The Arlington Renegades head to Washington, D.C., to face the Defenders in both teams’ 2024 season finale.
The last time these two teams met in week three, Arlington blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, allowing D.C. to come back and win the game on a walk-off field goal.
The Defenders had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and dropped the Renegades to 0-3 in the process. Arlington’s first win of the season didn’t come until almost a month after that—against Memphis in week seven.
Meanwhile, the Defenders have been inconsistent with a 2-3 record since week three at Arlington. D.C. is coming off arguably its best all-around performance of the season, which yielded a 36-21 win over the Showboats.
Renegades
Despite an underwhelming season for his team, Arlington quarterback Luis Perez currently leads the UFL in passing yardage (2,093). Perez is also tied for first in passing touchdowns and is second in completion rate % (67.6). He has thrown just two interceptions this season.
The Renegades’ 2-7 record certainly doesn’t reflect what Perez has done all season. They say every drive counts, and Arlington has learned that the hard way this year with five of its seven losses coming in games determined by one possession. Three of those losses were on walk-off field goals.
It doesn’t help when Arlington’s rushing attack is mustering 80.3 yards per game, while the defense is surrendering 321.2 total yards per game.
Last week, the Renegades took advantage of St. Louis missing its star quarterback in A.J. McCarron, as Arlington forced four turnovers in its 36-22 upset win. However, the Battlehawks still racked up 338 total yards, which is on the higher side.
We have seen Perez against the Defenders countless times before, and he has played well regardless of the result.
D.C. is coming off its best offensive performance of the season last week against Memphis, so it will really come down to how it builds off that and keeps up with Arlington scoring-wise.
Defenders
Jordan Ta’amu finally looked like his old-self last week, going 20-for-24 passing with 237 yards and three touchdowns in his team’s 36-21 win over Memphis.
Albeit, the Showboats have struggled defensively all season, maybe Ta’amu’s showing last Sunday was just what he needed to get his confidence back as the season winds down. Now he has the chance to build off his performance against Arlington, whose defense has also had its woes this year.
D.C.’s rushing attack also put forth a season-high 168 yards against the Showboats and has the potential to do similar damage against the Renegades, who have allowed 115.6 rushing yards per game.
Defensively, I’m not sure there’s much D.C. could do.
Generally, Perez has shined against pressure so maybe a good idea would be to blanket the field to leave as few passing windows open as possible.
With that, playing the run shouldn’t be too much of an issue as I think D.C.’s front seven should outchmatch Arlington’s offensive line.
Final Thoughts
With both teams eliminated from playoff contention, there’s not much to play for aside from pride/vengeance purposes.
For bettors, there’s a lot of value at over 46.5 points in this one.
