Off to the Playoffs: Sharks still have unfinished business

Adam Markowitz
Saturday July 25, 2015

JACKSONVILLE -- There's no sense in legitimately recapping Saturday night's slaughter at the Shark Tank. The Jacksonville Sharks pummeled the Tampa Bay Storm in every aspect of the game and handed their instate rivals their worst loss in franchise history, winning 63-16 to improve to 9-7.

This game was child's play, though. The Sharks know they have a lot tougher games to play the rest of this season, starting next week in Orlando in what might be the de facto Southern Division championship game.

"We're one step closer to our goal," said receiver Tiger Jones after the win. "One of our goals coming into the season was to control our own destiny. We have that now. We have a big one next week in Orlando, and each game keeps getting bigger and bigger."

Whether the Sharks do or do not end up getting home field advantage in the playoffs, they should certainly be one of the most feared teams in the league. Yes, 9-7 isn't all that impressive, but they are 8-2 in their last 10 games, the same mark as San Jose and Arizona in that stretch and one game better than Philadelphia.

Sure, Jacksonville has had mental farts against teams like Portland and, oh yeah, this same Tampa Bay team which looked like an ABCXYZ-FL team on Saturday night on two different occasions this year. However, the way that the Sharks have proven they can play should be a warning notification that they can win the ArenaBowl.

This is a much different Jacksonville team from the one which started 1-5. That team allowed 54.7 points per game. That team featured Grady with a 31/5 TD/INT ratio. That team had a +/- turnover ratio of 0. That team fell apart when things went wrong. That team found ways to lose close games.

This team is 8-2. This team is averaging 58.6 points per game and is allowing 47.6 points per game. This team features Grady with a 55/6 TD/INT ratio. This team has a +/- turnover ratio of +19. This team managed to come back from down two stops against the best team in the conference. This team has taken care of the business which it should be taking care of.

That +19 turnover ratio is alarming in these last 10 games. The addition of Greg Reid, who now has eight interceptions in 10 games in his rookie season has surely helped, but the real catalyst is Joe Sykes, who just broke his own AFL record with 17 sacks this season. Granted, the rest of the Sharks' defensive front hasn't had the same sort of statistical impact, but you wouldn't know it just be looking at the film. Scooter Berry has had a heck of a year at the nose tackle spot, while both Jerry Turner and Nicolas Jean-Baptiste have both been forces to be reckoned with.

I said at the beginning of the season that this was the best team in the AFL and was a team which would run the table and go 18-0. OK, so that was a bit lofty. But one thing cannot be denied now after a performance like this, and that's that the Jacksonville Sharks are most certainly ArenaBowl contenders.

Storm Need Shelter

The Storm's 47-point margin of defeat was their worst in franchise history. The record which they broke was from earlier this season against Philadelphia on May 23 (71-27).

If you take out the final possession of the game which was not truly complete, the Storm have allowed touchdowns on 17 straight possessions. Since the middle of the second quarter last week against New Orleans, Tampa Bay has been outscored 111-41.

In spite of the fact that the Storm have lost four consecutive games, they still have a chance to get into the postseason. They'll have to beat both LA and Orlando, and they need Cleveland to lose to Spokane and Philadelphia. Otherwise, this team will still be in search of its first playoff win since 2010. This loss also clinches a fifth straight losing season. The Storm had only posted one losing record in their history prior to 2011.

Tampa Bay now has more losses since 2007 (71) than in all of its seasons from 1991 through 2006 (70).

Making History

Though this game wasn't one for the neutral supporter, there was a lot of historical context here which cannot be ignored.

Derrick Ross had a 43-yard run in the third quarter, the longest run in the AFL in the last two seasons. He finished the day with 67 yards – one shy of the franchise record -- and three touchdowns, giving him 2,826 yards and 175 rushing TDs for his career, both easily AFL records by epic proportions.

Tommy Grady threw for five touchdowns, leaving him just two shy of reaching 600 for his career. There are only seven other quarterbacks who have thrown for 600 touchdowns.

Tiger Jones caught a touchdown on fourth down in the fourth quarter, a pass which had all sorts of historical significance. It was Jones' 265th career touchdown, tying him with Barry Wagner for sixth place in AFL history. It was also his 917th career reception, moving him past James Roe for seventh all-time in that category.

Joe Hills extended his streak of games with a touchdown to 50 in a row in the regular season and 51 overall.

Joe Sykes set the single-season record for sacks with 17 when he sacked Jason Boltus at the end of the third quarter.

Lee Chapple and Johnathan Haggerty both had a little bit of history on Jacksonville's last scoring drive. The 27-yard touchdown was the first in each players' career.

The Sharks' attendance of 13,092 was a franchise record.