Arena Football on the NFL Network: Tampa Bay at Orlando
By SCOTT COOLEY
The most storied rivalry in the Arena Football League continues Friday as the NFL Network Game of the Week. The matchup will mark the 44th meeting between the Tampa Bay Storm (3-3 SU, 1-5 ATS) and Orlando Predators (3-3 SU, 3-3 ATS).
The War on I-4 has been a balanced rivalry with the all-time regular season series tied at 18 games apiece and one team never holding more than a two-game lead on the other.
“The home field doesn’t warrant very much in this series,” said Covers Experts’ Ted Sevransky. “The road team has come to play every time.”
The total point differential in the 43 games played (including playoffs) between these squads is just 11 points. The Storm are 8-11 during the regular season at Orlando but swept the season series in 2008 (2-0 ATS).
Common ground
These teams will know each other quite well when they step onto the turf Friday. There are a handful of players that donned the opposition’s uniform in their arena league careers and the two head coaches are all too familiar with one another.
Tampa’s legendary head man, Tim Marcum, mentored Orlando’s Pat O’Hara as a coach and player. O’Hara, who is in his rookie season as a head coach, spent the 2005 and 2007-08 seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Storm.
O’Hara, a former arena quarterback, groomed the Storm’s current signal-caller Brett Dietz during his first two years in the league. Knowing your competition’s tendencies is useful but when both sides have the advantage it sometimes comes out a wash.
“In any coaching matchup in arena football there are a couple of coaches I’m going to trust every time,” Sevransky said. “One is Mike Hohensee (Chicago Rush) and the other is Tim Marcum.”
Killer instinct?
The Predators haven’t just won three consecutive games, they’ve won three straight in head-scratching style.
In Week 6, Orlando went on the road and won in Dallas as a 14-point underdog. The team earned victories the following two games as 10-point pups, including a home defeat over Milwaukee last week – a team many believe to be the best in the AFL.
Whether or not this winning streak for a squad that started the year 0-3 is an aberration remains to be seen.
“That’s what we hope to find out on Friday night,” stated Sevransky. “You can certainly make the argument that Orlando has been the beneficiary of fortuitous circumstances.”
The Preds’ first two victories of the season came against teams starting second-string quarterbacks. Last week after two consecutive fumbles on kickoff returns, Milwaukee fell behind 17-0 before its offense could even step onto the field.
Key matchups
Former AFL Offensive Player of the Year Bobby Sippio was added to the Predator roster before last week’s game and the wideout made an immediate impact.
The Florida State product out of Kissimmee caught a 40-yard touchdown pass with no time left on the clock to seal a 58-54 victory. Behind a 6-foot-3, 215-pound frame, Sippio has been one of the AFL’s most dynamic playmakers for the past five years and will use his size to push around the smaller defensive backs in the league.
Sippio, alongside Derrick Lewis and Antoine “T.T.” Toliver, forge one of the top receiving trios in arena football.
To compound matters for Tampa Bay, the team lost its strongest member of the secondary (Deonte Boldin) last week to injury.
“Orlando has a receiving corps that’s as explosive as any in the league,” Sevransky said. “But their quarterback is the big question mark. He’s suspect, he is the weak link on the offense.”
Unproven rookie Nick Hill will be under center for the Preds Friday. Hill has accounted for the fewest touchdowns (27) of any starting quarterback in the league and has tossed seven interceptions in six games.
Hill has a tendency to rely on his talented receivers too much and will unwisely toss the ball up for grabs when pressured.
The Storm have trotted out the same veteran defensive linemen and Mack linebacker (the one allowed to rush) in every game this season and the unit is beginning to click.
Welcome to “The Jungle”
Orlando’s fans have perennially been labeled as the most unruly and intoxicated supporters in the AFL.
Their home venue, Amway Arena or better known as “The Jungle, creates a home-field advantage that cannot be duplicated in most cities. The Prowlers dance team has already been accused of performing “like strippers” this season and the team once ran a promotion where one lucky fan would watch the game from the stands in a hot tub filled with girls in bikinis.
A former AFL player said that once after a halftime wet t-shirt contest at Orlando, he had trouble coming out focused on the game in the second half.
Another unique edge Orlando has at home is curved endzones. Most arena football endzones are constructed in the standard rectangular fashion but a handful of teams continue to use the hockey-style rounded endzones which creates a more confined space for opposing offenses to work with.
Trends, notes and stats
- Tampa Bay has lost five straight decisions in the seventh game of the season.
- The Storm are 0-3 ATS this season on the road.
- Orlando ranks last in the AFL in opponent points per game (69.2).
- The Predators rank last in the league in opponent first downs per game (19.3) while Tampa is No. 1 in first downs per game (23.7).
- The Storm are the second-most penalized team in the league, surrendering 78.3 yards per game.
- Tampa Bay will make a 90-mile bus trip to Orlando on Friday morning.
- Storm wide receiver Hank Edwards was inactive last game and will be a game-time decision.