Breaking it Down - ArenaBowl XXII edition
Andy Lopusnak
Wednesday July 30, 2008
In the season finale of Breaking it Down, the world’s longest named championship, the Virgin Mobile ArenaBowl XXII New Orleans, will be broken down statistically and historically like no where else but right here on ArenaFan.com.
Before we get down to the nitty gritty, I wanted to point out that the Soul’s 59-56 win over the San Jose SaberCats is not the first professional football title for the City of Brotherly Love since 1960 as stated by numerous sources. The Philadelphia Stars, coached by Jim “Playoffs?!?!” Mora, won the 1984 USFL Championship Game which I attended back on July 15, 1984 in Tampa Stadium with the Stars beating the Arizona Wranglers 23-3 (wow, that’s two straight article that I’ve written with USFL references). Additionally, the Soul is not the first professional sports team in the city of Philadelphia to win title since 1983 as mentioned by other sources. Five other Philadelphia teams have won a combined 15 titles over the last 25 years.
There’s a lot of breakdowns and history to get to, so I’ve divided each into what each team and player accomplished in ArenaBowl XXII to make it a bit easier to navigate.
OVERALL
- The team leading at halftime has won 21 of the 22 ArenaBowls with the lone exception being ArenaBowl X when it was tied.
- The AFL issued four award winners for the first time in league history for any game (MVP, Offense Player, Defensive Player and Ironman).
- First safety recorded in an ArenaBowl since 2000 (ArenaBowl XIV had two).
- The three-point win for the Soul is tied for the lowest margin of victory in ArenaBowl history (ArenaBowl XIV in 2000 – Orlando 41, Nashville 38; ArenaBowl XIX in 2005 – Colorado 51, Georgia 48). Both of those games were decided on the final play with kickers hitting field goals.
- Four of the past five ArenaBowls have been decided by eight or fewer points - only four of the first 17 ArenaBowls were decided by eight or less.
BOTH TEAMS COMBINED
- 87 combined pass attempts is a new ArenaBowl record.
- Five combined sacks are tied for third most.
- Three combined 100+ yard receivers is tied with two others for the second most – there have been 26 receivers with 100 or more receiving yards (ArenaBowl XVIII had four – 2 from each team).
- The three combined challenges were the most in any game during the 2008 playoffs, when the league instituted the policy.
- Eight combined rushing yards rank second least.
- 115 combined points are the third most in an ArenaBowl (the two higher were in 2004 and 2006).
- 36 combined passing first downs are second most in ArenaBowl history.
- The combined 19 penalties are tied for second most.
PHILADELPHIA
- Became the eleventh team to win an ArenaBowl.
- Became the ninth team to win an ArenaBowl in first appearance.
- Became the fourth National Conference to win an ArenaBowl and first since Tampa Bay did so in 2003.
- Became what is believed the first team in ArenaBowl history to not commit a penalty in the first half (there are not many complete game books for most of the AFL’s first five years so this cannot be confirmed).
- Won its first ArenaBowl in the team’s fifth year in the AFL, which is the seventh fastest to do so.
- 37 points scored by Philadelphia in first half is the second most by a team in an ArenaBowl.
MATT D’ORAZIO
- Became second QB named All-Arena First team to earn ArenaBowl MVP in the same season (Art Schlichter, 1990).
- Became the second player to earn ArenaBowl MVP with two different teams (George LaFrance – Detroit twice, Tampa Bay once).
- Became the fourth player to earn multiple ArenaBowl MVP honors (LaFrance, 3; Stevie Thomas, 2; Mark Grieb, 2).
- Accounted for eight total touchdowns (seven passing, one rushing), which ties ArenaBowl record (D’Orazio, 2006; Mark Grieb, 2004 & 2008).
- Has led his previous two teams to ArenaBowl wins in his first year with that team (Chicago, 2006).
- Recorded the eight 300-yard passing game in ArenaBowl history (only second 300-yard passer to be named MVP – Grieb did it in ArenaBowl XVIII).
CHRIS JACKSON
- Became the first AFL Offensive Player of the Year to earn the same award in an ArenaBowl since the league added the award in 2004, though it was not issued in 2007.
- Has led his previous two teams to the ArenaBowl in his first year with the team (Georgia lost in 2005).
RAHEEM ORR
- Recorded the fifth safety in ArenaBowl history and first since 2000, when ArenaBowl XIV had two safeties (one from each team).
TONY GRAZIANI
- Became the first player to throw an interception out of a special teams formation in ArenaBowl history.
GABE NYENHUIS
- First lineman to earn ArenaBowl Defensive Player of the Game since the award was instituted in 2004.
SAN JOSE
- With the SaberCats’ loss, every team that has appeared in multiple ArenaBowls has lost at least once.
- Became the sixth team to score first in an ArenaBowl and then lose the game (Orlando did so three times and Arizona did it twice).
- The SaberCats’ 56 points are the third most by a losing team.
- Became the first team to not have a rushing attempt in an ArenaBowl.
- The team’s zero rushing yards rank second least to Arizona’s -2 in 1994 when the Rattlers won ArenaBowl VI.
- Rodney Wright (144) and Jason Geathers (101) became the fifth set of teammates to have 100 or more receiving yards each in the same ArenaBowl – second from a losing team.
- The team’s 22 passing first downs are the most in ArenaBowl history.
- 27 pass completions by the team are second most.
MARK GRIEB
- Became the ArenaBowl’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns.
- Became the second straight player to earn the Russell Athetic Team Award winner to lose the ArenaBowl (Columbus’ Matt Nagy earned it last year and lost against San Jose in ArenaBowl XXI).
- Tied his own ArenaBowl record with eight passing touchdowns (set in 2004).
- Became the ArenaBowl’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns (20)
- His 44 pass attempts are second most.
- Moved into third place in the all-time ArenaBowl annals in pass attempts
- Moved into second place all-time in playoff history in passing yards.
JASON GEATHERS
- Set ArenaBowl record with 32 points scored (five touchdowns, one 2-point conversion).
- Tied ArenaBowl record with five receiving touchdowns.
- His five receiving scores are the most by a two-way player in ArenaBowl history (James Roe and Terrill Shaw were offensive specialists).
RON JONES
- His two sacks are tied with five others for the second most in ArenaBowl history and are the most since Nashville’s James Baron had two in 2000.
RODNEY WRIGHT
- Set ArenaBowl record with 13 receptions.
- 219 all-purpose yards are the second most in ArenaBowl history.
BREAKING IT DOWN ARENABOWL XXII AWARD WINNERS
To showcase the award winners from Breaking it Down, the AFL put out a bullet-pointed release talking about the stats and notes of interest from the game (their version of Breaking it Down), and ten of the total 12 bullet points featured the SaberCats (the two for the Soul were a historical note on the safety and D’Orazio accounting for eight touchdowns).
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Just like throughout the regular season and into the playoffs, Philadelphia QB Matt D’Orazio was the best in the business. He tossed seven touchdowns and ran in another, despite being sacked three times with constant pressure from the SaberCats’ defense. D’Orazio completed 26-of-43 for 302 yards and was not intercepted.
Honorable Mention: San Jose WR/LB Jason Geathers had a monster game and his name will be repeated a couple more times after this. He set an AFL record with 32 points scored, tied another with five receiving scores and oh by the way, he played defense to for most of the game. Geathers finished with eight catches for 101 yards, recovered a fumble and tallied 2.5 tackles including sharing a tackle for a loss.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER
Matt D’Orazio had a better game than Chris Jackson, who the attending media said received the honor. Jackson accounted for just three touchdowns (five less than D'Orazio), the least by an Offensive Player of the Game ever in ArenaBowl history.
Honorable Mention: Though he didn’t catch as many passes or yards as Chris Jackson, San Jose WR/LB Jason Geathers had two more touchdowns on three fewer catches than Jackson. Geathers caught a touchdown 63% of his grabs; Jackson reached the end zone 20% of his catches.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER
Philadelphia defensive lineman Gabe Nyenhuis pressured Grieb all day, forcing him into bad passes. Nyenhuis had 1.5 tackles, a forced fumble, a pass breakup and a sack. He had the game’s first defensive stop when he forced Grieb into an arrant throw on fourth and four. This led to the Soul’s first lead of the contest.
HONORABLE MENTION: San Jose defensive lineman Ron Jones sacked D’Orazio twice, recorded 2.0 tackles for a loss of 16 yards, broke up a pass and forced a fumble.
IRONMAN
There’s some very fuzzy math on how Jason Geathers did not get this. Anyone who voted for Mike Brown over Geathers should have their media credentials revoked, and let me tell you why. Brown “earned” the award by catching two passes for five yards, five kickoff returns for 72 yards, six solo tackles, a forced fumble and two pass breakups. Brown became the first ArenaBowl Ironman to not score a touchdown or get a takeaway in ArenaBowl in ArenaBowl history (Geathers had five touchdowns and a fumble recovery). Refer back to the MVP honorable mention for complete Geathers stats.
HONORABLE MENTION: San Jose’s Rodney Wright accounted for second most all-purpose yards (219) in ArenaBowl history. He set a league record with 13 catches along with 144 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Wright also intercepted a pass, registered a tackle and had five kickoff returns for 64 yards.
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.
