Legal betting sites, such as Intertops.eu, favor the Orlando Apollos to win the Alliance of American Football championship. And like the best online sportsbooks, most power rankings place the Apollos on top of the pack entering Week 5. Wait, what? Alliance of American Football? Is that, uh, is that actually a thing? Is it anything like the XFL? Let’s see. Arizona Hotshots, San Diego Fleet, Salt Lake Stallions. Well, they certainly graduated from Oliver Stone’s American football team-naming school. Memphis Express? That sounds like a wrestling tag team from the 1980s. I know seven months is a long time to go without NFL action. But have things really come down to this? Have we finally hit rock bottom? And could The Rock bottom both members of Memphis Express? Or three, if they use the Freebird rule. Oh, right; the AAF Week 5 power rankings.
Orlando Apollos (4-0)
First off, let me get something off my chest. This was a wasted chance to name a team the Orlando Furiosi. The Apollos are undefeated this season. They have won their four games by an average margin of 13.7 points per game. Orlando has the best QB/WR tandem in the AAF. And that makes them the darlings of legal betting sites.
Birmingham Iron (3-1)
The Iron are coming off an 11-12 home loss to the San Antonio Commanders. Nonetheless, they remain the consensus second-best team in the league. This is mostly due to their ironclad defense. Unlike Orlando’s, Birmingham’s QB is not what you’d call elite. Even for AAF standards. It’ll be the Apollos offense versus the Iron defense when the two clash this Saturday.
San Antonio Commanders (2-2)
The Commanders improved to .500 at the expense of the Iron. San Antonio’s defense proved to be just as good as Birmingham’s. Three Commanders have at least 2.5 sacks. And another three have intercepted more than one pass. On the other side of the ball, Kenneth Farrow gained 142 rushing yards on the Iron.
San Diego Fleet (2-2)
The Fleet’s loss to Memphis in Week 4 can be chalked up to their loss of QB Philip Nelson. Backup Alex Ross went 8 of 18 for 80 yards with one TD and one pick. He also fumbled twice. According to Sporting News.com, San Diego is “down to a third-string QB.” Which in NFL terms would translate to something like Blake Bortles.
Arizona Hotshots (2-2)
Legal betting sites gave the Hotshots good odds ahead of the regular season. And they seemed to live up to those expectations with a 2-0 start. However, they lost their next two straight to team that were, on theory, lesser. Neither offense nor defense showed up against the Stallions and Legends. Versus San Antonio, both better be on hand.
Memphis Express (1-3)
The Express picked up their first win against the Fleet, as mentioned above. Not coincidentally, QB Zach Mettenberger made his first start in lieu of Chris Hackenberg. And wonder. ‘Berger trumps ‘Berg. I think it’s telling Hack can’t even hack it in the AAF.
Salt Lake Stallions (1-3)
The SLC Stallions are as hapless as the Wild Stallions – i.e. William “Bill” S. Preston Esq. and Theodore “Ted” Logan. They are the only team in the Western Conference in red numbers.
Atlanta Legends (1-3)
Like Memphis, Atlanta tallied their first win in Week 4, against the Hotshots. And it was also related to a QB change, from Matt Simms to Aaron Murray. The offense looked better as a result, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. The good news is there is no way to go but up.
