The San Jose SaberCats (4-2) are prepared and ready to face the dynamic Tampa Bay Storm (5-2) at the HP Pavilion on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. PT.

San Jose has two consecutive wins that have translated into momentum, propelling them into this big game against an overall solid Tampa Bay team. The Storm also has quite a bit of momentum built up as they’ve won their last three games and are undefeated against two tough Western Division teams the Utah Blaze and the Spokane Shock.

For the SaberCats defense, it will be a challenge going up against the Storm’s quarterback Adrian McPherson who leads the league in rushing touchdowns (21), runs the league’s third ranked scoring offense, and is the only quarterback to only have thrown one interception this season in his 198 attempts.

Owner/ Head Coach Darren Arbet describes McPherson as a tremendous athlete. “He can throw the ball really well. That’s the thing before I thought he didn’t do very well, now he throws the ball really well and he can run. He’s the full package,” said Coach Arbet.  

The SaberCats defensive key for this game will be to slow down McPherson’s overall production. Ironman Huey Whitaker discusses his defensive points of emphasis heading into this week’s battle against the Storm’s offense.  

“For me it’s really the quarterback, I got to kind of make sure he doesn’t run all over us. That’s my primary focus is to try to keep him in the pocket and besides that get into whatever lanes I can get into and try to make a change or difference in the game wherever I can,” said linebacker/wide receiver Huey Whitaker.

A big time SaberCat defensive playmaker and lineman Terrance Carter, is looking to take advantage of the Storm’s offensive line that has given up 17 sacks this season. He plans to do that by continuing to apply pressure to the line and on McPherson.

“The game plan we’ve been going into is keep pressure on him (McPherson) consistently. Keep our rush lanes, and turn and run to the ball. Everybody on the defensive line up front has been hungry. This defense has been a dominant force in these last few games and we just got to keep it up, especially against this running quarterback,” said Carter.

McPherson’s connection with his receiving corps has been very fluid, just last week he spread the ball around to all of his receivers for four scores to get the win. He’s also ranked third in the league for passing yards with 1745 total for this season.

“They’re good receivers and McPherson throws the ball really well, they catch the ball and the thing about them is they can do something after the catch. So we’re definitely going to have to be prepared for them,” said Owner/ Head Coach Arbet.

 

On the other side of the ball, going up against this confident and physical Storm defense isn’t going to be an easy task. It will be a great challenge for the SaberCats offense to execute successfully as a unit and gage where they’re at as a team at this point in the season.  The Storm’s stellar defense has had seven consecutive games with interceptions and five consecutive games with sacks. No doubt about it, the Storm will be looking to fight hard in order to continue these streaks.

Coach Arbet says that facing a tough defense like this, the ‘Cats offense will have to emphasize their ability to, “Take care of the football, protect the quarterback, run good routes and come back to the football.” 

With the addition of wide receiver Amarri Jackson thrown into the mix on offense, Arbet describes his new weapon as both a playmaker and a game changer. “He’s that guy that you can go to consistently and they know you’re going to consistently, but he’s still going to make plays,” said Coach Arbet.

Former teammate Huey Whitaker is looking forward to suiting up alongside Jackson for this week’s game, “It’s like old times. I just kind of get that feeling like dang, haven’t we been here before, haven’t we done this before kind of thing. And the last time we did do it, we we’re pretty successful.  So it’s like, let’s get back to those old times and have some fun out here.”

Jackson has his sights set on making an immediate impact on the same team he’s been watching since childhood. He’s spent many days as a youth looking up to guys like Barry Wagner and James Roe watching SaberCats ball games and can hardly wait to play in front of San Jose fans and strap up as a ‘Cat. When asked about his acclimation to the team he says, “Everybody has really embraced me from the coaching staff down and is teaching me the ropes and everything I need to be doing from how I need to be carrying myself around here to the type of tempo on the practice field. This is a winning team.”

Having played for the Storm in 2011 and 2012, Jackson shares a little insight into what he knows about his former team’s defense, “Having played for Coach Ewart for two years, I know a few things about their defense. I know that they’re young and their aggressive. I know that they won’t back down. They’re going to show effort the whole game. They play pretty basic coverage’s but they’re going to go with effort because every guy over there is hungry too.”

 

Leanne is a freelance sports journalist residing in the San Francisco Bay Area as she finishes up her Mass Communication, Media Production B.A. at Cal State University, East Bay. This will be her second season as a correspondent covering the San Jose SaberCats.