AFL I Arena Football League (1987-2008)

Top-ranked quarterback showdown in Tampa

March 8, 2006 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I) News Release


NEW YORK - Two of the AFL's most prolific passers and top teams will square off when the Dallas Desperados (5-1), ranked third in this week's AFLWA Schutt Sports Top 12 Poll, travel to Tampa Bay to take on the fourth-ranked Storm (4-2) on Sunday at noon ET on NBC. Dallas enters this week's game with a 3-0-road record and sits in first place in the Eastern Division with a two-game lead over Columbus (3-3), New York (3-3) and Philadelphia (3-3). Tampa Bay, 2-1 at home in 2006, is tied for second in the Southern Division, one game behind Austin (5-1).

Desperados QB CLINT DOLEZEL leads the AFL with 37 touchdown passes while Storm slinger SHANE STAFFORD is tops with 2,022 passing yards. Dolezel's 126.8 passer rating is second in the League and Stafford's 117.4 rating places him fifth. Dolezel needs three touchdown passes to become just the third quarterback in League history to throw for 700 in a career (AARON GARCIA, ANDY KELLY). Stafford became the first quarterback in AFL history to throw for 400+ yards in back-to-back weeks with 458 yards in a Week 4 loss to Orlando followed by 424 yards in a Week 5 win over Austin.

Following is a comparison of Stafford and Dolezel in 2006. Each player's current AFL rank for each category is in parenthesis:

PLAYER ATT. COMP. YDS TDS INT RATING
Clint Dolezel 223 (5) 151 (5) 1,737 (3) 37 (1) 2 (1) 126.8 (2)
Shane Stafford 245 (t2) 159 (2) 2,022 (1) 33 (4) 4 (3) 117.4 (5)

The San Jose SaberCats (2-4) seek their first winning streak of the season when they host Western Division rival Los Angeles (1-5) on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on NBC. San Jose comes off a 65-50 win over Utah and will retain at least a share of first place in the division with another victory this week. The Avengers have lost five straight after an opening weekend win over Arizona.

Los Angeles rookie QB SONNY CUMBIE, who threw for 4,742 yards (sixth highest single-season total in NCAA history) during his senior season at Texas Tech, has been a bright spot since taking over the starting reigns from BRIAN MANN in Week 5. Cumbie has thrown for 561 yards and 11 touchdowns with two interceptions in his two starts, but he looks for his first AFL win on Sunday.

SaberCats WR/LB JAMES ROE has been red hot since returning from a concussion that forced him to miss Weeks 2-3. Since rejoining the lineup on February 19 against Grand Rapids, Roe has averaged nine catches and 117 receiving yards per game and has scored a total of eight touchdowns.

The Nashville Kats, who dropped a 51-49 decision to Arizona last week, became the third straight team to suffer a loss after claiming the top spot in the AFLWA Schutt Sports Top 12 Poll. Austin was the top ranked team heading into Week 5 and fell to Tampa Bay. Colorado was No. 1 in Week 4 but fell to Nashville. The Crush are the top-ranked team again this week and hope to break "the curse of No. 1" in Chicago against the Rush (3-3) on Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET (tape delay on OLN at 11 p.m. ET) in a rematch of last year's American Conference Championship Game, a.k.a. The Confetti Game, won by Colorado 49-43 in overtime. The Crush blasted confetti after the win.

Colorado and Chicago also met in Week 1 action with the Crush posting a 65-56 win in Denver following a ceremony to raise the ArenaBowl XIX Championship banner to the rafters of the Pepsi Center. In that contest, Colorado QB JOHN DUTTON threw for 291 yards and eight touchdowns, including the game-winner to DAMIAN HARRELL with just one second left on the clock. Dutton earned Offensive Player of the Week honors for his performance.

Rush FB/LB BOB MCMILLEN needs just seven rushing yards to pass FB/LB LES BARLEY to become the AFL's all-time leading rusher. McMillen surpassed Barley's total of 1,382 by two yards two weeks ago against San Jose but fell back into second place after losing eight yards on his next carry.

Following is a list of the top-five rushers in AFL history:

TOP FIVE RUSHERS IN AFL HISTORY
PLAYER SEASONS YARDS
Les Barley 1992-2001 1,382
Bob McMillen 1995-present 1,376
Michael "Bo" Kelly 1996-present 1,291
Andre Bowden 1991-2004 1,241
Chad Dukes 1996-present 1,184

The AFL's top defense will meet the second-ranked offense when Nashville (4-2) travels to Utah to face the Blaze (2-4) on Friday. The Kats defense has allowed an AFL-low 229 points while the Blaze have scored 338 points, the second-most in the AFL (Colorado - 341). Utah OS SIAHA BURLEY was named AFL Offensive Player of the Month for January/February and currently leads the AFL in receptions (61), receiving yards (852) and first downs (48) and is tied for the lead with 21 touchdowns.

Other Week 7 contests: Georgia at Columbus on Friday, Orlando at Arizona on Friday, Grand Rapids at Las Vegas on Friday, New York at Austin on Sunday and Philadelphia at Kansas City on Monday.

This Week in AFL History

March 13, 2004: Philadelphia Soul wins first road game in franchise history, a 43-41 victory at Columbus, before a sellout crowd of 17,171 at Nationwide Arena.

AFLWA Schutt Sports Top 12 Poll

1. Colorado Crush (12) 5-1 215
2. Austin Wranglers (5) 5-1 209
3. Dallas Desperados (2) 5-1 201
4. Tampa Bay Storm 4-2 153
5. Nashville Kats 4-2 152
6. Orlando Predators 4-2 147
7. Georgia Force 3-3 109
8. Chicago Rush 3-3 75
9. Columbus Destroyers 3-3 73
10. Philadelphia Soul 3-3 57
11. New York Dragons 3-3 45
12. Las Vegas Gladiators 2-4 19

Others receiving votes: San Jose SaberCats 17, Grand Rapids Rampage 4, Arizona Rattlers 3, Utah Blaze 3. Dropped out: Utah Blaze (11), Grand Rapids Rampage (12).



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from March 8, 2006


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