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Playoff Seeding on the Line Versus Force

May 13, 2003 - Arena Football League (AFL)
Tampa Bay Storm News Release


The Tampa Bay Storm enter the regular-season finale against the Georgia Force with a chance of taking any of the top four seeds in the Arena Football League playoffs. The Storm, however, lost control of the No. 1 overall seed with its loss last week to the San Jose Sabercats and must await the results of both its game against Georgia and other games around the league to find out exactly what seed they will end up. The Storm do have a chance to finish tied with the league's best overall record, but need a win against the Force to ensure that. The Storm and Force faced off earlier in the season, with Tampa Bay claiming a 58-39 victory at the St. Pete Times Forum. The Force have never beaten the Storm, and a win by Georgia would not only get the Force a notch on their belts against Tampa Bay, but it could also get them a top-eight overall seed and a home playoff game.

TAMPA BAY VS GEORGIA: THE FACTS
Date/Time: Sunday, May 18, 3:00 pm (ET)
mLocation: The Arena at Gwinnett Center (11,200), Duluth, GA
Television: NBC Sports (Bill Weber and John Riggins)
Radio: 620-AM WDAE (Jack Harris and Jason Dixon)
The Series: Tampa Bay leads, 3-0
Last Meeting: Storm won 58-39 (at Tampa Bay, April 6, 2003)

THE TAMPA BAY - GEORGIA SERIES

The Storm have won all three games against the Force since the team moved to Georgia from Nashville, where it was known as the Nashville Kats. Included in those wins was a 58-39 victory over Georgia earlier this season. Tampa Bay also led the all-time series against the Kats, 7-3, including a 6-3 all-time regular season advantage.

THE STAKES

The Storm need a win against Georgia to claim the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. Should the Storm lose, they will get either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed, depending on what Orlando does. The Force are also battling for playoff positioning. As it currently stands, Georgia would open the playoffs on the road. However, with a win over the Storm, the Force could earn a home contest in the first round of the playoffs.

NUMEROLOGY

1: Number of wins needed by Storm head coach Tim Marcum to reach 100 career wins with Tampa Bay

1: Number of touchdown passes needed by John Kaleo to break the Storm single-season record

2: Number of sacks needed by the Storm to match the team record

6: Rushing attempts needed for Andre Bowden to become the AFL's all-time leader in that category

THE COACHES

In his 15th season as a head coach, Tim Marcum is the winningest head coach in AFL history. The AFL Hall of Fame member holds AFL career coaching records in ArenaBowl championships, wins, winning percentage, games coached, and post-season victories. He enters his 9th season with Tampa Bay, owning a 154-54 overall record. He is 99-42 overall as head coach of the Storm.

Marty Lowe is in his second season as Head Coach of the Georgia Force. Lowe guided the Force to a second place finish in the Southern Division and a 6-8 record in the team's inaugural season in 2002. He replaced Robert Lyles, who was relieved of his duties following the Force's 1-4 start last year. Under his direction, the Force finished the year winning five of their last eight games.

THE STORM LAST WEEK

Tampa Bay downed the Dallas Desperados 67-64 last week, allowing Tamp Bay to clinch a first round playoff bye and at least one home playoff game. The Storm were led by six touchdown passes from quarterback John Kaleo, who also rushed for a touchdown. Six different receivers caught touchdown passes for Tampa Bay, who was led by Freddie Solomon's five catches for 83 yards. Lawrence Samuels, who caught an 11-yard touchdown pass, also scored on a five-yard interception return for touchdown.

THE STORM NEXT WEEK

The Storm will be off next week after earning a top four playoff seed anda first round bye. Tampa Bay will next play the weekend of May 31-June 1, when they host a second-round playoff game. Their opponent or game day/time has yet to be selected.

THE FORCE LAST WEEK

The Georgia Force were defeated by the Dallas Desperados by one-point, 56-55, as Force kicker Steve McLaughlin's 58-yard field goal fell short as time expired. Dallas quarterback Jim Kubiak was named the game's MVP, completing 22-of-30 passing for 260 yards and six touchdowns. Georgia offensive specialist Tyronne Jones established a new career-high with 165 receiving yards on nine catches and three touchdowns on the night. Force quarterback Leon Murray also set two new singlegame team records for passing yards with 354 yards and eight touchdowns. He finished the contest completing 21- of-37 passing. The loss was Georgia's third straight defeat at home and its first against a Central Division opponent this season.

2003 STORM-FORCE MEETINGS

TAMPA BAY 58, Georgia 39 (April 6, 2003)

The Tampa Bay Storm won their seventh straight game Sunday afternoon, defeating the Georgia Force, 58-39. The win allowed the Storm, who boast a league-best 8-2 overall record, to remain atop the Southern Division standings. Georgia dropped its second straight game and fell to 6-4 overall.

Tampa Bay used a time consuming offense that ate up clock but still allowed the Storm to score plenty of points. Tampa Bay ran 45 plays in the game and piled up 312 total yards compared to 261 for Georgia.

Storm quarterback John Kaleo completed 25-of-37 passes for 281 yards and five touchdowns. He also had an interception. The 37 passes thrown by Kaleo tied a season high.

Game MVP Freddie Solomon caught a game-high nine passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns. He finished with 211 all-purpose yards, also a season high. Lawrence Samuels added a pair of receiving scores for the Storm.

Tampa Bay FB/LB Andre Bowden earned Co-Ironman of the Game honors in his second game with the Storm this season. He rushed for two touchdowns and added sack, a forced fumble, and a pass break-up. Lineman BJ Cohen also garnered Ironman of the Game honors after intercepting a pass and returning it 15 yards for an instrumental Storm touchdown. Cohen also supplied relentless pressure to Georgia's quarterbacks all afternoon.

With Tampa Bay leading 32-21 early in the third quarter, Cohen picked off Donnie Davis' pass and returned for a touchdown, giving the Storm a 38-21 advantage. On the play Davis suffered a concussion and was taken to a local hospital for observation. From there the Storm never relinquished the lead. In fact, the Force would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

DÉJÀ VU ... NOT QUITE

Despite its loss last week to the San Jose Sabercats, the Tampa Bay Storm would much rather be in the position they are this year with one game to play than the position they found themselves in a season ago. Just like this season, the Storm faced the Georgia Force last year in the regular season finale but needed a win and some help just to make the playoffs. The Storm did get that mustwin, and also got the help they needed to sneak into the playoffs. This season has been a totally different story, as Tampa Bay has ranked at or near the top of the AFL standings throughout the season.

WHERE WILL THEY FINISH?

Though the Storm will likely not have the top seed in the playoffs, Tampa Bay can still finish tied for the league's best record and record one of the most successful regular seasons in team history. The Storm are one victory away from winning their 12th regular season game, which would tie a team record set during the 1996 and 1998 seasons.

As far as the playoffs are concerned, the scenarios are really quite simple -- win this weekend against Georgia and become the No. 2 seed or lose against the Force and drop to the No. 3 or No. 4 seed.

Those are the most likely scenarios, but there is one additional one to ponder. The Storm can actually finish as the top seed in the playoffs, but it would be highly unlikely.

If the Storm beat Georgia on Sunday and San Jose and Los Angeles tie in their contest this Sunday, the Storm would sneak into the No. 1 position. There has, however, been only one tie in the history of the Arena Football League.

A win by Tampa Bay against Georgia would give the Storm the Southern Division crown and automatically put the Storm ahead of the Orlando Predators in the playoff seeding. The Storm, however, would lose tiebreakers against the winner of the San Jose-Los Angeles game.

San Jose wins the tiebreaker via its 47-34 win over the Storm, and Los Angeles wins the common opponents tiebreaker against the Storm.

Should Tampa Bay lose and the Orlando Predators win, the Predators would win the Southern Division title and get the seeding nod over the Storm. In that scenario, the Predators would be seeded ahead of the Storm, dropping Tampa Bay behind Orlando and the winner of the San Jose-Los Angeles game. Then, the Storm would lose the tiebreaker to the loser of the San Jose-Los Angeles game, and drop to the No. 4 seed.

If both the Storm and Predators lose, Tampa Bay could claim the No. 3 playoff spot. The Storm would win the Southern Division, via its head-to-head point spread against Orlando, and thus be seeded ahead of the Predators. The Storm would then lose tiebreakers against the loser of the San Jose-Los Angeles game and get the third seed.

The Storm and Force meet at 3:00 pm on Sunday at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, GA. San Jose hosts Los Angeles, also at 3:00 pm on Sunday. The Orlando Predators travel to Detroit to face the Detroit Fury on Friday at 7:30 pm.

GETTING IT DONE ON THE ROAD

For the Storm to wrap up the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, they will need a victory on the road at Southern Division rival Georgia. The Storm, however, have proven to be tough away from home, wining five consecutive road games entering Sunday afternoon's contest. This winning streak has come after the Storm dropped its first two road games of the season.

The last time the Storm played away from home was two weeks ago against the Dallas Desperados. In that game the Storm put 67 points on the board, their second-best scoring output of the season. Tampa Bay is averaging 53.7 points per game on the road, while allowing its opponents to score 48.3 points per game.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

With 62 receiving yards last week, Tampa Bay wide receiver/linebacker Lawrence Samuels topped the 1,000 receiving yards mark for the first time in his career.

Samuels, who has also set single season career highs in receptions, scoring, interceptions, fumble returns, allpurpose yards, and sacks, became the second Storm player to top 1,000 receiving yards this season and just the fifth Storm player to ever do so.

Samuels joins Tampa Bay offensive specialist Freddie Solomon in the 1,000 receiving yards club. The Storm have rarely had a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in the same season. The feat has occurred just one time prior to this season, when George LaFrance and Stevie Thomas both surpassed 1,000 receiving yards during the Storm's ArenaBowl championship year of 1996.

HITTING THE CENTURY MARK

Tampa Bay Storm fiullback/linebacker David White reached a milestone of his own, topping the 100 rushing yards mark last week against San Jose. With three yards against the Sabercats, White hit 100 rushing yards for the season. It marked the first time since the 2000 season that the Storm had a 100-yard rusher for the season.

That year Andre Bowden rushed for 156 yards. This marks the second season of his five-year AFL career that White has gone over 100 rushing yards for the season.

White's career high came in 2000, when he ran for 132 yards for the Buffalo Destroyers. White also tied a single season high for touchdowns scored in a season with his one-yard touchdown plunge against San Jose. White now has 10 for the season and can shatter his previous single season high this weekend against the Force.

ANOTHER PERSONAL BEST

Despite having his roughest outing of the season last week, John Kaleo did finish the game with four touchdown passes. That total gave him 70 for the season, which is a single season career high and tied the Tampa Bay Storm record for touchdowns in a single season. The record was originally set in 1996 by Jay Gruden and was equaled by Peter Tom Willis in 1998. Kaleo can move past both former Storm quarterbacks this weekend at Georgia.

CHALK UP TWO MORE

The Storm added to their league-leading sacks total last week against the San Jose Sabercats, sacking quarterback Mark Grieb twice for a loss of 10 yards. Those two sacks gave the Storm 27 for the season and left them two sacks away from tying the team single-season record for sacks. The record was set by the 1998 Storm defense, which recorded 29 quarterback sacks.

The AFL single-season record for sacks, however, is unattainable for the Storm. That was set by the 1988 Pittsburgh Gladiators, who recorded 38 sacks during the season. The Gladiators later moved to Tampa in 1991, and have since been known as the Tampa Bay Storm. Even if the Storm do not record a sack against Georgia, the 2003 Storm defense has already tied the 1998 New England Seawolves defense for the 10th most sacks in a season in league history.

SOUTHERN DIVISION KINGS

Bragging rights with the Southern Division will be on the line Sunday, as the Tampa Bay Storm have a chance to win the division with a victory over the Georgia Force.

Should the Force defeat the Storm, Tampa Bay could still win the division with an Orlando loss. The Predators can win the division only with a win over the Detroit Fury and a Storm loss at Georgia.

The Storm have won their division four times since the league began the conference/divisional format in 1992. However, the last division championship for the Storm came in the 1998 season.

TOO MANY TURNOVERS

It's an old adage in football that the team that wins the turnover battle will likely come out the victor. That has been the case more times than not this season with the Storm, and last Sunday's game against San Jose was no exception.

The Storm are now just 1-2 this season when it has more turnovers than its opponent. On the flip side, the Storm are 8-2 overall when the Storm's opponent has more turnovers in the game. Against the Sabercats the Storm had three turnovers, all three coming via John Kaleo interceptions. That marked the third time this season that the Storm turned the ball over three times, Tampa Bay has lost all three of those games.

IT HASN'T BEEN A TREND, THOUGH

Though the Storm lost the turnover battle against San Jose, Tampa Bay has generally been very good both protecting the football and forcing turnovers this season. The Storm lead the AFL with 36 turnovers forced. And, with 22 total turnovers this season, only three teams have turned the ball over fewer times.

The Storm enter the final week of the season with a +14 turnover ratio, which ranks second in the league. Last season the Storm were -11 in turnover margin, which ranked 14th in the league. The difference is the Storm's 22 interceptions this season. Last year Tampa bay had just six interceptions all season, which was the sixth fewest in league history.

ONE MORE WIN

With the next Storm win, head coach Tim Marcum and owner Woody Kern will celebrate their 100th victories with the club. Kern brought Marcum to Tampa in 1995 after purchasing the team, and the two have had a successful relationship since. The two are 99-43 overall in Tampa Bay and have won a pair of ArenaBowl rings.

IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY...

If the playoffs were to begin today, the Storm would be the third seeded team and receive a bye in the first round of the postseason. Los Angeles (11-4) would be seeded No. 1, followed by the San Jose Sabercats (11-4). After Tampa Bay, if the playoffs were to begin today, would be Orlando (11-4), Dallas (9-6), Arizona (9-6), Grand Rapids (8-7), Detroit (8-7), Georgia (8-7), New York (7-8), Chicago (7-8), and Las Vegas (7-8).

STORM AND AFL SALUTE THE MILITARY

The Tampa Bay Storm and the Arena Football League are offering free and discounted tickets to all military personnel and their families for the remainder of the 2003 AFL season. All military personnel and their families may receive up to four free terrace level tickets for each game with a proper military ID. Additionally, $10 reserved seats may be purchased with proper military ID. These tickets are available only at the St. Pete Times Forum Box Office. To order tickets over the phone or for more information on this special promotion, call (813) 301-6600.

MILESTONES

John Kaleo, who in Week 1 became the ninth player in league history to eclipse the 18,000 career passing yards mark, became the ninth player in league history to throw for 18,000 yards and 300 touchdowns in a career with a five-touchdown performance in Week 6 against the Buffalo Destroyers. With 70 touchdown passes this season, he now has 340 career touchdown passes, which places him ninth all-time in that category, and had tied a Storm team record for single season touchdown passes.

Additionally, with 276 yards in Week 9 against Arizona, Kaleo became just the seventh player to eclipse 20,000 career passing yards.

Gary Compton, who in Week 1 became the third player in AFL history to surpass 10,000 receiving yards, recently became only the fifth player to score over 1,200 career points. Compton currently sits in fifth place on the league's all-time scoring list, one spot behind teammate Mike Black. Black currently sits in fourth place with 1,221 career points. Should he pass Black, Compton's next target would be former Storm receiver George LaFrance, who retired following the 2000 season with 1,292 career points.

After signing with the Storm on March 26, FB/LB Andre Bowden became just the second player in AFL history to go over 1,200 rushing yards for his career in his first game back with the Storm, rushing for seven yards and a touchdown against the Arizona Rattlers. Bowden, who is second in the league in career rushing yards and is the Storm all-time leader in that category, needs just six carries to surpass league all-time leader Les Barley in career rushing attempts.

In Week 15, Lawrence Samuels joined Freddie Solomon in the 1,000 receiving yards club. Samuels had already eclipsed his previous career highs for receptions and receiving yards and needs just one touchdown catch to match the 19 he scored with the Storm in 2000.



Arena Football League Stories from May 13, 2003


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