AFL Power Rankings: Week 13
John Hoh
Thursday April 21, 2005
Maybe it's not fair, but who said life was fair? And in any playoff scenario, someone will be left unhappy. Just ask last year's Eastern Division champion New York Dragons, who sat home and watched the playoffs even though they won their division.
Mathematically, only two teams have been eliminated from playoff contention (Grand Rapids and Columbus). However, several other teams are close to elimination and likely will be out of the picture after this weekend.
Playoff seedings as of the end of week 12:
American:
- Colorado Crush (8-3)+
- San Jose SaberCats (7-4)+
- Chicago Rush (7-4)
- Las Vegas Gladiators (7-5)
- Los Angeles Avengers (6-5)
- Nashville Kats (3-7-1)
- Arizona Rattlers (3-8)
- Grand Rapids Rampage (1-10)
National:
- Georgia Force (9-3)+
- Dallas Desperados (6-4-1)+
- Orlando Predators (8-4)
- New Orleans VooDoo (7-4)
- Tampa Bay Storm (7-4)
- New York Dragons (6-5)
- Philadelphia Soul (5-7)
- Austin Wranglers (4-8)
- Columbus Destroyers (1-10)
+Division Leaders
Herein are the Power Rankings for Week 13.
| Rank | Team | Record | Previous Rank | Next Up |
| 1 | Orlando Predators (ORL) | 7-3 | 3 | @TB |
| 1 | Georgia Force (GA) | 9-3 | 1 | @ORL |
| Force ensures winning campaign; must travel to the Jungle and take on the Predators in a divisional matchup. | ||||
| 2 | Orlando Predators (ORL) | 8-4 | 3 | GA |
| Beat Dragons and now must be Force-ful at home in divisional battle. | ||||
| 3 | Colorado Crush (COL) | 8-3 | 2 | SJ |
| Tough loss at Chicago. Must host resurgent SaberCats next for possible home field in conference playoffs. | ||||
| 4 | New Orleans VooDoo (NO) | 7-4 | 4 | @GR |
| A string of easy games continues against the 1-10 Rampage. Should put the VooDoo in the "W" column. | ||||
| 5 | San Jose SaberCats (SJ) | 7-4 | 7 | @COL |
| SaberCats claw their way to the top of the Western Division. Next game could find them clawing their way to the top of the conference. | ||||
| 6 | Tampa Bay Storm (TB) | 7-4 | 9 | @NAS |
| Tie-breaker—and division winners getting playoff berths—are currently conspiring to keep the Storm outside the playoffs. Take on the streaking Kats in Nashville next. | ||||
| 7 | Las Vegas Gladiators (LV) | 7-5 | 10 | @CHI (5/1) |
| Vegas wins the Inconsistent Bowl to eke back into an insider track for the playoffs. Gladiators have week off before traveling to Chicago. | ||||
| 8 | Los Angeles Avengers (LA) | 6-5 | 6 | CHI |
| Team loses emotional game after death of Al Lucas. Can the Avengers regroup this week against Chicago? | ||||
| 9 | Chicago Rush (CHI) | 7-4 | 11 | @LA |
| Chicago sweeps division-leading Crush. That means that if the Rush and Crush finish with identical records, Chicago wins the division and a first-round home game. | ||||
| 10 | Dallas Desperados (DAL) | 6-4-1 | 8 | @CLB |
| San Jose too much for Desperados. Fortunately, New York couldn't capitalize. Dallas should recover against Columbus, although the Destroyers gave the Desperados a game of it in Dallas. | ||||
| 11 | New York Dragons (NY) | 6-5 | 5 | PHI |
| Hosting Philly could be the right thing for the struggling Dragons right now. | ||||
| 12 | Nashville Kats (NAS) | 3-7-1 | 15 | TB |
| 2-0-1 in the last three games—a sign of a team maturing or a fluke? Did Nashville catch an LA team in an emotional down after the loss of Al Lucas—or can Tampa Bay be beaten in Music City? The rise in standings for the Kats is owed to the last three games—but things can change. | ||||
| 13 | Philadelphia Soul (PHI) | 5-7 | 12 | @NY |
| Well, I guess the problem wasn't in the coaching after all. | ||||
| 14 | Austin Wranglers (AUS) | 4-8 | 13 | @AZ |
| Austin has played some teams tough, teams with better records. Austin will knock the Rattlers out of playoff contention with a win in the desert. | ||||
| 15 | Arizona Rattlers (AZ) | 3-8 | 14 | AUS |
| Week off won't help Arizona against Austin. From three straight ArenaBowl appearances to missing the playoffs in one year. What does the future hold for the Snakes from the desert? | ||||
| 16 | Grand Rapids Rampage (GR) | 1-10 | 16 | NO |
| New Orleans will be too much for the Rampage to stop. | ||||
| 17 | Columbus Destroyers (CLB) | 1-10 | 17 | DAL |
| When the Destroyers last played the Desperados, Columbus made a game of it. Columbus would go home and soundly beat Chicago the following week and there was speculation that the Destroyers might put something together. They did. An 8-game losing streak. When Dallas leaves town, it will be a 9 game losing streak. | ||||
John L. Hoh, Jr., is a free-lance writer from Milwaukee who grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin, as an avid Dolphins fan. He followed Arena Football since its inception, at one point watching tape-delayed games on low-powered WAV-TV in Waukesha. His happiest day was when Milwaukee was awarded the Mustangs franchise; his saddest when the Mustangs were contracted out of the league. John is married to his wife Maija (13+ years) and has a young son, Matthew. John pines for the return of the Arena Football League to Milwaukee.
