1955 Season Preview

 

1 - Chicago Hogs
1954 Record: 8-2 (1st West)
1954 Result: Won Championship
 

Despite the retirement of longtime quarterback Alfred Walton, the Hogs are still expected to dominate the AFL. Second-year quarterback Nathan Aldenburg has big shoes to fill, but the pressure of filling the starting role will be eased by a certain running back and a stout defense.The Hogs have learned from last year and added running back Arthur Busch to help reigning MVP Billy Gould with short-yardage situations and when Gould cannot carry the offense by himself. Second-year defensive lineman Benjamin Walkins, Jr. has formed an incredible duo with fellow defensive lineman Eric Forbes, and they will be a threat to offensive lines for years to come. Chicago should be expected to win the new West Division, gaining two games against both Cleveland and Detroit and only having to play a single game against Washington. The West Division will be a three-horse race, but Chicago has the experience to win the division once again. Their main weakness lies in the secondary, with only two starters having any starts prior to this year (DB Clarence Newman and S Jeffery Irwin). To get the bye in the expanded playoffs, the Hogs simply need to continue their success from last year and not give their opponents too much time to exploit their young secondary.

2 - Cincinnati Rivermen
1954 Record: 5-5 (3rd West)
1954 Result: Missed Playoffs
 

Another year, another season with high expectations for the Rivermen. Cincinnati managed to go 5-5 in a very competitive West Division last year without star WR Alfred Dunn, and a fully healthy team will go toe-to-toe with the Hogs for the division title. Their offense is the best in the league; QB Lester Parker is arguably the best at his position, they have the best 1-2 punch at RB with Perry Ferguson and Billy Garcia, and a top-5 WR in Dunn. Their defense is also one of the best in the league. They might not have the starpower compared to Chicago outside of DB Kerry Lantz, DC Dan Manning knows how to manage a unit to its fullest potential. All they have to do now is live up to the expectations placed upon them for the past half decade. They’ve fallen short to Washington the past 2 years in the last week of the season, but this season they get the Feds in week 1. They’ve fallen short of expectations since losing to Chicago in the West Play-off in 1952, and they’re out for revenge without Washington to pull the rug out from under them at the last possible moment. As long as they’re healthy, this team will easily make the playoffs.

3 - Washington Federals
1954 Record: 7-3 (2nd West)
1954 Result: Lost West Division Play-Off
 

Washington may have just lucked out in the realignment. They will move to the East in exchange for Cleveland and Detroit moving westward, and have the perfect conditions for them to dominate. The new East now includes two expansion teams in Boston and New York and two teams that constantly got in their own way last year in Buffalo and Pittsburgh. And to add on top of that, they won’t have to play Chicago and Cincinnati 4 times a year. With Johnnie Sellers at the helm commanding players like RB Rip Rooney and WR’s Joseph Atkins and Darius Sanderson, they’re nearly unstoppable. Their defense is full of young talent, with players like S Josh von Bank, LB Howard Treadaway, DB Johnathan Moon, and DL’s Robert Stanton and Daley Norris anchoring one of the league’s best starting units. Their main issue stems from their lack of depth. Their team is relatively top-heavy, and any major injuries will hamper their ability to go far past the regular season. They haven’t had major injury issues in the past, so they will hopefully avoid that caveat and cruise to an East Division title.

4 - Cleveland Crows
1954 Record: 6-4 (1st East)
1954 Result: Lost Championship
 

Cleveland knew they were in some trouble when they would be slotted in the West, and they made perhaps the biggest trade of the offseason to acquire DL Ralph Rogers from Tri-Cities to keep up with their new division foes. They were only 1 year removed from blowing up their old core, and then won the final two games last season to clinch their first East Division title.  Third-year QB Denzel Collingsworth truly came into his own last year, especially with options on offense like WR’s Joey Staniskovski and Jerry O’Keefe and the next-best RB after Billy Gould in Max Panders at his disposal. The Crows now have two big issues if they want to compete for their second straight division title. The first is now being in a division with a juggernaut in Chicago, a constant threat in Cincinnati, and an underachieving-but-nippy team in Tri-Cities. The second issue they now face is what every miracle team has to face in the year after: following up on their run to sustained success. Their core is very young, and losing OC Vincent Merritt to Buffalo might be detrimental to their success. However, if last year proved anything, they are a competitive team under HC Ike Schwann and will continue to fight tooth and nail for a playoff berth.

5 - Pittsburgh Shamrocks
1954 Record: 4-6 (3rd East)
1954 Result: Missed Playoffs
 

The Shamrocks had a truly disappointing season last year, failing to follow up upon a championship berth with a sub-.500 season and missed the postseason entirely. Pittsburgh fans placed the blame on first-year starting QB O.J. DeMille, who struggled to run an offense with few viable options. They have attempted to remedy the situation by bringing in a new OC, Barry Edwards from the perennially potent Chicago Christian. In the running game, RB Paul Barker is ready to take on the majority of carries from longtime starter Marion Waters, who struggled to end the season and is now going to split carries with Barker for the time being. The road to Pittsburgh’s success though, runs through their defense. It wasn’t in the same form as it was when they entered the league, but it is enough to take them far. Players like DL’s Roy Forbes and Archie Webber, LB’s Barry Moore and Alex Lee, and secondary threats such as DB Jerry Pruitt and S Raymond Walters are all ready to shut down any opposing offenses coming their way. They’ll be fighting with Buffalo and the two expansion teams for two playoff spots, and if they can play anywhere to the potential they were at two years ago, then they should have a relatively solid path to the postseason. They just have to improve upon from last year and meet those expectations once again.

6 - Buffalo Hammers
1954 Record: 5-5 (2nd East)
1954 Result: Lost East Division Play-Off
 

Buffalo is in a similar predicament to their twin Pittsburgh; most of their core that brought them to the playoffs is beginning to age. Reigning ROTY winner QB Brendan Turnbull did bring some youth to one of the oldest teams in the league, but many are skeptical of the Hammers seeing how they dropped 4 out of their 5 last games played including a loss to the Crows in the playoffs. Most of their key contributors to their 1948 NYPL title run are either beginning to decline or have already retired, leaving them in a state of transition. They still have a couple of veterans mostly on defense leading the charge, with DL Ray Payne, DB Joe Merritt, and S Jacob Dolan as the main contributors. RB Calvin Townsend is another one of the Hammers’ core veteran players, but he is 29 this season and is planning on sharing snaps at the position. Still, there is some youth ready and able to compete for the playoffs. Turnbull now has two young WR’s to throw to in this year’s first round pick Justin Harris and 1953 3rd rounder Harry Chilton emerging as receiving targets. On the defensive side, DB Rogelio Amos is quickly proving himself as one of the top secondary players in the league in only his 2nd season, and 2nd rounder DL Martin Stark could be a threat if the Hammers know how to manage him correctly. They should challenge for a playoff spot in a fairly weak division.

7 - Boston Dragons
1954 Record: -
1954 Result: -
 

The Dragons seem like they want to be competitive right out of the gate. One of their first actions as a franchise was to acquire WR Lloyd Lawson from the Knights to have a top target for their QB for the near future. They would be a shoo-in if they acquired other stars in the expansion draft, but mostly took unproven backups and are attempting to mold them into starting-caliber players. QB Adrian Alfonso won the battle for the starting position in the offseason over longtime starter Dave Spencer, has not a single start to his name since being drafted in 1952 by the Hammers. Their RB core of Pete Abbott and Jim Riggs were both forced out of the starting position in Cincinnati and Tri-Cities, respectively, so their production will be reliant on whether or not they can return to starting form. Their defense as well is a hodge-podge, consisting of former NEFL stars (DL Ralph Stark and DB Jim Downs), and AFL fringe starters (LB Killian Graves, S Carl Allyn, and DB Lynn Sharp) and backups. The Dragons could play up to their potential if all of the team performs to their strengths, and could potentially sneak into the playoffs if the other teams in the East cannibalize one another for the remaining two playoff spots. Even in their first season, the Dragons could be dark horses in a fairly weak East.

8 - Tri-Cities Hawks
1954 Record: 2-8 (4th West)
1954 Result: Missed Playoffs
 

The Hawks realistically have one more shot at making the postseason with their current core before handing off their future to #3 overall pick Rocco Vanthourenhout. Their offense is still as potent as ever, with a RB combo of Brian Bruce and Spike Roosevelt and WR tandem of John McLean and Max Ausloos at the disposal of whoever is the QB. The Hawks don’t want to rush Vanthourenhout out too quickly, but if starting QB Gilbert Clay continues to struggle like he had done last season then they’ll have no other option. One reason as to why the Hawks were sluggish on the offensive front was their offensive line, which has regressed into one of the worst in the league. The Hawks also have another hurdle with their players if they want to compete: they traded away arguably the best defensive linemen in the league, Ralph Rogers, and don’t have anyone to immediately make an impact in his absence. They replaced a majority of their defense as well, patching up by signing a mixture of NEFL and NYPL players that didn’t want to play in the minor league. Their future outlook may be mixed, and they’ll just have to power through an extremely tough West if they want to even have a chance at making the playoffs, or else the Hawks may just have to completely rebuild.

9 - Detroit Knights
1954 Record: 3-7 (4th East)
1954 Result: Missed Playoffs
 

The first year in the Terry Kadlec era was a major disappointment. A team with the weapons at his disposal should be able to win games; RB Jesse Brown finished third for rookie of the year and seems to be the lead back for the future and was paired with a killer tandem of WR’s in Lloyd Lawson and Paul Kent. That perfect pairing came tumbling down last season when Kadlec proved ineffective at worst and average at best while at the helm of the Knights. Lane was so upset with Kadlec’s game that he nearly got into a fight with Kadlec, and was later benched and traded to Boston where he could thrive. The Knights seem like they are going all-in on Kadlec, which is a problem if both Mick Casey, this year’s 3rd round selection, and Mike Major, a 5th round pick from last year, are outperforming him in training camp. Maybe it was just his first year and needed to get acclimated to the league, but if Kadlec underperforms yet again his job is in jeopardy. Their defense may also be another culprit as to why they might not be good this year, sporting one of the worst front sevens in the league. They have a few solid players in the secondary (S Charlie Fischer and DB Arnold Wolf), but they won’t be enough if everyone can slip through the trenches. Unless Detroit makes a drastic change under center, they will be near the bottom of the league for the 5th year in a row.

10 - New York Lions
1954 Record: -
1954 Result: -
 

The New York Lions might be a good team, eventually. They’re in no position to compete for a championship in the near future, but are gearing up for a future where they can. They’re in a similar situation to Boston, as they primarily took younger, more inexperienced players in order to flesh out their team. The Lions did manage to acquire RB Jeffery Spears from the Hogs after a resurgent season, so he’ll be managing the carries along with RB Bernard Parks for what should be a relatively solid tandem. They also acquired QB Roy Woodward, the now-disgraced former starting QB from Detroit who was cast off due to allegedly poor play. He’ll have a chance to revitalize his career with Spears, who he played with for 6 years. They know Woodward and Spears are a stop gap while they develop talent elsewhere, so they’ll be leaning on them to move the offense along. On defense, 1st overall pick LB Duane Ackerman has proven he is the best player on that side of the ball, which could either mean he is that good or the rest of the defense is not as good. The Lions have some moxie and something to prove, and it won’t be easy for the rest of the league to believe they can just walk over them.