The first week of The Spring League has come and gone, but the memories will live on. This was a historic opening weekend for TSL, for the first time in league history all games will be televised. Earlier last month The Spring League put out a press release announcing that all games will be aired on either FOX, FS1 or FS2.
For the 2021 season, TSL will be played out of two hub cities. The leagues North Division is located at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and the South Division is housed out of Rice Stadium in Houston.
Alphas vs Aviators
Kicking off the season and the week, we had the Alphas taking on the Aviators. The game started out slow and ended in similar fashion. If that worries you, it shouldn’t. The more games these teams play, the more they will gel. We saw this with The Spring League in 2020 and absolutely expect it this season. There were some shining moments in the game, notably Brian Burt and Blake Morgan proving to be a duel threat on the ground for the Alphas.
Read the full game recap.
Conquerors vs Linemen
The Conquerors so far look like a solid team all around. Kevin Anderson has shown time and time again that he is a reliable signal caller (Stats: 14/22, 159yds, 2 TD) – and Sola Olateju put up two scores of his own. Their defense has some excellent players, especially in the secondary. They will be a difficult group to beat if they can keep playing complete football.
Hal Mumme has some work to do with his Linemen. They have plenty of talent, and Ryan Willis has a lot of potential to be a great QB in this league, despite a poor stat line from night one. With some time, practice, and effort, they certainly have a chance to go far in the TSL this year.
Read the full game recap.
Blues vs Sea Lions
The Spring League’s second expansion team, the Sea Lions, make their debut against the Blues. In another close matchup, both teams excelled on defense and started out slow on offense. The Blues were set to have former Dallas Renegades backup QB Eric Dungey within the ranks. But, days before kickoff Dungey announced that he would not make TSL due to a conflict with an upcoming Bengals mini-camp.
The game ended tight, in what should have been the Blues running out the clock. On fourth down, rather than punt the ball they tried to let the QB run out the clock. This resulted in a massive loss in yards and turnover on downs. The Blues tried to draw out the clock, but ended up giving the Sea Lions decent ball position with 2-seconds left in the game. Unfortunately for the Sea Lions, they couldn’t complete the Hail Mary securing their first loss.
Read the full game recap.
Generals vs Jousters
The Generals and the Jousters wrap up the first week of TSL action, and also mark the first time the league will be aired on FOX. This matchup turned out to be the best game of the week, and that’s no surprise. On the Jousters end, we have former New York Guardians coach Kevin Gibride re-uniting with Luis Perez. For the Generals, we have Bart Andrus returning as coach and Ryan Mallet making his football return.
The Generals started out the half slow, but ended it in huge fashion. The team racked up 15-unaswered points, 9 of which were secured in the last 1:04 of the half, putting them up 15-9.
The second half saw a little back and forth from each team, trading the lead a handful of times. The game ultimately came down the the last drive, with the Jousters down by two, Drew Anderson threw an interception that effectively ended the game.
Read the full game recap.
Standings
Overall
South Division
North Division
Did you tune into the first week of The Spring League? What was your favorite matchup of the weekend? Let us know down in the comments below or join the conversation on Discord.
