The Birmingham Sallions’ 10–9 win over the Renegades wasn’t pretty.
The team was uncharacteristically sloppy, 10 penalties for the Stallions versus only 4 for the Renegades.
The Stallions’ sputtering offense didn’t find the end zone until there was less than a minute left.
But, all that matters is winning; there are no style points in football.
Sometimes you win by putting up a lot of points, other times your defense carries the load. This was the latter.
Defense
Corey Chamblin may not be a household name, but his coaching resume is impressive.
He’s won championships in three different countries.
- Germany: World Bowl (2006)
- Canada: Grey Cup (2008, 2013, 2017)
- America: USFL (2022) and UFL (2024)
Coach Chamblin’s diverse coaching background has served him well. He has the Stallions’ defense firing on all cylinders this season.
The defense has taken the “bend but don’t break” philosophy seriously this season. They play a lot of 2 high safeties and don’t bring an overly large amount of pressure.
What they do do is play good fundamental defense. While they do give up yards at times, they keep everything in front of them and limit big plays.
They have given up a total of 2 touchdowns this season, including zero against the Renegades.
The Renegades did a great job getting into the red zone on Friday. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t find the endzone (3 field goals and one lost fumble).
On the red zone trip, the Stallions’ defense actually stopped them twice after a special-teams penalty gave them a fresh set of downs.
The defensive line was particularly impressive. They helped limit Kalen Ballage, the UFL’s leading rusher coming into week 3, to a 2.6 yards per attempt average.
The defensive line was in the backfield all day, coming up with 3 sacks and 7 tackles for loss.
The defense wasn’t perfect, ill-timed penalties made things harder than they needed to be. But if they keep playing at this level, they give the Stallions a chance each week.
Offense and Special Teams
As well as the defense played, they didn’t win the game all by themselves.
Harrison Mevis made a field goal to move to 5/5 on the season.
The offensive line continues to be greatly improved. The group that allowed 8 sacks in week one hasn’t allowed a single one since.
Even though the offense didn’t find the endzone until the very end, they did move the ball at times. They had 308 yards of total offense. The problem was a lack of execution in critical situations.
Jace Sternberger fumbled just yards before the endzone. The Stallions also had a costly turnover on downs on the 10-yard line. Those 9 extra points would have made it a completely different ball game.
Week 4
The defense will try to keep up their impressive start to the season in week four against the Houston Roughnecks.
The Roughnecks are coming off their first win of the season, an 18–17 thriller over Memphis.
The game takes place on April 19th, at TDECU Stadium in Houston.
