SaberCats Game Notes

Published on February 19, 2003 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
San Jose SaberCats News Release


THE QUICK FACTS:
Game: Colorado Crush (0-3) at SaberCats (1-2).
Date: Saturday, February 22, 2003.
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. (PST).
Site: HP Pavilion at San Jose (14,041).
Officials: Referee: William LeMonnier; Umpire: Dan Ferrell; Head Linesman: Allen Baynes; Line Judge: Dana McKenzie; Back Judge: Billy Beckett.
Television: Saturday's game will be televised live in the Bay Area on WB20 (KBWB) and re-broadcast on NBC11 at 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Bob Fitzgerald will handle play-by-play chores with Keena Turner supplying color commentary.
Radio: San Jose's flagship station The Ticket (KTCT) 1050-AM will broadcast the game live with Grant Napear handling play-by-play duties and George Atkinson supplying the color commentary. Internet: Log on to www.ticket1050.com to hear a live webcast of the game.
Series Record: First meeting.
Last Meeting: Teams have not played.
Series Streaks: First meeting.
Coaches: San Jose, Darren Arbet (5th season; 42-17 regular season, 47-19 overall). Colorado, Bob Beers (1st season; 0-3 regular season and overall).

OVERVIEW: After playing their first three games on the road, the World Champion San Jose SaberCats open the home portion of their 2003 schedule against the Colorado Crush in the expansion teams first-ever road game. The Crush opened with three consecutive sellout home games, but came away with no wins. Former SaberCat John Dutton will play his first game in San Jose since leading the SaberCats to the league title and being named MVP in last season's ArenaBowl game. Despite three straight losses, Dutton enters as one of the hottest QBs in the AFL. Dutton threw for career-highs of 360 yards and 8 TDs in Colorado's 59-53 overtime loss to Los Angeles last week. The SaberCats are coming off their second straight last second loss after dropping a 51-49 decision to the Georgia Force on Feb. 16. San Jose lost 73-72 at Los Angeles on Feb. 9 after the Avengers scored a TD and two-point conversion with a second to play. In Georgia, the Force scored on an 11-yard TD pass from James Brown to Darryl Hammond on the games final play to pull out the victory. The SaberCats have lost consecutive games for the first time since midway through the 2001 campaign. The last time San Jose started a season 1-2 was in 2000. They then rattled off 11 straight wins and finished the year with a 12-2 record and a top seed in the playoffs.

THE SERIES: This will be the first-ever meeting between the new Western Division rivals. The teams will play in Colorado on Sunday, April 27, in a game scheduled to be broadcast regionally on NBC.

WHAT'S AHEAD: The SaberCats return to the road next week when they battle the Las Vegas Gladiators on Sunday, March 2, and complete a stretch of five of their first six games on the road with a contest at Chicago on Sunday, March 9. San Jose returns to the HP Pavilion for the first of three straight home games on Saturday, March 14 for a game with the Buffalo Destroyers.

THE IFS...:

If the SaberCats defeat Colorado it would...
*Snap San Jose's 2-game losing streak.
*Be San Jose's first win over the Crush.
*Be San Jose's 15th straight home win.
*Give San Jose a 72-42 all-time regular season record.
*Be San Jose's 38th all-time regular season home win.
*Give San Jose a 27-17 record vs. Western Division foes.
*Be San Jose's 13th straight home win over a Western Division opponent.
*Give San Jose a 19-7 all-time home record vs. Western Division foes.

THE COACHES:

San Jose – Darren Arbet, 5th season
42-17 (.712) reg. season; 47-19 (.712) overall 0-0 career vs. Colorado
Last season Arbet guided the SaberCats to the best regular season record (13-1) ever in league history, the most victories in a season (16) and the franchise's first league title. Arbet has compiled a 42-17 (.712) career mark in regular season games and currently owns the third-best regular season winning percentage in AFL history among coaches with at least 10 victories. Named AFL Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2002, Arbet's teams have gone 41-11 (.788) overall in the past four seasons. Spanning the 2000 and 2001 seasons, Arbet led the SaberCats to a league record 15-game regular season winning streak and twice in the last three years the SaberCats have had 12-game win streaks.

Colorado – Bob Beers, 1st season
0-3 (.000) reg. season and overall 0-0 career vs. San Jose
Named head coach of the Crush on July 11, 2002, Bob Beers embarks on his first professional head coaching job. Beers currently owns an 0-3 (.000) mark in his first year in the AFL ranks. A college scout with the NFL's Denver Broncos for seven years, Beers has served as a head coach in the college ranks. Prior to joining the Broncos, Beers was the offensive coordinator for the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe. Beers started with the Broncos in 1995 and will continue to do so in a limited capacity while maintaining his role with the Crush.

RECENT RESULTS: Georgia quarterback James Brown tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Darryl Hammond in the back of the endzone with no time remaining propelling the Force to a 51-49 win over the San Jose SaberCats on Sunday before a sellout crowd of 11,200 at the new Arena at Gwinnett Center. Finishing up their season opening three-game road trip, the SaberCats took a 49-45 lead late in the game following a Keala Keanaaina touchdown run on a fumble recovery. Chuck Reed sacked Davis at the Georgia 13 yard line forcing the fumble and Keanaaina scooped up the loose ball and returned it 16 yards with :57 remaining in the game. Clevan Thomas staked San Jose to its biggest lead of the game at 20-10 when he intercepted a pass and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown. It was Thomas' league-leading fourth pick of the season and he became the first SaberCat to return interceptions for scores in consecutive games. Georgia responded by scoring 21 unanswered points over the third and fourth quarters to claim its largest lead of the game. Tyronne Jones hauled in a 13-yard scoring toss from Brown to close out the first half and, following a Mark Grieb interception to start the second half, Hammond had a 9-yard scoring catch to give the Force a 24-20 lead. Grieb was intercepted again on San Jose's next possession leading to a 4-yard touchdown run by Jones and a 31-20 Force advantage with 7:39 left in the third quarter. San Jose pulled within four points and closed out the third quarter scoring with a 22-yard touchdown toss from Grieb to James Hundon. Hundon totaled four receptions in the game, three of which went for scores. Grieb struggled throughout the game completing 17-of-31 for 160 yards and for the first time in his career he threw three interceptions. Rookie fullback Kevin Buck had his first career rush touchdown in the first quarter and added his second with 4:40 to play in the game to get San Jose within 45-42. Brown, a former SaberCat, completed 23-of-37 passes for 219 yards and four scores. He also ran for a game-high 17 yards on five carries. The SaberCats play their first home game of the 2003 season when they host the expansion Colorado Crush on Saturday, February 22, at HP Pavilion at San Jose. Replica championship rings will be given to the first 7,500 fans through the turnstiles and the SaberCats will make it a Night of Champions.

ABOUT THE OPPONENT: The Crush is the seventh true expansion team to join the AFL since 1999 and the last three expansion teams; Dallas (2002), Chicago and Detroit (2001) all finished their inaugural seasons with 7-7 records. The three new teams prior to that; Carolina (2000), Los Angeles (2000) and Buffalo (1999) combined for a first-year record of 7-35. The last expansion team to have a better than .500 record was the Nashville Kats, who finished 10-4 in 1997...The Crush lost its first three games by a combined total of 12 points...After opening with three soldout home games, the Crush plays its next four on the road.

ROSTER MOVES: The SaberCats placed OL/DL Cedric Pittman on IR with a hamstring injury and have already lost OL/DL Joe Jacobs for an undetermined amount of time with a biceps tendon tear. WR/DB Brandon Nash was signed to the team's practice squad on Feb. 5.

MILESTONES:

*OL/DL Sam Hernandez needs 1 sack for 50 career.
*K Daron Alcorn needs 6 FGs for 100 career and 30 points for team's all-time lead.
*OS James Hundon needs 77 receiving yards for 2,500 career and 1 TD catch for 60 career.
*FB/LB Matt Kinsinger needs 10 rush yards for 100 career.
*WR/DB Barry Wagner needs 17 receiving yards for 12,000 career and 9 rush TDs for 100 career.
*WR/LB James Roe needs 105 receiving yards for 2,000 career and 5 TD catches for 50 career.
*DS/KR Clevan Thomas needs 1 interception for 10 career and 126 kick return yards for 2,000 career.
*QB Mark Grieb needs 18 pass completions for 700 and 492 pass yards for 10,000 in his San Jose career.

TRENDS:

HOME COOKING – After starting the season with three straight road games and only one win, San Jose hopes that the HP Pavilion provides some comfort. Including playoffs, the SaberCats have won 14 straight home games, 17 of their last 18 and 23 of their last 25 games played in San Jose. Since the start of the 2000 season the SaberCats own a 24-3 (.889) record at home and under Head Coach Darren Arbet, the SaberCats are 28-6 (.824) in games played in San Jose.

STREAKING ANEW – After having their streak of 50+ point games snapped in the season opener, the SaberCats must now settle for a streak of 40+ point games. That stretch (including postseason) reached 29 straight last week in their 51-49 loss at Georgia on Feb. 16. The SaberCats last failed to reach the 40-point mark in a 59-35 loss to Orlando on May 26, 2001.

TWO MUCH – With their loss at Georgia on Feb. 16, the SaberCats lost consecutive games for the first time since May 26-June 2, 2001, a span of 28 games. San Jose has not lost three straight games since dropping the final three contests of the 1999 season.

THE MALLEY FACTOR – Since Terry Malley took over as the SaberCats offensive coordinator with six games remaining in the 1999 season, the team has reached the 60-point mark 25 times in 58 games (includes playoffs). Prior to his arrival the SaberCats had scored 60 or more points in a game six times in 65 games. San Jose's all-time record when reaching the 60-point plateau is 28-3.

EXPANSIONS – In games against five of the most recent true expansion teams, the SaberCats have never lost the first meeting and own a 13-2 record against Dallas, Chicago, Carolina, Los Angeles and Buffalo. San Jose is 2-0 vs. Dallas, who entered the AFL in 2002, 1-0 vs. Chicago (2001), 1-0 vs. Carolina (2000), 5-2 vs. Los Angeles (2000) and 4-0 vs. Buffalo (1999). San Jose will play Detroit (2001) for the first time ever later this season after playing the expansion Crush.

PICKIN' IT – Dating back to last season and including playoffs, the SaberCats have had at least on interception in their last nine games for a total of 15 picks. With nearly half the team total is last year's Rookie and Defensive Player of the Year Clevan Thomas with seven. Barry Wagner, the second leading interceptor in league history has had a pair of interceptions in that time, but none so far this season.

SEEING RED ZONE – The SaberCats are a perfect 8-for-8 on scoring chances inside the red zone. San Jose has scored seven touchdowns and converted a field goal once getting inside the opponents 10-yard line.

HEADS OR TAILS – The SaberCats have not won the opening coin toss yet this season, going 0-for-3 on the opening flip.

JUST WIN – In his career as a member of the SaberCats, Mark Grieb owns a 30-6 record as the team's starting quarterback.

NOTES:

SLOW START – Off to a 1-2 start for the first time since the 2000 season, the SaberCats shouldn't be too concerned this early in the year. If you recall back in 2000, the SaberCats reeled off a league record 11 consecutive wins to finish the season and wound up with a then league record tying 12-2 mark and top overall seed in the playoffs.

WAIT A SECOND – The SaberCats are about two seconds away from being undefeated on the year, but games are 60 minutes long, not 59 minutes and 59 seconds. The SaberCats suffered a last second loss at Los Angeles on Feb. 9 when the Avengers scored a TD and two-point conversion with one-second left in the game. Last week, the SaberCats were foiled again on the game's last play when former San Jose QB James Brown tossed an 11-yard scoring strike to Darryl Hammond. The Force got the play off with a second remaining in the game.

WHAT DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES – San Jose started last season with three straight wins by a combined total of 14 points and could very easily have been 0-3. Following those first three games, the SaberCats set a league record by scoring 77 or more points in each of the next three games. This year the SaberCats have lost their last two games by a total of three points and were two seconds away from another 3-0 start.

CLEVAN THE MAN – Clevan Thomas, the 2002 Rookie and Defensive Player of the Year in the AFL, intercepted his league-leading fourth pass of the season in San Jose's loss at Georgia, and returned the pick 44 yards for a score. Combined with his INT return score at Los Angeles on Feb. 9, Thomas became the first San Jose player to ever return an INT for a touchdown in consecutive games. With picks in each of the first three games of the season, Thomas matched the team record for the second longest consecutive game streak with an INT and trails the team record of six held by Tommy Jones.

SACK MASTER – OL/DL Sam Hernandez, a 10-year AFL veteran who enters his sixth season with San Jose, is the league's all-time leader with 49 career quarterback sacks and is also San Jose's career leader with 28.5. During his illustrious career, Hernandez has been credited with at least one full sack against 19 teams and has 2.0 or more sacks in a game 12 times. Currently enduring the longest sack-less stretch of his career, Hernandez has gone the last 12 regular season games without a sack. He did, however, get to Arizona QB Sherdrick Bonner in last year's ArenaBowl.

CATCH THIS – OS James Hundon had just 4 catches for 49 yards in San Jose's loss at Georgia on Feb. 16, but three of his grabs were for scores. For the year Hundon has nine TD grabs in his 12 total and has 2 or more TD catches in all 3 games. Dating back to last season, he has multiple TD grabs in 15 straight regular season games. During his 23 game regular season AFL career, Jhun has at least one TD catch in all but one game and has multiple TD grabs in a game 19 times. Hundon is closing in on San Jose's career lead in TD catches as well. Currently with 59 career TD grabs, Hundon trails Jerry Reese (73) and former college teammate Steve Papin (65) for the team's all-time lead.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS – Despite throwing for just 160 yards at Georgia on Feb. 16, QB Mark Grieb moved past Kurt Warner into 15th place on the league's career passing yards chart. Earlier in the year Grieb became the 16th player in league history to reach the 10,000-yard mark in career passing yards and four of the five players directly ahead of him are currently not playing in the AFL.

CAREER FIRSTS – For the first time in his six seasons as a quarterback in the AFL, Mark Grieb threw three interceptions in a game. The Force pilfered three of Grieb's offerings in Georgia's 51-49 win on Feb. 16. He had thrown two picks in a game three times prior to last Sunday. Grieb tossed a league-low seven picks all of last season and entered the 2003 campaign with just 16 interceptions in 1,153 pass attempts.

BUCKING THE TREND – Rookie FB/LB Kevin Buck scored his first career touchdown on a 4-yard run in the first quarter and added another rush TD late in the game at Georgia on Feb. 16. Buck totaled 7 yards on 3 attempts.

DEFENSIVE SCORES – San Jose's defense has turned offensive scoring a pair of touchdowns in each of the last two games. The SaberCats returned a pair of INTs for scores at Los Angeles on Feb. 9 and added an INT and fumble return for scores at Georgia on Feb. 16. Clevan Thomas returned an INT 44 yards for a TD, his 2nd of the season tying James Roe's 2001 record. It was also the 7th longest return in team history. Keala Keanaaina returned a fumble 16-yards for a score that gave San Jose a lead late in the game. It was Keanaaina's first career defensive score.

AFL HISTORY IN DENVER – The Crush is not the first AFL team to play in Denver. The Denver Dynamite was an original team of the league in its inception in 1987. In fact, the legendary Tim Marcum (now the head coach at Tampa Bay) was the head mentor, leading the Dynamite to the first-ever ArenaBowl title in 1987. After taking the 1988 season off, the team returned to the league in 1989 and played three more years, until 1991. In those four seasons, the team drew 117,335 fans (8,387 average) at the old McNichols Arena. In only three games in the new Pepsi Center in Denver, the Crush has had three sellouts, averaging 17,444 (52,333). If the Crush continues to sellout, it will have attracted 139,552 for the season. More in eight games than the Dynamite drew in 14 games in four seasons. Some recognizable individuals who played for the Dynamite in the team's inaugural season (1987) was QB Marty Mornhinweg, the former San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator and recently released head coach of the Detroit Lions. Mornhinweg was 3-for-4 passing, in a backup role, in 1987 and had no touchdowns. Another quarterback and long-time AFL signal caller, Mike Hold, played for the Dynamite in 1990 and 1991. Hold is now the head coach of the AFL's Carolina Cobras.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

SAN JOSE'S FB/LBs – The three-man rotation of Matt Kinsinger, Kevin Buck and Keala Keanaaina has combined for 79 rush yards and 4 TDs on 17 carries, an average of 4.6 yards per carry. On defense, the three have combined for 14.5 total tackles with 10 solo stops. Kinsinger has one of the team's two sacks and Keanaaina has a 16-yard fumble return TD. The three rotate every five minutes during the game.

CRUSH QB JOHN DUTTON – Returns to San Jose for the first time since leading the SaberCats to the ArenaBowl title last August. Dutton's passer rating of 125.0 through the first three games is second in the league and he has thrown 19 TD passes with just one interception. Dutton passed for career-highs of 360 yards and 8 TDs in Colorado's OT loss to LA last week.

CRUSH DS ANTHONY DERRICKS – Derricks had a record setting performance against the SaberCats in San Jose as a member of the New England Sea*Wolves on June 9, 2000. Derricks had a league record 336 kickoff return yards and scored four TDs on returns of 55, 57, 54 and 51 yards in an 85-76 San Jose victory. That game is the second-highest scoring contest in league history.

CONNECTIONS:

Along with John Dutton, Colorado FB/LB Joey Dozier is also a former SaberCat. Dozier played two seasons (2000-01) leading the team in rushing both years. He currently ranks fifth on San Jose's career list for rush attempts, yards and TDs...Crush FB/LB Damon Bowers and offensive coordinator Mike Perez both played college ball at San Jose State University. Perez played six years in the AFL and ranks 8th in career passing yards. At San Jose State, (1985-87), he once held the NCAA career average for total offense per game.

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Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from February 19, 2003


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