What Happened to the SaberCats?
Andy Lopusnak
Thursday June 30, 2011
Two months ago, the San Jose SaberCats entered their first bye week at 5-2 on a three-game winning streak. Fast forward two months later and the SaberCats have lost seven straight, including the second-worst blowout in the AFL's 24-year history this past week.
Injuries have riddled the SaberCats. They have used fifty different players in their 14 games this season with 41 of them playing in the last seven games. By contrast, San Jose's opponent this upcoming week, the 13-1 Jacksonville Sharks, have used just 29 total players all year (26 in its last seven contests).
These injuries have devastated the offensive line, defensive line, receiving corps and secondary. Not including the kicker and holder, just five players have played in all 14 games: QB Mark Grieb, FB Chad Cook, DL Adam Huebner, OL Mark Lewis and DB Dwight McLean.
Grieb, a two-time ArenaBowl MVP and one of the most accurate passers to play the game, has had a league-high 18 players catch a pass (ten players have ten or more catches - also a league high). In comparison, Jacksonville has had just eight total players catch a pass (five of them have more than ten grabs).
In the first seven games, eight players had catches. Only fullback Chad Cook and lineman Mark Lewis are active today among those eight. Perhaps the biggest loss for the team had nothing to do with injury. WR/KR Rodney Wright left the team after the third game of the season to handle some family issues and hasn't returned since. In those three games, Wright had at least 11 catches and 123 yards in each contest. He was leading the league in receptions and all-purpose yards before his abrupt departure. The team's return game has not been the same and didn't record a kick return for a touchdown for ten games since Wright did it last in his final game.
Samora Goodson had three straight ten-catch, 100-yard games right after Wright left, but was hurt in the team's last win and hasn't been back on the field. In the same game, San Jose lost Nichiren Flowers to injury.
During the skid, the SaberCats brought back two team legends in James Roe and Ben Nelson, but the chemistry just doesn't seem to be there like it was back in the day. Nelson does have four 100-yard games, but Grieb's not had a consistent go-to guy like he had earlier in the season with Wright and Goodson. During the losing streak, no player has led the team in yards in consecutive weeks. In fact, six different players have led in yards (Nelson twice). Wright led the team the first three weeks, then Goodson the next three before he got hurt early against Philadelphia, then Flowers was the leader in the Soul win.
This inconsistency in receivers has led Grieb to some of his worst statistical performances in his Hall of Fame career. He posted a career worst four interceptions against Arizona to start the seven-game skid and has had three games where he completed less than 60% of his passes.
Another factor was losing center Robbie Powell to injury during the Philadelphia win. Powell was one of the best centers in the league in 2010 helping Tampa Bay's Brett Dietz earn Second Team All-Arena honors and taking the Storm to the ArenaBowl. When Powell left, OL/TE Mark Lewis was shifted to center for the next five games and Grieb was sacked nine times. Two weeks ago, Dan Loney was brought back. Loney was Grieb's center for the previous seven seasons. Grieb's been sacked just three times in the past two games, but he's lost three fumbles (he had none in the first 11 games of the season).
Here's a quick look at Grieb's numbers in the first seven games compared to the last seven.
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GRIEB - 2011
|
COMP %
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YARDS
|
TD
|
INT
|
RATING
|
SACKED
|
|
First 7 GM (5-2)
|
70.8
|
2,034
|
36
|
7
|
119.3
|
4
|
|
Last 7 GM (0-7)
|
63.2
|
1,951
|
33
|
13
|
97.2
|
12
|
On the defensive side of the ball, San Jose has struggled all season long. However, the SaberCats were tied for the league lead in sacks after the first seven games of the season and in the last seven have barely gotten to the opposing quarterback. Through the first seven games, San Jose had 15 sacks and seven interceptions with returned for touchdowns. In the last seven contests, the SaberCats have just eight sacks and five picks (no INT TDs).
2010 AFL Defensive Player/Lineman of the Year Gabe Nyenhuis recorded sacks in the first two games of the season, but was placed on injured reserve by Week Four. Last year, he set league marks in sacks and forced fumbles. Nyenhuis has been back on the field the last two games, but has failed to reach the QB. Two other linemen (Francis Maka and George Hypolite) were tied for the team lead in sacks (5.0), but have missed time during the skid and are both now on injured reserve.
Another factor in the extent of the losing skid has been poor play and bad bounces in the final minute of each half. In the first two games of the skid (vs. Arizona and at Pittsburgh), the SaberCats were outscored 35-0 in the final minute of first and second half. San Jose held leads in the final minute of play in three losses (at Pittsburgh, vs. Georgia and at Arizona).
The skid began at home against Arizona. With 34 seconds left down by eight, San Jose's defense forced a field goal, but the ball ricocheted off the net structure and was recovered for an Arizona TD. On the next play, Arizona picked off Grieb for another score. Two turnovers within 13 seconds turned a chance to tie the game into a 22-point loss.
Against the Power, San Jose was leading by a point in the final minute of the first half with a chance to score again, but failed to punch in the ball on two straight rushing attempts from the goal line and the clock ran out. The SaberCats led by eight entering the fourth quarter but were shutout and Pittsburgh won it on a 31-yard TD with 14 seconds left. Pittsburgh did leave too much time on the clock and San Jose came within two yards of a potential win.
At Utah, the SaberCats scored with 29 seconds left in the game to pull within a point, but the ensuing PAT was blocked and the Blaze scored after a failed on-side kick for the eight-point San Jose loss.
Against Georgia, San Jose led by two points entering the final minute of the game. The Force scored and converted a two-point conversion with 29 seconds left. As time expired, Grieb connected with Scott Schoettgen for the 21-yard game-tying touchdown, but a holding penalty against Aaron Kia nullified the score and ended the game. On that final drive, Kia was called for three penalties and another on the team's previous drive.
The SaberCats outscored Dallas 13-0 in the final minute of the two halves, but still lost by 13 because of three turnovers that were returned for touchdowns.
At Arizona, the SaberCats scored with 23 seconds left on a 26-yard Grieb-to-Nelson connection and converted the two-point play to go up by a point. However, San Jose left too much time on the clock and the Rattlers scored to win and clinch the West Division title.
Last week, San Jose scored with 51 seconds left in the first half and recovered the ensuing on-side kick trailing by 13 points. However, the SaberCats quickly wasted all three timeouts (all called within 16 seconds) and with still 30 seconds left in the half went for the end zone. The ball was picked off and returned 51 yards for a touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, Cleveland squibbed the ball and it bounced off a SaberCats player and was recovered by the Gladiators. Three plays later, Cleveland scored and then scored again when the following kickoff was mishandled off the nets. So instead of potentially going into halftime down by six, San Jose trailed by 34 and eventually lost by 61 points, which is the second biggest blowout in league history.
Before the skid, San Jose was tied for the second best record in the National Conference. Now the team is on the verge of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1999. Its nine losses are the most ever in the team's 15-year history and looking at the remaining games that number might grow larger with Jacksonville, Orlando Spokane and Tampa Bay still on the schedule. A loss will ensure just the third losing season in team history (6-8 in 1996 and 1999, which were the only times San Jose was not a playoff team).
This week, the SaberCats return to HP Pavilion for the first time in over a month to face the team with the league's best record - Jacksonville. Ending the seven-game skid is going to very difficult against Jacksonville this week. The Sharks lead the league in scoring and second in scoring defense. Jacksonville's defense is one of the best in recent league history. The Sharks' defense is tied for the league lead in sacks and is the best in the AFL on third down. Jacksonville has allowed a league-low 12 rushing scores and is second in takeaways.
Offensively, the Sharks are led by future AFL Hall of Famer Aaron Garcia, who leads the league in completion percentage and passer rating. Garcia, the league's all-time leader in most passing categories, is having one of his finest seasons. He's posted 3,769 yards with 90 touchdowns to just eleven interceptions. Last week, Garcia completed 81.5% of his passes with nine touchdowns as the Sharks clinched the top spot in the American Conference side of the playoffs. The win also set a league record for most consecutive wins in a single season (13). San Jose had the previous record when the team started 2002 with 12 straight wins en route to its first ArenaBowl championship.
This is Garcia's first game against Grieb, another future AFL Hall of Famer, and the SaberCats since 2004 when he was with the New York Dragons. That Sunday afternoon, Garcia was on fire. He completed 19-of-21 for 285 yards with nine touchdowns and an interception. San Jose led by three entering the fourth quarter, but the Dragons outscored the SaberCats 20-3 in the final frame to win 64-50. Grieb threw for 327 yards and two scores but was picked off twice. It was the SaberCats' first loss that season, but the team went on to win that year's ArenaBowl with Grieb named ArenaBowl MVP.
Seven weeks ago, this game would have been touted as a potential ArenaBowl XXIV preview, but now it's one where San Jose just wants to end two streaks - its losing skid and Jacksonville's winning streak.
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.
