Deontay Wilder, Erik Surrett, McCoy Crozier, Ray Bentley, Ross Napoli
Banner Image by J.R. Lawless

A thrilling second week of SFLm action is in the books, and the Community Pick’em has been a perfect 8-0 on the season so far. If they continue in their winning ways, this week’s rankings might not change too much, but any given Wednesday! Enough expository banter, though – let’s get on with the SFLm Week 2 Power Rankings!

Rank	Team	Record (Movement)	Recap
1	Ottawa Cavalry	2-0 (-)	The Cavalry keep rolling along with a 27-6 quartering of the San Jose Flight. Despite not having standout Week 1 performer Kevin Seay on the field, the Cavalry got an efficient performance from quarterback Javier Vasquez with a 64 percent completion rating on 39 attempts. On defense, strong safety Shaud Allen had an interception and 2 tackles. The Cavalry are headed to Boise in a Week 3 match-up that should prove to be a defensive struggle.
2	Albuquerque Atoms	2-0 (-)	The Atoms snuck up on the confident Annapolis Navigators and ground out a gutsy defensive battle to become the 2nd team in this week’s power rankings. Quarterback PJ Slaughter completed 79.92 percent of his passes with one touchdown on the day. On the other side of the ball, defensive tackle Tina Begin recorded 4 combined tackles and all were for a loss. The Atoms visit the Birmingham Fuel in Week 3.
3	Annapolis Navigators	1-1 (-)	Last week, Annapolis was praised for their strong offensive display. Of course, no way to follow up a 31 point game with a mighty 7 point production the next week. Unfortunately the Navigators found themselves a single touchdown in the later part of the second quarter. Then, in the second half of the game, the Navigators found themselves with four punts and two turnovers on downs. Generally, the first road game of the season throws off the offenses of a team, so Annapolis gets placed at the top half of the league, given one more week to prove that they can put together a cohesive team against their 1-1 counterparts at home.
4	Boise Mud Dogs	1-1 (-)	If Boise wants to see the success in Week 3 that they did on the road against Birmingham, the defense needs to continue doing what it is doing. The Boise front seven showed some brilliance in stopping the run and gave flashes of strong QB pressure, and while they only got one sack, I think the defensive backers of Boise need to do a better job keeping the back of the field covered before the defense gets more QB sacks as a whole. Offensively, Boise put out a massive improvement from a 6 point game last week, and the arm of Spencer Gordon impresses in power and clutch (at times) but lacks some basic fundamentals. Overall, still a lot of sloppy points in Boise, but impressive promise with good coaching and player development. Look to see if several key positions improve at home against Ottawa.
5	San Jose Flight	1-1 (-)	The San Jose Flight dropped their Week 2 hame vs The Ottawa Cavalry, in a game of two different halves of play. The Flight trailed by 1 point going into the half after a tight battle, but the 2nd half adjustments for the Cavalry were too much as the Flight surrendered 20 points to fall 27-6. The offense sputtered all game but the defense was led by Linebacker Devin King with 11 tackles, 1 sack and 1 tackle for loss. The Flight look to get back on track Week 3 in their match-up against the 0-2 Madison Lynx.
6	Lincoln Rattlesnakes	1-1 (-)	The Lincoln Rattlesnakes squeaked out a close one in their Week 2 match-up against the winless Madison Lynx. Although Madison seemed to control the time of possession in this one, the Rattlesnakes defense held strong when needed and were able to thwart a few of Madison’s lengthy drives. Lincoln QB Bryant Dynasty led the Rattlesnakes to victory in this one with 16 completions on 29 attempts, throwing for 182 yards and 1 touchdown, as well as 1 interception.
7	Madison Lynx	0-2 (-)	In a low scoring, but close game in Week 2, the Madison Lynx couldn’t take the victory against the Rattlesnakes. The team could’ve worked slightly better on offense as RB Katherine Horrell carried the ball 18 times for a total of 34 yards. However on defense, players like CB Leo Jefferson shined with 6 tackles and 3 assists. In Week 3, the Lynx will travel to San Jose to take on the Flight in the nighttime game.
8	Birmingham Fuel	0-2 (-)	Birmingham walked out of Week 2 with a tough loss to the Boise Mud Dogs. Although taking a loss, the Fuel banked a total of 243 passing yards, as QB Ben Stone threw the ball 42 times, completing 28 of those throws. The Fuel will host the now top-ranked Albuquerque Atoms this Wednesday afternoon.