AFL MVP Proves Worth in UFL
Andy Lopusnak
Friday November 26, 2010
Three months ago, Chris Greisen was named the AFL’s MVP after a record-setting season with the Milwaukee Iron. Three UFL games ago, he took over as the starting signal caller of a 2-3 team in despair and now after three straight wins Greisen has led the Florida Tuskers to the UFL Championship game.
Greisen passed for an AFL record 5,146 yards; led the AFL in passer rating (128.2) and was second in completion (68%) and passing touchdowns (107) en route to being named the 2010 AFL Offensive Player of the Year. Over the course of the last three AFL seasons, Greisen statistically was the best QB in the AFL in terms of passing yards, completion percentage, passing touchdowns and passer rating.
Since taking over for the reigning UFL MVP Brooks Bollinger, no UFL quarterback has had the type of success Greisen has had in terms of completion percentage (70.9), passer rating (105.6) and passing touchdowns (five) – or wins for that matter. His passer rating is almost 20 points higher than the next QB and is almost 15% higher in completion percentage.
He’s the only QB to post three games with a passer rating of over 100 this season. Aside from Greisen’s last three games, not a single starting quarterback posted a rating over 100 in the final seven weeks of the UFL season. There were four such games in the league’s first three weeks, but none until Greisen’s first start three games ago.
Greisen was far from the only one in the UFL with ties to the Arena Football League this year as all five UFL teams had at least five players with AFL or af2 experience play this season.
A huge majority of the Tuskers’ coaching and front office staff has AFL experience, most prevalent is Florida head coach Jay Gruden, an AFL Hall of Famer, who won four ArenaBowl titles as the starting QB of the Tampa Bay Storm and won two more titles as the head coach of the Orlando Predators. Also on the Tuskers is Huey Whittaker, who caught Greisen’s first UFL touchdown pass this season and a 2010 All-Arena performer with the defending ArenaBowl champion Spokane Shock. Whittaker caught 144 balls for 1,653 yards and 37 scores.
Other Tuskers players with AFL ties include: receiver Chas Gessner (Orlando Predators), defensive lineman Bryan Save (Spokane Shock, Philadelphia Soul), defensive back Kevin Kaesviharn (Iowa Barnstormers).
Isaiah Trufant, the UFL’s 2010 Defensive MVP and interceptions leader, began his pro career in the af2 with the Spokane Shock and was with the AFL’s Kansas City Brigade and Arizona Rattlers from 2007-09. In the 2009 UFL title game, Trufant picked off Bollinger in overtime to set up the game-winning field goal for the Locos. Also on the Locos is Chicago Rush receiver Samie Parker, who had 78 receptions for 1,135 yard and 15 scores in eleven games with the Rush in 2010.
The head referee for this week’s UFL title game will be Perry Havener, who has been an AFL ref for many years and in 2010 was the regional head referee for all Jacksonville Sharks games.
2010 AFL Rookie of the Year Rod Windsor, who shattered every AFL receiving record for the Arizona Rattlers this past season grabbed three touchdowns in the UFL’s first two weeks with the Sacramento Mountain Lions, including a 33-yard game winner against the Tuskers, Windsor nabbed a league record 193 balls for a league record 2,372 yards. Though he didn’t catch a TD after Week Two, Windsor still ended up tied as the UFL leader in receiving scores.
Also on the Mountain Lions was Otis Amey, who was a 2008 All-Arena First Teamer with the Cleveland Gladiators and All-Arena offensive linemen Martin Bibla and Mike Mabry, both members of the 2008 ArenaBowl champion Philadelphia Soul. Speaking of the Soul, Philadelphia’s head coach for the 2008 title run, Bret Munsey, is the Director of Player Personnel and Assistant Defensive Backs Coach for the Tuskers.
The UFL Championship will be televised on Versus this Saturday, November 27 at noon Eastern.
