We’ve hit Week 2 of the Alliance of American Football and the opening weekend couldn’t have gone better, at least from an entertainment standpoint. Most importantly, people watched the games and were talking about the AAF on Twitter and Facebook. The league has to be hoping for that to continue in the second week of action Saturday night as the Birmingham Iron (1-0) host the Salt Lake Stallions (0-1). Let’s look at some AAF betting odds.
Salt Lake Stallions at Birmingham Iron (-7.5, O/U: 44.5)
The Stallions fell to the Arizona Hotshots last week, 38-22, in one of the more entertaining games on the slate. Of the four games, only two hit the over. While Salt Lake did manage to score 22 points, nobody put up impressive stats. Both Josh Woodrum and Matt Linehan took snaps under center. Woodrum left the game early with a hamstring injury and might not suit up this weekend. Either way, he’s not solidified the job at quarterback in Salt Lake by any means. Both quarterbacks tossed a touchdown and a pick.
Brandon Oliver averaged five yards per carry running the ball, but only had eight carries. They wanted to use Joel Bouagnon as their workhorse, but might rethink that after a 16-carry, 39-yard performance. Anthony Denham led the receiving corps with five catches for 59 yards.
On defense, Cody Brown and Greer Martini each recorded six tackles and Karter Schult posted the only sack.
Birmingham looked a lot more like a team that can run an offense. Former NCAA Division II standout Luis Perez finished 19-of-33 passing for 252 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. As hard as everyone was riding former first-rounder Trent Richardson on Twitter, he still managed to find the end zone twice in spite of averaging just 2.5 yards per carry.
Quinton Patton hauled in four passes for 107 yards and Perez spread the ball around to nine different receivers.
On defense, Jamar Summers was all over the stat sheet, recording two tackles, three pass break ups and an interception. Jonathan Massaquoi had five tackles, three for a loss and two sacks.
The Iron’s defense shutout the Memphis Express, in spite of Memphis boasting multiple former NFL players on its offense like Christian Hackenberg and Zac Stacy. They forced two turnovers and Hackenberg was eventually benched for Brandon Silvers.
For Birmingham, the goal this week has to be getting Richardson’s head in the game and more involved in the offense. The former Alabama standout missed gaping holes and should have easily piled up a 100-yard game in his AAF debut. A lot was left on the field and, frankly, it’s all on him. He’s had a week to see the film now and surely head coach Tim Lewis has been force feeding Richardson what he did wrong and how to fix it.
The Pick
The Iron look to be stout on defense and while Salt Lake did score some points, they surrendered 38 of their own. I’d be surprised if this was another shutout, but I see a potentially solid game from Richardson and a Birmingham win. Iron 27, Stallions 16
