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San Antonio Commanders

San Antonio Commanders Travel to San Diego Fleet on Sunday, February 24

February 19, 2019 - Alliance of American Football (AAF)
San Antonio Commanders News Release


Setting the scene

- The San Antonio Commanders travel to the San Diego Fleet in the third week of the inaugural Alliance of American Football season on Sunday, February 24 at 5 p.m. PT. The game will be televised on NFL Network with Dan Hellie (play-by-play), Marvin Lewis (analyst) and Maurice Jones-Drew (analyst) on the call.

- For the second time in Alliance history, two teams will square off for the second time. In the first game between the Commanders and Fleet, San Antonio won 15-6 at home in week one.

- Both teams will look to improve to 2-1 on the season. In the NFL, teams that start 2-1 make the playoffs 53 percent of the time, compared to just 25 percent for 1-2 teams.

Five key storylines

HEAD COACHES: San Antonio's Mike Riley and San Diego's Mike Martz will face off for the second time this season. Prior to 2019, the two head coaches last met on Oct. 1, 2001 with Riley coaching the San Diego Chargers and Martz the St. Louis Rams. The Rams prevailed 57-31 that day in St. Louis. Quarterbacking the teams in the meeting were current University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh (Chargers) and NFL Hall of Fame inductee Kurt Warner (Rams).

RUN IT BACK: The Commanders and Fleet are facing off for the second time this season. The Western Conference foes faced off in San Antonio on February 9 in the Alliance's inaugural weekend with the Commanders winning 15-6. Sweeping the season series is never easy but having to do it in a three-week span adds to the difficulty level.

AREA 51: After struggling against Orlando in week 2, the San Antonio secondary, dubbed "Area 51", will look to bounce back against San Diego. In the week one contest the Commanders intercepted the Fleet three times and held San Diego to 196 yards through the air.

GARDNER VS. EVERYONE: San Diego running back Ja'Quan Gardner exploded on to the scene with an Alliance-high 104 yards and two TDs in the Fleet's week two win. The Commanders will need to slow him down to have success defensively on Sunday. San Antonio held Gardner to 55 yards on eight carries in the week one victory.

Welcome to the road: After spending training camp and the first two games in two games in their home city, the San Antonio Commanders will play each of their next four games away from the Alamo City. The road swing, which was necessitated by the Alamodome being booked before the team was founded, starts in San Diego (Feb. 24), followed by trips to Birmingham (March 3), Arizona (March 10) and Atlanta (March 17).

Taking Command up front

- San Antonio's defense is allowing the fewest rushing yards in the Alliance, surrendering 82.5 rushing yards per contest. The total is more than 15 yards better than Salt Lake, which ranks second.

- San Antonio's Alliance-leading 10 sacks are four more than any other team in the Alliance through two weeks. The Commanders' six sacks against San Diego in week one is an Alliance record.

Winning Third down

- The Commanders are one of the most efficient third down teams on both sides of the ball in The Alliance.

- The Commanders' offense has converted 21 of its 37 attempts on third down, good for a staggering 56.7 percent. The next best mark in the Alliance is Birmingham's 43.7 percent (14-32).

- The defense has been just as strong, allowing opponents to convert just five of 20 third downs. The only mark better than the Commanders' third down defense has been Birmingham who has held its opponents to a 21.3 percent conversion rate.

Record-breaking crowd

- The San Antonio fan base showed out once again in week two. After setting the Alliance attendance mark in week one with an attendance of 27,857 in the Alamodome, Commanders Nation broke its own record in week two when 29,176 poured into the Alamodome.

- For the season the Commanders are averaging an Alliance-leading attendance of 28,516 for its home games.

- In 2017, the Los Angeles Chargers averaged 25,336, more than 3,000 fewer than the 2019 Commanders. The 2018 Chargers played seven games in Los Angeles and averaged 25,406 fans at those games - LA played one game in the UK, which inflated their season average to just over 32,000, but true home games saw 3,000 fewer fans than Commanders' games.

Running by committee

- San Antonio's 300 rushing yards through two weeks marks the second-best ground attack in The Alliance. But what makes the Commanders' rushing attack so difficult to stop is its versatility and how fresh the running backs are kept.

- Through two weeks, the ball has been carried by seven different players for a total of 68 carries.

- Twenty-seven of those carries have gone to former Houston standout Kenneth Farrow II. Farrow II's two TDs are tied for second most in the Alliance.

- Rotating in at running back for the Commanders is David Cobb and Aaron Green, who have combined for 27 carries through two weeks. They offer a different skill set than Farrow II, which makes things tougher for the defense to game plan.

SACK Antonio

- San Antonio tallied six sacks against the Fleet in week one, more than any other team in the league. The first viral moment in the history of The Alliance came when Commanders' linebacker Shaan Washington came off the edge unblocked and sacked San Diego quarterback Mike Bercovici, knocking the quarterback's helmet off and forcing a fumble.

- The video of Washington's hit has more than 5 million views on Twitter and drew praise from publications like The Ringer, Bleacher Report, Yahoo Sports and more. It has also been lauded by former NFL players such as Mike Golic and Shannon Sharpe. In addition, The Topps Company has already made the image into a trading card.

- San Antonio stayed true to its name in week two against the Apollos, collecting another four sacks as Washington, Jayrone Elliott, Winston Craig and Austin Larkin recorded 1.0 each.

Texas Produced ...

- Twenty-one (21) players of the Commanders 52-man active roster come from a Texas based university. TCU (WR #18 John Diarse, RB #22 Aaron Green, TE #83 Cole Hunt, FS #24 Nick Orr) and Houston (WR #14 De'Marcus Ayers, RB #20 Kenneth Farrow II, DT #90 Joey Mbu, WR #84 Greg Ward Jr.) both produced the most active players with four. Texas A&M (TE #85 Cam Clear, LB #54 Shaan Washington, RB #35 Trey Williams), Baylor (OL #70 Mo Porter, OL #73 Cyril Richardson, FS #28 Orion Stewart) each have three alums. Texas (CB #21 Duke Thomas, K #9 Nick Rose) features two players. Incarnate Word (P #6 Joseph Zema), SMU (OL #57 Mason Gentry), Texas A&M-Kingsville (TE #89 Stehly Reden), UTSA (WR #80 Josh Stewart) and West Texas A&M (QB #10 Dustin Vaughan) each have one.

... AND Texas Raised

- Twenty-four (24) overall players have ties to the state. On top of the 21 active players from Texas based colleges, both former Oklahoma CB's Zack Sanchez (Fort Worth) and Jordan Thomas (Klein) as well as RB David Cobb (Killeen) all were raised and played high school football in Texas.

ALLIANCE SHINES in OPENING WEEKEND

- The opening night featured two CBS primetime games in San Antonio and Orlando that received a 2.1 market rating, beating ESPN/ABC's NBA Primetime game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets.

- At one point on opening night, The Alliance was responsible for 11 of the top 20 trending topics on Twitter.

- After the opening weekend The Alliance's groundbreaking app was the No. 1 sports app in both the Google Play and Apple app stores. The app had 125,000 active users competing in The Alliance's fantasy football game.

Woodside's Production

- After being named the starting quarterback just 36 hours before the first snap, Logan Woodside led the Commanders to the first win in organization history in week 1. The former MAC Offensive Player of the Year was clutch when his team needed him to be. As the third quarter came to close in a tie game, Woodside dropped back and found Alonzo Moore for a 46-yard completion to move San Antonio to the Fleet's 1-yard line. On the next play, Kenneth Farrow II would find his way into the end zone for the first TD in team history. He finished the game with 255 yards on 18-36 passing, no TDs and 2 INTs.

- Woodside followed up his 255-yard week one performance with 223 yards and a TD in the week two loss to Orlando. Woodside has thrown for the second most yards in the Alliance (478) and will look to continue that trend in San Diego.

Wonderful ward jr.

- After an impressive training camp and week of practice, quarterback turned receiver, Greg Ward Jr., was highlighted by multiple publications as someone to watch heading into the first game. Ward Jr. delivered as the former Houston standout hauled in five catches for 65 yards. Ward's connection with quarterback Logan Woodside proved important, as Woodside looked Ward's way seven times in the win.

- Ward Jr. was also used as a quarterback against San Diego when he attempted a long pass to Mekale McKay on a reverse pass. McKay caught the pass wasn't able to get two feet in bounds before stepping out.

Big play mckay

- Wide receiver Mekale McKay starred under the lights in week 1. The former Cincinnati Bearcat and Dallas Cowboy demonstrated his ability to make plays on the first play of the game when he was on the receiving end of a 22-yard pass from Logan Woodside. McKay finished with a team-high 80 yards on five receptions in the victory. He was targeted by Woodside 12 times throughout the night.

- McKay continued to impress in week two when he hauled in 36 yards on just two catches. He was targeted nine times. He caught a would-be TD pass from Logan Woodside in the loss to Orlando, but the play was nullified due to a penalty

- McKay's 116 yards ranks fifth in the Alliance and his 16.6 yards per catch rank in the top 10 among receivers with five or more receptions.

But wait, there's Moore

- Alonzo Moore continued to make a name for himself against San Diego in week one as the Nebraska product made big catch after big catch en route to a game-high 26 yards per catch. Moore consistently found himself behind the Fleet secondary, but his biggest play was the 46-yard reception that set up the game's only touchdown.

Rose's up and back

- From the beginning, The Alliance officials said if a player received a contract offer from the NFL, the player's Alliance contract would be terminated, and the player would be permitted to return to The Alliance once his NFL contract was complete. Commanders kicker Nick Rose did just that in January as the Los Angeles Chargers signed the former Texas Longhorn for their AFC Divisional Round game at New England. Rose was released from his contract with the Commanders on Jan. 10, kicked off three times for the Chargers against New England on Jan. 13, was released by the Chargers on Jan. 15 and returned to the Commanders' active roster on Jan. 19.

- In the Commanders' week one win, Rose was perfect in his role as he nailed field goals from 23, 28 and 29 yards. In week two, Rose was perfect again as he connected on field goals from 37, 38 and 50 yards.

E-ROD in the end zone

- Tight end/H-back Evan Rodriguez found the end zone twice in the week two loss. He caught the Commanders' first receiving touchdown -- a 1-yard reception from Logan Woodside on the final play of the first quarter, and later caught the team's first successful 2-point conversion, also from Woodside.

The Big 12 and B1G in San Antonio

- Based on The Alliance's geographic collegiate allocation process to build its eight teams, it is no surprise that the Big 12 is the most represented collegiate conference on the Commanders' roster with 12. However, the second-most represented conference in the San Antonio locker room is the Big 10 with nine. Most schools in the B1G were unallocated to Alliance teams, meaning their players were allocated based on previous professional experience. The Commanders professional allocation from the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chief, Philadelphia Eagles and Saskatchewan Roughriders led to the nine former B1G players. (Complete roster breakdown by college is on page four.)

Prince's Unique route to football

- Wide receiver Darius Prince did not play football in college after electing to play basketball at Penn State-Beaver, then Penn State-Allegheny. Upon graduation, Prince tried for a basketball career overseas, but when that did not work, he decided to give football a shot.

- After years of work he caught on with the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks of the National Arena League. He played two seasons for the Steelhawks before getting a workout with the Philadelphia Soul in the Arena Football League. The Soul signed him and in his second AFL game, he was named the Arena Bowl XXX MVP after his nine catches for 103 yards and three touchdowns. Prince led the Soul in receiving stats with 89 catches for 1,076 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2018 before signing with Philadelphia Eagles as a member of their 90-man roster in August 2018.

Up next

- The Commanders will continue their road trip next week when they travel to Birmingham to take on the Iron on March 3. The game will be broadcast on CBSSN at 3 p.m. CT and will mark the second game in San Antonio's 4-game road trip.

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Alliance of American Football Stories from February 19, 2019


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