By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES, March 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. flag football team proved flag football and tackle football require different skill sets as the national team crushed two teams stocked with NFL players to win the first Flag Football Classic on Saturday in Los Angeles.
The event, originally scheduled to be held in Riyadh but moved due to the Iran war, was an effort to promote flag football, which will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028.
Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion
who retired from the NFL three years ago, was at the helm of the Founders FFC, and got a roar from the crowd when he completed a two-point conversion to former New England and Tampa Bay teammate Rob Gronkowski early in their first game.
But Brady and teammates including Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and Gronkowski, who left with a hamstring injury, were no match for a motivated Team USA and quarterback Darrell Doucette.
Team USA used their superior speed to feast on offense, cruising to victory in their two round-robin games in the three-team tournament before beating the Joe Burrow-led Wildcats FCC 24-14 in the more competitive final.
"In terms of strategy, we're probably way behind," Brady said. "But I thought it was a fun experience and experiment to see where everyone measured up, and I'm really happy for the USA flag team, they did a great job. They have a lot of talented, humble kids."
OLYMPIC PREVIEW
The event served as a test-run for the LA Games, where flag football will make its Olympic debut at BMO Stadium in LA's Exposition Park in just over two years time.
The NFL sees flag football - a non-contact variation of the sport in which players wear flags attached to their waists which are pulled off, instead of players being tackled - as an opportunity to give women, children and older people the chance to play a version of the sport.
NFL players will be allowed to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic flag football team, but Team USA on Saturday proved that flag is an altogether different discipline that rewards quickness and the ability to evade defenders.
Brady did not count out NFL players making the roster for LA28, although he said he has no interest in coming out of retirement for LA28.
"There's going to be a selection process and the best people will play," Brady said.
"Team sports are a meritocracy. Whoever is the best and gives the team the best opportunity ultimately to win, that's who should be out there," he said.
"We're a long way from that happening, it's a couple years, but I think it's good for the NFL players to see what this game is all about."
Team USA head coach Jorge Cascudo said flag football players enjoyed a familiarity with the game that the NFL players, who struggled at times to remove flags from their opponents, did not have.
"We've got to enjoy this moment and take advantage of it because once they get to know the game and the skills, then we're in trouble," he told reporters with a laugh.
"But for now, we're the champs."
With a smaller field than the one used for NFL games, organizers were able to turn large swaths of the field into full-service VIP areas and the event had the spirit of an exhibition event, with YouTuber-turned-WWE wrestler Logan Paul playing for the Wildcats.
But perhaps due to the last-minute location shuffle and a heat wave blanketing LA, there were plenty of empty seats at the 22,000 capacity BMO Stadium, which is home to MLS side LAFC and NWSL's Angel City.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Michael Perry)
