The Alliance of American Football is now on the board in New Jersey at the William Hill sportsbooks at Monmouth Park and Atlantic City’s Tropicana and Ocean Resort Casino. The AAF is just two weeks old but fans and bettors (as well as oddsmakers) are viewing it as a league of haves and have-nots.
This has been fueled by favorites winning all eight games straight up (6-2 against the spread) and leads up to the 2-0 Orlando Apollos being 15-point home favorites over the 0-2 Memphis Express on Saturday. I’d thought we had seen the end of these overinflated lines when this same Express team was a 16-point underdog to the Arizona Hotshots last Saturday night and nearly pulled the upset before losing 20-18.
That showed me there indeed is parity in this league — that any team can beat (or at least cover against) any other team on any given Saturday or Sunday — and there’s no reason the Express can’t cover again, especially if they play the same as they did against Arizona, considered the best team in the league.
Former Jets QB Christian Hackenberg played much better than he did in Memphis’ opening loss to Birmingham, as he didn’t turn the ball over (no interceptions; he did fumble twice but didn’t lose either) and relied on the running game of former Ram Zac Stacy (19 carries, 101 yards). Memphis is coached by Mike Singletary, one of the few defensive-minded head coaches in the league, and his defense held the high-powered Arizona offense to 20 points and just 3-of-12 on third-down conversions.
The play: Memphis Express, +15.