Gladiators Beat the Odds To Become Best in AFL History
Adam Markowitz
Saturday July 26, 2014
TAMPA -- The Detroit Drive didn't do it. The Tampa Bay Storm never did it. Neither did the Orlando Predators. Nor the Arizona Rattlers or the San Jose SaberCats or any other team in Arena Football League history. The Cleveland Gladiators, though? They did it. They finished up the best regular season in AFL history at 17-1 when they beat the Tampa Bay Storm 56-49 in Week 20.
It's almost amazing to think that there has never been an undefeated team in AFL history. There have only been seven other teams in this league post at least a .900 winning percentage, but the history definitely isn't on the side of the Gladiators. Only one of those teams, the 2002 San Jose SaberCats, went on to win the ArenaBowl.
Best Winning Percentages in AFL History
2014 Cleveland Gladiators .944 (17-1)
2007 Dallas Desperados .937 (15-1)
*2002 San Jose SaberCats .928 (13-1)
1993 Detroit Drive .916 (11-1)
1994 Orlando Predators .916 (11-1)
1991 Detroit Drive .900 (9-1)
1992 Tampa Bay Storm .900 (9-1)
1992 Orlando Predators .900 (9-1)
2011 Arizona Rattlers .888 (16-2)
However, these Gladiators are familiar with beating the odds. They were underdogs in Vegas in just five of their games this season, but if you look at some of the situations they were in this year, you'll realize just how much they beat the odds to get where they are. Just take a look at some of these situations Cleveland found itself in…
Week 1 @ Pittsburgh: Down 45-28 halfway through the third quarter and finished the game on a 35-8 run.
Week 2 @ New Orleans: Down 20-0 until the final play of the first half and outscored the VooDoo 37-6 the rest of the way.
Week 6 @ Spokane: 29-yard TD pass as time expired to win.
Week 9 vs. Los Angeles: Kicked game-winning field goal as time expired.
Week 10 @ Iowa: Down 26-7 with 11:44 left in the second quarter and went on a 56-14 run.
Week 11 vs. Philadelphia: Down 52-35 with 3:05 left in the game, recovered two onside kicks and won on the final play of the game.
Week 15 @ Philadelphia: Down 62-50 with 3:06 left in the game and down 68-63 with 0:02 left in the game, scored on a 47-yard touchdown with no time remaining.
Week 18 @ San Antonio: Down 44-32 with 6:00 left in the game, scored a TD on the final play of regulation and got a two-point conversion to force overtime and won it on a field goal.
Let's not forget that this was a 4-14 team last season. It's the biggest one-season turnaround, not just in the history of the AFL, but it is most likely the biggest single-season turnaround in the history of professional football as well.
"It's amazing. Going into this year, we didn't think anything about that," said Cleveland coach Steve Thonn. "Really, we were just thinking about the next game and making the playoffs. That was our goal at the beginning of the year... It's great for Cleveland, and it's great for our guys."
Cleveland has used the mentality of "1-0" all year long. The team impresses "1-0" at every turn. You're a receiver that beats his DB off the line of scrimmage? You went 1-0. You get your blocking assignment right on a play? You went 1-0. Make every rep at practice the best rep of your life? Yep. 1-0. The end result if it all goes right? 1-0 every single week.
The Gladiators had every reason to think about going 0-1 on Saturday. The Storm were playing for their lives, as they knew when this game kicked off that they were playing for a playoff spot. Cleveland had already wrapped up the top seed in the American Conference playoffs, and the only thing left to play for was a chance to host the ArenaBowl against any possible opponent and for a chance at history.
There was no laying down. Cleveland came to play. It didn't face its first fourth down until there were six minutes left in the fourth quarter, and the offense scored on every single offensive drive that it finished.
Statistically speaking, this hasn't been a flashy team this year. Shane Austin did throw for 99 touchdowns, and both Dominick Goodman and Thyron Lewis finished with over 1,500 receiving yards and at least 71 TDs between them, yet the team averaged just 55.1 points per game, somewhat pedestrian by AFL standards. The defense allowing 43.4 points per game is great, but this is a league in which offenses always seem to trump defense nowadays. In fact, the last ArenaBowl winning team to average less than 60 points per game was the 2006 Chicago Rush.
"It goes by possessions. We had a lot of games early in the year where we only had the ball eight times," said Thonn. "When you only get the ball eight times, we still score seven or eight, but we'd only have 35 or 40 (points), but our percentage was great. Even though we weren't putting up a lot of points, our percentage was pretty good."
So the Gladiators are going to have to beat the odds again. But what else is new?
In a day and age where so many teams have so many built in advantages for one reason or another, the Gladiators are one of the clubs who do it right. This is a team that lines up and plays physical football, outworks its foes, and gets the job done.
Even though the road to the ArenaBowl goes through Quicken Loans Arena, most would probably consider the three best teams in the league to be the ones who all play out west. Cleveland doesn't care about all of that. It isn't about how you win the games. It's about whether you win them.
And Cleveland has now done that more times than anyone else in the history of this league. The Gladiators went 1-0... 17 times.
