AAF Power Rankings, Week 5: Apollos, Iron the class of the league
6. Memphis Express (1-3)
After an 0-3 start, the Memphis Express began Week 4 in the AAF by picking up their first victory of the season, taking down the San Diego Fleet. In truth, it was pretty easy to see this coming, though. After a horrendous season-opening loss, the Express lost two close ones in the subsequent games, falling by just a combined six points. And, with the switch from Christian Hackenberg to Zach Mettenberger at quarterback, the team’s fortunes have looked much better.
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Fueled by their tremendous defense and Mettenberger playing well enough for them to be in a position to win, the Express finally found the win column. With two close losses and now the victory, though, it’s hard not to think that Memphis could be about to go on a little bit of a run right now. They may be 1-3, but they appear dangerous given the quagmire below the top two teams
5. San Diego Fleet (2-2)
The San Diego Fleet took some tough lumps in their loss to the Express on Saturday, most notably losing starting quarterback Phillip Nelson, who will now miss at least the next month due to the injury. He was replaced by Alex Ross, who flashed early with a beautiful score, but ultimately killed the Fleet with three second-half turnovers in a close game.
There’s no question that, at their best, the Fleet have been highly impressive this season. However, with Ross out of the picture, their prospects look relatively bleak moving forward. Perhaps they could steal headlines by signing Johnny Manziel, but given what we saw from him in the CFL, how much would that really help? San Diego appears to be a prime candidate to drop heavily in these rankings with how things have played out leading into Week 5.