By: Mike T Bell
As the Birmingham Stallions hoisted the first ever UFL Championship Trophy, the UFL season came to an official end. Birmingham also ended the Michigan Panthers season in the USFL Conference Championship. It was a season of many trials and tribulations for the Panthers as they battled several injuries, including big injuries to two starting QBs. They would also lose 2023 USFL leading rusher Wes Hills and promising young QB Bryce Perkins in the week 10 finale. Several other key contributors would spend time on the inactive list throughout the season. One thing is certain, Coach of the Year Mike Nolan had his team ready to compete and fight each and every week until the last whistle. The Michigan Panthers have a lot to hang their hat on this season. In addition to Coach of the Year, the Panthers Breeland Speaks won Defensive Player of the Year and the team received the most All-UFL selections. Who could forget standout Kicker of the Year Jake Bates? Bates dazzled his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame with his Week 1 game winning 64 yard field goal. While the season didn’t end up the way the Panthers wanted, it was certainly a season to remember. Let’s take a look through the season as we remember an unforgettable first year of the UFL for the Michigan Panthers.
Week 1 started off with a bang, or should we say a boot, as Jake Bates kicked his way into stardom with a game winning 64 yard field goal. While the Panthers set out to search for an identity, they quickly found that they had a very stout defense as AJ McCarron faced a heavy pass rush all game and gushed over the front 4 in the post game press conference. Jake Bates was the talk of the town, the internet and even made the Pat McAfee Show the very next week. It was a great start for the league as they sought to find some roots in football fans’ hearts.
Week 2 would see a rivalry renewed as the Panthers played back to back USFL champion Birmingham Stallions. The defense held the Stallions to two initial field goals as EJ Perry found Marcus Simms for a 76 yard bomb where Reel Analytics tracked Simms’ speed at a staggering 21.5mph! Unfortunately, the Panthers could not get any offense going other than a few big plays. They still had a shot to tie the game on the last drive but would fall short. The Stallions used both Corral and Martinez in a game where Martinez started his ascent to QB1. The Panthers would ultimately lose and go 1-1 on their record.
Week 3, the Houston Roughnecks would hope to right their season. Star running back Mark Thompson was still out due to injury and the Roughnecks were on their second QB in Reid Sinnett as Jarrett Guarantano was out with injury. Caleb Hennie dazzled in the return game, consistently putting the Roughnecks in good field position on the Panthers side of the field. The defense held strong and the offense was able to produce 34 points in EJ Perry’s finest game as a pro. He had 3 total touchdowns and was 16 of 19 passing. Thanks to a Kedrick Whitehead punt block and Kai Nacua interception the Panthers would move to 2-1 on the season in a 34-20 victory.
Week 4 proved to be a tough test as the Panthers went on the road for the first time this season to play in the AlamoDome against San Antonio. The Brahmas lost MVP caliber QB Chase Garbers to injury and would be starting spring league notable Quinten Dormady. Dormady dissected the Collin Bauer led defense and finished with 23 for 37 for 269 yards and a touchdown. EJ Perry struggled all game with the Brahmas pass rush and left the game with a leg injury that would put him on the IR for the rest of the regular season. Danny Etling came in for relief and looked great but it wasn’t enough to come back. Siaosi Mariner would also start making a name for himself with some key first down grabs and would prove to be a diamond pickup by GM Steve Kazor. Marcus Simms added to his big play total with a 41 yard touchdown reception. Ultimately, the Panthers fell to the Brahmas 19-9 to go 2-2 on the season.
Week 5 the Panthers headed to Memphis as Danny Etling made his first start. The Panthers started off fast scoring 13 points in the first quarter. Wes Hills racked up 3 rushing touchdowns and the defense tallied 7 sacks as the Panthers looked their best all season up until this point.
Week 6, Luis Perez and the Arlington Renegades would come to Ford Field. Perez looked his usual legendary self as he looked in complete control of the game until the final whistle. However, Jake Bates would add to his star studded story by kicking a walk off field goal for the win.
Week 7, the Panthers would get to see the UFL culture in full swing as they traveled to DC to face the Defenders and see the infamous beer snake up close and personal. The Defenders would struggle with the Panthers pass rush as Breeland Speaks knocked Jordan Ta’Amu out of the game with a monster sack. Francois would also get injured and the Defenders found themselves with their Emergency QB McClendon trying to make a comeback. The Panthers would leave town with a 22-9 victory and a 3 game winning streak.
Week 8 would be back at Memphis to face a former foe from the Pittsburgh Mauler’s championship in Troy Williams. Besides an end of half, blown coverage 72 yard touchdown pass to Daewood Davis, the Panthers would continue to be in complete control of the game and cement themselves into playoff position against the Stallions. Bryce Perkins established himself as the goto QB as the Panthers got closer to the playoffs.
Week 9 would finish up the Roughnecks series as the Panthers went to Houston. The Roughnecks would play a lot of young QB Nolan Henderson. Unfortunately, the Roughnecks racked up several costly penalties and the coaching staff seemed to struggle with communication by losing a timeout on a costly super challenge. The Panthers would prevail as Brian Lewerke and Bryce Perkins would continue the Panthers superb play. Many fans called for Bryce Perkins to sit after this game to stay healthy for the impending Stallions playoff game.
Week 10 the Michigan Panthers (7-2) traveled to Birmingham (8-1) knowing they would be back the very next week in the USFL Conference Championship. The fanbase united in favor of Bryce Perkins who shined the previous three weeks with his accuracy and his running ability. No one knew what Coach Nolan would decide to do with his QB situation. However, he chose Danny Etling to start Week 10 and promised the second half to Bryce. Danny dazzled in the first half and the Panthers looked dominant on defense and attacked fast on offense. Adrian Martinez struggled to get a pass off as the Panthers had 4 first half sacks. The Stallions defense looked all out of sorts as they transitioned to their new DC Corey Chamblain. With a 16-3 first half lead, the Panthers looked to be the better team going into the playoffs. However, Skip Holtz would right the ship and get the Stallions back on track as they stifled the Panthers pass rush the entire second half. After getting injured on a run where he hurdled the defender, Bryce Perkins would take a helmet to the knee cap and would eventually learn that would end his season. Danny Etling would come back in but the Stallions defense came together and held the Panthers to just 3 second half points. Birmingham would escape Week 10 with the victory heading into the USFL Championship but the Panthers would earn their respect.
The USFL Championship was back at Birmingham as Danny Etling was firmly the starter with Bryce Perkins out with injury. It was notable that EJ Perry was back on the active list as the Emergency QB. The Panthers would start off the first half the same way they did in Week 10 and go into half with an 18-12 lead as everything seemed to be going right for the Panthers. Jake Bates kicked 4 first half field goals but missed on one before the half. While the Panthers were scoring every possession, you couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t enough to only get field goals. Points were important but at some point, you knew the Stallions offense and defense would wake up and start putting points on the board. The second half proved that prophecy true. The greatest quarter in pro football happened as each team turned the ball over a total of 6 times. At one point, there were 3 straight turnovers on 3 straight plays two different times. In addition, there were 3 three and outs as well. The Rock made a short cameo on TV with one of those turnovers happening in the background. The tide officially turned when Skip Holtz took out the eventually named UFL MVP Adrian Martinez and put in Matt Corrall. Coach Nolan stuck with Danny Etling. Danny could not stop the bleeding and calm down and continued to produce turnovers while Corral calmed his offense down after an initial interception. The rest is history as the Stallions would score a total of 28 unanswered points and shut out the Panthers in the second half. They absolutely deserved to take home the win as they made the necessary adjustments.
The Michigan Panthers would finish their season at 7-3. As we watched the Brahmas continue the Stallions streak of scoreless quarters and get shut out in the Championship, you can’t help but wonder about all the possibilities that could have happened for the Michigan Panthers.
What would the season have looked like if EJ Perry never got hurt against the Brahmas?
I would argue the offense finally started to click once EJ Perry went down with the injury. Danny finished that game strong and continued strong play for the next couple weeks until he went down with an injury. EJ struggled from the start of the season as he forced passes into tight windows and his internal play clock was not in sync with the pass rush for the first handful of weeks. He often took too many sacks and with several 3rd and long situations, the run game could never get going.
What would the season have looked like if Danny Etling never got hurt?
After Danny took over for EJ, the offense looked dominant. We finally looked like a full team. After he went down with his left hand injury, Bryce Perkins simply outshined him. Danny struggled with rust and could not finish off the Stallions in Week 10 after building a first half lead. He started off strong in the Conference Championship but after several turnovers in a row, the Panthers fell too far behind. It’s worth wondering if he never got hurt, could he have carried that momentum all the way to the championship.
Would we have beat the Stallions if Wes Hills stayed healthy?
Matthew Colburn burst onto the scene this season in tandem with Wes Hills. He was the perfect compliment to the up the middle ground and pound that Wes can provide. Nate McCrary was a great fill in for Wes but I don’t think teams feared him the same way they did with Wes.
Could we have won the Championship if the rest of our team stayed healthy?
In addition to our offensive leaders struggling with injuries, several defensive leaders lost their seasons to injury as well as some losing a handful of games. One of those leaders is Frank Ginda. Frank was the 2023 USFL DPOY and one of the most important pieces to the defensive unit. Dawkins and Javin White did a great job in place of Ginda, but it makes you wonder how much more he could have given to the team. The Panthers also never got a chance to see 2022 star Levi Bell return to the team as he was recently released by the Seahawks. In a freak accident in pre game warmups, Levi’s season would come to an end as well. Noah Dawkins and Kai Nacua would also ride the inactive list with concussion issues. One thing you can say about both squads in the Championship game, they had most or all of their stars available to play. Â
The biggest What-If of all is what if Bryce Perkins slid on that first down instead of hurdle?
Bryce Perkins was an absolute star for this team in the handful of weeks he played with Danny out to injury. While he shared time with Brian Lewerke, Bryce would take the fanbase by storm with his ability to find receivers over the middle and extend drives with his running ability. He reminded me so much of Josh Allen the way defenders would bounce off of him trying to tackle him. The hope going into Week 10 was he would sit so the Stallions couldn’t get used to playing him. What if he didn’t try to hurdle the defender that ended his season? What if he chose to slide? I firmly believe Bryce Perkins would have led the Michigan Panthers to the Championship and taken the MVP trophy from Tom Brady’s hands.
Unfortunately, all of these scenarios will never matter to the 2024 UFL season. The Birmingham Stallions won the Championship trophy and absolutely deserved everything they accomplished. The Michigan Panthers made a lot of progress this season in all facets of the game. They battled the worst of injuries, they found an identity and they played as a team all season long. Each week they battled until the last whistle. Each coach they faced mentioned how tough and together a team the Panthers were and they earned the league’s respect.
