Brandon Silvers: Memphis Hero Made in Troy

When the Alliance of American Football’s 1-5 Memphis Express hosted the 4-2 Birmingham Iron on Sunday night, spectators and viewers hopefully watched for the debut of quarterback Johnny Manziel.

Instead, they got little known Troy product Brandon Silvers. The quarterback made his first start and then finished the game, playing hero for a Memphis crowd that booed his reentry to the game in the fourth quarter.

The Express were down 25-14 heading into the final quarter, with only eight of those points coming from the offense. Viewers watching for Manziel, whether armchair twitter triggers or fans in the crowd, made it clear they wanted the twice-cast out quarterback to lead the team in the final stanza.

Up to that point, Manziel’s drives, and lone two-point conversion attempt that came after a punt block return touchdown, had resulted in zero points. He was 3-5 through the air and accounted for 68 total yards of offense, 38 coming on one play.

Silvers, however, had impressed in the first 20 minutes of the game. After the Iron’s first touchdown drive, Silvers completed seven consecutive passes en route to a Memphis touchdown.

The offense hummed. He was shortly thereafter replaced by Manziel, who couldn’t put the Express in the end zone during the rest of the first half and third quarter.

In that time, Birmingham began to pull away. The Iron built a 25-8 lead and was only cut into by the Memphis special teams unit during Manziel’s stint on the field.

The fourth quarter came around and in stepped Silvers, much to the chagrin of local fans.

Silvers’ response was to lead Memphis on back-to-back scoring drives and force the game into overtime.

It started with a 34 yard pass to Reece Horn to set up a short field goal. The Express took over again with under three minutes to play, down 25-17.

Silvers found Horn early in the drive to move Memphis across the 50-yard line and then ended the drive with a seven yard touchdown pass to (you guessed it) Horn on a slant route with 24 seconds left to play.

A successful two point conversion, courtesy of Silvers, sent the game into overtime.

It was in the extra period that Silvers etched his name in history, throwing the walk-off touchdown in the AAF’s first ever overtime game.

The first player on the field to congratulate Silvers was none other than Manziel. The two celebrated together and Manziel later addressed the crowd chants in a mature manner.

In total, Silvers completed 24 of 35 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns to zero picks. He’s up to 530 yards and three touchdowns in three appearances this season.

That’s your game story.