Eric Williams
NFL reporter
He Birmingham stallionsWinners of three heterosexuals, are in a family territory in 3-1 and sit at the top of the USFL conference this season.
Even so, the UFL defense champions house the dominant fans of the team’s football waiting at the beginning of the season, which is something that coach in chief Skip Holtz is actively working to fix.
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The stallions averaged a maximum of 26.5 points per game in 2024, but are scoring only 16.2 points for competition so far in the season. Last year, Birmingham led the league by averaging 136.0 yards by land per game. This year, the stallions average only 93.4 yards per land per contest.
“We have shown flashes of who we can be, and I think we have shown flashes of who we are,” said Holtz.
Holtz and the stallions have another opportunity to meet the big expectations when they receive Memphis Showboats (0-4) in Protective Stadium in the opening game of week 5 on Friday night (8 PM et in Fox and the Fox Sports application).
Then, the Michigan Panthers (3-1) go to the road to face the St. Louis Battlehawks (2-2) on Saturday (7 pm et).
In the double heading of Sunday, the Arlington renegades (3-1) Organize the DC defenders (3-1) at the Choctaw stadium (Noon ET), followed by the San Antonio Brahmas (1-3) In front of the Houston Roughnecks (1-3) In the Alamodome (3 PM ET).
Here is a closer look to five things to observe in week 5:
1. Case cookus Take in QB for stallions
Holtz said Matt Corral suffered an injury in his middle section at the end of last week’s match and will serve as the Birming Ham emergency marshal number 3 this week. That means that the product of northern Arizona Cookus will get its first start of the season against its former team. Cookus finished 1-5 as a starter for Memphis last season, completing 61.5% of its passes for 989 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions. He was also fired 20 times.
Before that, Cookus spent two seasons at the Legacy Usfl with the Philadelphia stars, totaling 3,629 air yards, 27 TouchDown passes and 14 interceptions and helping to take them to the 2022 championship game.
“I feel really good,” Holtz said about the beginning of Cookus. “I think it has a really good herb in the offensive and what we are doing.” Cookus, 29, and his wife await a baby in July.
Andrew Peasley will serve as a backup field marshal for the stallions.
2. Battlehawks QB Manny Wilkins Outside for the year with Achilles torn
St. Louis chief coach Anthony Becht received some unfortunate news this week when his team’s medical staff confirmed that his starting field marshal suffered a tendon breakage of the season in the right leg.
Wilkins was placed in IR, and Backup Max Duggan will get his first start of the season this week. Wilkins obtained the honors of the offensive player of the UFL week in week 2. He has completed 65.2% of his passes for 498 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions in four games. The Battlehawks brought QB Brandon Silvers, who was with St. Louis last season, to support Duggan.
St. Louis also received good news this week. The offensive player of the reigning year of the UFL and the prominent receiver Hakeem Butler is expected to return to the field after the last three games with a persistent lesion in the hamstrings.
The Battlehawks, losers of two in a row, have turned the ball eight times in the last two games, but seek to return to the winning track at home against the Panthers.
3. QB Winn dressing table Elevated to initial work for showBoats
Seeking to shake things, the interim chief coach of Memphis, Jim Turner, will begin Winn against Birmingham, while EJ Perry will serve as support for the team and Troy Williams will be the emergency field marshal of the third chain of the team.
Winn, 26, spent some time with the RAMS of Los Angeles of the NFL in the training camp and in the practice team of that team in 2023 and 2024. Winn launched for 5,800 yards and 37 TouchDowns at the University in Ut Martin.
Turner said the showBoats renewed the offensive this week now that Noel Mazzone has tasks as the offensive coordinator of the team, with Ken Whisenhunt moving forward as a team chief coach.
The showBoats are averaging only 12.5 points per game and a league sausage 78.3 yards by land a contest this season.
4. QB Kellen’s mouth Playing in your hometown or San Antonio for the first time
La Boca, a Texas A&M product, helped take the Brahmas to their first victory of the season last week. Now, you can experience another first, since it plays a professional game for the first time in its hometown or San Antonio when your team receives the Roughnecks in week 5. The Brahmas are the last UFL team in organizing a first game at home.
The mouth has completed 57.8% of its passes for 562 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in four openings. It has also run for 82 yards.
“Come go here and be able to go to complete games and have to execute units, at the end of half and the end of the game, I think it’s the best,” Mouth said when asked the growth he has experienced since his university days until now. “It is a league driven by the field marshal, and I think it is extremely beneficial, and I have grown up. From the understanding of the defenses of my university days and my level of precision … I think I am a totally different player.”
5. Defenders, renegade measured in the battle for first place at the XFL conference
Helpless at home this season, the renegades receive the defenders in week 5 with the number 1 position of the XFL conference.
The defenders seek to recover after losing their first game of the season at home last week, but it will be a high task, since the renegades are maintaining opposite offenses to 10.8 points per game. The defenders will seek to play a cleaner game after finishing 13 penalties accepted for 121 yards last week.
“You can’t overcome games like that with so many penalties,” said the chief coach of the defenders, Shannon Harris. “We have to clean that.”
Eric D. Williams has informed about the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for Tacoma News Tribune. Follow it in @Reric_d_williams.
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