Entering the midway point in Mexico’s Liga de Football Americano Profesional, LFA, 2022 season, let’s take a look at how the teams stack up.
It’s pretty clear who the best and worst teams are. However, what gets tricky is that most of the teams only have a single win and were able to obtain that victory in more impressive circumstances than others.
What’s interesting about the LFA this season is that most of the games have been low scoring affairs. This could make it difficult to decide the rankings below the number 1 ranked and unbeaten Dinos de Saltillo who have already pretty much guaranteed themselves a first-round bye.
1. Dinos de Saltillo (3-0)
Throughout this whole season, the Dinos as a team have been head and shoulders above the pack. Unlike other teams that may have a deficiency on offense and defense, Saltillo as a unit is the best in all facets of the game.
On offense, their quarterbacks, Erick Niño and Alejandro Esquer have benefited from having the top two leaders in touchdown receptions, wide receivers James Okike and Duntayviun Gross, as well as the LFA’s leading rusher, RB, Omar Cojolum. On defense, they are bolstered by three of the top five leaders in tackles who have been a nightmare for the opposing linemen – DL, Jadarius Ceasar, LB, Víctor Sánchez and DB, Osvaldo Zumalacarregui.
Even on special teams, their kicker, Enrique Yenny has been the league’s best kicker scoring twice as many points as the next kicker. With all of these components at their disposal, the Dinos have been the only team to remain undefeated for a reason.
2. Fundidores de Monterrey (1-1)
The only other team that has held a level of dominance similar to the Dinos at this point has been their rival, the Fundidores, who lost in overtime to Saltillo after being up 10-0 in the first half.
This week, the team showed it can handle adversity by forcing the Mexicas to commit four turnovers, two of them by the league leader in interceptions, DB, Francisco Javier García. Their offense broke out big too, especially RB, Xavier Johnson, who had a 100-yard game including two rushing touchdowns.
3. Gallos Negros de Querétaro (1-1)
After their dominance of the Galgos in their season opener, many were interested how the Gallos Negros would fair against the Dinos. To put it mildly, they laid an egg. Their QB, Ricardo Rincón, was intercepted by the Dinos DBs, (twice by DB, Sergio Schiaffino) and sans turnovers, they mostly couldn’t convert in the red zone.
Giving up points and turnovers were a major theme in their game against Saltillo as they allowed numerous big plays including a 69-yard pass to Dinos WR, Duntayviun Gross, and a blocked punt near their own end zone. They are off again this week. Hopefully for them, they will play better in their home opener against the Fundidores.
4. Raptors Naucalpan (1-1)
If the Raptors want to make it back to the Tazón Mexico, they must do a better job of taking advantage of opportunities given to them. They have done a good job limiting points from their opponents, but their high-powered offense from years past, has not shown up yet this season, as they only put up eight points in their last six quarters.
This is QB, Bruno Márquez’s first year playing football since 2019, and although the two-time MVP’s completion percentage is the best in the league, his poor showing in their season opener has made him the league leader in interceptions. A true test for him whether or not they are still a championship contender will be Saturday’s game against the Fundidores.
5. Mexicas CDMX (1-1)
The Mexicas were fortunate to come out victorious against the Raptors, but against the Fundidores, they left Monterrey defeated. It is all well and good that they have the league’s leader in sacks, DL, Luis Ceniceros on their roster, but that isn’t enough when the team can’t come back after being down 20-0.
QB, Ricardo Quintana has been having a down year so far and needs to pick up his game a little. He has a 1:4 touchdown to interception ratio and he is barely completing over 50% of his passes. For next week against the Reyes, the offense could have a tough time against their defense if their problem isn’t resolved.
6. Reyes de Jalisco (1-1)
The Reyes defense has been incredible for most of the year. Down right shutting out and shutting down their opponents from scoring for six straight quarters of action. In large part because of the team leader in interceptions and tackles, LB, Anthony Patrick. The team has allowed the second least amount of points all season.
The reason why Jalisco isn’t any higher, is because of their offense. In game one against the Raptors, the Reyes only scored 10 points, and seven of those were garbage time minutes. Last Saturday against the Galgos, while they scored the 10 points necessary to beat the Galgos in the first quarter, those were the only points scored throughout the whole game. The key for the Reyes is to continue limiting chances for their opponents to score. If they do that, they might find themselves winning more games than not.
7. Galgos de Tijuana (0-2)
Scoring nine points in your first two games combined as a franchise is not a good look. Losing your last game in a shutout against a team that didn’t score any more points after the first quarter is an even worse look. The good thing for the Galgos is that they mostly played a clean game and only had a single turnover forced by the Reyes.
The near future isn’t going to get much better for them. While they are coming back home to Tijuana for Saturday, they are going to be welcoming in the league’s best team, the Dinos. Unless they pull off the biggest upset this season, the Galgos will more than likely stay at the bottom of the rankings for another week.