Birmingham Iron radio analyst says Alabama could beat Iron ‘by a few touchdowns’
By Adam Spencer
Published:
The Birmingham Iron are a perfect 3-0 in the new Alliance of American Football, but the league is still trying to sort out its identity as it makes its way through the inaugural season.
In recent years, a popular debate has been to ask whether Alabama could beat the worst team in the NFL (usually the Cleveland Browns), but now a new debate may emerge.
On Tuesday afternoon, Birmingham Iron radio analyst Mike Johnson — a former Alabama All-American offensive lineman — joined Sports Drive on WNSP 105.5 and talked about what he thinks would happen if the Tide took on the Iron (via AL.com):
“I think it’s a lot better than most people realize,” Johnson said. “The question I get most often is ‘how would the Birmingham Iron do against Alabama?’ … I think Bama wins by a few touchdowns, to be honest with you. This is a developmental league — they’re focusing on fundamentals, they’re focusing on making sure the product is good for a spring league. That doesn’t always lend itself to being the best possible football team.
“At Alabama, you’ve got 5-star recruits and you’ve got a number of (future) first-round draft picks. A lot of those guys will play a ton of years in the NFL. These guys, with the AAF, they’re scratching and clawing to catch on. Not many of them were first-round picks, aside from Trent Richardson.
“I think it’s a good product and it will continue to get better. As training camps get longer and the season gets longer and more teams are added, I think you’ll see the product get better. … When you see throws across the field from the far hashmark, when you’re asking quarterbacks to do those things, that’s where you see the true difference. Some of the throws the quarterbacks you see in the NFL, you’re just not seeing that in the AAF. … Julio Jones and Matt Ryan have been together for 10 years; they know where each other is going to be at all times. The Birmingham Iron players have been together for about six weeks. But that will come with time.”
Johnson makes some great points, especially about the AAF players needing time to develop some more chemistry.
Again, much like the NFL debate, this is a situation we’ll probably never see played out, so all we can do is debate who would win and by how much.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
