Here We are Now, Entertain Us
Dave Harwood
Tuesday February 4, 2003
Was the early season start with no formal preseason going to hamper the normal offensive output the AFL boasts? Perhaps these new viewers that were drawn in by all the advertising would start asking themselves "So what`s the big deal? I thought there was a lot of offense in the Arena League" before switching the channel.
For those who watched the West coast broadcast on NBC, they weren`t witnessing two sputtering offenses, rather two strong defenses. For those tuning in for offensive eye-candy, they needed to point their satellite dishes toward the south to see Dallas and New York play, but for those looking for a good football game between two top-5 teams, they were in the right time zone.
Defense is also a part of Arena Ball.
The game started slow. Really slow. San Jose and Arizona were tied at seven after the first quarter with last year’s Offensive MVP QB Mark Grieb 2 for 11 and QB Sherdrick Bonner 0 for 4 passing.
A key to the Arizona game plan was to contain DS Clevan Thomas on returns. When Garner wasn`t kicking the ball out-of-bounds, he was finding the right spot as Thomas finshed with only two returns for 21 yards. Last season, Thomas returned 59 kickoffs for a league-high six touchdowns.
With six seconds left in the half from the San Jose one, rather than settling for a field goal, the Rattlers were going for the tie. Bonner looked to pass, was forced to take off running with nobody open. As Bonner headed toward the left side, he was stuffed, falling a yard short of a score as the final second ticked off the clock. This was a huge turning point in the game as San Jose took a seven-point lead into half-time and Bonner was out the rest of the game with an injury to his shoulder.
The second half was all San Jose as the SaberCats scored 21 unanswered points and went on to win 49-28.
Mark Grieb was announced game MVP as he finished 10 of 27 for 151 yards and four touchdowns. WR/DB Barry Wagner showed what being an Ironman was all about as he caught two passes, ran for two scores and finshed with 3.5 tackles, winning game Ironman honors.
Whether the viewers on Sunday were Arena Football fans or NFL fans suffering from a Super Bowl hangover, they witnessed great football complete with a halftime show and bonus coverage of other games. The AFL on NBC is back next week, so prepared for more high-scoring entertainment.
NBC RECAP
John Elway didn`t run onto the field wielding a chainsaw, but 17,483 fans did see a ripper of a game in Colorado. The Crush and QB John Dutton lead early but could not contain the Donnie Davis - Tyrone Jones combo as the Force won 44-40.
Orlando QB Jay Gruden skipped going to Disneyland and instead showed up in Chicago, leading the Predators to a 47-34 win over the Rush. Gruden threw six touchdowns, four to OS Travis McGriff.
There was a new sherrif in town in Dallas as QB Jim Kubiak lead the Desperados to a 60-56 win over New York. Kubiak finished with 326 yards and five touchdowns while QB Aaron Garcia threw for 324 yards and eight touchdowns.
The four NBC games averaged 15,644 in attendance and 89.8 combined points.
Dave Harwood was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2001 to 2003.
