Breaking it Down – Week 18 2011

Andy Lopusnak
Thursday July 14, 2011

Arizona secured home-field throughout the playoffs. Dallas clinched a playoff berth, while Iowa, Kansas City and Tampa Bay were officially eliminated. A big crowd gathered for the first outdoor AFL game in history. The SaberCats seem to be back and the UFL continues to raid the AFL for talent. This and the most comprehensive breakdown of Arena Football action around starts right now...

• 2000 AFL Rookie of the Year
• Two-time AFL Offensive Player of the Year (2003, 2008)
• Three-time All-Arena First Team (with three different teams)
• #2 all-time in receiving touchdowns
• #3 all-time in receptions and receiving yards
• ArenaBowl XXII Offensive Player of the Game

• Mustangs FB/DL Justin Lawrence had four rushing scores and added a fifth on defense when he scooped up a loose ball following a sack and ran it in from three yards out. Lawrence also added two half tackles (one on defense, one on special teams.
• Milwaukee DB Brandon Brinkley posted six solo stops, two interceptions (one returned 46 yards for a TD) and recovered a fumble.
• In a losing effort, the VooDoo made all seven of its third down conversions.
• New Orleans becomes the first team in league history to go 0-9 at home in a season.
• VooDoo WR/KR P. J. Berry surpassed the 3,000 all-purpose yardage mark on the season during the loss. He had 183 all-purpose yards and three scores.

• Without Donovan Morgan, the Soul got a lift from Larry Brackins, who caught nine passes for 133 yards with three scores. Brackins caught the first two touchdowns of the game.
• Soul QB Ryan Vena tossed three scores and ran in two more.
• Vena became the first player in league history to post back-to-back 20 rushing TD seasons (last year he posted 22 and has 20 this year).
• He also became the first player with back-to-back 20 INT seasons as well. In fact, Vena is the only passer in league history with two seasons with at last 20 interceptions thrown.
• Philadelphia’s offense was so effective that it had just one third down attempt (which the Soul failed and made a field goal).
• The Soul defense had seven sacks and two interceptions. Soul linebacker Brandon Perkins had three sacks and five solo tackles in the game.
• Philadelphia had double the number of first downs (22 to 11) as Cleveland.

• Jacksonville took a 64-62 lead with nine minutes to go thanks to a Richard Clebert safety, but Aaron Garcia was picked off on back-to-back passes that lead to two Vigilantes touchdowns and the win.
• The Vigilantes clinched a playoff berth with the win. Last year, Dallas was 3-13 and started the season 1-11.
• Jacksonville has lost its last two after winning its previous 13. In both games, the Sharks scored over 70 points.
• Garcia had his worst game of the season. He completed a season-low 60.0% of his passes, tossed a season-high three interceptions and was sacked a season-high two times. He did have seven passing scores and became the first player in league history with three seasons of 100 or more touchdown passes.
• Dallas WR Tiger Jones had a monster game. He caught 17 passes for 208 yards with five touchdowns. The 17 receptions is the second most in the league this year.
• Jones' 1,921 receiving yards lead the league and rank as the sixth most in league history.
• Vigilantes FB Derrick Ross added three rushing scores to his league leading total.
• In a losing effort, Sharks WR/KR Jeff Hughley posted 331 all-purpose yards and four scores. He had likely the longest kickoff return in league history that didn't score a touchdown - in the third quarter he had a 56-yard return but was stopped at the goal line.
• Hughley has posted at least 230 all-purpose yards in each of his past four games. He had no such games in his first nine games of the season (he didn't play in the first three games).
• Dallas QB Dan Raudabaugh had 365 passing yards and eight scores in the win. He was picked off once.
• With the Jacksonville loss, there will not be a team in the league this season that will go undefeated at home. The last time a team went undefeated at home was in 2007 when three teams did so (Dallas, Georgia and ArenaBowl champion San Jose).

• The Rush scored the game's first 14 points and led 51-21 with less than nine minutes to go before the Force scored the game's final 20 points.
• Chicago LB Kelvin Morris posted two defensive touchdowns (one fumble, one interception) and had two half tackles.
• Force QB Brett Elliott was picked off five times and lost a fumble. His replacement, Darnell Kennedy also was intercepted once.
• Rush QB J.J. Raterink had four passing scores and a rushing touchdown.
• Chicago's 12-4 record is tied for the best regular season in franchise history with the 2007 12-4 campaign. That year, the Rush lost to eventual ArenaBowl champion San Jose 61-49 in the American Conference championship game.

• With the loss, Tampa Bay was eliminated from the playoffs. Dating back to the league's founding, the Pittsburgh/Tampa Bay franchise has missed the playoffs just three times (2006, 2008, 2011).
• The Talons never trailed and led by 50 points entering the fourth quarter.
• Tulsa QB Justin Allgood had seven TD passes and didn't play the final quarter.
• Talons DB J.C. Neal had 6.0 tackles, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble, an interception and three pass breakups. 

• Both teams were eliminated from the playoffs despite Iowa winning this game.
• Iowa kicked a field goal with 46 seconds left to go up by eight and the defense had an interception with 25 seconds left to preserve the Barnstormers' win.
• With two interceptions thrown, Iowa QB Brad Banks (24) surpassed the league single-season record set a year earlier by former Barnstormers QB Ryan Vena (23).
• In a losing effort, Iowa WR Jesse Schmidt caught nine passes for 111 yards with three scores. On the year, he now has a league leading 47 receiving TDs, which is tied for the seventh most in league history.
• In the first four possessions of the game, the two teams' offense turned the ball over on downs twice and was picked off twice.
• Iowa led by 18 entering the fourth quarter and won in spite of scoring two field goals in the final 20 minutes of play.

• In the first outdoor AFL game played, Spokane scored touchdowns on its first eleven possessions.
• Without the AFL's leader in passing scores (Tommy Grady), the Blaze went with the 44-year old Todd Hammel at quarterback. Hammel had five pass touchdowns, but had three turnovers and was sacked three times.
• Spokane starting QB Eric Meyer, who was originally with Utah before a midseason trade to the Shock, completed 15-of-19 for 166 yards with six passing scores and two rushing scores.
• Shock WR Adron Tennell caught ten passes for 82 yards with five touchdowns.

• The game was tied at 33 midway through the third quarter before the SaberCats outscored the Predators 27-7 the rest of the way.
• After scoring touchdowns on its first four drives, Orlando scored on just two of its final seven possessions.
• San Jose WR/KR Marco Thomas posted 251 all-purpose yards, but didn't record any TDs.
• SaberCats QB Mark Grieb completed 26-of-32 for 295 yards with five touchdowns, an interception and wasn't sacked.
• For the second straight game, Grieb was not sacked. San Jose is 6-1 in games that Grieb was not sacked (lone loss was in the six-point defeat to Georgia).
• Orlando didn't turnover the ball but was not effective on third (7/13) and fourth down (1/5). San Jose was picked off once, but was much better on third (2/3) and fourth down (1/1).
• In a losing effort, Orlando QB Colin Drafts had 313 passing yards, five passing TDs and a rushing touchdown. He completed just 54.0% of his passes.
• San Jose DB Eddie Moten had three pass breakups, including two huge ones (one on third down, one on fourth down).
• Right before the pregame player introductions, the SaberCats brought out 2011 AFL Hall of Fame finalist Barry Wagner in his #2 green & gold jersey. Wagner began his great career with Orlando and to see him there supporting the San Jose instead of the Preds was very strange. He left Orlando after the 1999 season and won two ArenaBowls with San Jose.

• The Rattlers never trailed and with the win wrapped up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs (including the ArenaBowl if they get there).
• Arizona posted 30 first downs in the game (Pittsburgh had just 13).
• Rattlers QB Nick Davila had eight passing scores with no interception and wasn't sacked. He didn't play in the game's final 12 minutes since the game was well in hand.
• Davila now has 109 passing TDs, which are the most in the league this season and stand as the second most in league history.
• Four different Arizona players caught at least two touchdown passes.
• Arizona WR Chris Jackson, whose last game was ArenaBowl XXII when he was named the Offensive Player of the Game, caught six passes for 78 yards with two touchdowns. Jackson entered the game with 991 career catches that was tied for third most ever with Barry Wagner.
• Rattlers WR Rod Windsor posted just five catches for 30 yards with two scores. He still leads the league in receptions (156) and that total now ranks as the third most in league history.