Week 5 Preview: St. Louis BattleHawks at DC Defenders
1st place in the East is on the line.
ST. LOUIS BATTLEHAWKS (3-1)
@ DC DEFENDERS (2-2)
- Sunday, March 8, at 3 p.m. ET (Watch on FS1)
- Watch & Listen info for every game
- Audi Field (Washington, D.C.) -- Get Tickets
- Going to the game? Here's your guide.
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Week 5: SEA-HOU | NY-DAL | TB-LA
TEAM INFO
- STL 1st in East, DC T-2nd in East
- Rosters: STL | DC
- Depth Chart: STL | DC
- Week 5 Injury Report
- STL 1-1 Road | DC 2-0 Home
- Streak: STL W2 | DC L2
Betting lines
TEAM STATS
OFFENSE
CATEGORY | ST. LOUIS | DC |
|---|---|---|
| Pts Scored/G | 22.7 (2) | 16.7 (5) |
| Yds/G | 357.3 (2) | 269.0 (6) |
| Rush Yds/G | 151.5 (2) | 105.5 (4) |
| Pass Yds/G | 205.8 (5) | 163.5 (6) |
| Yards Gained/Play | 3.5 (4) | 3.3 (T-5) |
DEFENSE
CATEGORY | ST. LOUIS | DC |
|---|---|---|
| Pts Allowed/G | 15.5 (1) | 20.7 (5) |
| Yds Allowed/G | 266.3 (2) | 314.5 (4) |
| Rush Yds/G | 93.3 (2) | 122.5 (7) |
| Pass Yds/G | 173.0 (2) | 192.0 (3) |
| Sacks | 8 (4) | 4 (8) |
| Interceptions | 3 (6) | 5 (T-3) |
| Fumble Recoveries | 0 (T-7) | 2 (T-3) |
| QB Hits | 17 (T-5) | 13 (8) |
| Def/ST TD | 1 | 3 |
EXTRA POINTS
CATEGORY | ST. LOUIS | DC |
|---|---|---|
| 1-pt | 0-for-3 | 1-for-5 |
| 2-pt | 2-for-8 | 0-for-1 |
| 3-pt | -- | 0-for-2 |
| TOTAL | 2-for-11 | 1-for-8 |
GAME CONTROL/EFFICIENCY
CATEGORY | ST. LOUIS | DC |
|---|---|---|
| TD +/- | +4 | -4 |
| Turnover Margin | 0 (T-4) | 0 (T-4) |
| Takeaways | 3 | 7 |
| Turnovers | 3 | 7 |
| 3rd Down% | 52% (1) | 32% (T-6) |
| 4th Down% | 75% (T-1) | 67% (3) |
| Red Zone TD% | 64% (2) | 22% (8) |
St. Louis BattleHawks QB Jordan Ta'amu (10) attempts a pass during Week 4. He was named Star of the Week with a line of 264 passing yards, 63 rushing yards.
PLAYER STATS
QUARTERBACKS
PLAYER | CM | ATT | % | YDS | AVG | TD | LG | INT | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | LG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Ta'amu, STL | 82 | 109 | 75 | 876 | 8 | 5 | 43 | 2 | 36 | 186 | 5.2 | 1 | 37 |
| Cardale Jones, DC | 61 | 111 | 55 | 674 | 6.1 | 4 | 40 | 6 | 15 | 61 | 4.1 | 0 | 14 |
RUNNING BACKS
PLAYER | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | LG | REC | YDS | TD | LG | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Jones, STL | 67 | 244 | 3.6 | 1 | 47 | 1 | 25 | 1 | 25 | 25 |
| Donnel Pumphrey, DC | 31 | 131 | 4.2 | 0 | 23 | 9 | 68 | 0 | 19 | 7.6 |
RECEIVERS
PLAYER | REC | YDS | TD | LG | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| De'Mornay Pierson-El, STL | 21 | 210 | 2 | 41 | 10 |
| L'Damian Washington, STL | 16 | 138 | 1 | 36 | 8.6 |
| Rashad Ross, DC | 10 | 182 | 1 | 40 | 18.2 |
| Eli Rogers, DC | 18 | 162 | 0 | 27 | 9 |
NEED TO KNOW
BATTLEHAWKS
Behind QB Jordan Ta’amu, the 'Hawks are in a position to take control of the East. The reigning Star of the Week is a yardage machine, ranking second in passing (876) and fourth in rushing (186).
The ground game has produced three RBs with at least one rushing TD: Matt Jones, Christine Michael and Keith Ford. Overall, St. Louis is second averaging 151.5 yards per game on the ground.
A stingy defense has allowed a league-low seven TDs, with four coming in Week 2 against Houston. That leaves three for the other three games combined.
DEFENDERS
Tallying nine points in two weeks against teams that were winless at the time has taken the pep out of a 2-0 start. Pep Hamilton is searching for answers, having benched QB Cardale Jones, who looked great through the first two games, during each of the last two.
The defense has struggled just as much as DC's offensive counterparts. After allowing 9.5 points in the two wins, that’s swelled to 32 per game in defeats. In those setbacks, DC has been carved up by the pass (278 yards vs. LA) and run (266 yards vs. Tampa Bay), respectively.
The Defenders are back home, where they’re unbeaten.
-- Art Garcia, XFL.com