Breaking it Down – Week Eleven 2011
Andy Lopusnak
Wednesday May 25, 2011
Week Eleven featured all four division leaders winning, a rather boring rematch of last year's ArenaBowl, the road team winning four of seven games as well as San Jose & Georgia losing for the third straight time to drop to .500. This week's edition of Breaking it Down has recaps, ramblings, history and some other stuff. Enjoy!
UP FRONT
Yes, Jacksonville has won nine straight, but a massive reason why Aaron Garcia is having one of his best seasons in his career. His offensive line has been outstanding. Garcia has been sacked just three times and the front three haven't allowed very many pressures or batted down balls. This has given Garcia more time and his completion percentage has skyrocketed from 64.2% last year to 71.2% this season.
FLAGS ON THE GROUND
This weekend's games were slowed down by penalty after penalty. Of the 14 teams to play in Week eleven, nine of them had nine or more accepted penalties. The Blaze-SaberCats game had 31 combined accepted penalties for a combined 218 yards. At the end of the third quarter, there were five straight penalties called and technically only one play statistically was run during that stretch. In real time, that one actual play (an incompletion) took over two minutes. Moreover, this was in the highest scoring game of the week.
Tampa Bay's 18 penalties and 150 penalty yards against Spokane are the most in the league thus far. On the flipside, Chicago and Tulsa were each called for just four penalties in their respective home games.
TALONS THE EXCEPTION AGAIN
Tulsa is a world by itself when it comes to penalties. The Talons, just like last season, are by far the least penalized team in the league. Tulsa averages 5.8 penalties per game while the next closest team averages 7.8 penalties. Looking at the Talons' 13 regular season home games since joining the AFL, the numbers are shocking compared to the rest of the league. In those games, Tulsa has yet to be called for more than nine penalties and had more penalties than its opponents had in just two games. Seven opponents had more than ten penalties in games, while just three had five or fewer flags. Tulsa has had seven home games with four or fewer flags.
Last year, the Talons were called for just 42 penalties (236 yards) at home; while their opponents were flagged double that (84 times for 600 yards). On the road, it was a much different story though. The Talons and their opponents' penalties were nearly identical. Opponents were flagged 59 times for 372 yards; while Tulsa had 54 flags for 350 yards. There must be something in the water in Tulsa that just makes teams want to commit penalty after penalty; and the Talons are just immune to it. However, in the past three Talons home games; opponents must have been called for no greater than six flags. Of course, in that stretch Tulsa has been called for eight total penalties.
SO MUCH FOR THE "BLOCKBUSTER" TRADE
All three teams involved in last week's so-called "blockbuster" trade lost this week. Most shocking was the Talons loss to a previously two-win team. None of the three players involved in the trade played this weekend.
MORE HALL TALK
On Saturday, the AFL announced that an advisory board will nominate ten individuals for Hall of Fame consideration by June 15 and those ten will be announced two days later on NFL Network. Fans and current AFL Hall of Famers will vote on these nominees starting on June 20. I will be out of town for the Week 13 article and won't have internet access. So as the self-anointed AFL historian, I'll have a special HOF edition of Breaking it Down, where I'll present cases for my top ten individuals that are eligible and not currently in the Hall.
GREAT COVERAGE
The past three weekends, I've had a chance to listen to the Calling All Sports broadcasts of AFL games on the radio here in the San Francisco market on 860AM when I was driving back from photo shoots in the City. Even though the announcers have taken a few weeks to get some of the intricacies of the sports, the broadcasts have been fantastic. I love the postgame coverage of the sport and the attention to the other AFL games. The league needs to promote this valuable tool as much as it does the NFL Network. Most of the country doesn't get NFL Network, but most if not all have a radio in the over 400 markets that Calling All Sports broadcasts. Marty Tirrell and the other announcers make the game fun on the radio and don't give that hometown bias which makes these broadcasts have a larger and more important feel to them.
Now onto the game breakdowns...
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WEEK ELEVEN RESULTS |
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Arizona 61, NEW ORLEANS 53
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Tampa Bay 51, SPOKANE 42
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CLEVELAND 59, Philadelphia 41
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Jacksonville 62, GEORGIA 55
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Kansas City 40, TULSA 38
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UTAH 76, San Jose 68
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CHICAGO 69, Dallas 57
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Home team in ALL CAPS
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BYE: Iowa, Milwaukee, Orlando, Pittsburgh
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ARIZONA 61, NEW ORLEANS 53
- The teams traded touchdowns until Vince Hill picked off VooDoo QB D. Bryant with less than eleven minutes to go in the game. That led to a touchdown and a 14-point lead that New Orleans couldn't overcome.
- New Orleans kept it close despite three Bryant interceptions, whose 285 passing yards and 73.5 completion percentage were the most by a VooDoo QB this year. Bryant tossed six scores and ran in another.
- Rattlers QB Nick Davila had more TD passes (seven) than incompletions (five) to go along with 314 yards and no interceptions. He completed 80.7% of his passes with a 148.45 rating.
- His favorite target was once again Rod Windsor, who grabbed 13 balls for 162 yards and two scores.
- AFL all-purpose leader P.J. Berry posted a season-best 339 yards (185 return/154 receiving) and four touchdowns. This included the game's first points, a 42-yard strike on the second play from scrimmage and a 57-yard kickoff return for a score.
- Berry became the first player to surpass the 2,000 all-purpose yardage mark this season (he was the first to do so last year as well). In addition to all-purpose yards, he leads the AFL in receptions (97), kickoff returns (57) and kickoff return yards (1,130).
- Rattlers WR/KR Trandon Harvey had five touchdowns (four receiving and one on a 45-yard kickoff return).
TAMPA BAY 51, SPOKANE 42
- This rematch of last year's ArenaBowl was worlds apart from the last time these two teams met less than a year ago. Gone were QBs Kyle Rowley and Brett Dietz, Storm head coach Tim Marcum and Spokane offensive coordinator Matt Sauk, and Huey Whittaker went from a star in Spokane to a star with the Storm.
- Spokane fumbled the opening kickoff return that resulted in a Storm TD, then returned the second kickoff 55 yards for a touchdown only to have the PAT blocked.
- The Shock took a 13-7 then 19-10 lead after two strong defensive stops (turnover on downs and a Storm FG), but the Storm outscored the defending champs 21-3 the rest of the first half to take a 31-22 halftime lead.
- That was the same score entering the fourth quarter after Tampa Bay missed two field goals and turned it over on downs, and Spokane fumbled and had two turnovers on downs. Overall, the teams failed to convert a single fourth-down attempt on five combined tries.
- Spokane failed to score a touchdown for a 32-minute span.
- Tampa Bay blocked three PATs on the night. Two of the blocks were by Jermaine Smith, who also had a sack. Smith is now the AFL's all-time leader in blocked kicks (11). He previously was tied with Ralph Jarvis, Willie Wyatt and Marcus Owen with nine.
- Storm LB Cliff Dukes added 2.5 sacks to his AFL-leading total to go along with 4.5 tackles, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble.
- Duke's 10.5 sacks on the year are tied for tenth most in AFL history. The league record was set last year by Gabe Nyenhuis' 15.5 with Tulsa.
- In his first AFL start, Shock QB Casey Hansen completed 58.1% of his passes for 288 yards with four TDs, an interception, lost two fumbles and was sacked four times. A week earlier Hansen was working at his brother's date-communication business in California before Spokane's starter and backup QB were injured in Week Ten's win over Dallas.
- The two teams from last year's ArenaBowl are both 4-6 on the season.
- Tampa Bay is on its first winning streak of the season, but has still failed to score more than 51 points in a win. The Storm has a bye this upcoming week before it faces Georgia, a team on a three-game skid.
CLEVELAND 59, PHILADELPHIA 41
- The Gladiators never trailed and pulled away at the beginning of the third quarter when Cleveland scored 16 straight points.
- Cleveland posted two safeties on the night. For the year, the Gladiators have had four safeties, which only trails Dallas (five) for the most in the league.
- Gladiators QB Kurt Rocco tossed seven TDs and no interceptions. His counterpart, Soul QB Ryan Vena had six scores but was picked off once and lost a fumble (the game's only turnovers).
- In a losing effort, Soul WR Donovan Morgan had another outstanding outing. He caught nine passes for 132 yards with four scores. On the year, he leads the AFL in receiving yards (1,270) despite being eighth in receptions (79).
- For Cleveland, six different players had a rushing attempt and six different players caught a pass.
- Cleveland WR/KR Robert Redd posted 248 all-purpose yards with four touchdowns.
- The seven losses are the most in a season by Soul head coach Mike Hohensee since 2006 when his 7-9 Rush team slipped into the playoffs and shocked the indoor football world by winning that year's ArenaBowl. It marks his seventh time in 17 as an AFL head coach that he's lost at least seven regular season games.
JACKSONVILLE 62, GEORGIA 55
- After AFL receiving TD leader Maurice Purify put the Force on the board with a 41-yard score, Jacksonville had three straight Aaron Garcia-to-Jomo Wilson TD strikes to put the Sharks up 21-7. Georgia fought back to take a one-point lead with two minutes left in the game. However, Jacksonville scored and stopped Georgia on fourth and goal from the five to win its ninth-straight game.
- Sharks QB Aaron Garcia had more touchdown passes (eight) than incompletions (seven) to go along with 279 yards. He was picked off once.
- Garcia had one rushing attempt for 19 yards, which put him into 19th place all-time in rushing attempts passing current Tampa Bay offensive coordinator John Kaleo. Garcia is 13 rushing attempts away from becoming the league's all-time rushing attempts leader by a QB. He is currently third (222) behind Matt D'Orazio (223) and Todd Hammel (234).
- Force QB Brett Elliott tossed seven scores, but had an interception, lost a fumble and was sacked four times.
- Purify added four more receiving scores (along with ten catches for 106 yards) to increase his AFL lead to 31. His 188 points scored also leads the league.
KANSAS CITY 40, TULSA 38
- With 1:42 left, the Talons had the ball at the goal line and called a timeout. Five seconds later Tulsa scored to go up four. After the ensuing kickoff, Kansas City got the ball with 58 ticks left at its out two-yard line. The Command drove the length of the field and as time expired, QB J.J. Raterink tossed a 16-yard strike to Brad Chavez to win the game for Kansas City.
- The teams didn't do well on taking advantage of turnovers. Of the four turnovers (three by Tulsa, one by KC), only one score was converted (a Command touchdown).
- Raterink completed 23-of-38 for 287 yards with five scores and an interception. On the other side of the field, Tulsa QB Matt Bassuener completed just 58.3% of his passes for 263 yards with four TDs and two interceptions. His picks came on two of the team's final three drives. Both QBs weren't sacked in the game.
- Kansas City DB Ken Fontenette had 9.5 stops, a tackle for loss, a fumble recovery, an interception and a pass breakup.
- The kickers went a combined one-of-four on field goals with Tulsa's Juan Bongarra making a 33-yarder while missing an 18-yard attempt. KC's Brian Umstead missed FGs of 34 and 54 yards.
UTAH 76, SAN JOSE 68
- Even without AFL leading receiver Aaron Boone, the Blaze was nearly unstoppable scoring touchdowns on ten of eleven drives with all ten coming from QB Tommy Grady.
- San Jose has not lost three straight since the 2005 and 2006 season when the SaberCats lost the last two games of 2005 and then lost the first two of 2006.
- The Blaze is the only team in the league yet to win two games in a row or lose two games in a row.
- SaberCats DB turned WR Mervin Brookins hauled in 13 balls for 152 yards with two scores. He also returned two kickoffs for 38 yards and recorded the game's first tackle on the opening kickoff.
- The SaberCats' defense was held without a sack for the first time this season.
- San Jose FB Chad Cook posted his second straight three rush TD performance (his fourth this season). Cook is tied with Dallas' Derrick Ross for the league lead in rushing scores. Their 23 rushing scores each are tied for fourth most in league history. Both would need to average their 2.3 rushing TDs per game to tie the league mark of 41 set by Dan Alexander in 2007.
CHICAGO 69, DALLAS 57
- The Rush utilized the first half to second half possession almost to perfection. Chicago scored last in the first half to go up 28-24 (however, the Rush left seven seconds which was enough time for a 36-yard FG attempt that luckily for Chicago was missed), then thanks to deferring the coin toss scored on its first drive of the second half to increase its lead and Dallas never recovered.
- Rush QB Russ Michna completed 83.3% of his passes (20-of-24) for 264 yards with seven scores and no interceptions. He posted a near perfect passer rating of 152.08.
- For Dallas, QB Dan Raudabaugh had 322 yards with five TDs, but was picked off twice (both of which led to touchdowns). His favorite target was Tiger Jones who hauled in 16 of Raudabaugh's 29 completions for 179 yards with two scores.
- Over the last three games, Rush WR Reggie Gray has lost three fumbles. This time, his defense held the Vigilantes to a field goal.
- Dallas FB Derrick Ross posted three rushing scores on seven carries for 22 yards. Ross is still rushing his way into the record books. Through ten games, he ranks fifth all-time in rushing attempts (95), eighth in rushing yards (354) and is tied for fourth most in rushing touchdowns (23).
BREAKING IT DOWN PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Utah QB Tommy Grady
Grady garnered his third Breaking it Down Player of the Week honor after a nearly perfect performance against San Jose. He was responsible for all ten offensive touchdowns (nine passing and one rushing). Prior to final three on-purpose incompletions to kill the clock, Grady had just six incompletions to nine passing scores. The three incompletions took Grady's final passer rating from 152.08 (nearly perfect), to 143.1. He finished 23-of-32 for 319 yards. Grady leads the AFL in 69 passing scores.
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2011 BREAKING IT DOWN PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
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Week
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Player, Team
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Stat Notes
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1
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Mark Grieb, SJ
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84%, 222 yds, six TDs, 143 rating
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2
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Tommy Grady, Utah
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67%, 306 yds, 9 TD (7 pass/2 rush)
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3
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Aaron Garcia, JAX
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89.5%, 308 yds, 8 TD, perfect 158.33 rating
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4
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Brad Banks, Iowa
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65%, 383 yards, 11 TD (10 pass/1 rush), 138.9 rating
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5
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Sergio Gilliam, KC
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3 interceptions, 5.0 tackles, 1 pass breakup
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6
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Rod Windsor, AZ
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16 receptions for 217 yards and five TDs
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7
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Kyle Rowley, SPK
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72%, 293 yards, 10 TD (8 pass/2 rush), 1 INT, 126.69 rating
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8
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Kyle Rowley, SPK
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67.7%, 219 yards, 9 TD (8 pass/1 rush), 1 INT, 114.11 rating
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9
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Tommy Grady, Utah
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73.3%, 344 yards, 10 TD, 0 INT, 134.63 rating
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10
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Nick Hill, ORL
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79.3%, 267 yards, 8 TD (6 pass/2 rush), 0 INT, 144.61 rating
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11
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Tommy Grady, Utah
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71.9%, 319 yards 10 TD (9 pass/1 rush), 0 INT, 143.1 rating
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