If you were dreading spending the next few months without professional football, the Alliance of American Football is here to save the day. The new football league is kicking off this weekend, with games on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night will see the debut of the San Diego Fleet at the San Antonio Commanders at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas. Kick off is set for 8 p.m.
Because its a sport and you can bet on it, here’s the line, over-under and pick.
San Diego Fleet at San Antonio Commanders (-5, O/U: 43.5)
That five-point spread is generous when you consider neither of these teams have ever taken the field before. If the Super Bowl was any indication, that 43.5 as the over-under might be suspect too.
Neither team has released a depth chart yet, but we do know these coaching staffs. The Commanders are led by Mike Riley, the former Nebraska head coach. Before that, he spent 11 years as the head coach at Oregon State after bombing out with the San Diego Chargers in the NFL.
This will actually be the fourth professional league Riley has coached in. In addition to his stint with the Chargers, he coached the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League and spent two seasons running the show in the NFL’s World League of American Football as the San Antonio Riders head coach from 1991-1992.
His college record was 112-99, NFL record 14-34, CFL record 40-32 and WLAF record 7-9. He went 7-3 in bowl games and was 6-2 in the CFL playoffs with two Grey Cup championships.
Matt Troxel will call the plays as the offensive coordinator. Jim Grobe will run the defense.
The San Diego Fleet is run by Mike Martz, former architect of the St. Louis Rams Greatest Show on Turf offense. He’s been out of coaching since a two-year stint as the offensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears in 2010-2011. This is just Martz’s second head coaching gig in his career. He’s 56-36 as a head coach with a 3-4 mark in the playoffs. He took the Rams to the Super Bowl XXXVI and was the team’s offensive coordinator when they won Super Bowl XXXIV.
Mike DeBord is his offensive coordinator, but Martz will likely call the plays. Larry Marmie controls the defense.
As a spring time minor league, there aren’t a lot of recognizable names (outside of your college niche) on these teams. For the Fleet, you’ll probably know former Los Angeles Rams wide receiver and Hard Knocks star Nelson Spruce.
San Antonio will trot out former North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams as a potential starter. Running back Aaron Green too spent time with the Los Angeles Rams.
The Pick
This game, because of the head coaches involved, has the potential to actually put points on the board. For a nation scarred by Super Bowl LIII, this could be our first chance to heal. Martz has turned three no-name quarterbacks into Pro Bowlers in his time in the NFL (Trent Green, Marc Bulger and Kurt Warner) and even helped one get to the Hall of Fame. While Riley’s team is favored, I’m sticking with my preseason prediction here. I think the Fleet open up strong and do some interesting things on offense.
Fleet 27, Commanders 16
