The Arena Football League will open the doors to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City for the very first time on Saturday when the Philadelphia Soul welcome in the Las Vegas Outlaws.
RECENT FORM
Last week, the Soul came forth with a tremendous effort, beating Tampa Bay 71-27 in what amounted to be the worst defeat in Storm history. It wasn’t the best effort in the world by the Philly offense in spite of the 71 points, as a lot of the work was done by the defense and special teams, but off of the squad's only loss of the season, it wasn't a bad effort by any stretch of the imagination.
The Outlaws have the biggest statistical upset of the season this year, as they were +18.5 against the three-time defending champions from Arizona in Week 2. Since that point though, they have really come back to earth, losing three straight games to clearly superior teams. Last week's 63-56 loss to Spokane should have been much closer than that, as that was a 35-point game in the fourth quarter before some garbage time touchdowns for the Outlaws.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"For a group of guys coming off a loss, battling through adversity – this team came out focused and won all three phases of the game tonight." – Soul head coach Clint Dolezel after last week's punishing win against Tampa Bay
KEY STATS
29 percent: The opposing fourth down percentage this season for Philadelphia's opposition. The Soul have a knack for getting after the passer on fourth down, and that could end up being crucial here in this game against Las Vegas, particularly with quarterback J.J. Raterink going on inactive reserve this season. Las Vegas' new starter, Sean Brackett might have played well last week in junk time against Spokane, but this is going to be a much different situation against a great Philly front which never relents.
-58: Las Vegas' margin which it is being outscored by in the first quarters of games this season. The Outlaws simply cannot afford to come into Atlantic City and fall down 21-0 or something of the sorts as Tampa Bay did last week against the Soul, or the result will end up being quite similar to the one that we saw last weekend.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
The Outlaws are in a ton of trouble in this game. They have been trending in the wrong direction ever since they beat Arizona, and when you really go back and look at it, the team has only beaten winless Los Angeles aside from that in its short time in existence in the AFL.
Head Coach Aaron Garcia knows what he is doing, and he could make this a shorter game with Brackett than perhaps he would have had Raterink been able to go against the Soul, but that isn't going to change the end result.
Dan Raudabaugh is just playing too well at the moment to be denied with an offense which is clicking on all cylinders and is averaging just a tick shy of 60 points per game this season.
So long as Philadelphia doesn't beat itself or get a wee complacent, it should have no troubles winning this game by at least four scores.
Philadelphia 69, Las Vegas 38
BookMaker will be the first to open the AFL for this matchup the day of the game. Minute-by-minute spreads, totals and props are available for this game using the live betting platform at BookMaker.
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