In spite of the tough loss, the Blaze had just completed the best season in franchise history. Winning their first playoff game, making the conference finals, and having a record breaking MVP Quarterback, Coach and Coordinator of the Year. You think Utah would be comfortable with all they've done, but listening to the team, you would think last year wasn't the franchise's best.

 

“We were third in our division,” said Coach Ron James during the preseason media day. “We were the fourth seed in the playoffs. We didn't achieve anything. We didn't get ourselves in the championship game, we didn't win the trophy.”

 

“We looked at last season and said we have to get better based on the competition that we have week in and week out. If you look at our division, our division was 47-25 (Note: 65% win percentage). When you go back, the next close division was the central division, who had a winning percentage of 47% (Note: The Central Division went 34-38). We gauged what we had to do based on our division. Looking on our roster we wanted to be competitive week in and week out and project that down the road.”

 

So while the Blaze realized that improvements were needed to be competitive week in and week out in the West Division, they also knew that there was no improvement over the coaching staff that was already in place.

 

“It's huge for me to have all the coaches willing to come back and available to come back,” said Coach James. “I call them my dream team. You're looking at probably the best staff in this league. It speaks volumes about this organization to be able to hang on to those types of people. We couldn't do it without every single one of them. “

 

While Coach James and Coach Matthew Sauk were both 2012 award winners in their respective positions, the Blaze have become a different team since Rob Keefe joined the coaching staff halfway through last season. After starting the 2012 season 6-4, the Blaze have gone 8-3 since Keefe joined the staff. More impressive is how the Blaze went from allowing 63 points/game during the 10 games pre-Keefe, to allowing 50.3 points/game after Keefe. With the offense being as prolific as it's been, holding a team to 50 points is basically assuring a victory. The Blaze are looking for big plays from a few key players to allow the defense to grow to championship quality.

 

“The one guy who has absolutely been a terror is Joe Mortenson,” said Coach James. “Joe was a rookie for us last year at the Mack Linebacker spot, clearly has progressed his game above and beyond what I thought he was going to be. The difference maker for us this year is Maurice Leggett. He's a DB who's been through the NFL. That's the guy.”

 

The defense did their work during week one against the Pittsburgh Power. Leggett and David Hyland both helped the Blaze with an interception each, while the “Sack Lake City” defensive line anchored by Caesar Rayford, Keenan Mace and Mike Alston caused 3 fumbles, a safety and a touchdown. Arizona is a vastly better offense, and this defense will be driven to the limits as they try to limit the Rattlers powerful offense.

 

Offensively, the team returns league MVP Tommy Grady, and having the most valuable quarterback in the league has allowed the team to go and recruit more talent to surround him. The Blaze have revamped the Wide Receivers entirely, keeping only local talent Aaron Lesué.

 

“I wanted to get bigger,” said Offensive Coordinator Matthew Sauk. “In order to get bigger, you still need guys that are able to transition in certain routes, quickly. Every single one of my guys can do that. Doesn't matter if he's 6-6, 6-4, or 6-2, they all run routes like I teach it. Before, you were looking at small guys. Now we have big guys who can run routes like small guys, and that's a big advantage against DBs. I'm really excited for what we have.”

 

“We're going to be in good shape with what we've done,” said Coach James, echoing Coach Sauk's assessment of the wide receivers. “LJ Castile is a guy who has been playing in this league for a while, he's has a tremendous catch. Mario Urrutia is a big body wide receiver who's really been killing it in camp. I'd say the receivers are the strongest part of our team right now. There are a lot of new faces, but they've gelled together real well.”

 

“Last year's group did stuff really well that this year's group can't do as well,” said Coach Sauk, “but (this year's group) do stuff better then last years group. There are more advantages to this year. Talent wise, we can be better then last year. We could be unstoppable if they keep progressing.”

 

Unstoppable is a strong word, but it's a word that's been used liberally to describe the Arizona's receivers, which features all of the winners of the last 3 rookie of the year. This week's divisional rivalry game with be an incredible battle between two of the elite teams of the AFL. If it's a game for the ages! And if you enjoy it, you can take comfort in the fact that the two will play again in a little over a month. For some strange reason, the Blaze and Rattlers will conclude their season series on Week 8, months away from the playoffs.

 

“It's the arenas that dictate the schedule,” said Coach James “Everybody has that situation in their own arena. You have to deal with that every year. You can't dictate what that's going to be. We know we're going to have tough division games.”

 

Those tough division games are going to be huge for the Blaze. With only 3 playoff spots available for the 4 West division teams, one of the best 4 teams in the league is probably going to be left out of the playoffs.

 

“To be honest, I wish the league went back to two conference and the 6 best teams go instead of the divisions.” said Coach Sauk. “Unfortunately, you've got the division winners and that's how it works. It's tough, but it is what it is.”

 

Yet the Blaze (who quietly went 4-2 in division last year) have done what they could during the offseason to be equal to the tasks at hand. To make the ArenaBowl, to even make the playoffs, the Blaze are going to have to be the best of the best. We’ll see this Friday as they stand against the defending champion just how far they have come, where they stand, and if they have taken those small steps to do what they couldn’t do last season.

 

The Blaze will take on the Rattlers on Friday, with kickoff slated for 7:30pm Mountain Time. The game is being advertised as a blackout and fans are encouraged to wear black to support the Blaze. The game can be seen locally in HD on KJZZ 14 with Steve Brown and Kevin White in the booth and Tony Parks reporting from the sideline. The game can also be heard locally on The Zone 97.5FM with Scott Garrard and Riley Jensen calling all the action. But let’s face it, this is one of the premier games of the season, and if you’re enough of a Blaze fan to be reading this, you should really be at the game.   

Don Eisenbarth has been following the Utah Blaze since 2006, but this is his first year covering for ArenaFan. Born in Provo to a family of BYU fans and having graduated from the University of Utah, Don has enjoyed all sides of the Utah college football landscape for decades and is excited for the return of professional football to the Beehive State. You can follow him on twitter at http://twitter.com/bigdondoo