Blaze Stat Guy Looks Around the League
Published on April 21, 2011 under Arena Football League (AFL)
Utah Blaze News Release
We are now six weeks into the 2011 Arena Football League season so I thought we could take a look around the league statistics. Every team has played at least four games with the majority of teams having played five games. San Jose is the only team to have played in six games.
The Arizona Rattlers have started the year 5-0 and have done so by playing stellar defense. Arizona allows a league-best 39.8 points per game. That is one full point better than the Cleveland Gladiators who rank second. Rattler opponents average just 249.8 yards per game with 226.6 coming in the passing game. The opposition has a pass efficiency of 73 against Arizona with 12 interceptions and 19 touchdowns.
The rest of the top five in scoring defense is Cleveland, Chicago, Jacksonville and Orlando. Those five teams have combined to go 20-4 to start the season. Jacksonville and Arizona are the only teams in the group to also rank in the top five in scoring offense. Jacksonville is second at 61.2 points per game while Arizona averages 59.4 points to rank fourth.
The top five teams in scoring offense are Utah, Jacksonville, San Jose, Arizona, and Georgia. Those five teams have a combined record of 19-7 with three of them suffering two losses. Spokane is the only team in the top 10 in scoring offense to post a losing record.
Tulsa and Dallas are having a rare season when it comes to rushing the ball. Tulsa is averaging 60.6 rushing yards per contest with Dallas going for 56 per game. No other team averages more than 35 rushing yards per night, although five teams have more rushing touchdowns than Tulsa. The AFL record for rushing yards in a season is 766 by the Grand Rapids Rampage in 2005. At their current pace, Tulsa would break this record at Philadelphia on June 17. That would be just the 13th game of the season for the Talons.
The Utah Blaze leads the league in passing average at 307.4 yards per game. They are one of just three teams to sit above the 300-yards mark this season. Orlando averages 304.6 yards through the air while Georgia goes for 303 passing yards per outing. Those three teams have posted a 10-5 record to start the 2011 season.
Utah holds the AFL record with 5,035 passing yards in the 2007 season. Should Utah average 300 yards per game the rest of the season, they would reset the league record with 5,437 passing yards in 2011. They would break the record in the 16th game of the year at Spokane on July 9.
Utah is the only team in the AFL not to attempt a field goal this season. Tampa Bay leads the league with eight field goal attempts and they are tied with Jacksonville with four made field goals. There have been 72 field goals attempted by the entire league this season with 29 of them being successful. That is a percentage of 40.3% made. Kansas City has gone 0-for-7 in their attempts.
Six teams have recovered at least one on-side kick this season with Pittsburgh grabbing two. Chicago leads the AFL with a 50% success rate followed by Pittsburgh at 40%. Georgia has recovered 33% with Jacksonville at 25% and Utah at 14.3%. The kicking team has recovered just six of the 51 attempts. That is a success rate of 11.8%. Orlando and Arizona have yet to even attempt an on-side kick.
Jacksonville is the best kick coverage team in the league. Shark kickoffs have a net average of 43.9 yards per kickoff. Arizona is a close second at 43.6 yards per kickoff. San Jose leads the AFL with 19 touchbacks with just six teams having at least 10.
Tampa Bay is averaging 21.4 yards per kickoff return and is one of just four teams above 20 yards per return attempt. Pittsburgh averages 20.9 yards per return with Utah (20.4) and Georgia (20.2) the only others. Tampa Bay has also taken a league-best three kickoffs back for touchdowns. Utah, Georgia and Arizona have each taken two back for scores.
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Arena Football League Stories from April 21, 2011
- Power Defeats Voodoo - Pittsburgh Power
- Sharks Sign Former Jaguar - Jacksonville Sharks
- SaberCats Add Two Local Talents - San Jose SaberCats
- Iowa's Schmidt Voted Week 6 National Guard MVP - AFL
- DL Jermaine Smith Returns to Tampa Bay Storm - Tampa Bay Storm
- Soul Face SaberCats in ArenaBowl XXII Rematch - Philadelphia Soul
- Gladiators Vs Sharks Preview - Jacksonville Sharks
- Arizona Rattlers Open Division Slate Against Utah Saturday - Arizona Rattlers
- Blaze Stat Guy Looks Around the League - Utah Blaze
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