Preds beat Philly, 47-33
February 11, 2006 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Orlando Predators News Release
In the end, Orlando Predators head coach Jay Gruden got what he wanted - a win - as his team recorded a 14-point victory over previously unbeaten Philadelphia, 47-33.
But it was the way it happened that AFL founder Jim Foster would have never envisioned as four turnovers and three defensive stops had the Predators and Soul tied up at 0-0 through the first 20 minutes of the game.
"For a game that is often called point-a-minute football, I probably would have turned the channel," Gruden said after the game. "Both teams got off to horrendous starts. Fortunately we snapped out of it."
The Predators were the benefactors of eight Philadelphia fumbles, including six mishandled snaps between Philadelphia centers and back-up quarterback Matt Sauk. Orlando recovered four of those fumbles and converted a fifth into a safety.
But things also did not start smoothly for the Predators. Quarterback Joe Hamilton was just one for six on his first three possessions, with a pair of interceptions. Still a fumble, a blocked kick and a defensive stand inside the red zone left the game scoreless until Orlando's Jay Taylor booted a 19-yard field goal at the 10:37 mark of the third quarter to make it a 3-0 game.
After Philadelphia tied it on an 18-yard field goal by Todd France, the Predators would take the lead for good on a 47-yard pass from Hamilton to Jerrian James. On the play, James broke a tackle and then ran past two defenders to take the ball for a touchdown. "It was a play designed to get us five yards and get us away from our own goal line," James said. "When I got past the first defender, I moved to the inside and was just able to out-run everyone from there."
On the Soul's following possession, the Predators held Philadelphia to a three and out and linebacker Kevin Nagle blocked France's long field goal attempt. On the next play, Hamilton ran around right end for a touchdown and a 17-3 lead at the 39 second mark of the second quarter.
Philadelphia was able to cut the lead to 17-10 at half as Sauk's 22-yard pass on a 4th and two play was hauled in by Rob Milanese in the end zone.
Looking at an opportunity to tie with first possession of the third quarter, Sauk again had trouble with a center exchange and batted the ball out of the end zone for a Predators safety. Jimmy Fryzel then hauled in a 14-yard touchdown pass and Orlando grabbed its biggest lead of the night at 26-10.
From there, the teams exchanged a pair of touchdowns, Marcus Knight cutting the Predators lead to 33-25 on a seven-yard touchdown reception on the final play of the third quarter.
But Orlando answered back on an Idris Price touchdown run and on Philadelphia ensuing possession, Jermaine Mays knocked the ball out of tight end Cyron Brown's hands and Henry Taylor recovered. James then caught a short pass from Hamilton, stiff-armed a defensive back and out-ran the secondary for a 40-yard touchdown to make it a 47-25 lead.
James, the game's Most Valuable Offensive Player, caught four passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns. After the one for six start with two interceptions, Hamilton went 10 for 14 the rest of the night - finishing with 225 yards and four touchdown passes. Sauk completed 32 of 49 passes for 271 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, but was plagued all night with the exchange problems with the center.
"I said it last week and I'll say it again, I'm most encouraged from the fact that we are no where near peaking as a team. I sort of have empty feeling because we struggled so bad early in the game," Gruden said. "Obviously it was a different game because Graziani could not go for them, but overall I was proud of our defense and proud of the way we settled down and started making plays on offense."
A crowd of 14,381 witnessed the game, the largest crowd of the season for the Predators.
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