Week Five of the Alliance of American Football will be upon us soon. The question is: who will win this weekend’s games? It seems after a few weeks like it’s starting to become clearer who really is good and who isn’t. But then again, anything can happen any given Sunday. Or Saturday, since this is the AAF.  

For this series, we will be compiling the various game picks of our AAF staff writers. There will be then further discussion of the game itself and what to expect, and ending with a final score prediction. Let’s see what our writers think about this weekend’s games.  

AAF Game Picks: Week Five  

Birmingham Iron vs. Orlando Apollos (Saturday March 9 @ 2 PM ET)

Will Noltie’s Pick: Apollos
David Latham’s Pick: Apollos
Devin Jackson’s Pick: Iron 
Al Preziosi’s Pick: Apollos
John Hesterman’s Pick: Apollos
Dale Lavine’s Pick: Apollos
Danny Barletta’s Pick: Apollos 

This game will probably be closer than our lopsided vote would imply. This is, after all, a game between a 4-0 Apollos team and a 3-1 Iron team. It was assumed last week we would be seeing a battle of undefeated teams, but then the Iron dropped a game to the Commanders. And Luis Perez played his worst game of the season thus far.  

Meanwhile, the Apollos are the last remaining undefeated team in the league and have scored 20+ points in all four of their games. Garrett Gilbert has been playing quite well. Is it possible that the Iron could end the Apollos streak? Sure, but the Iron will have to play their best defense. And Perez will have to play better than he has been since the first couple weeks.  

Final Score Prediction: Apollos 23, Iron 16 

San Diego Fleet vs. Salt Lake Stallions (Saturday March 9 @ 8 PM ET)

Will Noltie’s Pick: Stallions
David Latham’s Pick: Stallions
Devin Jackson’s Pick: Stallions
Al Preziosi’s Pick: Stallions
John Hesterman’s Pick: Stallions
Dale Lavine’s Pick: Stallions
Danny Barletta’s Pick: Stallions

Normally you wouldn’t see a 1-3 team be this heavily favored over a 2-2 team. And to be fair, if this were still last week, the Fleet could still be expected to win this. But Philip Nelson suffered a season-ending injury. Despite throwing a touchdown on only his second pass attempt, backup quarterback Alex Ross evidently did not inspire confidence.  

On the part of the Stallions… they may be 1-3, but they’ve actually had a tougher schedule. They’ve played both the Apollos and Iron, two of the league’s best. They’ve also played the Arizona Hotshots twice (and won once), who have probably one of the better quarterbacks in the league in John Wolford. This will be a good chance for them to get a needed win against a team missing their starting quarterback.  

Final Score Prediction: Stallions 24, Fleet 13 

Atlanta Legends vs. Memphis Express (Sunday March 10 @ 4 PM ET) 

Will Noltie’s Pick: Express
David Latham’s Pick: Express
Devin Jackson’s Pick: Express
Al Preziosi’s Pick: Legends
John Hesterman’s Pick: Express
Dale Lavine’s Pick: Express
Danny Barletta’s Pick: Express

The Legends finally won a game! We probably still should not get too excited about them, however. Even with Aaron Murray finally at quarterback, which *did* make them better, they still tried to lose – they had two red zone trips that ended with zero points – due in part to some bizarre play calling by head coach Kevin Coyle. And the 14 points they did score was a season high. That’s not good.  

Meanwhile, the Express are looking better now that they have Zach Mettenberger at quarterback. However, the question does exist if they would have actually defeated the Fleet if Nelson had not gotten hurt. The Fleet were up 20-6 over the Express at one point. Despite the possibility that the Express still have not quite solved all their problems yet, they still seem like a better bet right now than the Legends, who seem to have even more serious problems.  

Final Score Prediction: Express 23, Legends 12  

Arizona Hotshots vs. San Antonio Commanders (Sunday March 10 @ 8 PM ET)

Will Noltie’s Pick: Commanders
David Latham’s Pick: Hotshots
Devin Jackson’s Pick: Commanders
Al Preziosi’s Pick: Hotshots
John Hesterman’s Pick: Hotshots
Dale Lavine’s Pick: Commanders
Danny Barletta’s Pick: Commanders

This was the most contested game among our staff. And there certainly are some interesting angles here. On the part of the Hotshots, they looked to be one of the better teams at first, due in part to quarterback Wolford. But then they barely escaped a Memphis Express team that hadn’t benched Christian Hackenberg yet, and then they *did* lose to the Atlanta Legends, despite the latter’s best efforts. They still have the ability to do well – if they can get out of their own way. 

Then there’s the Commanders. On one hand, they’ve done well against some of the better teams in the league. They held their own against the Apollos and handed the Iron their first loss. On the other hand, they’ve only scored 23 points in the last two weeks combined. Logan Woodside will have to play better than he has been. But they also seem to have found something good at halfback with Kenneth Farrow, who helped them defeat the Iron. This could go either way. But the Hotshots have lost the momentum they had at the beginning of the season. It’s hard to have much faith in them right now, even if this is still a game they could win.  

Final Score Prediction: Commanders 18, Hotshots 16  

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