Blaze look to take the field with high-powered offense
Don Eisenbarth
Thursday April 8, 2010
One of the more interesting features of this year's AFL experience is how every team is like an expansion team. Each has a handful of AFL veterans sprinkled in with rookies and players from other leagues. Each team has a new start and new faces, and each team will have to prove their worth to their fans, because what fans were accustomed to may not be what they get.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Utah Blaze. The Blaze are similar to the team that played in Utah from 2006-2008 in name alone. The Blaze have new ownership, new coaches, new quarterbacks, new receivers, new defenses, a new home (having moved from downtown Salt Lake’s EnergySolutions Arena to the West Valley E Center), and even (unless my eyes played tricks on me) a new mascot. When looking at all these changes you begin to wonder if as a Blaze fan you will even recognize the team that will enter the field on Friday.
As the old adage goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Utah Blaze fans are used to having high powered offences, and that appears to have not changed. In the 2008 campaign, three different receivers had over 1,500 receiving yards. Two of those three receivers will be on the field on Friday, however only one will be playing for the Blaze.
If the Blaze are going to win, they’ll need the offensive production of Aaron Boone to match the offensive production of Spokane receiver (and former Blaze player) Huey Whittaker. Both of these star receivers were receiving balls from Joe Germaine. Now, both receivers have a new winning quarterback to receive from.
Utah Blaze quarterback Michael Affleck was the starting QB of the American Indoor Football Association’s Utah Valley Thunder. When the Thunder took over the Blaze name and moved to the E Center they brought Affleck and his main target, AIFA all-star Akamu Aki. Affleck led the AIFA in passing efficiency and was second in passing yards. Aki and Boone look to be a dangerous combo for Affleck to use, and form the core of what should be one of the AFL’s strongest offences.
Spokane QB Kyle Rowley was the 2008 arenafootball2 Offensive Player of the Year. He has led the Shock to two ArenaCup championships and holds the af2 single season passing record. While their first game was a loss for the Shock, Rowley completed 63% of his passes for 294 yards, 7 Touchdowns and 1 interception.
Both Affleck and Rowley have shown their stuff on arena fields in other leagues, but how does that transfer to the AFL? Rowley showed in his first game that he will be a threat on the field. Affleck will now need to do the same.
This appears to be a game of high powered offences that should be entertaining and fast paced. This game will ultimately come down to turnovers and defensive stops, which, when looking at these two teams offenses, will be hard to come by.
Last week, the Spokane Shock allowed Milwaukee Iron quarterback Chris Greisen to throw nine touchdowns, complete over 80% of his passes, and have no interceptions over the course of the game. The question remains if that was a showing of Greisen’s offensive ability or Spokane’s defensive inability, or both.
Blaze head coach Ernesto Purnsely is a defensive-minded coach, having last been the defensive coordinator with the Colorado Crush. Combining that with the result of Spokane’s defense last week, and the fact that the Blaze will be playing their home opener in front of 12,000 screaming fans at the E Center, it would appear like the Blaze should be able to squeak out a victory in a high scoring affair and score a valuable win against one of their two division rivals.
