SaberCats make playoff push at home

Andy Lopusnak
Friday July 6, 2012

After winning their final regular season road game last week at Chicago, the San Jose SaberCats (10-6) will be home for the final two games then have a bye in Week 20 before the playoffs start. The SaberCats host the South Division-leading New Orleans VooDoo (8-7) this Saturday and end the regular season the following Saturday against the Iowa Barnstormers (5-10).

A San Jose win this week coupled with losses by Chicago and Spokane on Sunday will clinch a playoff berth for the SaberCats (though you wouldn't find this on the league's official playoff-clinching scenarios). 

Last week in the Windy City, the SaberCats ended a three-game skid on the road by beating the Rush 75-61 in Chicago for the first time in nearly a decade. It was the first time since May 26 when they beat Chicago at home 84-77 in overtime that the SaberCats scored over 70 points in a game. For just the second time this season, the SaberCats didn't turn the ball over. The week earlier in the 90-63 loss to Spokane, San Jose coughed it up seven times. With the win, the SaberCats prevented Chicago from being the lone AFL team to go undefeated at home.

In the game, rookie receiver Fred Williams had a breakout performance posting 269 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns, along with a forced fumble and three solo tackles on special teams that earned him AFL Ironman of the Week honors. He scored three receiving touchdowns (on 11 catches for 164 yards) and ran in another TD. Williams was forced into kickoff return duty in the second quarter after WR/KR Rodney Wright was injured. On his fifth and final return of the game, he took it 57 yards for a score.

This week, SaberCats QB Mark Grieb will likely set new single-season career highs in pass touchdowns and pass yards. He needs just one touchdown pass to tie his career high of 100 set in 2007 and 2008 (he took the SaberCats to the ArenaBowl both those years). Grieb needs 96 yards to surpass his AFL single-season record of 5,312 yards set last season. He is also the only player in league history to post two 5,000-yard seasons. Last week, Grieb tossed his eleventh 300-yard game tying him with Utah’s Tommy Grady for the most in the league this season. He also went over 350 to extend his AFL record with 24 such games.

San Jose hosts a hot VooDoo team this week. New Orleans has won its last three games and is 5-2 in its last seven. Nearly a year ago to the day, VooDoo head coach Pat O'Hara brought his playoff-bound Orlando Predators into Silicon Valley only to lose 60-40 to the SaberCats. O'Hara's Predators were up 26-20 with six minutes left in the second quarter before San Jose outscored Orlando 40-14 the rest of the game thanks to a SaberCats defense that stopped the Preds on four-of-five fourth-down conversions during that stretch.

This marks the second time a team named the New Orleans VooDoo has played at San Jose. There have been three different VooDoo incarnations in AFL history. The first played in 2004-05 then became the Kansas City Brigade for the 2006 season after Hurricane Katrina decimated the Big Easy. A second VooDoo played from 2007-08 before the league folded. This VooDoo resurrection was the Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings that played in the league's first season back from the 2009 void (as well as a decade in the af2). After the 2010 season, the BattleWings moved and took the name of the VooDoo. All told, the SaberCats have played a VooDoo named team four times. San Jose beat the 2004 expansion VooDoo 68-34 in San Jose. The SaberCats lost the next three contests against New Orleans (2005, 2007 and 2008) all of which were played in the Crescent City.

Led by DBs Alvin Ray Jackson’s league-high 12 interceptions and Jeremy Kellem’s nine, New Orleans has picked off a league-high 33 interceptions on the season. The 33 picks are the third most in AFL history. Thanks largely to the defensive takeaways, the VooDoo leads the AFL in turnover differential with a staggering +21. In comparison, the SaberCats are at -2.

On offense, New Orleans QB Kurt Rocco is third in the league in passing yards per game (303.0) behind Grieb (326.1) and Grady (340.3). This will be Rocco’s second game against the SaberCats. Last year, he was with Cleveland when he completed 18-of-20 for 235 yards with seven touchdowns in the 82-21 Gladiators win. The 61-point loss ranks as the worst in San Jose history as well as the second worst in league history. After that loss, the SaberCats upset eventual ArenaBowl champion Jacksonville and playoff-bound Orlando in back-to-back weeks.

With the win last week, the SaberCats secured a winning record in 2012 and posted their ninth season with at least ten regular season wins which ties them with the Orlando Predators for the second most in league history. However, since 2000 the SaberCats have the most ten-win seasons (despite not playing in 2010). Not surprisingly, the top four teams with the most ten-win seasons are the top four in overall wins and seasons played. Here’s a look at them.  

San Jose currently holds the fourth and final seed in the National Conference playoffs and would travel to top seeded (and West Division leading) Arizona if the postseason started today. If the SaberCats win out and the Rattlers lose out, San Jose would win the West and host a playoff home game (as well as clinch at #2 seed in the National Conference). However, if Arizona wins any of its final three games or San Jose loses any of its last two, then the Rattlers win the West. Arizona hosts Utah on tonight, so if the Rattlers win, they will be West Division champions. If Arizona does win, then the SaberCats move into the third seed because of point differential tiebreaker over Utah and would travel to San Antonio in the first round. The SaberCats split their season series with the Talons with both teams winning at home. 

In the tough National Conference that has six of the eight teams with winning records, the SaberCats are the only team to beat each team (aside from itself) in the conference. This includes sweeps of 12-3 Arizona and 9-6 Chicago. San Jose is 9-4 against the National, but is 1-2 against the American where the VooDoo plays. However, the SaberCats are 1-0 against the South Division, which New Orleans is the leader. Thanks to tiebreakers over Utah, Chicago and Spokane; the SaberCats can clinch a playoff berth this week with a win and losses by Chicago and Spokane. 

Kickoff for the SaberCats-VooDoo game is slated for 7:30 PM Pacific Time at HP Pavilion in San Jose. For ticket information, go to TheSanJoseSaberCats.com.