DOGS LOOK GOOD IN BUFFALO

The Hound Dogs were up in Buffalo, N.Y. to play the Bills in a preseason game. On the first play from scrimmage, punter converted to SS Larry Sylvester picked off Bills QB Chris Redman. It was an unexpected play but the guy may earn a spot on the team.
Vroman drove the offense 50 yards and scored on a Prosser 12 yard catch. MEM 7-0.
Then on the next series Memphis had an 11 play 71 yard drive that was finished with a Burgess FG. 10-0.
Buffalo then had a FG drive of their own, a 32 yarder.

Vroman then connected with R WR John Johnson for his first pro TD, a 24 yard grab. MEM 17-3. Burgess made it 20-3 at the hlf.

Then the backups came in, they did not look good at first but once they got over their jitters they performed well. Wymore settled in and hit Vu for a 75 yard TD pass and another of 11 yards. Memphis won 34-3.

Memphis had 464 yards, 142 rush and 322 pass.

Vroman 9/13 159 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT. Wymore 6/10 163 yads, 2 Td, 0 Int. WR Vu 4/93, 2 TD, RB Adams 19/59 yards. The rookie Hoadley saw some action 14 carries for 39 yards.

Asbury led the d with 5 tackles, 2 sacks. The Dogs had 9 sacks, and 2 picks.

The Hound Dogs now will be in Elvis Aaron Pressley Memorial Dome next week to play Miami. It was a good showing for this years team and we hope the good play continues.

HOUND DOGS BEAT MIAMI IN HOME OPENER

EAP Memorial Dome was the site for the second pre season game for the Hound Dogs and they were taking on the Miami Dolphins. Tom Vroman connected with Souders on a 40 yard pass and Memphis was up 7-0.
The Dolphins put up 3 FG's before halftime and took a 9-7 lead into the break.

In the 3rd quarter Miami scored a TD, it was the first given up by this patchwork defense so far in the season. Then the Memphis backup Wymore got in sync and started hitting his favorite WR John Johnson. The pair connected for a 44 yarder and a 64 yarder. That was enough to put the game into the home teams hands and send the supporters home happy with a 37-22 win.

Memphis had 507 total yards, 81 running and 426 pass. Johnson caught 4/131 with 2 TD's, Souders 5/129 2 TD's, Frank Sylvester 4/101 and a TD. The Memphis receivers are pretty talented and if QB Tom Vroman can find the time, teams are going to have problems covering all of them. Adams ran the ball well 14/78. The big problem with the offense so far is dropping the football they had 3 fumbles and lost 2 against Miami. That needs to get better or it will cost the team some games.

On defense,Markus Gomez led with 7 tackles. Larry Brashear had an interception. Boothby had 2 sacks on the Miami QB's, one going for a safety. The 22 points given up by the unit is a little higher than the Memphis coaches like but they will take it. Miami has a really good WR Ali and he is going to be an all pro player for them.

The Hound Dogs now go to Denver to play against the owner of the Portland team in League 22. He had an offensive team in PDX and I expect the same here in Denver. Memphis was beaten badly by the Broncos last pre season so the Dogs look to get some revenge even though it is pre season.

HOUND DOGS WRAP UP PRE SEASON

The Dogs finished pre season by beating the New England Vince Wilforks 42-7 last night. The game was played with the first string players all game. That helps explain a 28 point 3rd quarter. New England lost 4 fumbles in the game and had 2 passes intercepted. The Memphis defense gave up some yards but were hitting hard and stripping the ball. The offense didn't turn the ball over at all.

Vroman made the players of the week amd went 17/29, 303 yards, 5 TD, 0 Interceptions. He was sacked 3 times. Reuben Souders was 3/108 with a TD. Robert Prosser 4/97 with 3 TD's
Rookie Jon Johnson caught 3/25 yards and a touchdown. TE Ahern 3/50.

Stephen Rutherford ran well 16/146. If the Hound Dogs can run the football this well during the season, they could be hard to beat, we will see what happens.

On defense Ehmann led with 8 tackles. He and Ernest Moore each had a pick.

The Dogs open the season as 2 point underdogs against the Minnesota Vikings, last seasons NFC North Champion. The Dogs like being the underdogs as it puts the pressure on the opponent.

HOUND DOGS BEAT UP THE VIKINGS

Usually 31 points conceded is the formula for a loss. Not when you have the WR's that Memphis had out there last game vs the Minnesota Vikings. The Dogs put up 49 points to win 49-31 in front of 69,760 at the Dome.

The game looked like it was going to be over by the end of the first half with Memphis winning 34-10 but the Vikings made a game of it in the second half. Memphis gained 546 total yards, 118 on the ground, 428 passing. They were 6/15 on 3rd downs.....We're gonna say that is good because Memphis punted 7 times.

Tom Vroman earned a spot on the weeks top players with a 452 yard, 6 TD performance on 18/29 completions. He found Souders 8 times for 193 yards, 2 touchdowns, the TE Ahern 4/120 and 2 TD's. On the ground game Adams played well and ran fearless. 14/76, Rutherford did okay as well 16/40 yards, the important thing is no fumbles! Adams gets the start this week against Atlanta

On defense John Johnson led with 6 tackles. Antwain Bussey had 3 sacks. Markus Gomez and Tim Smith had picks for the defense.

The Hound Dogs go to 1-0 on the season and go to Atlanta to play the 1-0 Falcons. The Falcons beat Tampa Bay last week pretty easily and they have the top defense in the league up to this point. (by yards given up). It should be a pretty good game. It is important to take care of the divisional opponents in the event that there is a tie for the lead. So even though it is only Week 2 it is big. The pressure is on the Atlanta Falcons though as they are 2 point underdogs on their own field.

THE DOGS EAT FALCON FOR DINNER

It seemed like the Hound Dogs didn't have much of an appetite for Falcon last night in Atlanta. They put the ball on the carpet 6 times, only losing one, and threw 2 picks but still get the win 21-10. Vroman and Souders connected twice for long TD's once in the 1st Quarter and another in the 3rd. They were 70 and 88 yard plays.

Adams ran the football well 13/83 1TD, Rutherford did okay as well 9/31, the Rookie Hoadley seemed to be taking a cue from Jon Vos of the old Memphis Hound Dogs in league 22 by squandering his chances to play more by not holding on to the football. That is not acceptable here in Memphis and that comes right from the owners. Souders put the ball on the ground twice but he is a possible hall of fame player. Hoadley is on the cusp of looking for work elsewhere.

Vroman did what it took to win but it isn't pretty 14/33 293 2 Touchdowns and picks. Souders caught 5 passes for 210 yards

On defense J. Johnson had 9 tackles to lead and Robert Asbury was his normal awesome self with 3 sacks. That Robert Asbury is a pretty good MLB, Charlotte has a good one with Cruise and I think we have one that could possibly rival him.

The New England Vince Wilforks are in town tonight and were gonna serve up some famous Memphis BBQ to the team pre game. It will be good food, no food poison to worry about here. Were just gonna give them more than enough to eat and hopefully they will eat their way into a loss here in Memphis.

HOUND DOGS GET AROUND THE VINCE WILFORKS

The Dogs got around the huge task that is the New England Vince Wilforks 27-13 in front of 78,700 in the Elvis Dome. It was tied at the half at 6 but in the 3rd, the Dogs put some distance between the teams and went up 20-6 on TD passes to Frank Sylvester and Rutherford.

The team has lived off of the long play this season and they have needed it. The stats in this game were pretty much identical except for the Ehmann interception. Memphis had 386 yards offense. 129 on the ground and the remaining pass.

New England has an outstanding RB in Clarence Sorensen. He will most likely make the AFC all star team this season.

Lucas led the D with 7 tackles. Ehmann had a sack and a pick. The Hound Dogs take over 1st place in the NFC South as the Warthog fell to the N.Y. Giants. It's nice to see the team atop the division but it is still early in the season with 2 games to play with Charlotte and games with the Giants and Demons so we are far from having accomplished anything.

HOUND DOGS PULL OFF COMEBACK IN MIAMI

The Hound Dogs were down in beautiful Miami, Florida for a Week 4 game with the Dolphins and it was a close one.
The Dogs took the lead in the 2nd quarter on a Vroman to Souders 71 yard pass, and continued to live off the long play. But the Miami Dolphins RB Curtis Donovan, a powerful runner out of Clemson took back the lead for the home team heading into the half 10-7.

Curtis Donovan, 5'10" 217, like I mentioned, out of Clemson is an unassuming playmaker and workhorse for the Dolphins. Nothing I could see on his player card would raise an eyebrow, but hand him the ball and the man is dangerous. He can outrun guys in the open field and he isn't shy about running over DB's and even a LB on occasion. He is, with Miamis' WR Ali foundation for a good offense down there. "I wasn't too concerned with him until he blew past me, and that don't happen much" said Memphis LB Asbury. "I'd like to see him try and run me over though" he added. Donovan ran for 73 yards on 23 carries and caught a few ***** for first downs.

In the second half, Miami built a 20-7 lead and Memphis was hard pressed to get a first down, when they did, it was called back for holding. What to do? Hit Ahern for a 75 yard play, of course. That made it close at 20-14 and that was the end of the long passes as Burgess kicked 3 FG's, one as time expired to give the Dogs a 23-20 win.

Vroman was 21/36, 381 yards, 2 TD, 1 Int. he was sacked 3 times for 27 yards. Souders 7/118, Ahern 3/93, Prosser 4/85, and the rookie WR J.Johnson 5/64. The ground game was nothing to really mention.

L. Sylvester and Moore led the defense with 7 tackles. Robert Asbury had an interception, Larry Sylvester, Saxon, Cooper all had sacks.

The Hound Dogs sit at 4-0 right now, 1st place NFC South. The next two weeks are gonna show us what kind of a football team we have this season with a game with Irvine next week and then Charlotte after. Lose both.......good luck making the playoffs, split the pair of games....we might have a playoff team here, win both...........if that happens, you've got a football team that is gonna be in the playoffs.

I am excited to see if were any good this season.

HOUND DOGS HUMBLED BY IRVINE

The Dogs were in Irvine, California and were taken care of by the Anteaters 30-7. It was close for the first half but in the second, Irvine made Memphis pay for almost every mistake, at the same time, not making any mistakes. "They dd a great job in getting ready for us, I tip my cap to 'em." said Memphis Head Coach. "We're going to learn from this and put it behind us"

The team takes on rival Charlotte next, so there is no time for getting down on ourselves.

DOGS HOLD OFF HOGS

Division Rival Charlotte Warthogs were in Memphis to take on the Hound Dogs in Elvis Aaron Presley Memorial Dome and they **** near stole the game.

The game was 17-9 at the half, Memphis leading. Then in the 4th, Memphis extended the lead to 20-9. That's when Charlotte got busy with 2 TD's. Both 2 point conversions failed but they had taken a 21-20 lead with 1:46 to play!

Memphis had the ball looking to get into FG range. But with Eddie Cruise lurking, a turnover could very easily have happened. Not now, not here, Memphis took care of the ball and business with a 7 play, 71 yard drive, kicking a 21 yard FG as the final ticks expired giving the Dogs the division lead. 23-21 final.

Memphis and Charlotte were pretty close statistically. 424 yards for the Dogs, 420 for the Hogs. Vroman was 23/35 411 yards, 2 TD's, 1 interception. WR Souders caught 10 for 217 yards and a TD, WR Prosser 7/105 1 touchdown. On the ground, Rutherford 16/34 yards.

On defense, Ashbury wasn't a factor because of the beast mode style play of DT George Mc Donald. 9 tackles and 3 sacks. Ashbury didn't really have a chance to show Charlotte and the rest of the league what kind pf player he is. John Johnson had a pick for Memphis.

It was a good result on an important game. Before we started this little 2 game swing vs. Irvine and Charlotte, I said that we would find out what kind of a football team we have here in Memphis. Well we know we are pretty good because we beat Charlotte but we know we still have a ways to go and that came from the beating the Dogs took in Irvine. But we are going one game at a time.

That being said, Memphis takes on another divisional rival tonight at Tampa Bay.

McDONALD AND HIS BEAST MODE IS CONTAGIOUS

Division rival Tampa Bay had the unfortunate task of hosting the Hound Dogs this week. So many players stepped it up this week that even with the turnovers the Dogs had, the Bucs had no chance.

WR (converted from RB) Nathan Hoadley thrived at his new position for Memphis. On the first play from scrimmage he was off to the races with a 75 yard TD. After that play, the next 3 passes attempted by Vroman were interceptions. Tampa made the Dogs pay for one of them with a TD but really couldn't get the ball moving too well against the Hound Dogs defense, as George McDonald took himself and Robert Ashbury into "beast mode". George McDonald does it all. 7 tackles, 3 sacks, and a pick. Robert Ashbury, 6 tackles, 3 sacks. John Johnson had his second pick in two games. Anyways the final score ended up 52-7.

The Dogs do have some things to work on this practice as there were 3 fumbles, 3 interceptions, and 5 penalties for 50 yards. The basic things that you learn as a young player playing football like holding on to the football, not passing it to the other team, and blocking have eluded the Dogs. A couple weeks ago Irvine exposed that weakness.

Vroman ended up 23/40 379 5 TD, 3 INT. Nathan Hoadley 7 catches for 153 yards and 3 touchdowns. Prosser 5/54 and a TD, Souders 3/43 with a TD.
The running game did well with Rutherford running 15 times for 58 yards and scoring twice. Wymore, the speedy QB turned RB ran 13 times for 46 yards.

We need to keep this rolling (more to come)