Birmingham, AL

The biggest question surrounding the Birmingham Stallions for years has been their attendance. The Stallions have always been one of the best teams in spring football, no matter how few people they were playing in front of. The monkey’s paw has curled, as over 18,340 fans showed up to see their Stallions get shut out by the Orlando Storm. 

The weather was perfect, tickets were cheap, Gucci Mane performed at halftime, and former Stallions head coach Skip Holtz was honored at the game. These were the only real highlights of the day as the Stallions were ineffective throughout all four quarters Birmingham’s only scoring attempts were a missed field goal and one (failed) trip to the redzone. 

“Embarrasing, simple as that,” was McCarron’s opening statement to the press. 

The Stallions offense couldn’t get anything going in the slightest, 1-for-13 on third down attempts and only gaining 166 total yards on the day. A late game quarterback switch from Matt Corral to Michael Hiers produced a small spark, but not enough to do anything major. Corral and Hiers were both victims to the same problems of overthrows, incorrect reads, and dropped turnovers. The luck of the team not having a single turnover (despite some dropped interceptions and lucky bounces on would-be fumbles) at least prevented a blowout. 

The defense did manage to put up a strong game, holding the Storm to only 3 points in the entire second half. After the Storm’s touchdown at the end of the first quarter, the only other points would be on field goals. In fact, with the UFL’s three point attempt after a touchdown, the game never escaped being a two-score difference. 

Fans were rightfully unhappy. Many left in droves during the fourth quarter as the result became clear, and others were booing or chanting “Save us Skip!” While Holtz stayed on the sideline the whole game, he never made an attempt to call in a few plays. 

Where does this leave the Birmingham Stallions? They are 1-3 on a three game losing streak and don’t have a definitive starting quarterback. 

When asked about the quarterback questions, McCarron responded “Everything’s on the table. Trades to QB change, everything’s on the table.”

Could the Stallions be going after notable unused quarterbacks in the UFL such as Luis Perez? Or potentially targeting fringe NFL players like Desmond Ridder? As he said himself, everything’s on the table. 

The Birmingham Stallions are back at Protective Stadium next Friday as they take on the reigning champions, the DC Defenders. Whether Corral, Hiers, or someone else comes out of the tunnel, the Stallions need a lot of changes to turn this season around. If things keep going the way they are, the hotseat may turn towards AJ McCarron himself.