SaberCats look to avoid another VooDoo hex
Andy Lopusnak
Saturday April 5, 2008
Two hundred and fifty-two days ago, the San Jose SaberCats celebrated their third ArenaBowl title in six years in New Orleans. Tonight, the SaberCats return to the Big Easy for the first time since taking the Foster ArenaBowl Trophy back to Silicon Valley.
The VooDoo enter this Saturday’s game 4-1 after winning its last four including last-second wins over Orlando and Colorado; and impressive blowouts against Tampa Bay and Cleveland. San Jose is 3-2 after a 44-36 win over Kansas City last week. The SaberCats’ two losses have come at the hands of Chicago (4-1) and Dallas (5-0) – the teams with the best records in the American and National Conferences respectively.
Eerily, the SaberCats played their sixth game of last year’s championship-run with a Game Six loss at New Orleans. The loss gave San Jose a 3-3 record on the year, and then the team won its next 13 including ArenaBowl XXI. If San Jose does lose, strangely enough the SaberCats would be 3-3 – just like last year.
That Friday the 13th game in the Graveyard last season was the SaberCats’ worst loss of the year. At the end of the third quarter, San Jose trailed 52-28 and eventually lost by 13 points (67-54). In the other two 2007 losses, the SaberCats lost by five combined points.
With a win, San Jose head coach Darren Arbet will reach his 100th regular season victory, making him the fifth coach to do so in league history (Colorado’s Mike Dailey reach it last night in the Crush’s 67-54 victory over Los Angeles). If the SaberCats win, Arbet would receive his 100th regular season win on his 143rd game, which is the second fastest in AFL history behind Hall of Famer and current Tampa Bay head coach Tim Marcum who did it in 123 games. Danny White, currently the Utah Blaze’s head coach, won his 100th regular season game on his 144th game.
Last week at Kansas City, the SaberCats’ all-time leading receiver did not play because he aggravated an injury in pre-game warm-ups. He had not missed a game in over two years. If Roe does miss this game, look for Josh Richey, who was just activated from injured reserve, to get some serious playing time this week. Richey played for the af2’s Everett Hawks last season and earned First Team All-af2 honors after catching 148 balls for 1,968 yards and 44 TDs. In Everett, he was coached by former SaberCats offensive specialist Steve Papin - one of the best players in the AFL during his time in the league (1997-2003).
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the fourth matchup between San Jose and New Orleans. The VooDoo leads the series 2-1 and has won the past two games. Additionally, the home team has won all three previous games. Last year, the VooDoo returned to the AFL after a year away from the game due to Hurricane Katrina and went 5-11, including a win over the SaberCats. With a win against San Jose, the VooDoo will equal its 2007 win total in just six games.
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YEAR
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FINAL SCORE
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2007
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NEW ORLEANS 67, San Jose 54
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2005
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NEW ORLEANS 62, San Jose 61
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2004
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SAN JOSE 68, New Orleans 34
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BOLD ALL CAPS = home team
SERIES HIGHLIGHTS
- In 2007, QB Mark Grieb passed for a career-high 445 passing yards, which ranks as the tenth most in AFL history.
- In the same game, three SaberCats receivers had 100-yard receiving games: James Roe (12-165-3), Rodney Wright (12-130-0) and Ben Nelson (9-135-3).
- The VooDoo blocked two of kicker A.J. Haglund extra point attempts in the 2007 matchup – so far this season Haglund has not missed a field goal or extra point.
- In the 2005 one-point loss, kicker Dan Frantz missed an extra point and two field goals, including a 32-yard as time expired that would have won the game for San Jose.
- WR James Roe had 13 grabs for 168 yards with five touchdowns and Grieb passed for 352 yards with seven scores on 30-of-32 passing in the 2005 loss.
- In the first matchup in 2004, the SaberCats were down 27-14 with less than a minute to go in the first half before outscoring the VooDoo 54-7 the rest of the game.
VOODOO PLAYERS TO WATCH
Danny Wimprine, quarterback
Wimprine started the season as the backup to Steve Bellisari, but an injury to Bellisari thrust Wimprine into the starting role. Since then, he’s one of the top passers in the league and has led the VooDoo to a 4-0 record. He’s tossed 24 touchdowns to just two interceptions. Wimprine is just the sixth QB in league history to win his first four starts and seeks to become just the second ever to win his first five starts.
Lin-J Shell, defensive back
Shell had a key interception in the end zone as time expired last week in Denver to preserve the VooDoo’s victory over the Crush. He has four interceptions, a fumble recovery and two pass breakups as well as leading the team in tackles (34.0).
James Jordan, wide receiver
Jordan is fourth in the league in scoring (13 TDs/78 points) despite missing the season opener. On the year, he has 37 grabs for 422 yards and 13 scores. Last season, he had a great game against the SaberCats catching six balls for a career-high 144 yards with four touchdowns.
Wendell Williams, wide receiver/kick returner
Williams is the only player to return a kickoff and a missed field goal for a touchdown this season. He had back-to-back weeks with MFG returns for scores on the final play of the first half.
Calvin Spears, defensive back
Spears leads the AFL in interceptions (five) and is second on the VooDoo in tackles (33.0). He missed the entire 2007 season with a ruptured Achilles.
Henry Bryant, linebacker
Bryant is tied for eleventh in the AFL in sacks (2.0) and has posted 7.5 stops, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble. With the SaberCats
SABERCATS KEYS TO VICTORY
WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE – The VooDoo is the best team in the league in turnover differential (+9), passes intercepted (12) and turnovers forced (21). Last season, New Orleans had a total of eleven interceptions the entire season! San Jose has forced the second-most turnovers (16), but has turned it over the fifth most in the league. Mark Grieb has had an uncharacteristic start by tossing seveninterceptions in five games (he had 13 all of last season and is on pace for a career-high 23), which is second the most by any passer in the league (Arizona’s Jeff Smoker has eight INTs). New Orleans is 19-0 all-time when winning the turnover battle. San Jose turned the ball over more than it took away in both losses this season.
PROTECT GRIEB – New Orleans is tied (with San Jose) for second in the league in sacks (eight). With two starting offensive linemen out, San Jose will have to rely on veteran Vince Amey, who started last week, to fill the shoes of Chris Pino (started first three games) and Julius Gant (Week Four starter) for the second-straight game. Against Kansas City, Grieb was picked off twice and sacked twice. He was forced out of the pocket a couple of times and even posted a career-high 17-yard rush (not a great stat considering it was not a designed play and Grieb is not a running QB). As a result, the SaberCats were held to season-low 44 points against a team that gave up the second-most points in league history just a week earlier – San Jose was held out of the end zone for the final 16:33 of the game.
SHOW AMERICAN PRIDE – so far this season, the American Conference has been dominated by the National Conference, losing 14-of-17 games. One of the American’s three victories came in Week One when Los Angeles beat New Orleans; however, the VooDoo has won four straight including a last-second win over American Conference foe Colorado. San Jose is 0-1 this season against the National Conference losing to undefeated Dallas in Week Four.
GAME TIME CHANGE
Just a reminder in case not everyone has heard, the kick off of the SaberCats’ next home game against the Philadelphia Soul (Saturday, April 12) has changed to 8:45 p.m. PT because of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks potentially having a playoff game that afternoon.
Andy Lopusnak is an 11-year AFL front office veteran, spending time with the Tampa Bay Storm, San Diego Riptide and Grand Rapids Rampage. He works as a statistician for NFL and college sports for CBS Sports and is a freelance photographer. Lopusnak received two Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of South Florida and has been a fan of ArenaBall since its inception.
