AFL I Arena Football League (1987-2008)

2003 AFL Season in Review

May 20, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I) News Release


NEW YORK – It was one of the most exciting regular seasons in Arena Football League history: the AFL set a new all-time attendance mark; 13 teams had a chance at the playoffs in the final week; the Arizona Rattlers set back-to-back scoring records; three AFL quarterbacks became the first professional passers to surpass 500 career passing touchdowns; New York QB AARON GARCIA became the first to throw for 100 touchdowns in two separate seasons (104 in 2001, 100 in 2003). Those were just some of the great stories from 2003.

Following are some other highlights from the 2003 Arena Football League regular season:

UNPRECEDENTED BUSINESS GROWTH: Attendance was not the only significant increase for the AFL in 2003. AFL merchandise sales were up 40 percent (through 15 weeks) and Internet traffic on arenafootball.com was up 140 percent (page views). The AFL also announced that the New Orleans VooDoo will take the field in 2004. Another expansion team will likely be added prior to ArenaBowl, giving the AFL 18 teams for the 2004 season.

FLYING SOLO: New York QB AARON GARCIA (6-1, 195, Sacramento State) became the first player in professional football history to throw at least 100 touchdowns during two different seasons. The former Offensive Player of the Year (2001) threw eight touchdowns in Week 16 to reach 100 for the 2003 season. The former Hornet set the all-time mark with 104 in 2001.

SINGLE-SEASON PASSING TOUCHDOWNS
PLAYER, TEAM SEASON TOUCHDOWNS
Aaron Garcia, New York 2001 104
Aaron Garcia, New York 2003 100
Jim Kubiak, Dallas 2003 97
Tony Graziani, Los Angeles 2003 96
Andy Kelly, Detroit 2003 93

CAREER TOUCHDOWN PASSERS
PLAYER, TEAM TDs
Andy Kelly, Detroit * 548
Aaron Garcia, New York * 544
Sherdrick Bonner, Arizona * 534
Clint Dolezel, Grand Rapids * 482
Jay Gruden, Orlando * 392
Todd Hammel, Las Vegas * 372
John Kaleo, Tampa Bay * 345
Mike Perez 341
Fred McNair 340
Rickey Foggie 305
* Active player

MARK IT DOWN: Tampa Bay head coach TIM MARCUM has been marking down the postseason victories since he came into the AFL in 1987 with the Denver Dynamite. Marcum currently leads the circuit with a 22 wins and a .733 postseason winning percentage. Following are the current coaches in this year's postseason and their postseason records:

HEAD COACHES PLAYOFF RECORDS *
COACH, TEAM RECORD PCT
Tim Marcum, Tampa Bay 22-8 .733
Darren Arbet, San Jose 5-2 .714
Fran Papasedero, Orlando 2-1 .667
Danny White, Arizona 15-8 .652
Joe Avezzano, Dallas 1-1 .500
Mike Hohensee, Chicago 5-6 .455
Michael Trigg, Grand Rapids 3-6 .333
Ed Hodgkiss, Los Angeles 0-1 .000
Todd Shell, New York 0-3 .000
Al Luginbill, Detroit * 0-0 .000
Frank Haege, Las Vegas 0-1 .000
Marty Lowe, Georgia * 0-0 .000
* 2003 marks first-ever AFL playoff appearance

THE SKY'S THE LIMIT: In a pair of back-to-back overtime victories on the road, Arizona not only posted a team-record 82 points in each contest, but also combined with its opponent for two of the Top 10 all-time highest scoring games in AFL history. In April, the Rattlers and Los Angeles combined for 158 points (tie-4th overall) and six days later Arizona and Grand Rapids posted 163 points, the second-highest scoring game ever. It marked the first time any team scored 80-plus points in back-to-back games.

TOP 10 HIGHEST SCORING GAMES (COMBINED) ALL-TIME
GAME, DATE COMBINED POINTS
New York (99) vs. Carolina (68), July 7, 2001 167
Arizona (82) at Grand Rapids (81) OT, April 19, 2003 163
San Jose (85) vs. New England (76), June 9, 2000 161
Arizona (82) at Los Angeles (76) OT, April 13, 2003 158
New York (73) at Indiana Firebirds (85) May 5, 2001 158
Indiana (74) at Grand Rapids (80) June 23, 2001 154
New Jersey (91) vs. Texas (62), June 20, 1997 153
Iowa (77) at Albany (76), June 26, 1999 153
Iowa (77) vs. Albany (76), July 15, 2000 153
Nashville (78) vs. Houston (74), June 18, 1999 152
Albany (79) vs. Orlando (70), July 25, 1998 149
San Jose (75) at Los Angeles (73), July 8, 2000 148

PREDS PLAYOFF POWER: Orlando owns the top postseason win-loss percentage among the 12 playoff-bound teams, boasting a 16-8 record (.667), including two ArenaBowl championships. Arizona (15-8) and Tampa Bay (17-10) are the only other teams with a postseason record above .500.

TEAM PLAYOFF RECORDS
TEAM RECORD PCT
Orlando 16-8 .667
Arizona 15-8 .654
Tampa Bay * 17-10 .630
San Jose 5-5 .500
Grand Rapids 3-3 .500
Dallas 1-1 .500
New York ** 6-6 .500
Chicago 2-2 .500
Las Vegas 1-3 .250
Los Angeles 0-1 .000
Detroit 0-1 .000
Georgia 0-0 .000
* Includes appearances as Pittsburgh Gladiators
** Includes appearances as Iowa Barnstormers

STORMIN' THE ARENABOWL: The Tampa Bay Storm lead all active teams in ArenaBowl titles and appearances. The Storm are seeded No. 2 in the Drive to ArenaBowl XVII. The following is a breakdown of current teams with ArenaBowl titles and appearances:

TEAM ARENABOWL TITLES
TEAM NO. SEASON(S)
Tampa Bay 4 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996
Orlando 2 1998, 2000
Arizona 2 1994, 1997
San Jose 1 2002
Grand Rapids 1 2001
Los Angeles 0 --
Dallas 0 --
New York 0 --
Chicago 0 --
Detroit 0 --
Las Vegas 0 --
Georgia 0 --

MOTOR CITY MELODY: With their victory in Week 15 against Las Vegas, the Detroit Fury (8-8) tied for the biggest season-to-season improvement in AFL history after finishing 1-13 in 2001 (min. 10 games played in each season). In 2002, the Gladiators also posted a seven-game improvement from the previous season. In addition to their overall record, the Fury improved their per-game-scoring by nearly more than 10 points (39.3 to 49.9), the biggest improvement among all teams. The New York Dragons were second in scoring improvement this season, going from 47.6 points per game in 2002 to 53.6 this season.

TEAM IMPROVEMENT YEAR BEFORE NEXT SEASON
Detroit 7 games 1-13 in 2002 8-8 in 2003
Las Vegas/New Jersey 7 games 2-12 in 2001 9-5 in 2002
San Jose 6 games 6-8 in 1999 12-2 in 2000
Iowa 6 games 5-9 in 1998 11-3 in 1999
Milwaukee 6 games 4-8 in 1995 10-4 in 1996
Orlando 6 games 3-7 in 1991 9-1 in 1992

ALL-PURPOSE PLAYER: Chicago OS ANTONIO CHATMAN overtook the single-season record for all-purpose yards in 2003, bettering the previous mark (Lamont Cooper, 3,459) by more than 200 yards. Here's a look at the Top 10 single-season all-purpose performances.

MOST ALL-PURPOSE YARDS GAINED, SEASON
NAME, TEAM SEASON YARDS
ANTONIO CHATMAN, Chicago 2003 3,678
Lamont Cooper, Oklahoma 2001 3,459
Steve Papin, San Jose 1998 3,192
Steve Papin, New York 2002 3,147
Steve Papin, San Jose 1999 3,135
Eddie Brown, Albany 1996 3,046
Steve Papin, San Jose 2000 2,957
Barry Wagner, Orlando 1999 2,876
George LaFrance, Tampa Bay 1996 2,828
Tyronne Jones, Nashville 1999 2,748

TOUCHDOWN! Los Angeles OS CHRIS JACKSON (6-2, 204, Washington State) and New York OS MIKE FURREY (6-0, 185, Northern Iowa) tied the regular season touchdown reception record with 46 during the 2003 season.

SINGLE-SEASON TOUCHDOWNS RECEPTIONS
PLAYER, TEAM SEASON TOUCHDOWNS
CHRIS JACKSON, LOS ANGELES 2003 46
MIKE FURREY, NEW YORK 2003 46
Mike Horacek, Iowa 2000 46
Eddie Brown, Albany 1999 45
Eddie Brown, Albany 1994 44
Calvin Schexnayder, Arizona 1998 44

PASS PERFECTION: Dallas QB JIM KUBIAK claimed the top spot among the AFL's most accurate passers all-time – a 66.0 completion percentage – connecting on 712 of 1,079 pass attempts (8,813 yards, 166 touchdowns) in his three-year career. Six active AFL quarterbacks rank in the Top 10 in career pass completion percentages.

TOP 10 CAREER PASS COMPLETION PERCENTAGE
NAME, TEAM PCT
JIM KUBIAK, Dallas * 66.0
Mike Pawlawski 65.8
Clint Dolezel, Grand Rapids * 65.3
Craig Kusick 64.1
Mark Grieb, San Jose * 63.6
Raymond Philyaw, Indiana * 62.6
Aaron Garcia, New York * 62.5
Sherdrick Bonner, Arizona * 62.0
Kurt Warner 62.0
Andy Kelly, Detroit * 61.3 * Active player



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 20, 2003


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