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Andy Lopušnak Photography | profile | all galleries >> Sports Photography >> Misc. Stuff >> Photos without a home >> ArenaFan writing samples >> Breaking it down – 2008 Week Two | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
Breaking it down – 2008 Week Two
By Andy Lopusnak, ArenaFan.com
March 11, 2008
With Week Two of the 2008 Arena Football League season in the books, here are some breakdowns of this past week’s AFL action based on interesting statistical and historical notes, weekly leaders and other things from each game.
WEEK TWO RESULTS |
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DALLAS 46, Columbus 36 |
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WEEK TWO’S EIGHT GAMES FEATURED:
THAT’S THE ‘POINT’
The Tampa Bay Storm has been out gained by nearly double and
is converting just 12% of its third-down conversions on offense, but is 2-0. However,
the Storm’s offense has made the most of its opportunities while its opponents
have not.
STORM OFFENSE |
CATEGORY |
OPPONENTS |
387 |
Total Yards |
626 |
383 |
Pass Yards |
608 |
4 |
Rush Yards |
18 |
1/8 (12%) |
3rd Down Conversions |
11/18 (61%) |
2 |
Turnovers |
7 |
42 |
Points Off Opp. Turnovers |
0 |
THE ALMOST PERFECT STORM
Over its last eleven regular season games, the Storm is 10-1
which is tied with
AFL RECORDS – LAST ELEVEN REGULAR SEASON GAME
TEAM |
RECORD |
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10-1 |
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10-1 |
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10-1 |
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8-3 |
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8-3 |
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7-4 |
|
7-4 |
ON ‘MARC’
With the Storm starting 2-0, it is the ninth time a Tim Marcum-led team has started 2-0 in his 19 years as an AFL head coach. All eight teams previously that started 2-0 made the playoffs and three went onto win the ArenaBowl (1989, 1995 & 1996). Two others lost in the ArenaBowl to the Storm (1991, 1993). But his last three teams to start 0-2 all failed to reach the ArenaBowl.
BY GEORGE
Sedrick Robinson became just the third player in AFL history
to record at least 9,000 career kickoff return yards in the first quarter of
the Storm’s 69-48 win over
AFL CAREER LEADERS IN KICKOFF RETURN YARDAGE
RK |
PLAYER |
KICKOFF RETURN YARDS |
1 |
Hunkie Cooper |
9,810 |
2 |
Sedrick Robinson |
9,090 |
3 |
George LaFrance |
9,077 |
“I’m very happy for him,” said LaFrance who showed Robinson some pointers when Sedrick was a rookie in 2001. On Robinson’s first kickoff after meeting LaFrance, he returned it 54 yards for the first of his AFL record 28 kickoff returns for scores. Robinson had returned just 17 kickoffs in his career before meeting LaFrance.
SOULFUL SECOND HALF FOR
CHRIS
1st HALF |
CATEGORY |
2nd HALF |
1 |
Receptions |
8 |
22 |
Receiving Yards |
104 |
0 |
Receiving TDs |
3 |
NATIONAL PRIDE
In three inter-conference games, the National Conference won all three contests. Through two weeks, the National Conference is 5-1 against the American Conference. Los Angeles’ Week One win over New Orleans is the American Conference’s only win vs. the National Conference so far this season.
The Desperados lost just two total games last season – at
DESTROYED?
With the AFL’s all-time leader in touchdown passes sidelined
at least until Week Six with separated shoulder, the Desperados turned to Chris
Sanders, who began his AFL career with the (
BACKUPS TO THE RESCUE
There were three backup quarterbacks that were forced to
start this week because of injuries in Week One to their teams’ number-one
gunslinger. All three won their first start of the season. Chris Saunders led
the Desperados over
FIVE TEAMS START 2-0
Last season, four teams started 2-0 or better (
FOUR TEAMS START 0-2
Four teams have started 0-2 this season (
“CUMBI’NG OF AGE
Los Angeles’ Sonny Cumbie tossed for 267 yards Monday night against Arizona, which put him over 8,000 in his AFL career. He is tied for the fastest to reach the mark with former Albany Firebirds QB Mike Perez. Both hit the mark in their 31st AFL game.
HE’S NO WIMP
New Orleans QB Danny Wimprine passed for 311 yards, six
touchdowns and no interceptions in his first AFL start when he led the VooDoo
to a 54-53 win over
EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND (IN THE BIG EASY)
AVENGERS GET DEFENSIVE
In
DAMIAN HERALDS
HISTORY
PASSERS ON THE RUN
Week Two featured 285 rushing yards and 24 ground scores.
Quarterbacks accounted for 132 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. All
other non-QBs combined for 153 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns. QBs
averaged 3.2 yards per rush, while non-QBs averaged just 1.8 yards per rushing
attempt. Most of the yardage for the QBs came from just two players –
WEEK TWO’S TOP STATISTICAL
PREFORMANCES
100-YARD
RECEIVERS |
|||
PLAYER, TEAM |
RECEIVING
YARDS |
RECEPTIONS |
TOUCHDOWNS |
T.T. Toliver, ORL |
153 |
10 |
3 |
Kenny Higgins, GR |
146 |
7 |
3 |
Troy Bergeron, GEO |
138 |
12 |
2 |
Carl Morris, GEO |
133 |
13 |
3 |
Derek Lee, CMB |
131 |
9 |
4 |
JJ |
131 |
11 |
3 |
Aaron Boone, |
127 |
10 |
2 |
Javarus Dudley, NO |
127 |
9 |
2 |
Chris Jackson, PHI |
126 |
9 |
3 |
Timon |
119 |
6 |
2 |
Kevin Nickerson, ARZ |
117 |
6 |
0 |
Huey |
116 |
8 |
3 |
Marcus Nash, DAL |
113 |
8 |
3 |
Robert Redd, CLE |
105 |
7 |
3 |
Damian Harrell, CHI |
104 |
10 |
3 |
Siaha Burley, ARZ |
101 |
6 |
3 |
Jerel Myers, KC |
100 |
11 |
1 |
300-YARD
PASSERS |
|||
PLAYER, TEAM |
PASSING YARDS |
PASS TDs |
INTERCEPTIONS |
Joe Germaine, |
374 |
8 |
2 |
Shane Stafford, ORL |
321 |
4 |
2 |
Chris Greisen, GEO |
319 |
5 |
2 |
Danny Wimprine, NO |
311 |
6 |
0 |
Sherdrick Bonner, CHI |
306 |
6 |
2 |
200
YARDS OR MORE ALL-PURPOSE |
||
PLAYER, TEAM |
ALL-PURPOSE |
TOTAL TDs |
T.T. Toliver, ORL |
233 |
3 |
Kevin Nickerson, AZ |
221 |
0 |
DEFENSIVE LEADERS |
|||||||
PLAYER, TEAM |
TACKLES |
INT |
SACKS |
FF |
FR |
PBU |
DEF TD |
Mike Brown, PHI |
4.0 |
2 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Levy Brown, NY |
6.5 |
2 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Ahmad Carroll, ORL |
5.0 |
2 |
0.0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Nate Coggins, CMB |
8.5 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
Wendall Gaines, ARZ |
3.0 |
0 |
3.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Jeroid Johnson, TB |
13.5 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Monty Montgomery, KC |
12.0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Eddie Moten, PHI |
10.0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Marlon Moye-Moore, ORL |
10.0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Bobby Perry, DAL |
9.0 |
1 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Duke Pettijohn, DAL |
5.0 |
0 |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Traco Rachal, TB |
7.0 |
1 |
0.0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Keon Raymond, NO |
7.0 |
1 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Calvin Spears, NO |
8.5 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
Clevan Thomas, SJ |
4.5 |
0 |
0.0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Isaiah Trufant, ARZ |
5.0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE
WEEK
HONORABLE MENTION:
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE
WEEK
New Orleans defensive back Keon Raymond broke up a two-point conversion with no time remaining that secured the VooDoo’s 54-53 victory over Orlando. He returned an interception 42 yards for a touchdown with 36 second left in the game and added seven tackles, including one on special teams.
HONORABLE MENTION:
IRONMAN OF THE WEEK
Philadelphia WR/DB Mike
Brown returned a kickoff 54 yards for a touchdown, intercepted two passes
and recorded 4.0 tackles. He also had a rush for no yards and finished with
four kickoffs for 108 yards. Brown’s interceptions came on back-to-back plays
taking a one-point game (36-35 in favor of the Soul) into a 15-point advantage
en route to an eleven-point victory in
HONORABLE MENTION:
In a losing effort,
*** ArenaFan.com ***
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