Breaking it Down - 2011 Week Five
Andy Lopusnak
Wednesday April 13, 2011
For just the second time in the past two decades, only four AFL games were played because for some unknown reason ten teams needed to have a bye this week. Don't fret Arena Football fanatics; I've got your weekly fix right here with an extra helping of Breaking it Down to help ease the withdrawals from a meaningless lack of football this week. All four home teams won. Two games were decided in the final seconds, Kansas City won its first game and San Jose blew out the Blaze.
After four crazy weeks for me covering March Madness for CBS Sports as a statistician and photographer, I was hoping for a full slate of games to really breakdown and analyze, but instead the league in its infinite wisdom decided to give TEN teams off weeks.
If any week needed teams with weeks off, it was the previous week with baseball season opening up and the Final Four dominating the sports world. Nope, all 18 teams played that week. Great job schedule makers with the decision for Milwaukee to host its third straight Monday night game and to put it up directly against the Final Four title game. Nothing like having the worst attended AFL game in a decade.
In Week Four of last season, there were just four games played and seven teams had byes. Prior to this week and that one, you'd need to go back to 1991 to find the last time just four games were played in any given regular season week. Back then, there was a reason for four games unlike this time - there were just eight teams and every week was a four-game slate.
That year has a special place in my heart as I saw Arena Football in person for the first time when Tampa Bay got a team. The love affair began that warm June day when the Preds beat the Storm and the crowd booed Jay Gruden because they wanted Chip Ferguson as the QB (oh, how naive folks were back then). I remember fondly the tiger-striped jerseys called Zubaz and hope one day that the Storm will get to wear those uniforms of red, white and blue awesomeness.
Let's look at the fantastic schedule making thus far through five weeks.
* San Jose has had four home games, while Philadelphia has yet to play at home.
* All three Milwaukee home games have been on a Monday and each drew an announced attendance of less than 3,300. This includes the 2,112 that came out on Final Four Monday for the worst attended AFL game in a decade. The Mustangs get another Thursday nighter in Week 12 (they will also go to Dallas this week for a Thursday night game).
* If you combined all three Mustangs home games it would rank 19th in the league in a single-game attendance this year.
* Both of Utah's home games have been on another AFL death night - Thursday.
* Tampa Bay, which last year led the league in attendance, had its home opener on a Sunday, which became the lowest attended game in the team's 20 years in the Tampa Bay area.
* Only seven of the 35 games played have had an attendance of over 10,000 (Chicago, Orlando twice, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Tampa Bay and Utah). Only three of those drew more than 11,000 (two by Orlando and one by Pittsburgh).
* Through five weeks last year, there were nine games of over 10,000 including six of more than 11,000 - with six fewer games played. On a good note through five weeks last year, there were eight games with 5,032 or fewer, while there's just five this year (Milwaukee, 3; Georgia and Dallas).
* Last year, all 17 teams had at least one home game by Week Five. Cleveland and Orlando had just one home game through five weeks last year, while everyone else had at least two. This year, five teams have one or fewer home games through Week Five (again, Philly has yet to be home).
* Kansas City had its first home game in Week Five and since the team was 0-3 the attendance was seven thousand fewer than the last KC AFL game and the 5,438 for the team's first win ranks as lowest by a KC AFL team ever - previous low was over 3,000 more than this total.
* In Week One, four teams had bye weeks. Two of which (Orlando and Utah) also had byes in the opening weekend of last year.
* Through five weeks, only San Jose hasn't had a bye. The SaberCats' bye comes in Week Eight. Utah will have its second bye that same weekend.
* Looking ahead, Philadelphia will have played just one home game (Week Six) through the league's first eight weeks. The Soul will then host games in eight of its final eleven games.
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GEORGIA 55, DALLAS 48
* The Force scored with 11 seconds to go to take a seven-point lead but left enough time for the visiting Vigilantes to run three plays. Dallas QB Dan Raudabaugh made the most of the first two with throws for 18 and eight yards. The third play would have set up a potential for overtime or the win, but Dallas WR Matt Fields was stopped a yard short of the end zone, giving the Force its second straight win, while the Vigilantes dropped their second straight after starting the season 2-0.
* Both teams turned the ball over four times and both had touchdowns on fumbles. Each team turned the ball over on their first drive of the game.
* Georgia QB Brett Elliott had 373 yards passing with seven TDs and an interception. Receivers Larry Shipp (9-213-3) and Maurice Purify (11-136-2) accounted for 20 of Elliott's 23 completions and all but 24 of his yards. Four different players had receiving TDs for the Force.
* Dallas fullback Derrick Ross had 13 rushes for 66 yards with four touchdowns, including the game's first points.
* This is the second time this year that Ross has posted a four-TD rushing game.
* Georgia took its first lead early in the second quarter and scored seconds later on the ensuing kickoff when the Force's Ryan Bowers fell on a loose ball in the end zone.
* The game was tied at 41 to start the fourth quarter and Georgia took advantage of a missed field goal to gain an extra possession which resulted in the game-winning score.
* Georgia's offense didn't take advantage of any of the defense's three takeaways (the fumble recovery for a TD was on special teams). In fact, the Force's offense turned the ball over on all three of those takeaways.
* In a losing effort, Dallas had eleven more first downs than Georgia thanks to a running game that accounted for 95 yards, five TDs and seven first downs. Georgia had -2 yards rushing, no rushing first downs or rushing scores.
* Force DB Ahmad Hawkins had seven solo tackles, an interception and three pass breakups. He had the final tackle of the game that prevented Dallas from potentially forcing overtime or winning as time expired at the goal line.
* In the past two weeks, Dallas has given up the top two receiving yardage totals in the league (226 last week to Utah's Aaron Boone and 213 to Shipp).
SAN JOSE 75, UTAH 55
* This game featured my Breaking it Down Players of the Week for the first two weeks of the season: Week One honoree Mark Grieb from San Jose and Week Two recipient Utah's Tommy Grady.
* The teams traded TDs until the final minute of the first half when San Jose forced a turnover on downs and took a 12-point lead into halftime. Utah would come as close as 47-41 early in the fourth quarter.
* San Jose scored on its first seven drives and had TDs in eleven of its 12 possessions (not including the one-play drive to end the game).
* SaberCats fullback Chad Cook had four rushing touchdowns on six carries for 33 yards. Two of his TDs came within an 18-second timeframe - a 13-yard scamper and a nine-yarder in the final minute of game play. Cook leads the AFL in rushing TDs (12) and has scored a TD on 48% of his rushing attempts. He has posted multi-TD games in four of the team's five games.
* A combined 49 points were scored in the fourth quarter (28 of which came in the final 42 seconds).
* Utah WR Aaron Boone tallied eleven catches for 147 yards with three touchdowns. He was also a force on special teams where he recorded 3.5 tackles. Through four games, Boone is the sixth-leading tackler for the Blaze.
* Boone is the only player in the league to have at least four games with eleven or more caches, 90 or more yards and two or more touchdowns.
* Twelve different players caught a pass in the game (six for each squad). Ten of the 12 had at least two receptions.
* San Jose QB Mark Grieb completed 75.8% of his passes for 279 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions. His passing scores could have been higher, but the team also ran for five touchdowns in the game. In fact, Grieb's first passing score game with 13:10 left in the second quarter because San Jose's first two TDs were rushing scores.
* The announced 8,763 was the lowest attendance in franchise history (dating back to 1995). Fridays suck in the Bay Area - traffic is horrendous and the team has hardly ever had great crowds on Friday nights. All three of the SaberCats' home games thus far have been on Fridays. Two of the team's remaining five games are on Friday night.
* Utah has lost its last six games against San Jose. The team's lone win was the Blaze's inaugural game on January 28, 2006 when it beat the SaberCats 48-35 thanks to three takeaways that all led to Utah points.
* San Jose is 3-0 in games it doesn't turnover the ball and 0-2 when the team coughs it up.
* The SaberCats are the only team with at least two games with at least 75 points scored. San Jose has scored 60 or more in four of its five games.
ORLANDO 53, PHILADELPHIA 46
* Down by a point with 21 left, Orlando scored and converted on a two-point try to go up by seven. For some strange reason, the Preds scored with 18 seconds left, on second down and while the Soul still had two timeouts to burn - read Adam Markowitz's guide how to manage the clock by clicking here. I know Philadelphia allowed them to score, but you drop down at the goal line and run some clock or forced them to call a timeout. They're going to let you score on the next play anyway.
* Luckily for Orlando, the Soul reached only its own eleven on the ensuing drive and a last-second pass for a potential win or overtime was broken up by defensive back Travis Coleman.
* Soul QB Ryan Vena made his first start for Philly's normal starter Justin Allgood. There was no reason for the switch in any of the Soul's game notes, pre-game press release or post-game recap, so it has to be assumed that Soul coach Mike Hohensee made the switch because last week Allgood completed just 54.2% of his passes and had turn turnovers (two interceptions, one fumble). His team also lost two straight.
* Vena completed 61.5% of his passes for 263 yards with four passing TDs and two interceptions. He also ran three times for 47 yards and two touchdowns (one a 32-yarder that was the game's first points). Vena now ranks 19th in league history in rushing touchdowns and 30th in rushing yards.
* Orlando QB Nick Hill had 309 yards passing with six touchdowns and one interception.
* The Preds were led by receivers TT Toliver (13-131-3) and Bobby Sippio (9-105-4), who accounted for all seven Orlando pass scores.
* Toliver is now tied for 20th all-time in league history in receiving touchdowns with the legendary Stevie Thomas at 152. Sippio stands at 18th all-time. In their careers, Toliver has over 1,600 more receiving yards than Sippio, who is the all-time league leader in TD/reception percentage among players with 200 or more catches - 38.5% of Sippio's catches go for touchdowns.
* In a losing effort, Soul WR Donovan Morgan posted 156 yards with three touchdowns on seven catches.
* Vena converted a fourth and 22 by connecting with Morgan on a 42-yard touchdown.
* The Soul has dropped three straight after opening the season with a six-point win over expansion Pittsburgh. Philly has failed to reach 50 points in any of the three losses. In the last season the Soul played (2008), Philadelphia lost just three total games en route to winning the ArenaBowl.
* This marks the first three-game slide for the Soul since the team lost six in a row in 2007. That year, the team started 4-0, lost six straight and still finished 8-8 to reach the playoffs.
* Soul DB Tanner Varner returned an interception 36 yards for a TD, but the refs missed the fact that the ball was interfered with by a fan. It's just pathetic that this league will allow instant replay for NFL Network games but not all of its games when each arena has a suitable amount of cameras to allow instant replay. Just like last year's stat program and this year's schedule making, this is an embarrassment!
* After the ref blunder, the Preds trailed by 15 and with three minutes left in the game took their first lead because Ryan Vena is Ryan Vena and is the master of the interception. The AFL's single-season interception leader (not in a good way) was picked off twice in the second half with both resulting in touchdowns.
* Vena is now tied for 26th in league history in interceptions (45 with Mike Pawlowski) despite playing just four AFL seasons.
KANSAS CITY 62, IOWA 48
* A Kansas City-based AFL team played in KC for the first time in 1,036 days and won a game for the first time in 1,053 days when the Brigade called KC home.
* Both quarterbacks tossed three interceptions in the game. Iowa's Brad Banks, coming off an 11-TD performance, completed 62.9% of his passes for 310 yards with six TDs and three picks. KC's J.J. Raterink completed 61% of his passes for 268 yards with seven TDs and three INTs.
* The Command held a 13-0 lead after the first quarter and never trailed in the contest. KC was six-of-nine on third-down conversions.
* Two Command receivers had three TD catches each (Bret Smith: 10-122-3; Bradley Chavez: 5-72-3).
* Kansas City defensive back Sergio Gilliam had three interceptions, five solo tackles and a pass breakup in the game.
* In a losing effort, Iowa defensive back Cameron McGlenn had two interceptions, a forced fumble and 9.0 tackles.
* Overall, the teams combined for eight turnovers (six INT, two fumbles). Iowa scored two TDs off its four takeaways, while Kansas City had three TDs.
RACE TO 55
This week, the Storm announced that future Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Brooks was the team's new president and a part owner. For a team with so much bad news circulating it this year, this was a great move. One thing that the 2002 NFL Defensive Player of the Year noted at the Tuesday press conference resonated with me, "It's a race to 55. Whoever gets to 55 tends to win."
Looking at the league thus far, Brooks is spot on as all 22 games where the winner has scored 55 or more that the winner was the first to reach 55. Only four times this year has the loser even reached 55 points, two of which were in games decided by at least 14 or more points.
For the Storm, 55 points is a luxury as the five-time champs are dead last in scoring (34.5 points per game) and haven't scored more than 46 in a single game (lone win against the winless VooDoo).
LOOKING AHEAD IN WEEK SIX
* All 18 teams will be playing (also in Week Seven - amazing, I know).
* Philadelphia gets to play a home game - it only took six weeks. Who will be the starting QB for either team?
* The Soul-Storm game features teams both on three-game slides.
* One of the two undefeated teams left (Cleveland) will play the lone remaining winless team (New Orleans).
* Last year's best expansion team (Jacksonville) travels to Pittsburgh to take on the expansion Power. The Power's head coach, Chris Siegfried, was the Sharks' offensive coordinator last year.
* Spokane will face its former offensive coordinator (Matt Sauk) when the Shock travels to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Blaze. Without Sauk, Spokane has already matched its loss total from last year. With Sauk, the Blaze has improved from the worst team in points scored in 2010 to the second best in the league this year.
* San Jose travels to Tulsa to complete its af2 circuit. After beating Spokane in Week One and losing to Iowa in Week Four, the SaberCats will face off against the last of the remaining af2 teams in the league (since the league ignores the Vipers and BattleWings in their new cities with old AFL names). The SaberCats have the top scoring offense (64.2 points per game), while Tulsa has failed to score more than 47 points in any game this season.
BREAKING IT DOWN PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sergio Gilliam, Kansas City DB
The previously winless Command needed all three of Sergio Gilliam's three interceptions to beat a red-hot Iowa team that come into the game with impressive wins against Spokane and San Jose. His first pick came on the game's second play from scrimmage and led to a Command touchdown. The second interception came at the end of the first half with the Barnstormers driving to take a halftime lead. His final pick was midway through the third quarter and led to a Kansas City touchdown that extended the Command's lead to ten points. In addition to three interceptions, Gilliam added five solo tackles and a pass breakup.
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2011 BREAKING IT DOWN PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
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Week
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Player, Team
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Stat Notes
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1
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Mark Grieb, SJ
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84%, 222 yds, six TDs, 143 rating
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2
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Tommy Grady, Utah
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67%, 306 yds, 9 TD (7 pass/2 rush)
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3
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Aaron Garcia, JAX
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89.5%, 308 yds, 8 TD, perfect 158.33 rating
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4
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Brad Banks, Iowa
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65%, 383 yds, 11 TD (10 P/1 R), 138.9 rating
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5
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Sergio Gilliam, KC
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3 interceptions, 5.0 tackles, 1 pass breakup
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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.
