Arena Football on NFL Network: Jacksonville at Tampa
By SCOTT COOLEY
The NFL Network will showcase in-state rivals as the expansion Jacksonville Sharks (3-1 SU, 2-2 ATS) face the Tampa Bay Storm (2-2 SU, 1-3 ATS) in this Friday’s Arena Football game of the week.
Both teams pulled out victories in the waning seconds of Week 5 so each should carry some momentum heading into this game. Jacksonville is led by one of the most prolific passers in the history of the league while Tampa returns 12 players from its 2008 squad.
With less than four hours separating these clubs in the Sunshine State, viewers and bettors can expect a tense atmosphere as neither team will want to drop the inaugural game of this series.
“Forget about being in-state rivals, they’re in our division and this game is worth one and a half games,” Storm head coach Tim Marcum said. “There are in our division and they are our rival. If they’re not a rival and they’re in your division, then something’s wrong with you.”
The Sharks made the 658-mile trek south by bus Thursday and arrived in Tampa in the early evening.
Law-Dog
The Storm were dealt a huge when two-way player Lawrence Samuels was placed on injured reserve after breaking a finger two weeks ago.
Samuels is the AFL’s all-time leading receiver but also lines up at the “Jack” linebacker position on the Tampa Bay defense.
“I don’t know if you can replace a guy like that,” Marcum told Covers in an interview. “We’re trying to shuffle around and put the pieces together. We may try to make a change.”
Former NFL cornerback Michael Hawthorne lined up at the linebacker position last week, but Marcum said while he got a little bit of productivity out of Hawthorne he was better suited for the secondary.
Tampa lost another member of the wide receiving corps when Cleannord Saintil was injured returning a kickoff the same week Samuels went down.
Former South Florida wideout DeAndrew Rubin replaced Saintil last week and snared nine balls for 184 yards and five touchdowns in the win.
Marcum revealed Tuesday that a third member of the receiver unit was ailing. He said that veteran Hank Edwards was questionable going into Friday’s game with a hyper-extended knee.
The Storm signed the versatile Jason Geathers this week to offset that injury. Don’t be surprised to see Geathers, a University of Miami product, line up at receiver on offense and linebacker on defense.
Battle in the trenches
Tampa Bay’s offensive line has been an integral part of the team’s success after giving up only one sack through four games. Keeping quarterback Brett Dietz upright has allowed the Storm to post nearly 60 points a game while averaging 7.6 yards per play.
But the O-line will have its hands full as it contends with the most potent pass rush in the league Friday.
Led by lineman Henry Taylor and linebacker RaJohn Myles, the Sharks front four has registered 10.0 sacks this season and that pressure is the primary reason Jacksonville ranks No. 1 in scoring defense (48.0 ppg).
“Those guys can absolutely rush the passer,” Marcum confirmed. “We are going to have to cut Henry Taylor and try to get him on the ground. That’s our plan right now, cut him every chance we get and hopefully that will slow him down a little bit.”
The Storm’s veteran D-line hasn’t been as daunting this year (3.0 sacks), but started to show signs of what many expected to be one of the best pass rushing attacks in the AFL last week. Arizona was forced into a three-step drop with its quarterback to equalize the rush in the second half of the game.
Dirty laundry
These two teams are a pair of the most penalized in the AFL.
Jacksonville enters this game as the second-most penalized team, getting called for more than 10 yellow flags per game (76.0 ypg).
Tampa has amassed two fewer penalties (44) than the Sharks this season, but a costly pass interference call negated an interception return for a touchdown last week.
If it comes down to a controversial call in this league, the majority of times the edge is going to go to the home squad.
Tampa was on the fortunate end of a pass interference no-call in the final seconds last week that preserved the win. And going into Week 5, road teams had accrued 12.3 more penalties per week than home teams.
The term “hometown refs” is a legit description for the AFL as each set was constructed from a local pool of officials.
Trendencies
-Tampa Bay is 100-42 SU all-time at home and 2-0 SU this season (1-1 ATS).
-Jacksonville is 1-1 SU and ATS on the road in 2010.
-Home teams in the AFL are 20-9 SU this season (15-14 ATS).
-For the year, former af2 teams have gone 8-4 SU and 9-3 ATS against old AFL teams. Matchups this week include Spokane (af2) at Arizona (AFL), Cleveland (AFL)
at Iowa (af2) and Chicago (AFL) at Milwaukee (af2).