War on I-4 XL to Begin 2007 Season
Jason Lucas
Friday March 2, 2007
The Orlando Predators travel to Tampa Bay having won three of the last four meetings and hold a 20-19 advantage all time in the series. The last meeting saw Storm QB Shane Stafford have the worst game of his AFL career in a 52-13 Preds romp over the Storm in Orlando. Last season Orlando was able to sweep the series from the Storm by also winning a game in which Orlando lost five starters to injury including QB Joe Hamilton at one point. Orlando prevailed in overtime 67-64 after holding a 26 point advantage in the second quarter. Stafford threw for 467 yards in a game that showed he was really coming of age.
Stafford has since changed addresses and he now represents the 407 instead of the 813, the east side instead of the west side, the “dark side” instead of the bay side. It just has to be eating at Tampa Bay Storm Head Coach Tim Marcum that he could not re-sign Stafford as a free agent this past off-season. Do we all remember the last time Marcum let a superstar get away? I think he is sitting somewhere in Chicago right now looking at a pretty big ArenaBowl XX ring. Last season was from the toilet bowl to the ArenaBowl for Bobby Sippio, could it be the same story for Shane Stafford this season? Orlando signed Stafford back in October and immediately released the ever inconsistent Hamilton. This was considered to be the biggest off-season transaction across the AFL this season. Only time will tell if Stafford and Preds Head Coach Jay Gruden will collaborate for an ArenaBowl championship.
The vacancy in Tampa Bay opened the door for the return of well traveled former Storm QB John Kaleo. Since leading the Storm to an ArenaBowl victory in 2003 Kaleo has spent time with Austin, Los Angeles, and most recently Columbus. Four years ago Kaleo was unceremoniously driven out of Tampa Bay and even given a fake ArenaBowl XVII championship ring. Things were said by Marcum, Kaleo, media members, and fans back and forth between Kaleo and Marcum depending on whose side you were on. Apparently things changed and one thing Kaleo and Marcum have found they have in common is the want to win another ArenaBowl. Of all the quarterbacks on the free agent market in the off-season, Kaleo was the only one left Marcum felt comfortable trusting his offense to. It should be interesting to see how these two old warriors co-exist this season in Tampa Bay.
Up until last Thursday it was nearly imminent that we would see the greatest Ironman in the history of the AFL suit up for the Tampa Bay Storm. However, Barry Wagner was cut from the Storm roster last week and is currently looking for residency with any team that will let him suit up. I certainly hope two weeks ago in a scrimmage was not the last time I will get to see Wagner play, but if it was all I can say is what an awesome career and I only hope he decides to go into the Hall of Fame as a Predator where he first came to prominence.
Friday will mark the third time in five seasons a war on I-4 has opened the season. Many fans including yours truly feel that this game needs to be played not until week six and the second meeting should not be until atleast week 14. Whoever made the schedules this year really goofed up on this one! The last time Orlando and Tampa Bay opened the season against each other was a 2004 match-up that Tampa Bay won 52-41 in the most boring game I have ever seen. It is scenes like that which make me really miss the old days of actual preseason games because when you really think about it, this game means little except to decide who is 1-0 and who is winless going into week two.
The obvious thing to say here is whoever had the best training camp will probably win this game. Orlando has Stafford learning a whole new vocabulary of Jay Gruden’s terminology. In speaking with Shane during training camp he told me he was beginning to think about things less and less, which means he is getting more comfortable in the new system. This is after all the war on I-4; there will not be any secrets. Gruden is going to have Stafford running his most basic offense to begin things in order to get his confidence up. Then Gruden will allow his quarterback the opportunity to make plays down the field. The Predators definitely have deep threats with Jimmy Fryzel, Javarus Dudley, and DeAndrew Rubin who all proved vital in the Preds ArenaBowl run last season. Fryzel has sat out most of camp resting a knee injury, but he should be good to go on Friday night. The Preds decided to keep WR Clif Dell on the roster, but placed him on injured reserve with a quadriceps injury. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Charles Lee is also waiting in the wings for a roster spot to open up.
The emergence of defensive end Chaz Murphy has immediately upgraded the Predators defensive line which also includes Greg White who told me he wants me to start remembering him for defense this year and not back flips when he scored his one touchdown last season in the Dallas National Conference championship game. Murphy spent the 2006 season with af2’s Tulsa Talons recording 10 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss. So far in training camp Murphy has shown the fastest first step of any defensive end I have ever seen including guys like E.J. Burt and Henry Taylor. Murphy should be a great asset to the Predators Friday night as they try and pressure Kaleo into mistakes.
By far the biggest question mark in the Predators training camp was the secondary positions. The loss of Kenny McEntyre to Kansas City and the loss of Jeroid Johnson to the Storm in the off-season left the Predators with only one returning defensive back with Lin-J Shell. Shell has waited for three seasons now to get an opportunity to show what he can do as the go to guy in the defensive backfield. It will be up to him to lead the young guys like Rayshun Reed and Micheaux Robinson. Ryan Bowers will be the other DB in the fold for the Preds. It should be interesting to see whether this becomes a weak spot for the Preds or a spark of young guys out there making big plays to get the ball back to a potent offense.
War on I-4 XL commences this Friday night at 7:30 inside the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, FL. I am sure everyone is just as excited as I am to get the season started after an extended layoff due to ESPN joining our league this season. If you do not have a way to watch the game please join into the ArenaFan chat room with myself and Joe Kauffman for game play by play live from the press box.
Jason Lucas is a part-time freelance writer based in the Orlando, Florida area. A former director of media relations with the Orlando Predators, Jason is making his return to Arenafan.com after a short stint as a public relations assistant with the UFL‘s Florida Tuskers in 2010. Lucas has followed the AFL since 1992 and began covering the Predators for Arenafan during the 2004 season. He held that position until being picked up by the Preds front office after the 2007 season. Jason‘s knowledge of arena football and love of the game is what drives him to continue covering the sport.
