Kansas City COmmand vs. Tampa Bay Storm Preview

Published on April 25, 2012 under Arena Football League (AFL)
Tampa Bay Storm News Release


TAMPA BAY - The Tampa Bay Storm (3-3, 2-1) hosts the Kansas City Command (0-5, 0-1) Monday, April 30 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum at 8:00 PM on Legends Night. That evening the Storm will honor three recent AFL Hall of Fame inductees, Sylvester Bembery, George LaFrance and Stevie Thomas, as well as, retire the jersey of Storm legend Lawrence Samuels. The NFL Network will also broadcast the game as a special edition to its NET10 Arena Football Friday package.

Tampa Bay looks to bounce back from a road defeat to the Philadelphia Soul, while Kansas City seeks its first win of the season. This is the fifth meeting between the two teams and second between the coaches Dave Ewart and Dan Barto. Tampa Bay leads the series 4-0, while Ewart is 1-0 against Barto.

Despite its record, the Command has improved offensively since the start of the season as the team solidified its quarterback situation with the acquisition of former New England Patriot Matt Gutierrez. In two games Gutierrez has thrown for 505 yards and nine touchdowns while providing a boost to the Command's offense with six points and 70 yards per game. With receiver Robert Gill on injured reserve, who had seven catches for 159 yards and a touchdown last season against the Storm, the primary receivers are Bret Smith and Syvelle Newton. The two have combined for 53 receptions for 612 yards and 10 touchdowns. The command will need to provide Gutierrez with protection as he continues to learn the Arena game and allow time for his hard work to pay dividends in the game.

The Storm defensive backs will look to replicate the group's performance two weeks ago against Cleveland when it recorded three interceptions and broke up several more passes. If the back four, led by Deonte Bolden and Erick McIntosh, can frustrate Gutierrez into holding the ball it will give the front four, led by Paul Griffin and Steve Octavien, time to get after the quarterback. This season the Storm front four has collected only five sacks, meanwhile the Command have allowed eight sacks this season. Tampa Bay must start to generate consistent pressure on the quarterback to slow down opposing offenses.

Kansas City, sixth in passing defense and eighth in scoring defense, has done a solid job of slowing down opposing defenses led by the play of its defensive back field. JC Neal, who has been frustrated with an ankle injury early this season, was a tremendous player maker for the Talons in 2011 as he recorded nine interceptions, five forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries on his way to earning All-Arena honors. He is joined by Sergio Gilliam who leads the Command with three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown. Defensive lineman Diyral Briggs is the man to watch on the defensive line. He is fourth on the team with 15.5 tackles, and has one sack and a forced fumble.

After struggling to get on track in the first half against Philadelphia, quarterback Stephen Wasil and the Storm offense will look to get out of the gate early. Wasil must get the ball into the hands of his playmakers early and often. Look for Prechae Rodriguez and Chandler Williams to challenge the Command defensive backfield and help put points on the board. The duo has combined for 100 receptions for 1,214 yards and 24 touchdowns through six games. If the Command, on defense looks to bend and not break, deny the ball at the endzone, the Storm will pound the ball with Wasil or whoever lineups at fullback such as Tom Kaleita did this past week against Philadelphia.

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