“We didn’t do anything very well last week, coaching or playing. We had a good week of practice, we got together and talked about it and the only thing we can do is move forward. Last game was last game and we have a game this Saturday that we have to prepare for and I think we’re prepared,” said SaberCats Head Coach Darren Arbet.

After last week’s let down, the SaberCats are ready to get back to winning football. However, the SaberCats have yet another big adjustment to deal with as it looks as though Michna won’t be starting against the Power. Backup quarterback Mitch Mustain took over the quarterback duties in the second half of last week’s game and had a less than impressive performance. Since then, former New Orleans Voo Doo quarterback Zak Eskridge has been added to the roster.

When asked about how the offensive rhythm looked throughout this week’s preparations, Coach Arbet replied, “Looks good. We’re excited to play on Saturday. The guys have really worked hard. They had meetings on their own getting ready for this one, so I’m excited to see them play.”

So far it looks like Mustain will be making the start, but it’s truly up in the air until game time.

Defensive back Ken Fontenette talked a little bit about what he thinks the offense needs to do to have a more efficient game this week, “I think right now, especially with Mitch playing, because he hasn’t seen much playing time the receivers just have to help him out by talking to him and finishing plays.”

That won’t be hard for the ‘Cats receiving corps as there are several smart and talented leaders that have consistently performed well all season.

The entire team has a bitter taste left in their mouth from last week’s loss, but wide receiver Jason Willis will have his own personal fuel igniting his hunger for a win this week.

Willis talks about his mindset heading into this week’s match up after last week’s disappointment, “We got to regroup, we got to pay attention to details and we really just have to take one play at a time. Of course this is a former team of mine, so it’s a little personal.”

Willis went on to talk about how he’s been able to be so consistent week to week catching balls from three different quarterbacks, as he says “you got to know your clientele.”

“You got to know for Mitch he’s a former baseball player so he’s a gun slinger he throws that ball hard. But you got to know where to be in terms of Russ, he’s more of a touch guy. So it’s just tweaking your routes, with Mitch you probably want to run more accurate routes because you know he hasn’t had that experience yet, but it will come. And in terms with Russ, you kind of just freestyle,” said Willis.

The Power’s defense is ranked third in total defense throughout the league and they’re number one in pass defense, only allowing 220 yards per game. However, they lack in getting turnovers which is a good sign for the SaberCats offense as they’ll be adjusting to a new starting quarterback’s style of play.

The ‘Cats defense has gone back to the drawing board this week after their five game streak of holding opposing offenses to under 40-points was snapped. They’ll be going up against a quarterback that has experienced some recent success since taking over the starting duties just four weeks ago.

Since Steven Sheffield has taken over the Power’s starting quarterback duties he’s been making strides towards transforming the offense into a well-rounded unit. While with the team, Sheffield has helped gain two wins in his four games starting and he has been spreading the ball around to several receivers on a consistent basis.

“They’re playing well right now since they got Sheffield in there, he’s done a good job at quarterback. Talley their receiver, he’s playing really well right now and they’re on a roll,” said Coach Arbet about the Power’s recent offensive performances.

The Power has the league-worst scoring offense and they’ll be going up against a defense that aside from last week’s sloppy performance puts up very physical fight. This week the SaberCats defense has dialed back to the basics as they hope to use this matchup against the Power to respond to last week’s upsetting performance to prove that they’re still a fierce unit to be reckoned with.

Fontenette spoke about the adjustments being made to improve the defense for this week’s game, “Clevan presses the motion so well, so we’re starting to see a lot of people run away from him, they try to run outside of him. So trying to help him out and kind of disguise the way he catches the motion, so we’re going to change something up. You might see a couple big hits from J.C. giving him some help. That’s really the main thing though, like I said, we all try to get back to the basics and just try to get the little things right.”

Willis talks a little bit about how it feels to be playing in front of San Jose’s home crowd, “I love it, in San Jose we have a consistent crowd. I feel like every time we go out there they give me motivation to pump me up, especially in the fourth quarter when I’m tired. I really have fun out there. I haven’t really been on a team where we have a strong fan base so this is a first for me.” 

Leanne is a freelance sports journalist residing in the San Francisco Bay Area as she finishes up her Mass Communication, Media Production B.A. at Cal State University, East Bay. This will be her second season as a correspondent covering the San Jose SaberCats.