While the first week of the USFL Season is in the books, week two is already off and running. There were some excellent opening games this past weekend, including our Pittsburgh Maulers’ disappointing but well-played loss to the New Orleans Breakers.
It was a learning experience for first-year head coach Ray Horton, who is already bringing a tougher style of play and coaching to a Maulers team who had the worst record in the league last year at 1-9.
Let’s take a look at how the Maulers can improve their record this season.
New Attitude
While the game still resulted in a loss and an 0-1 start to the year, new head coach Ray Horton is bringing a more aggressive culture and is changing the attitude in how the Maulers play week-week.
He made sure to retain his son Jarren Horton as the team’s defensive coordinator, as the team looks like it is still going to be one of the league’s top defenses, just like last year.
A little ✨razzle dazzle✨ to get us started pic.twitter.com/E8zfH9t35W
— Pittsburgh Maulers (@USFLMaulers) April 16, 2023
At the beginning of the game, when the Maulers received the ball at the coin toss, they made sure to be ready right out of the gate with an opening reverse on the kickoff return, which gave them great field position to start.
On their first three offensive plays, they took three long deep passes down the field from new starting quarterback James Morgan, but they all fell incomplete.
The drive only led to a field goal, but right from the start, this felt like a different Maulers team from the one last year. The bottom line is Ray Horton is not going to be Kirby Wilson.
New Culture
After all those cool plays were run, I reflected back and thought of Brian Daboll’s first game as the head coach of the NY Giants. He decided to go for the two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter against the Tennessee Titans, and they won the game 21-20.
That win set the tone for the rest of their season, and it led to New York’s first playoff appearance since the 2016 regular season.
They also won their first playoff game in a first-round upset over the three-seeded Minnesota Vikings back in January, which led to Daboll winning “NFL Coach of the Year.”
Pittsburgh Maulers HC Ray Horton – Jason Miller/USFL/Getty Images
Now that the Maulers lost their first game under Horton as head coach, that does not mean that they aren’t capable of winning enough games to turn their season around for Horton to win USFL coach of the year. Remember, the USFL is a league of opportunity.
Missed Opportunities
The Maulers had plenty of chances to win the game in the final quarter, but unfortunately, they could not capitalize on opportunistic times. On fourth and goal from the one, running back Garrett Gorshek was stopped at the 1-yard line, which led to a turnover on downs.
The Maulers could only muster 156 total yards with no touchdowns on nine drives. New starting quarterback James Morgan was 6-of-15 for 58 yards and looks like he can be their permanent starter on his journey back to the NFL.
Former Utah Utes Quarterback Troy Williams (3) – Kelly L. Cox/USA TODAY Sports
Backup dual-threat quarterback Troy Williams was 4-of-12 for 23 yards and is great on scrambling and option plays. Sadly, kicker Nathan Hierlihy missed a couple of clutch field goals, but to give him the benefit of the doubt, he was dealing with a nagging leg injury after he was roughed up after missing a key field goal late in the fourth quarter.
The first TD of the @USFLMaulers season goes to the…..DEFENSE ?? pic.twitter.com/x7ZGHlkLW6
— USFL (@USFL) April 16, 2023
Defense
The defense was the strength of the team. One of the two touchdowns of the game came from a former big name from the NFL.
Linebacker Ruben Foster, originally from the San Francisco 49ers, forced a fumble in the end zone, and Kyahva Tezino recovered it for a touchdown to give the Maulers a 9-6 lead.
They went for two points with backup quarterback Troy Williams, but the two-point try was no good.
It was a very competitive game and defensive coordinator Jarren Horton definitely had his defense ready for anything headed their way.
Going Forward
What I would like to see improvement on for next week’s game is consistency on the offense and to see the Maulers score their first offensive touchdown drive in week two.
The (0-1) Maulers will now head home to play their first home game at Tom Benson Stadium in Canton, Ohio. They will take on Mike Riley and the (0-1) New Jersey Generals on Sunday, Apr. 23, @ 12:00 pm est.
Here is a look at the rest of the 2023 Pittsburgh Maulers Schedule:
Pittsburgh Maulers 2023 Schedule
