[Elvis]

https://aaf.com/news/polian-on-alliance ... l-football

Polian on Alliance: ‘real football for real football fans’
By Howard Balzer / The Alliance

Bill Polian has been around pro football for more than 40 years: In the NFL, the CFL, the USFL and now as co-founder and head of football for The Alliance.

Now, as the league prepares for a weekend of crucial games that will mark the halfway point of the regular season, even the ever-optimistic six-time NFL Executive of the Year and Pro Football Hall of Famer is pinching himself over what has been accomplished in such a short time.

During a national conference call Wednesday, Polian said: “The numbers have surpassed anything we believed were remotely even possible during this brand-new endeavor. It’s been a huge success, and it continues to grow. We’re holding the ratings, which is something other leagues have not done.

“We have a lot of people around the country that are not just in the local markets but also around the country that are very interested. We’re really positive about the direction we’re going, and all the credit belongs to the GMs and the coaches and the players. They have put on a tremendous show.”

Polian, first and foremost, appreciates that fans are seeing football the way it’s meant to be played.

“Our hope was that we could put a product on the field that would be real football by real football people for real football fans,” Polian said. “No gimmicks, no out of this world kind of promotional blaze and things like that. Yes, we have some different rules than the NFL, but it looks basically the same. The thing that is so gratifying is that these guys play as hard as can be all the time. These are hard-hitting games. This is professional football.”

He went on to explain that the The Alliance teams essentially are next-level versions of national championship contending college rosters, but arguably better, with NFL prospects at every position.

“These guys are men playing professional football,” Polian said. “We hoped that would be the case, but you never know until you finally see it. I think the fans have seen that from Day 1. They’ve seen the intensity, they’ve seen the physicality, they’ve seen the competitiveness and that’s what we were striving to try and present. You never know until you snap the ball, but man, it’s been gratifying.”

In a 10-game regular season, every matchup has high stakes. Week 5 features all in-conference matchups. In the Eastern Conference, the 4-0 Orlando Apollos visit the 3-1 Birmingham Iron on Saturday afternoon (televised on TNT), while the Memphis Express and Atlanta Legends, both 1-3 after winning for the first time last weekend, will try to keep positive momentum going on CBS Sports Network on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.

The Western Conference has three teams tied at 2-2 -- the Arizona Hotshots, San Antonio Commanders and San Diego Fleet -- one game ahead of the Salt Lake Stallions. Saturday night, Salt Lake visits San Diego and on Sunday night, Arizona plays host to San Antonio. Both of those games are in prime time on NFL Network.

Noting the showdown in the Eastern Conference, Polian said, “We have two good teams (with one) that has a high-powered offense (Orlando) versus a dominant defense (Birmingham). It’s everything you want in a football game, so I’m pretty excited about seeing that.”

Commanders general manager Daryl Johnston, who participated with Polian in the conference call, also is bullish on what The Alliance has accomplished out of the gate.

Johnston said: “I think the fact that you’re holding the ratings shows that you’re moving beyond the curiosity factor of ‘Hey, let me see what this is about’ to now an appreciation factor for the game and the style on the field.”

Johnston, initially on the fence about eliminating kickoffs, is convinced that innovations introduced in The Alliance have been both logical and well received. “I really didn’t miss the kickoff as much as I thought I would and (have heard) that same response from the fans,” he said. “It helps us with the pace of play. To be able to get the game done in as close as 2:30 as possible, I think the fans appreciate that.

“The people involved in building this really listened to what the fans had to say, and they implemented some things they thought were good. Being able to have coaches mic’d up to being brought into the locker rooms postgame and pregame, you really feel like you’re a part of some of the plays that are happening during the game. So, I think some of the things that we’ve done that might be non-traditional have been some things that the fans have enjoyed.”

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Howard Balzer is a national writer for The Alliance of American Football. He is in his 43rd year covering professional football and is a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Super Bowl LIII was his 39th. Follow him on Twitter @HBalzer721.

[dieterbrock]

Looks like Luis Perez bubble has burst...
Throws his 1st TD pass of the season, unfortunately it’s to the other team....

[RedAlice]

Forgot about the Fleet game!

Thanks for the link Zen, can catch Q4.

You watching it Dieter?

[Zen_Ronin]

Looks like Luis Perez bubble has burst...
Throws his 1st TD pass of the season, unfortunately it’s to the other team....

Was he pulled for Price then? When I finally tuned in Price was at QB and I had no idea where Perez was.

[Zen_Ronin]

Great win by the Fleet tonight. Like Red I missed most of the game and only saw the 4th. Thought it was on tomorrow.

[moklerman]

Dang, I missed a good 2nd half to the Fleet game. Was watching up until the middle of the 3rd but had to leave. Fleet D on fire with turnovers and TD's today. Marmie's group has actually been pretty good at turning the ball over all year. Bercovici had some good and bad and overall, looked a little rusty to me. Accuracy and timing was a big inconsistent but made the huge throw at the end. So far, I still like Nelson better. The Fleet score TD's on offense with him and that's saying something in the AAF. Most of the teams still struggle to get the ball in the end zone on offense.

Wanted to see the Orlando game too but was too busy at work. The one comment I heard made it sound like Gilbert had another good game.

[dieterbrock]

Was he pulled for Price then? When I finally tuned in Price was at QB and I had no idea where Perez was.

Yeah, Perez was awful. After the 1st game of the year his game has gotten gradually worse.

[dieterbrock]

Dang, I missed a good 2nd half to the Fleet game. Was watching up until the middle of the 3rd but had to leave. Fleet D on fire with turnovers and TD's today. Marmie's group has actually been pretty good at turning the ball over all year. Bercovici had some good and bad and overall, looked a little rusty to me. Accuracy and timing was a big inconsistent but made the huge throw at the end. So far, I still like Nelson better. The Fleet score TD's on offense with him and that's saying something in the AAF. Most of the teams still struggle to get the ball in the end zone on offense.
Wanted to see the Orlando game too but was too busy at work. The one comment I heard made it sound like Gilbert had another good game.

Yeah, Nelson is the better qb. I think at one point Berc threw 10 straight incompletions. At one point late in the 1st, he was 16/25. He finished 22/43 which means he went thru a 6/18 stretch. He did have a nice throw to lead to the game winner.
Fun game to watch.
Next week we get the struggling Iron. Ought to be a good one

[moklerman]

AAF website still a little wonky when it comes to stats. Was looking to see how Philip Nelson's numbers compared to the other Fleet QB's and he doesn't seem to be listed on the overall QB stat board. Bercavici and Ross are both there but not Nelson. Wikipedia had his numbers but they sure didn't reflect how I thought he was playing. His accuracy and timing seem a lot better to me but his numbers don't really reflect it.

[moklerman]

Yeah, Nelson is the better qb. I think at one point Berc threw 10 straight incompletions. At one point late in the 1st, he was 16/25. He finished 22/43 which means he went thru a 6/18 stretch. He did have a nice throw to lead to the game winner.
Fun game to watch.
Next week we get the struggling Iron. Ought to be a good one

I only got to see the highlights but Price seems to be an upgrade at QB for them. Strange that Perez would struggle more with more playing time but maybe teams have caught on to his weaknesses? In any case, the Iron may be a tougher team now with Price in at QB.