Gladiators Good Despite 1-5 Record

Marc Viquez
Thursday May 24, 2001

The New Jersey Gladiators played well enough against Orlando last weekend only to drop a close contest, 57-45 to the Arena Bowl champs. The two teams were looking for their 2nd win of the season, leaving the Gladiators at a depressing 1-5 record for the year. QB Connell Maynor is not phased by the disappointing start as he looks for upcoming divisional games against New York, Buffalo, Carolina and Toronto. “We have to come back and win our division games”, he said.

Connell Maynor`s new team has improved, but needs to start winning. Image courtesy of Andrew Mason

If you look at the Gladiators’ points in their last game, it is two less of what they scored in their first four games of the season added together. The Detroit and Orlando games resulted in 104-points, while the first four resulted in 102-points. The Gladiators have doubled their scoring output by 27-points in their last two games. The team also came out strong for the second week in a row. New Jersey hopes to continue that point production when they tangle for the first time with cross Hudson rival New York Dragons this Friday night.

The defense looks to regain their stinginess after allowing a season-high 58-points in Orlando. That is the tricky thing about this league, a team like New Jersey who has the best points-against in their division at 235 can give up a high point tally to Orlando. The Predators are still the defending champions and their 2-3 record should not be any indication of how tough they are to beat.

The divisional games are coming up in bunches when New Jersey looks to make up some ground in their division when the tangle with New York, Buffalo, and Carolina in the following weeks. New Jersey played well against Buffalo earlier in the season, and kept Toronto to just 28-points when they met on April 27. These next three weeks should be redemption time for a revitalized Gladiators team that can score points with the best of them.

 

The opinions expressed in the article above are only those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts, opinions, or official stance of ArenaFan Online or its staff, or the Arena Football League, or any AFL or af2 teams.

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