The Battlehawks beat the Brahmas twice in the regular season last year before losing at home against San Antonio in the playoffs. St. Louis has a rest advantage after smashing the Roughnecks on Friday in Week 1. Meanwhile, the Brahmas were crushed by the Renegades in Arlington on Saturday in Week 1. The Battlehawks are 7.0-point favorites, but there might be a more compelling pick for this contest.
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UFL Betting Odds, Picks & Predictions: Week 2 (Sunday)
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
St. Louis Battlehawks vs. San Antonio Brahmas
The Battlehawks, somewhat surprisingly, released A.J. McCarron last November. The veteran pocket passer was successful for St. Louis, but they opted to go in a different direction. FOX’s game telecast repeatedly mentioned their desire to use a dual-threat quarterback. They almost certainly didn’t make that up on the fly. Instead, they were likely told that in production meetings leading up to the game. Week 1 was a resounding success with a more mobile Manny Wilkins guiding the offense.
The Battlehawks scored 31 points, led by a potent rushing attack. Jarveon Howard had 13 rush attempts for 115 yards and a touchdown, Jacob Saylors had 15 for 93 and one and Wilkins had eight for 43 and two. St. Louis led the UFL in rushing yards in Week 1 with an eye-popping 273 at 6.7 yards per carry.
Inconveniently for the Brahmas, San Antonio was steamrolled for the second-most rushing yards allowed (183 at 5.9 yards per carry) and four rushing touchdowns in Week 1. Their assignment won’t be easier this week. Additionally, they’re at a rest disadvantage, and many of their defenders are on the injury report.
Sadly, Hakeem Butler is also on the injury report for the Battlehawks. Nevertheless, Wilkins efficiently completed 17 of 22 passes for 189 yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions, unsuccessfully targeting Butler once in Week 1. The Battlehawks have the pass-catching depth to withstand Butler’s absence if he’s unable to suit up this week.
The Battlehawks have a potent offense that can score points, and they have in Wilkins’ three starts. St. Louis scored 26 and 22 points in Wilkins’ two starts last year. Thus, the Battlehawks have scored 79 points in his starts, good for an average and median of 26.3 and 26, respectively. They should keep lighting up the scoreboard at home on Sunday against a defense that looked like a shell of the dominant unit from 2024.
Can the Brahmas get their offense on track? San Antonio scored just nine points in Week 1. It wasn’t an ideal start to the season. However, last week was Kellen Mond’s first game action since the third preseason game for the Browns in 2023.
Mond’s performance was uneven, making a few impressive throws and missing some layups. He had the fourth-highest passing grade at Pro Football Focus (PFF) in Week 1, despite his unevenness. Mond completed only 54.8% of his 31 pass attempts but had a markedly better 67.9% adjusted completion percentage. Furthermore, his 2.77-second time to throw in Week 1 was faster than his 2.88-second time to throw on 200 dropbacks in the preseason in the NFL.
A small step forward from Mond this week would go a long way for San Antonio’s offensive performance, and it doesn’t take too vivid an imagination to envision Mond playing better this week. The rushing attack can also shine, even if John Lovett doesn’t progress to practicing and suiting up this week.
Jashaun Corbin ran six times for 36 yards in Week 1, Anthony McFarland toted the rock three times for 32 yards and Mond had three rushes for 19 yards. The running game had juice last week, and McFarland has big-play ability, evidenced by rushing for 339 yards at 5.1 yards per carry last year and adding 22 receptions for 249 yards (11.3 yards per carry) in 2024. McFarland also scored four touchdowns in seven games last season.
Both offenses have talented skill-position players and dual-threat quarterbacks. They’ll also benefit from playing in a dome. As a result, they should be able to muster enough points to eclipse the game’s total of 39.5 points.
Pick: Over 39.5 (-108)
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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.
