The Battlehawks are back in St. Louis in a must win game taking on the Michigan Panthers in hopes of making a playoff push, along with avenging their loss from the 2024 season. The Battlehawks have dropped their last games and now will be without Manny Wilkins who was recently placed on injured reserve this week.
Weather: The game will be played indoor.
Location: The Dome at America’s Center Stadium St. Louis, MO 7:00PM (ET) Kickoff April 26th, 2025 on ESPN
Betting Odds Per Draftkings (April 25th):
Spread: Battlehawks +2.5
Moneyline: Battlehawks +110, Panthers -130
Over/Under: 37.5
Depth Chart:
The Battlehawks opt to have Brandon Silvers as their QB2 this week. Hakeem Butler and Abdul Beecham return to their respective starting roles. The Panthers opt to have Gunnar Oakes as their TE2 after he was out with injury last week. Starting kick returner and punt returner, Devin Ross is out with injury with Xavier Malone and Jaden Shirden filling in that role.
Injury Report:
The Panthers will be without Devin Ross and Jordan Ober two key players on their special teams unit. Michigan will be without EDGE rusher Carson Wells.
Inactives:
St. Louis returns Cole Spencer to their inactive list with the return of Abdul Beecham. Hakeem Butler is once again active with Carson Wells taking his place on the inactive list. Brandon Silvers pushes Trae Self as QB2, with Self remaining as the emergency QB.
The Panthers have placed Devin Ross and Jordan Ober on the inactive list due to injury along with the newly signed Taylor Stallworth and LB James Neal is also inactive. Levi Bell and Gunnar Oakes also return to the active list. Rocky Lombardi returns to his position as QB3, with the return of Danny Etling.
Three Keys to Victory:
Get Saylors Back on Track:
Jacob Saylors may be one of the more electrifying players in the UFL and for the season has managed to put up at least 75 All-Purpose Yards through the first Four games. Saylors has the ability to beat you on the ground or in the passing game and with a new QB will be heavily relied on. For the Battlehawks to be successful this game they’ll need Saylors to shoulder the load with at least 125 All-Purpose yards this week.
Defending the RPO:
Michigan arguably has the MVP frontrunner behind center, despite him splitting reps during the first 3 games of the season. Michigan’s bread and butter last week was running RPO’s left and right with Memphis having no answers leading to another Bryce Perkins multi-touchdown performance. Perkins and company have figured out what works for them and at this point it doesn’t make much sense to change. If the Battlehawks can answer it may force Perkins to operate from a more traditional style of offense.
Easing Max Duggan In:
Duggan was thrown into fire with the recent injury to Manny Wilkins. With the team bringing in veteran Quarterback Brandon Silvers, you have to think that Anthony Becht wanted a QB who could rally the offense with plenty of experience. For Phil McGeoghan the challenge is now finding a way to get Duggan comfortable in an effort to build some confidence for the young signal caller. St. Louis gets back Hakeem Butler, and with Denzel Mims starting to get “hot”, hopefully Duggan can push the ball vertically a bit more than we’ve seen this year in St. Louis.
Final Thoughts:
In a must win game for St. Louis, they’ll have to prove themselves against one of the UFL’s best teams. On paper the teams are pretty evenly matched with the Panthers having the edge at QB, and the Battlehawks having the edge at Receiver and Offensive Line.
This will most likely come down to the Battlehawks ability to maximize Duggan’s skillset. We may see a similar Offense to what Michigan runs, with multiple RPOs and a lot of Duggan rolling out. Hopefully with a full week of practice Duggan looks way more comfortable.
Overall, I foresee a bit of a of low scoring game due to each team’s defense playing stout football over the past several weeks. With the emergence of Rodrigo Blankenship, I think Battlehawks and Panthers play a similar game to their 2024 matchup with St. Louis pulling out the victory 18-16.
