SaberCats need more than 60 minutes to take lead, win
Andy Lopusnak
Sunday May 27, 2012
For the first time in AFL history, a team that never led in regulation won a game. The San Jose SaberCats took their first lead 67 minutes and 29 seconds after the opening kickoff midway through overtime. On the ensuing play from scrimmage, SaberCats defensive back Vince Hill intercepted Chicago Rush quarterback Russ Michna to seal the victory.
San Jose (8-3) was coming off its worst outing of the season, a 25-point loss at San Antonio, and it seemed like the SaberCats were about to lose their first home game in almost a year after QB Mark Grieb tossed an interception one play after the one-minute warning.
There were 53 seconds left; San Jose had two timeouts remaining. Aside from a missed 46-yard field goal to end the first half, Chicago's offense was unstoppable to this point. The Rush needed to gain positive yards a few times to get the SaberCats to use the timeouts and maybe get a first down to win.
On first down, the Rush got a yard and the SaberCats called timeout with 49-ticks left. A miscommunication led to a loss of a yard on second down and the clock stopped. After a delay of game penalty, Chicago faced a third and 12 from its own two-yard line. Michna completed an 11-yarder to receiver Reggie Gray. San Jose called its final timeout. On fourth down, Chicago opted to go for it instead of attempting a 51-yard field goal and brought in their short-yardage team with backup QB Luke Drone under center. Drone, who had a two-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter, mishandled the snap and San Jose got the football back with 31-seconds left at the Rush 11.
Grieb made up for his interception on the following play when he tossed his ninth touchdown of the night, an 11-yarder to Samora Goodson, who flipped over the boards but hung on to the ball for the touchdown. After a two-point conversion pass from Grieb-to-James Roe, the score was tied at 70 with 26-seconds left.
Michna connected with a wide-open Jared Perry on the next play from scrimmage. Instead of going out of bounds near the end zone, Perry just sprinted into the end zone and celebrated. The Rush was back on top 77-70, but left 20 seconds on the board.
Twenty seconds for Mark Grieb is like a lifetime. He needed just one play when the AFL legend hit Huey Whittaker in the end zone on a 28-yard leaping touchdown grab. Chicago had a chance to win it, but just as he did at the end of the first half, kicker Joe Houston missed a long field goal.
In the overtime, Grieb connected on 11 and 26-yard gains to Goodson and Roe respectively to get down to the Rush four-yard line. Instead of going through the air, Grieb just handed off to former Rush fullback Johnie Kirton, who barreled over defenders into the end zone for his third ground score of the night and the SaberCats' first lead. A play later, the game was over when Hill picked off Michna.
Dating back to last year, San Jose has won seven straight home games. In those games, the SaberCats have scored at least 60 in six and at least 70 in five. The SaberCats are 5-0 at home but 3-3 on the road. The win gives the SaberCats more in 11 games this season than they had in all 18 last season (7-11). For the first time all season, the SaberCats didn't attempt a fourth down. They didn't need to as they converted all six third-down attempts.
After starting the season 4-0, Chicago is just 2-4. The two wins were against two of the worst teams in the league and were at home - 19-point win over Kansas City and one-point over Milwaukee. All four losses were on the road and were against teams with winning records, including three 8-3 teams (Arizona, San Antonio and San Jose). The Rush was also coming off its second bye. San Jose's second bye is in the final week of the season.
For the first time, the Rush and SaberCats will play twice in the regular season. Chicago hosts San Jose on June 30. The SaberCats haven't won in the Windy City in their last five trips.
Grieb completed 73.3% of his passes for 417 yards with nine scores and became the first AFL passer this season to have two games with over 400 yards. Both were overtime home wins (the other was a league season-high 432 yards in the Week One win over Arizona). It was also his seventh 300-yard game tying him with fellow West Division gunslingers Nick Davila (Arizona) and Tommy Grady (Utah) for the league lead. Grieb's yardage and touchdowns as well as the team's 84 points are the most ever allowed by Chicago in the franchise's history.
Roe moved passed former SaberCats teammate and AFL Hall of Famer Barry Wagner for fourth all-time in receiving touchdowns. Roe finished the night with seven grabs for 108 yards with three scores (and a two-point conversion). Here's a look at the top receiving touchdown leaders in league history.
Most Career Receiving Touchdowns, AFL Regular Season History
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Rank
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Player
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Receiving TDs
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1
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Damian Harrell (last played in 2010)
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358
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2
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Chris Jackson (last played in 2010)
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325
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3
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Eddie Brown (HOF)
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303
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4
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James Roe, San Jose
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267
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5
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Barry Wagner (HOF)
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265
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6
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Mike Horacek (last played in 2008)
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252
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With the three TD grabs, Row has 20 on the year, which marks his eighth season with at least 20 TD grabs. He is now tied for the most seasons in AFL history with at least 20 receiving touchdowns with Damian Harrell and Chris Jackson. Here's a look at that list.
Most 20+ Receiving TD Seasons, AFL Regular Season History
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Rank
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Player
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20+ Rec TD Seasons
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1
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James Roe
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8
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Damian Harrell
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8
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Chris Jackson
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8
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2
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Eddie Brown
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7
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Barry Wagner
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7
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Cory Fleming
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7
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The combined 161 points scored is the most in the AFL this season and ranks as the fifth most in league history. Interestingly, the SaberCats were also involved in another 161-point game back on June 9, 2000 when they beat the New England SeaWolves 85-76. In that game, Grieb tossed six scores, including a 21-yarder to Roe - his eighth career TD catch. Here's a look at the top combined scoring games in AFL history.
Most Combined Points Scored, AFL Regular Season History
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Points
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Winner
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Loser
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Date
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1. 167
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Oklahoma City, 88
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Bossier-Shreveport, 79
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5/08/2010
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167
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New York, 99
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Carolina, 68
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7/07/2001
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3. 165
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New York, 84
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Utah, 81
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2/11/2006
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4. 163
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Arizona, 82
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Grand Rapids, 81 (OT)
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4/19/2003
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5. 161
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San Jose, 84
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Chicago, 77 (OT)
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5/26/2012
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161
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San Jose, 85
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New England, 76
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6/09/2000
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This was the first regular season game that the Rush played in Silicon Valley since 2004. San Jose won 51-43 thanks to two touchdowns scored in the span of 14 seconds in the closing minute of play. This time, San Jose scored 15 points in the span of 16 seconds in the final minute of play. Chicago has never won a regular season game at San Jose, but did win the 2006 American Conference championship game at San Jose and went on to win the ArenaBowl that year.
In a league that bastardizes the term Ironman by giving it to players that don't play offense and defense, San Jose's Huey Whittaker had a game very Ironman worthy. He caught five passes for 91 yards with a season-high three touchdowns, including the 28-yard leaping score with 28-seconds left. Whittaker also led all players with 9.0 tackles, including one for a loss in the final minute of game play that preserved a timeout and likely was the reason that the SaberCats got the ball back and eventually won the game.
Currently, the SaberCats are leading the West Division and would be the #2 seed in the National Conference. Last week's 25-point loss to San Antonio gave the Talons a head-to-head tiebreaker due to points scored in the season series (San Jose beat them by just 23 points earlier in the season).
If the playoffs started today, the National Conference would be #4 Chicago at #1 San Antonio and #3 Arizona at #2 San Jose. Chicago would be ahead of Spokane because of strength of schedule and San Jose is ahead of Arizona because it won the season series. The Rush and Shock play each other this upcoming week. Utah is also in the mix, but has lost its last three games.
Looking ahead, the SaberCats' next three games are against teams with losing records (at Milwaukee, Orlando and at Kansas City. With seven games left in the regular season, San Jose has four at home (Orlando, Spokane, New Orleans and Iowa) and three on the road (Milwaukee, Kansas City and Chicago). Only Chicago and Spokane have winning records of the seven remaining games. Looking back at the 11 games played, only two teams that San Jose has played currently have losing records (Kansas City and Iowa).
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.