Arena Football: Cleveland at Chicago
By SCOTT COOLEY
Football junkies can get their pigskin fix every Friday night on the NFL Network. Each week, the all-football channel will air the Arena Football League game of the week and lines for these matchups are widely available to bettors.
After nearly a two-year hiatus, the new arena league is comprised of 15 teams – six from the old AFL, seven from the minor leagues or af2 and two expansion teams.
It’s clear the Vegas oddsmakers are uncertain where to set these lines as the six spreads during Week 1 moved a total of 19 points by kickoff. This type of volatility creates value for bettors.
“Whenever you have a league like this that is similar to the WNBA or UFL, there is going to be a certain amount of value attached,” said Mike Seba, a senior oddsmaker at the Las Vegas Sports Consultants. “There’s going to be some games that fall through the cracks.”
Arena football is a quirky game where there is no punting, extra points are consistently missed and teams can score three touchdowns in a one-minute window.
“It absolutely is the best time for bettors if they can find information that we can’t,” said Pete Korner of the Sports Club in Las Vegas. “This is a grab bag. The thing that’s going to drive these AFL lines is strictly the opinion of the bettors.”
The Chicago Rush, who are co-owned by Hall of Famer Mike Ditka, host the Cleveland Gladiators in this Friday’s marquee matchup on the NFL Network.
The spread for the game has moved from an opener of 10.5 in favor of the Rush to its current number of 9.
“Iron Mike” defense
Much like their owners’ Chicago Bears vaunted “46 defense” of 1985, the Rush make a living behind an aggressive, turnover-producing defense.
In Chicago’s win over the Iowa Barnstormers last Friday, the defense was relentless. The Rush intercepted their opponent’s first pass of the game and returned it for a touchdown, forced and recovered a fumble on the next possession and then registered another interception on the third drive.
Chicago forced Iowa to replace its starting quarterback after one period of play and recorded a total of five interceptions on the evening.
“None of our DBs had worked together ever before in their careers and then we get Chris Martin in a trade early in the week before our first game and stuck him with a couple of guys that are just learning our system for the first time,” Chicago head coach Mike Hohensee told Covers in an interview. “I thought they really gelled well together and played hard.”
Jack linebacker DeJuan Alfonzo is the heart and soul of this defense and a star player to watch on Friday night. Hohensee called Alfonzo the best “Jack” linebacker to ever play the game.
Side note: Chicago opened as a 1.5-point underdog to Iowa in Week 1. By kickoff the spread had swung nine points making the Rush a 7.5-point favorite. The sharp money was dead on as Chicago won by 18 on the road.
Not-so special teams
The Gladiators blew a 21-point halftime lead in their first game of the season, falling to Arizona 61-56 at home.
While the team’s offense was efficient in the game, Cleveland may need to spend more time in the film room working on special teams. The Glads surrendered three kickoff returns for touchdowns and fumbled away another kick return.
“Our guys know how important special teams play is. When the ?eld is just 50 yards, you can’t allow them to routinely start at mid?eld,” Cleveland head coach Steve Thonn said.
The Gladiators will have to have to shore up the special teams unit to have any chance against Chicago. Hohensee was also not pleased with that facet of the Rush game last week but feels it is something they might be able to take advantage of this week.
“[Special teams was] something we worked on every day in practice this week,” he said. “Obviously it was strength for Arizona and it helped them win that football game. Our coaches and players saw some things on film and realized we have to do much better.”
New surroundings
While the Rush have five players back from their 2008 squad and nine total AFL veterans, quarterback Russ Michna is adjusting to four new receivers.
In the opener, Michna completed 18-of-30 passes for 261 yards and six touchdowns while distributing the ball to six different targets. Former Kansas City chief Sammie Parker led the group with six catches for 104 yards and two scores.
“I don’t think it’s where it needs to be right now but it’s getting better each week,” Hohensee said of the timing and chemistry of the new receiving corps. “We got on them pretty good this week because I thought our performance in Iowa was subpar.”
The other element of an AFL offense is the offensive line. Three down linemen compose a line and the Rush are working with two rookie ends. Last week, the line allowed two sacks and coughed up three fumbles because of poor quarterback-center exchanges.
“Obviously we were having problems with the snap but we worked extremely hard on that this week through drills so we hopefully corrected what was wrong there,” stated Hohensee.
INT machine
John Dutton is one of the most prolific signal-callers to ever step onto the 50-yard arena football field but is also one of the most hot-and-cold quarterbacks you will ever see play.
If Dutton is on he can beat anyone in the league, but when he’s off the 10-year vet tries to force passes and looks like the Brett Favre of old.
In the Gladiators’ Week 1 loss, Dutton must have stepped into the cold tub prior to the game because he killed the team with four interceptions.
"This game's on me," Dutton said after the loss. "This is a quarterback league, and when the quarterback doesn't play well, you're not going to win. I gave the game away. I need to play smarter and much better."
One thing Dutton does have working for him is a top-flight receiver in Ben Nelson, who he teamed up with in Colorado two seasons ago. Nelson registered eight catches for 154 yards and four TDs in the opener.
Chicago’s defense has always been physical with Nelson, who doesn’t deal well with getting jammed at the line of scrimmage, so this tandem might not be as effective on Friday.
Dutton is just 4-9 in 13 career games versus Chicago and has tossed 15 interceptions.
Trends
The Rush is 6-2 in their eight home openers
Chicago holds a 47-19 all-time record at Allstate Arena (including postseason).
The Gladiators are 1-5 SU and 3-3 ATS versus Chicago.
AFL road teams went 4-2 SU and ATS in Week 1.
Mike Hohensee is 3-1 all-time versus Steve Thonn-coached teams.