Happy Birthday, Shane!
Adam Markowitz
Saturday March 15, 2008
Orlando answered back with a five play, 34 yard drive to tie the score at 49. Then the play of the year happened. Rookie K John Vaughn blasted an onside kick right at the feet of one of the Blaze up-men. The ball took a funny bounce, and was recovered by Ron Johnson. The Preds scored three plays later and never trailed again, resulting in a 69-61 victory.
Though TT Toliver won the Offensive Player of the Game Award, it was quarterback Shane Stafford’s night.
On the day that Stafford turned 32 years old, he put forth the most complete game of his brief Orlando Predators career. Short of an interception that was called back for roughing the passer, he didn’t have a bad throw the entire night. His decisions were quick and all spot on. For the game, Stafford completed 24 of 32 passes for 285 yards and 6 touchdowns without throwing an interceptionT. He’s now completed 70% of his passes, only behind Dallas’ Clint Dolezel in that category.
Is this the sign of the Apocalypse? Is this me, Adam Markowitz, the AFLGuru, actually complimenting Shane Stafford? Our Shane Stafford? Geez, what’s next? Coach Gruden actually managing the clock at the end of the first half correctly?
Ok Coach, I owe you one, too. Though Orlando was stopped on Ron Johnson’s fumble in the 2nd quarter, they still managed to get into the locker room with the score being tied when Gruden successfully ran the clock down to just seven seconds remaining in the half before Stafford threw his third touchdown pass of the night. Vaughn’s onside kick led to the only other time in the game that either team scored consecutive touchdowns.
This game may have softened me up a little bit, but like Coach Gruden, I’m still very skeptical about the defensive effort which the Preds have put forth this season, as they still have only effectively had three stops all season.
Gruden had this to say after the game. “It’s great to win, but it’s going to be short lived unless we fix our defense.” He continued, “Defensively, I’m going to have a heart attack.” Gee, wasn’t I just thinking that myself?
Enough bashing for one article.
For all of the stats I’ve been known to ramble off about the deficiencies of Orlando’s signal-caller, I will never challenge the fact that Shane Stafford is truly is one of the good guys in this league. When he’s not working on the field, Stafford performs volunteer work for the Children’s Cancer Center in the Tampa area, and has also made an impact on the community in Orlando.
The Orlando Sentinel ran a column about Stafford visiting Robert O’Brien, a 16-year old freshman at a local Central Florida high school. O’Brien is suffering from testicular cancer that has also spread to other parts of his body. While Stafford’s biggest problems on the field are avoiding a pass rush and locating the jack linebacker, simply waking up and functioning are incredibly difficult for O’Brien.
If nothing else, Stafford should be up for the Al Lucas Hero Award, recognizing the AFL player who has given the most back to the community.
It looks like Stafford’s job on the field is going to require much more success than any other QB before him to suit up in black and red because the defense is Swiss cheese. It may not be traditional Predator smash-mouth football, but at least for this one night, Orlando is back in the win column. When asked whether the game on his birthday meant anymore, the unselfish Stafford gave the most unselfish answer of them all.
“It just feels good to get a win.”
You said it, Shane. Happy birthday!
Adam Markowitz is an accountant living in Orlando. Adam is an old school AFLer, having followed the AFL since 1991. He attended or covered well over 200 games, including 17 ArenaBowls. Adam worked for the Arena Football League for two years as a columnist and historian before retiring in 2017 when the 50-yard indoor war left the Sunshine State. Adam still muses about the AFL on ArenaFan from time to time, and you can follow him on Twitter @adammarkowitzea.
