in the CBS Sports Power Rankings. Nope. Simply because there is one player from the University of New Hampshire, Jim's alma mater, starting for the Hotshots. OT Andrew Lauderdale, who failed to make it with the 49ers and Bills. It's all about the UNH Wildcats for Jimbo. Always. 

Producer Matt

Team: Atlanta Legends

Why: Some recognizable names- Matt Simms, son of Phil Simms, younger brother of Chris Simms, a former NFL QB himself. Behind him is recent Georgia QB Aaron Murray. Denard "Shoelace" Robinson, former Michigan Wolverines QB is playing running back. Also, there's drama already. Brad Childress was supposed to serve as the head coach and Michael Vick was supposed to serve as the OC but both have bailed on their positions. Vick just announced his departure Thursday. A couple Pittsburgh connections: Former Steelers CB Doran Grant is in their starting lineup and WR Malachi Jones is the son of Andre Jones, a 1991 7th round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Also, their uniforms are a sleek purple and vegas gold. 

We posted the results on Twitter....

And already got some love from our adopted teams! 

Which AAF bandwagon are you jumping on? You can hear the complete conversation from The Fan Morning Show below.     

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Tags: 
Alliance of American Football league
Arizona Hotshots
Birmingham Iron
San Antonio Commanders
Atlanta Legends