Breaking it down – 2010 Week One
Andy Lopusnak
Thursday April 8, 2010
Never thought it would be a year and a half between Breaking it down articles, but it’s good to be back giving you the most in-depth look at each week of AFL action and a stroll down memory lane on how each game affects league history.
This year’s version of the Arena Football League looks vastly different from my last Breaking it Down article after the Philadelphia Soul beat the San Jose SaberCats 59-56 in ArenaBowl XXII. AFL 2.0 is a hodgepodge of AFL and af2 teams with some new ones stitched together like a football Frankenstein. Only six team names from the old AFL remain. Seven arenafootball2 teams, including last season’s ArenaCup champion Spokane Shock, made the switch to the new AFL as well as new teams in Jacksonville and Dallas that are both considered themselves as expansion teams (even though some would consider all of them as expansion teams).
As a self-proclaimed historian of the game, it greatly saddens me that the new AFL decided to combine all the records of the AFL and af2 into one record book. This means that many af2 records created by the 2000-01 Quad City Steamwheelers, when they cheated their way to two ArenaCup titles, will be new AFL marks such as points in a game (103), most points in a season (1,074), fewest points allowed in 16-game season (474) and biggest margin of victory (100).
A lot of other af2 records will now trump the old AFL records. In fact, eight of the top ten scoring games in the new league’s history will come from af2 teams, including both 100-point games. There were just three times in 22 AFL years that a team reached 90 points in a single game. The af2 had 12 such games in ten seasons. Also, the largest margin of victory in the old AFL’s history was 62 points, which now ranks 14th in the new AFL’s record book. By this logic, both the Orlando Predators and Tulsa Talons both could call themselves two-time World Champions since they won titles within the confines of “Arena Football?” Would this mean Spokane is the defending Arena Football champions? If you’re combining everything, then you have to combine everything – no exceptions.
I’ve been told that the AFL hasn’t even completed this new record book (even after a week into the season), which makes writing this article extremely difficult. I guess if you’re still using balls with the former commissioner’s name on them, then stats aren’t your top priority (yes, the AFL did use David Baker branded balls in games this weekend and will do so until they run out of that stock). All af2 experts please email me if I’m off any notes in this article so I can fix for accuracy.
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WEEK ONE RESULTS
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Chicago 61, IOWA 43
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Milwaukee 74, SPOKANE 62
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Arizona 61, CLEVELAND 56
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TULSA 69, Tampa Bay 58
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Jacksonville 54, OKLAHOMA CITY 38
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BOSSIER-SHREVEPORT 54, Alabama 48
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Home team in ALL CAPS
BYE: Dallas, Orlando, Utah
WEEK ONE HIGHLIGHTS
· Road teams went 4-2
· Two players had 200 or more all-purpose yards
· Three 300-yard passers (all starters from the former AFL)
· Three QBs had eight or more TD passes
· Six players with four or more touchdowns (two with five)
· 12 players with 100 or more receiving yards, including three from Milwaukee and two from Tampa Bay
THERE WILL BE A NEW CHAMPION
This marks the first time in the AFL’s previous 22 year history that the two teams that played in the previous ArenaBowl did not play the following season. However, it’s not the first time that the previous ArenaBowl champion did not attempt to defend its crown. The Denver Dynamite did not defend its title from the first ArenaBowl as it became the Los Angeles Cobras and did not take the records or history of the Dynamite (as evidence of the high number of Dynamite players on the 1988 Cobras team and the fact that Storm head coach Tim Marcum, the 1987 Dynamite head coach, told me this when I was the Storm’s Director of Media Relations). Also, it marks the fifth time a team that played in the ArenaBowl either changed names/cities or did not play the following season. Oddly enough, Marcum coached the first two teams on this list in their final season before each moved and became different teams. Oh if you add the af2, which as previously mentioned is now the standard for AFL 2.0, then you have to add two teams. The 2004 Peoria Pirates lost the 2004 ArenaCup and did not play again. And the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers lost last year’s ArenaCup and are not playing this year.
ARENABOWL REPRESENTATIVES NOT PLAYING THE FOLLOWING SEASON
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TEAM
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ARENABOWL YEAR
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SEASON AFTER
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Denver Dynamite
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1987 – WON
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Became the LA Cobras
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1993 – LOST
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Became Massachusetts Marauders
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2001 – LOST
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Became the Georgia Force
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Philadelphia Soul
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2008 – WON
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Not in AFL
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San Jose SaberCats
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2008 – LOST
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Not in AFL
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WELCOME TO THE…WHAT? WHERE IS THE JUNGLE?
The Orlando Predators were one of three teams with a bye in the opening week, joining Utah and Dallas; however, the Preds will not play their first home game until April 30 after two road games and two byes. In fact, Orlando will play just one home game in the first six weeks on the season. If you date back to the last AFL season (2008), the Predators had a bye in the last week of the regular season as well. The April 30 home game against Iowa will be the first at the Amway Arena since June 13, 2008 when Orlando beat the New Orleans VooDoo 51-49.
BEST AFL VS. BEST af2
It’s quite fitting that one of the opening games of the re-vamped AFL pitted the most successful AFL (Tampa Bay) and af2 (Tulsa) franchises. The Storm is the only team in the current AFL that dates back to the league’s founding in 1987 (it was the Pittsburgh Gladiators from 1987-90), won more games and more championships than any other AFL team. Tulsa is the only remaining af2 team to play all ten seasons in that league and won more games than any other af2 team. It won two ArenaCup championships – tied with Spokane (also in AFL 2.0) and Quad City for the most in af2’s history. In this first match-up, the Talons clawed their way to victory over the Storm 69-58. Tampa Bay lost its first game in the old version of the AFL back in 1991, to the Orlando Predators, only to win the ArenaBowl V later that season.
AFL vs. af2
In head-to-head matchups pitting old AFL and old af2 teams, there was a split of the two games. Former af2 Tulsa beat Tampa Bay and Chicago beat former af2 Iowa. I will keep a running tally of this during the season to see how the old league matchup in the new one. This week, two of the five games feature old AFL vs. old af2 teams – Spokane at Utah and Orlando at Bossier-Shreveport.
BARNSTORMING BACK
It’s been a long journey for the Iowa Barnstormers getting back into the AFL. The original Barnstormers were owned by AFL founder Jim Foster and gave the football world future Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner. Foster sold the team after the 2000 season and it became the New York Dragons. The af2 brought in the Barnstormers in 2001, but poor attendance led to the team suspending operations. In 2008, they returned to the af2 and last season won the Midwest Division posting a 12-4 record before losing to the Green Bay Blizzard in the American Conference semifinals. The Barnstorming faithful proved that Des Moines is a great AFL market posting the highest attendance with 12,184.
LESS THAN 3,000 FOR AN AFL GAME
Really? The Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings had just 2,974 folks (announced attendance) show up to watch their new AFL team beat the Alabama Vipers Saturday night. The CenturyTel Center seats near 14,000, so almost four-fifths of the arena was empty. This is the Battle Wings’ tenth overall “Arena Football” season (nine previous in af2) and when the team premiered in 2001 had over double that amount (6,358) see the Battle Wings lose in overtime to the Alabama Steeldogs. Well, I guess merging all the af2 records with the AFL ones has some good news for the league since 2,974 will now be nowhere near the lowest attendances in league history (there’s been at least 100 af2 games that didn’t even record the attendance, including many involving the Battle Wings). In the old AFL, this would have been the lowest announced attendance since 2001 when the Houston Thunderbears spent the entire season on the road for home games at various neutral sites.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
With five seconds left in the Battle Wings-Vipers game, Bossier-Shreveport QB Raymond Philyaw tossed an 11-yard touchdown to put the Battle Wings ahead 54-48. On the ensuing offensive play from his own ten-yard line, Vipers QB Kevin Eakin connected with receiver Michael Johnson who sprinted down the sideline to the Battle Wings three-yard line. As he was going out of bounds, Johnson lateralled to Jeremy Grier, who walked into the endzone for a game-tying touchdown. The officials huddle for a moment and ruled that Johnson was out of bounds before he tossed to Grier thus ending the game. After reviewing the play on Nifty TV, it appears that Johnson released the ball before he went out bounds.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
In the same contest, Alabama’s Dan Alexander had five rushing touchdowns in a losing effort against Bossier-Shreveport. The next closest player this weekend had just two ground scores (Iowa QB Ryan Vena). Posting lots of rushing touchdowns is nothing new for Alexander, who set the old AFL single-season mark of 41 in 2007 while a member of the Nashville Kats. The previous old AFL mark was 26 before Alexander shattered the record. Not sure where his five scores and his 41 from 2007 ranks all-time in Arena Football history when the af2 stats are merged in with the AFL records.
NO MORE HALF TACKLES?
Looking at the AFL’s official website and the new stats software, it looks like the league is doing away with half tackles. In the past, the AFL deemed if you shared a tackle, then each player would get 0.5 of a tackle. The AFL was the only major football league to do this as the NFL, CFL and college football only used the half number for shared sacks. Guess this is just one more new twist to the AFL’s stats.
NEW PASSER RATING FORMULA?
Also looking at the stats on the AFL’s webpage, the league has abandoned the way it did passer rating for both the AFL and af2, adopting the NFL formula. The whole formula is quite complicated, using four categories to some up with an efficiency number: completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdown percentage and interception percentage. Of the four, the only difference between the AFL and NFL was touchdown percentage which needed to be higher. This was done because of the high number of touchdown passes in the indoor game compared to the outdoor game.
For certain players, the numbers will be the same like Milwaukee’s Chris Greisen who was 30-of-36 for 327 yards with nine TDs and no interceptions this weekend. His 144.1 rating is the same in both formulas because his TD percentage (25%) is so high. However, if a player has a low TD percentage like Alabama’s Kevin Eakin, who tossed a TD on just 5.26% of his passes this weekend, his rating would be different – in the new AFL system it is 99.5, while in the old one it would be 95.1.
WEEKLY AWARDS WINNERS
I do see that the new AFL brought over its plethora of game and weekly awards from the duece. Really, do you need six of them? I know the economy is tough and every corporate partnership is vital, but there’s no necessity for the Highlight, Catch and Playmaker of the Game/Week. You’d think that the Offensive, Defensive or Ironman of the Game would be the Playmaker of the Game - apparently not. As protest to this slew of award winners, I will, instead, present just a Player of the Week that is awarded to the individual who was the best of the best for that given week. At times, I will also give out an honorable mention or two if there are some superb performances.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Chris Greisen, Milwaukee QB
Greisen put together the best performance of any player this week by completing 83% of his passes (30-of-36) for 327 yards with nine touchdowns and no interceptions for a passer rating of 144.1. His three receivers all had over 100 yards and caught at least two touchdown passes. He also had two rushes for six yards.
WEEK ONE’S TOP STATISTICAL PREFORMANCES
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100-YARD RECEIVERS
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PLAYER, TEAM
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RECEIVING YARDS
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RECEPTIONS
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TOUCHDOWNS
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Michael Johnson, ALA
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229
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14
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0
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Tyrone Timmons, TB
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181
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11
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5
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Rod Winsor, ARZ
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175
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13
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2
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Ben Nelson, CLE
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154
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8
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4
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Hank Edwards, TB
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137
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9
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3
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Jesse Schmidt, IOWA
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129
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8
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1
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Nate Forse, MIL
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124
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11
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3
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Donovan Morgan, TUL
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120
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9
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4
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Samie Parker, CHI
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104
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6
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2
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Damian Harrell, MIL
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103
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10
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2
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Huey Whittaker, SPO
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102
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12
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4
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Anthony Jones, MIL
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100
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9
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4
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300-YARD PASSERS
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PLAYER, TEAM
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PASSING YARDS
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PASS TDs
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INTERCEPTIONS
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Brett Dietz, TB
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346
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8
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1
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Chris Greisen, MIL
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327
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9
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0
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Raymond Philyaw, BOS
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306
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7
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0
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200 YARDS OR MORE ALL-PURPOSE
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PLAYER, TEAM
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ALL-PURPOSE
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TOTAL TDs
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Michael Johnson, ALA
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278
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0
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Trandon Harvey, ARZ
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215
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4
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DEFENSIVE LEADERS
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PLAYER, TEAM
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TACKLES
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INT
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SACKS
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FF
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FR
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PBU
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DEF TD
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Darren Garrigan, ALA
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10
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0
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0.0
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0
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0
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1
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0
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Carlos Campbell, CLE
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10
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0
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0.0
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1
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0
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1
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0
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Michael Hawthorne, TB
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10
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0
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0.0
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1
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0
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0
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0
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Michael Bragg, CLE
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7
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0
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0.0
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0
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0
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3
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0
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Josh Ferguson, CHI
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4
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2
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0.0
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0
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0
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1
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0
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Nygel Rogers, CHI
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4
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2
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0.0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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DeJuan Alfonzo, CHI
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5
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1
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0.0
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1
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0
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2
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1
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David Hyland, OKC
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4
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1
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0.0
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0
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0
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0
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1
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Clifton Smith, CHI
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4
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0
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2.0
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0
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0
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1
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0
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Tyus Jackson, MIL
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4
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0
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2.0
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0
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0
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1
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0
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Anthony Hoke, CLE
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1
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1
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1.0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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Andy Lopusnak is an 11-year AFL front office veteran, spending time with the Tampa Bay Storm, San Diego Riptide and Grand Rapids Rampage. He works as a statistician for NFL and college sports for CBS Sports and is a freelance photographer. Lopusnak received two Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of South Florida and has been a fan of ArenaBall since its inception.
