Breaking it Down – Week 15 2011

Andy Lopusnak
Thursday June 23, 2011

After back-to-back bye weeks, I'm back with more breakdowns, more history and more AFL than anywhere else. Arizona won the West, Jacksonville won a record tying 12th straight, Tommy Grady tossed ten TDs again, Derrick Ross set the single-season rushing record (without apparently anyone knowing about it), Tampa Bay evened the War on I-4 and a few more thousand words to fill the void until Week 16 kicks off. Breaking it Down is back!

• Talons QB Justin Allgood, who was the Soul's opening day starter and traded away a few weeks ago, completed 61.9% of his passes for 283 yards with six TDs and no interceptions.
• Down six with 28 seconds left, Philadelphia blocked a field goal and had the ball at its own 23, but an intentional grounding penalty and a bad center-QB exchange gave the ball back to Tulsa and ended the game. 
• With the win, Tulsa is currently in the final National Conference playoff spot (tied with Spokane and Utah).
• Philadelphia started QB Brandon Kirsch, but after three interceptions was benched for Ryan Vena to start the second half down 27-14.
• Vena completed 11-of-14 with four touchdowns.
• AFL receiving yards leader Donovan Morgan missed the game with a leg injury.
• Tulsa DB J.C. Neal had a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown in the game. He had another interception and led the Talons with 6.5 stops.
• Rookie WR Troy McBroom had another stellar game. He caught ten balls for 152 yards with three touchdowns.

• Storm WR Amarri Jackson posted eleven catches for 151 yards with five touchdowns.
• Tampa Bay Linebacker Cliff Dukes posted his eighth game with at least a sack (1.5) and continues to lead the league with 13.0 sacks.
• Tampa Bay DL Jarriett Buie posted an AFL 2011 single-game high 4.5 sacks, which historically is tied for the second most in league history in a single game (HOFer Craig Walls had 4.5 in 1987 for Pittsburgh, that franchise is now the Storm). The AFL single-game record is held by Rettig from 1992.
• The Storm posted a league-high seven sacks against Orlando. On the year, Tampa Bay is the only team to record two games with at least six sacks (and three games with at least five sacks).
• Tampa Bay has 33 sacks on the year. The league record is 38 by the 1988 Pittsburgh Gladiators (12-game season). Tampa Bay still has five games left on its schedule and is averaging 2.5 per game.
• In Week 14, Orlando tied its own 1992 (ten-game season) AFL record with its 29th defensive interception of the season. This week against Tampa Bay, the Predators added two more. Entering Saturday's games, Orlando held the top three interception seasons in league history (#1. 31 this year; #2. 29 in 1992; and 28 in 2010).
• AFL all-time interceptions leader Kenny McEntyre had a PAT return for two points in the game after Frisner Nelson blocked a Storm extra point attempt. Nelson had two blocked extra points in the game. It's unknown if two blocked PATs in a game is an AFL record since the league's Record & Fact Book sadly doesn't list blocked kicks as an individual record (AFL all-time leading block artist Jermaine Smith has three career two-block games).
• Orlando WR T.T. Toliver caught nine passes for 150 yards with two TDs. He is now 16th all-time in AFL history in receptions and receiving yards. Toliver is just 15 yards away from passing Hunkie Cooper in receiving yardage.
• The Storm has now won two straight games. These teams represent the #2 and #3 seeds currently in the playoffs (Pittsburgh and Orlando).
• Over its last five games, Tampa Bay is 4-1.
• Orlando has lost its last two contests - both to teams from Florida.

• New Orleans started the game with Danny Wimprine under center, but switched to D. Bryant despite the VooDoo only trailing by three points at the time. Bryant had New Orleans up 20-17 with less than a minute to go in the first half. That would be the VooDoo's last lead. Bryant was pulled in the third quarter after an interception, then returned later after Wimprine tossed his second pick of the game.
• The Force had two returns for touchdowns (kickoff and interception) in the 12-point win.
• Georgia rookie WR Maurice Purify caught eleven passes for 106 yards with four touchdowns. His QB, Brett Elliott, completed 57.6% of his passes for just 179 yards with six scores and was picked off once.
• The VooDoo out gained the Force by over double (345 to 171) and posted six more first downs, but seven of its nine penalties resulted in Georgia First downs that kept drives alive.
• AFL all-purpose leader, VooDoo WR/KR P.J. Berry, was held to just 110 all-purpose yards with two rushing touchdowns.
• The Force didn't attempt a rush in the game, while the VooDoo had eleven carries for 47 yards with four touchdowns on the ground.
• New Orleans was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention with the loss.

• The Sharks won its AFL record tying 12th straight game of the season in a game that was closer than the final score indicated for the until Jacksonville pulled away in the fourth quarter.
• Entering the fourth quarter, the game was tied at 34. Milwaukee turned the ball over twice in the final stanza.
• Sharks WR/KR Jeff Hughley posted 264 all-purpose yards with three touchdowns. This included 12 catches for 147 yards. Teammate Jomo Wilson also scored three times and caught 11 balls for 104 yards.
• Mustangs QB R.J. Archer turned the ball over three times (two INT, 1 lost fumble) and passed for just two touchdowns in the loss.
• AFL all-time receiver Damian Harrell has not made a catch in his last two games. In the stats sheet, he was listed as the starter this week against the Sharks and last week against the Command.
• Sharks QB Aaron Garcia tossed 307 yards and seven scores, but turned the ball over twice.
• Jacksonville DB Michaeux Robinson has posted five interceptions in his last three games. This week, he had one interception to go with 6.5 tackles and five pass breakups.
• Robinson leads the league in pass breakups (35) and passes defended (43). He has 12 more PBUs than the next closest player does.
• Dallas has won its past two games.
• Iowa has lost three straight since interim head coach J.T. Smith won his first game. Overall, the Barnstormers have lost nine of their last ten games.

• Dallas FB Derrick Ross broke the AFL's single-season rushing yardage mark on his fifth rush of the game. He also moved into second in league single-season history in rushing touchdowns during the game. Ross finished with 67 yards on 13 carriers with two touchdowns.
• Vigilantes QB Dan Raudabaugh completed 61.5% of his passes for 254 yards with seven scores and no interceptions.
• Dallas WR DeAndrew Rubin scored the game's first two touchdowns (44 and 13 yards) and ended with four catches for 106 yards. Rubin's 15.6 yards per catch is the second best in the league (Donovan Morgan is at 15.8).
• Iowa turned the ball over three times (two lost fumbles by WR/KR Errick McCown and a Brand Banks INT) which led to 21 Dallas points in the ten-point loss. The Barnstormers were also 0-of-2 on fourth-down conversions.
• Banks tossed five touchdowns (363 yards) and ran in two more.
• McCown posted 241 all-purpose yards with two touchdowns, but lost two fumbles on back-to-back plays that took a six-point deficit to a 20-point deficit.

• The Blaze ended a three-game losing skid with the 41-point win in which it never trailed and scored touchdowns on every single drive.
• Utah QB Tommy Grady was on fire. He completed 31-of-39 for 313 yards with ten touchdowns and no interceptions (he didn't play in the game's final four minutes because it was a blowout).
• It was Grady's second ten passing TD performance of the season and his ninth 300-yard game.
• The Blaze had 11 total passing scores (backup Jordan Rasmussen had one) and five different players had receiving touchdowns - Aaron Lesue had five of them himself.
• Utah converted all five of its third-down conversions, while Pittsburgh was one-of-0six on third down and one-of-five on fourth down.
• Despite losing its last two games, the expansion Power is still tied for the lead in the East Division with Cleveland (Pittsburgh currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker).

• San Jose scored with 23 seconds left in the game and converted the two-point conversion to go up by a point, but left too much time on the clock and Arizona scored to go up seven.
• The SaberCats had one last chance with four seconds left at its own 19, but Rattlers lineman Marcus Pittman hurried Mark Grieb and batted down his pass to end the game and give Arizona its first division title since 2004.
• San Jose has now lost six straight games.
• Former SaberCats WR/LB Jason Geathers had an outstanding two-way performance for the Rattlers. He caught four touchdown passes, including the game winner, as well as posting 3.5 stops (one for a loss) on defense. However, Geathers was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on all three of his first-half touchdown grabs when he spiked the ball in the face or taunted a Rattlers player each time (come on Jason, that's just uncalled for).
• Rattlers DB/KR Virgil Gray had 6.0 tackles and a pass breakup on defense then added 222 kickoff return yards with two returns for scores (58 and 54 yards).
• San Jose DB/KR Chris Vedder, playing his first AFL game, returned a kick 56 yards for a touchdown on his first career kickoff return. He ended with 153 yards on seven returns and defensively had 6.0 stops and a pass breakup.
• AFL receptions leader, Rod Windsor, was held to five catches (53 yards and a TD), which is his lowest total since posting five in Week Three against Tulsa. Windsor also caught a two-point conversion at the end of the game to put Arizona up seven.
• Arizona QB Nick Davila posted seven TDs and no interceptions. It was his sixth game this year with at least seven passing scores and eighth that he was no intercepted.

• Both starting QBs suffered injuries in this game. Rush signal caller Russ Michna missed the entire second half with an ankle injury and was placed on IR earlier this week. Spokane QB Eric Meyer went down after making a TD-saving tackle following his lone interception of the game. It's undetermined what Meyer's status will be for the Shock's game this week at New Orleans.
• Meyer was 15-of-19 for 202 yards with five scores and the interception before he left. His backup Steve Sheffield was very ineffective (just 4-of-11 for 96 yards with 2 TDs and an interception) which allowed Chicago back into the game.
• Michna was 13-of-18 for 161 yards with four scores, an interception and a lost fumble before he left the game. His relief, Dominic Randolph tossed four TDs and ran in another.
• Chicago receiver Reggie Gray posted a five-TD performance on nine catches for 125 yards. On the other side of the field WR Greg Orton led the way for Spokane with ten grabs for 169 yards with three touchdowns (though he did lose a fumble on his one rushing attempt that led to a Rush second-half touchdown).
• Spokane has won its past two games and is currently in a three-way tied for the final playoff spot in the National Conference with Tulsa and Utah.

• The Command benched starter signal caller J.J. Raterink (before trading him to Chicago) in favor of Steve Wasil and in his first start, Wasil had more touchdown passes than incompletions after completing 19-of-23 for 243 yards with five scores and no interceptions. He also ran for two more touchdowns in the win.
• Kansas City scored on all be one possession (fumbled), while Cleveland turned the ball over once, failed to score at the end of the first half and gave the ball back after two failed fourth-down conversions.
• Cleveland entered the game with a half game lead over Pittsburgh in the East Division but fell back into a tie after the loss.
• In all six Gladiators losses this season, Cleveland has failed to score more than 42 points.