Tampa Bay Storm

The Tampa Bay Strom visited Spokane last August to play the Shock, but that game had just a touch more on the line. The Arena Bowl XXIII combatants are a bit humbled during the 2011 season.

The Storm brought a 3-6 record to the Veterans’ Memorial Arena looking for just a small amount of revenge, as the 4-5 Shock couldn’t afford a home loss if they are going to make a second-half surge into the playoffs.

On paper the Shock were a lock to win this game…at least until they lost both of their roster QBs last week. Bill Stull made his first start last week but was injured early in the game. Kyle Rowley started the first eight games of the season, but was benched in an effort to spur the offense. He came in and played very well, but left in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury. Both players were placed on injured reserve this week, leaving the Shock without a QB.

Casey Hansen spent time in Spokane during the 2009 season, so he was a logical inquiry for Spokane. But he has been out of football for a year. I spoke to Hansen after the game and asked about the circumstance that brought him back to Spokane. 

“I was actually hanging out with some friends,” Hansen said, when the Shock called him earlier in the week. "I recognized the area code but not the number, so I let the call go to voicemail. Tthe call came in late so I slept on it overnight and just started second-guessing myself. Not a lot of people get a second chance so I had to hop on that and see what I can do for them.”

Earlier this week he said it “feels good” to be back in Spokane. “I will be a little rusty, but it’s normal. I haven’t played in awhile. We have a great team, great receivers and a great offensive line. I know they’re going to stay behind me and pick me up.”

The rust wasn’t evident in the first half. There were a few issues with center exchanges, but that was due in part to an aggressive defensive line that didn’t exactly respect snap counts. Tim McGill was trying to jump the snap all night; sometimes he was flagged for several offside penalties, but he also got away with several early jumps.

The Storm offense took the field after Terrance Sanders had the opening kickoff stripped from his hands after being corralled at the Shock 5-yard line. The Shock defense stopped the Dallas Vigilantes five times last week, but the special teams unit made it difficult for the Shock defense to start the game. After penalty calls on the first two plays from scrimmage, Amarii Jackson scored on a six-yard reception from Brian Zbyniewski. 

Feeding into the theme of feast or famine, the Shock special teams unit made quick penance for the error. Ruschard Dodd-Masters took the ensuing kick back 55 yards for a TD. The PAT was blocked, which was a recurring theme for the Shock…part of the famine of the night.

Rowan’s kickoff hit the cross bar and bounced just out of the end zone. The Storm covered the ball inside the one, continuing the feast or famine from the Shock special teams. Following a quick first-down pass to former Shock receiver Huey Whittaker, the Storm offense fizzled.  Whittaker dropped what would have been a first down conversion on fourth and five.

The Shock used a long completion to Greg Orton and two Storm penalties to set up a two-yard TD pass to Raul Vijil, marking the first AFL TD pass from Hansen (he had 13 AF2 TD passes for the Shock).

The Storm’s next offensive possession stalled, settling for a 17-yard FG to cut the lead to three. On the Shock’s ensuing possession, Orton made a solid move to get underneath a perfect arched ball from Hansen. The missed PAT failed, but the Shock were looking comfortable with Hansen under center and had a 19-10 lead.

That was about the last time the Shock looked like the defending Arena Football Champions. The Storm used a quick-strike offense and two Shock turnovers (a fumble and a failed fourth and one conversion attempt) to score the next 21 points, leading to a 31-19 lead.

Spokane looked to get one last scoring opportunity at the end of the half. The final possession was marred by penalties that moved the ball up and down the field, and Spokane eventually settled for a 45-yard FG from Taylor Rowan. The Storm went into half with a 31-22 lead and would receive the second half kick.

The third quarter was, quite simply, as sloppy a quarter of football that I’ve witnessed in an arena football game. The Storm ran some different zone looks at Hansen, and he struggled in the Red Zone. The time change looked as though it might be taking its toll on the Storm (the second half started after midnight eastern time), as their offense was quite sluggish.

The first two possessions led to the ball being turned over on down. The Storm’s second opportunity featured two sacks and an eventual “field goal attempt” that Kyle Chilton kicked out of bounds to protect from a return attempt.

After the Shock turned the ball over on downs, the Storm had another fourth-down attempt from deep in their own territory, the led to another “field goal attempt” that was kicked out of bounds.  This marked the end of a scoreless third quarter.

The fourth quarter started off just as oddly. The Shock possession ended with a fumble being generated without the ball being actually being snapped.

In spite of the two line judges missing the offside penalty, the Shock got the ball back in a hurry when Sanders chased down an overthrown pass in the end zone. The Shock drove the field and cut the lead (the Rownan extra point attempt was blocked again).

This was as close as the Shock would get. Huey Whittaker put on a receiving clinic versus his old team, and the Storm LB Cliff Dukes made plays all over the field in the winning effort.

The mood on the Shock bench following the 51-42 loss was somber as expected. Coach Rob Keefe blamed the loss on “poor execution” and stated that “every game is a must-win.”

They have eight days until they play a road game versus the Kansas City Command. I asked Raul Vijil, who caught his 150th TD as a member of the Spokane Shock tonight, about how much time he and the coaches would be spending with Hansen leading up to next Saturday's game. "We're gonna get some rest tonight and wake up early tomorrow morning. That's how the coaches are," Vijil said. "They'll stay up all night if they need to."  

Spokane dominated the Command in Spokane on April 1, 61-34. They are in dire need of a win to maintain their playoff hopes. The matchup against the Command should give them a chance to notch a win and get their new QB meshing with the offense.

The Storm face the 5-4 Georgia Force next Saturday. Another win will allow the Storm to start thinking about making a late run at a playoff spot. Four teams from each conference qualify for the payoffs; the Storm are 1.5 games out after the victory.

The AFL betting playoffs have been great this year but everything will come to an end Friday, August 20th at 8pm ET with ArenaBowl XXIII. The NFL Network will air the live telecast from the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena where the Tampa Bay Storm (13-5, 9-9 ATS) and Spokane Shock (15-3, 10-8 ATS) will go to war. Both teams won close Conference Championship games to advance to the Arena Bowl, as Tampa Bay won the third installment of the War on I-4 against hated rival Orlando 63-62 as 7.5-point chalk, while the Shock defeated Milwaukee 60-57 as 4.5- point favorites.

Tampa Bay’s QB Brett Dietz was the leader of the Storm’s offensive attack against Orlando racking up 260 yards through the air to go with a TD/INT ratio of 7/2. WR DeAndrew Rubin led the team with 10 receptions, 116 yards and two TD receptions, while WR Tyrone Timmons added three more TD receptions. The Storm’s defense was able to force two fumbles and recovered them both. As a visitor this season, head Coach Tim Marcum’s squad went 6-3 SU & 5-4 ATS.

Shock QB Kyle Rowley was the ringleader of Spokane’s offensive explosion against a feisty Milwaukee Iron team that fought until the bitter end. Rowley threw for an awesome 334 yards through the air which went along with a perfect TD/INT ratio of 7/0. Even though Rowley had an amazing game, WR Huey Whittaker was the standout player on the night hauling in a game high 14 receptions for 165 yards; his four TD grabs and one rushing score also paced the team. Spokane’s defense was pretty nonexistent only acquiring one sack, but Milwaukee kept QB Chris Greisen upright for the better part of the seasons entirety. Spokane stands an impressive 8-2 SU at home and made AFL bettors happy overall covering six of its ten games ATS.

There aren’t many pointspread trends that stick out in terms of the side for this ArenaBowl match-up, but that can’t and won’t be said when looking at the ‘total.’ Tampa Bay saw the ‘under’ cash each of the three times it played on the road with a number equal to or greater than 110; that streak extends to a perfect 6-0 ATS the L/3 seasons! The Shock played to the ‘under’ each of the six times a ‘total’ was posted when they were favored by 3.5 to 9.5-points in 2010.

2010 Arena Bowl Odds: The Shock currently sit as 3.5-point home favorites with the game “total” set at 114.5 for tonight’s ArenaBowl betting match-up. Visit Touthouse.com for arena football picks and arena football betting odds each week.

Lead by QB Brett Dietz, the Storm got off to a slow start in Saturday's matchup at home against the Alabama Vipers.

By the time the dust had settled, the Storm emerged victorious by a score of 53-29 before an announced attendance of 15,685.

Alabama had lost the toss and received for the first possession of the game, working their way down the field to kick a field goal on what was technically a "fifth" down. The field had incorrectly played fourth down twice.

Completing only 23 yards in the air and none on the ground in the first quarter, the Storm were unable to respond, leaving the Vipers to another possession consisting of a lateral from QB Tony Colston to WR Michael Johnson, completing a long pass to Dan Alexander, good for another 6 + PAT.

Re-energized by what appeared to be Alabama's defense taunting the Storm offensive line, Tampa Bay charged back in the second quarter with Dietz completing nine out of 11 attempted passes.

Eric Otriz rushed for two TDs, Alamaba QB Colston was sacked for a safety, Terrance Royal carried the ball in for a TD, and Garret Rivas put one between the uprights for a 21-yard FG after an interception by Johnathan Ordway with 55.4 seconds to go in the half.

At the half, the score was 26-10.

By the end of the third quarter, the Tampa Bay defense was still on a roll. Dietz had completed another six passes, completing over 200 yards. The defensive power from the second quarter had continued, including Michael Hawthorne recovering a fumble in the end zone for a TD. Tampa Bay only allowed a single Alabama TD, leaving the score at 47-16 going into the fourth quarter.

The first TD pass of the fourth quarter saw history being made in the St. Pete Times Forum. Brett Dietz had become only the sixth player in AFL history to reach 100 TD passes in a season. This feat has been accomplished nine times in total, twice by the last player to complete 100 passes in a season, Mark Grieb.

In an attempt to pick up momentum, the Vipers charged down the field for another TD, setting the scoreboard at 53-29, where it would remain for the remainder of the game.

Now sitting at 11-4, the Storm are preparing to enter the playoffs. One regular season game remains on Saturday July 30 at home vs. the Orlando Predators, who clinched the last remaining playoff spot this week.

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Tampa Bay Storm vs. Orlando Predators 8:00 ET (Week 9 Preview from Mike Rose)
Bet: Click here to bet on this game | Odds: Click here for current odds

The “War on I-4″ will be televised nationally on NFL Network as the Week 9 AFL Game of the Week, and Arena Football betting fans surely aren’t going to want to miss any of the action of this one! Both of these teams enter this week with identical 3-3 records. The loser will be sitting in the gutter in the Southern Division and could fall 3.5 games behind the Jacksonville Sharks right at the halfway point of the season.

Tampa Bay enjoyed its bye in Week 8. The Storm have alternated wins and losses every step of the way in 2010, and are coming off a 48-44 victory at Bossier City on May 15th. This is the second road game in a string of four out of five on the road for Tampa Bay. QB Brett Dietz is having yet another strong season under the direction of HC Tim Marcum. Dietz has completed 65.4 percent of his passes for 1,961 yards and 41 TDs against six picks. His leading receiver is WR Tyrone Timmons, who has 52 catches for 604 yards and 17 tuddies. Tampa Bay has either allowed 60+ points or held its opponent under 50 in every game this season.

After a woeful 0-3 start to the season both SU and ATS, the Predators have rallied back with three straight wins and covers. The most impressive of those three came last week at home against the Milwaukee Iron. WR Bobby Sippio made his debut in black and red and came up with the biggest play of the season for the Preds, hauling in a 40 yard touchdown pass with just a handful of seconds on the clock to give them the 58-54 outright win as lofty 9.5-point underdogs. Sippio had six catches for 88 yards and a pair of scores. WR TT Toliver is having an amazing season for Orlando, as he has 56 catches for 699 yards and ten TDs on the year. QB Nick Hill only has 26 passing touchdowns overall, but he is completing a league best 69.0 percent of his passes and has seven rushing scores to boot.

Tampa Bay swept the Predators in 2008 when these two teams last met, posting a 71-61 win at the St. Pete Times Forum as 3.5-point chalk and scoring a 48-41 outright victory in “The Jungle” as 5.5-point underdogs. Orlando opened up as a 1.5 point favorite in Week 9 AFL betting action, but has slipped to one-point underdogs at the time of this article’s publication.

Visit Touthouse.com for more arena football picks from our professional sports handicappers. Be sure to sign-up for our free sports predictions newsletter for exclusive arena football betting information from our experts. Preview Courtesy of North Shore Sports Inc.

Just six days before the Tampa Bay Storm's home opener vs. the Dallas Vigilantes, I noticed an alert from my Tweetdeck:

TBStormRadio: Hmmm....Is that a #22 I see in that huddle? http://twitgoo.com/nvp0z

Really? Could it be? Confirmed by Monday's press release, the Storm have acquired Lawrence Samuels, as well as James Bear and Cleannord Santil. Yes, my prayers have been answered!

"Law Dogg" Samuels, the AFL's all-time reception leader will bolster this team's offense with solid catches, agility and speed. Also in his trophy case are most consecutive games with a catch (135), and most fumble recoveries (34), among other top 10 records.

Cleannord Santil, a Middle Tennessee State alum, began his AFL career with the San Jose SaberCats, setting a SaberCats record in Week Four of the 2008 season with 18 Catches for 217 yards. Overall, he played in 21 games for the SaberCats and caught 136 receptions for 1,684 yards and 42 touchdowns.

James "Dusty" Bear, from Western Kentucky, had been playing for the Florida Firecats last year in AF2, playing in 16 games and providing 26.5 tackles (four of which were for a loss), two sacks and a fumble recovery.

When asked about Bear, Coach Tim Marcum had this to say: "We are looking for a spark on the defensive side of the ball and we think Dusty can add that for us."

With these key additions, this is shaping up to be a great season! Moves like this show us that the Storm front office is taking notice and is proactive about keeping the Storm active and the AFL alive.

Don't forget: the Storm home opener is at the St. Pete Times Forum, Friday, April 16 at 7:15 pm. The game will also be on 1250-AM WHNZ with Jack Harris and Jason Dixon.

(Photo Credit: Provided by permission of Ted Fleming, TBSN1.com)

The Tampa Bay Storm met up with their longtime rival the Orlando Predators last week for a pre-season warm up game with a little over 6,000 in attendance, coming out victorious with a score of 40-16.

Dietz saw a decent amount of playing time, but Drew Weatherford seemed to be the one who was out to prove himself. A Land O' Lakes High alum and former FSU QB, he holds a lot of promise as a potential backup for Dietz, who had a minor injury a few days before this first matchup.

While a great outing and a fun game, this game showed me a lot as a longtime Storm fan, things I had been avoiding and outright denying–a free game complete with $2 beer and food wasn't enough to bring out a real fanbase. The official number on this game was 6,169–a far cry from the attendance needed to keep this team and league afloat.

As I am interested in keeping the Storm and AFL (now, AF1) alive, I'd like to offer a few tips to the management and new ownership:

1) Find an effective way to market your seats.

With season tickets starting at $50 for eight home games coupled with the fast-paced, fan oriented feel throughout the league, this is the cheapest and most family-friendly athletic ticket in town–filling seats shouldn't be very hard. Still, with free seats, only 6,169 people came to a free game.

2) Build an OL that can defend the quarterback, no matter who the quarterback is.

It seemed that the OL entered Swiss cheese mode when Drew Weatherford was in. While this may be poor decisions on the part of Weatherford, the protection seemed to lack in comparing Weatherford vs. Dietz.

While I'm not a Weatherford fan, I think we should give the kid a fair shake. I hope this idea is horribly wrong and that Weatherford just needs more time to adjust to arena play.

3) Let's remember what builds and retains a fanbase.

Tampa Bay lacks big-name players. We had some greats in the recent past, namely John Kaleo, Shane Stafford, and T.T. Toliver.

While Kaleo has retired, Stafford and Toliver BOTH went to our No. 1 rival, the Predators. Stafford–released as one of the more sought-after players in the AFL, and Toliver–released in a cloud of controversy about the way players were treated, both to our competition. Three names that the Storm could've been built around, two of which are now building a following for our rival.

That said, Storm, let's be friends again. Yes, I forgive you for going AWOL for a year and five months, and I hope we can rebuild our friendship this season and build a winning franchise.

I'm beyond stoked that Marcum is back and Dietz is at the helm on the offensive side. It's going to take a lot of work to get there and I hope my ideas help, even in the slightest.

Of all the teams currently in the Arena Football League, the Tampa Bay Storm have been around the longest.

The Storm first joined the AFL in 1987 as the Pittsburgh Gladiators.  Pittsburgh, in their first four seasons, did not have a losing record.  The Gladiators, who called Pittsburgh Civic Arena home during those four seasons, went 4-2 in 1987, 6-6 in 1988, 3-1 in 1989, and 4-4 in 1990.  The Gladiators qualified for Arena Bowl I, which was played in Pittsburgh, but lost to Denver, 45-16.  In 1989, Pittsburgh made their second Arena Bowl appearance but lost to Detroit, 39-26.

After the 1990 season, Pittsburgh found a new home—St. Petersburg, FL.  With the new home came a new name—the Tampa Bay Storm.  The Storm, like the Gladiators, had a successful first season.  However, unlike the Gladiators, the Storm won their first Arena Bowl in their first attempt, beating the Detroit Drive, 48-42.  Tampa Bay won their second Arena Bowl in as many attempts by once again beating Detroit, 51-31, in Arena Bowl VII.

The Storm made it three-for-three by defeating their Interstate 4 rivals from Orlando, 48-35, in Arena Bowl IX.  The Storm would become only the second Arena Football League team to win back-to-back titles (the Detroit Drive were the first) by defeating the Iowa Barnstormers, 42-38, in Arena Bowl X.  However, the Storm saw their unbeaten Arena Bowl streak end at four when the Orlando Predators doubled up the Storm, 62-31, in Arena Bowl XII.

Tampa Bay would become the first Arena Football League team to win five titles when they defeated the Arizona Rattlers, 43-29, in Arena Bowl XVII.

In their existence, the Tampa Bay Storm have only had two losing seasons.  The Storm have only missed the Arena Football League postseason twice in what would have been 19 Arena Football League seasons.  In total, as both the Tampa Bay Storm and the Pittsburgh Gladiators, the team made eight Arena Bowl appearances, winning five times (as Pittsburgh, they were 0-2, but are 5-1 as Tampa Bay).

Although I have been a fan of the Tampa Bay Storm, I have never attended a game, namely because of the distance between my hometown of Silver Spring, MD and Tampa.

Will the Storm be around long enough to celebrate another championship?  I hope so.  Tampa Bay is certainly a first-class team.  They have spent 18 years in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area (along with four seasons in Pittsburgh).

GO STORM!

As we all know by now, the owners of the current Arena Football League teams voted to suspend the 2009 regular season.

As if watching football in April wasn’t fun enough…

My first Arena Football League experience came Saturday night as the Columbus Destroyers took on the Tampa Bay Storm. Thanks to my friend Taylor, who works for the Destroyers, my other buddy Dan and I had free tickets behind one of the endzones.

I didn’t really know what to expect. I mean, I’d watched some Arena games on TV every now and again, but never for more than a few minutes. I could name probably about eight or 10 games who had played in the league, and I could maybe name half the teams.

Here’s some random observations from the game…
1. The first thing I noticed at the game was the “chain gang”. At the start of each possession, they sprinted from the endzone to set the chains up against one of the side walls before sprinting back off before the start of the play. One of the guys then had to run out after every down to move the and change the down marker. I definitely was not ready to see that.

2. I also loved the excessive sponsorship. Every penalty was an “1800 Tequila Yellow Flag” – imagine parents trying to explain thatto their kids. The PA announcer, who was ridiculously over the top to begin with, was going nuts with all these sponsorships. I never want to hear the words Germain or GetGo again.

(Kids at Saturday’s game might have been traumatized when, during a mascot relay race, one of the mascots head’s fell off, exposing the guy underneath. The best part was that about three of the other mascots ran over to cover him up while he scrambled to pull his furry cover back over his head. Priceless.)

3.  In the Destroyers’ own game notes, they praised running back Harold Wells for his “torrid” rushing pace. He was second in the league, entering last night’s game, with 39 carries for 114 yards. 

(For you non-math majors, that works out to less than three yards per carry. Apparently, by AFL standards, that qualifies as “torrid”. For the record, he had five carries for one yard last night. Torrid, indeed.)

4.  Being a running back or defensive back in the AFL might be the most worthless and thankless positions in all of sports. But linemen have to love playing in the league because teams – well, at least Tampa and Columbus – run so many throwback passes to tackle-eligible receivers. It reminded me of a flag football game.

5. Could you imagine a quarterback like Peyton Manning playing in the AFL? Good grief, he would massacre league records. After all, this is a league that has Justin Zwick on a roster, for God’s sake. Last fall, I was covering a high school football playoff game in Ashland and Zwick was there announcing it. Now, he’s a backup QB and placeholder on a professional roster – though to his credit, he did a great job snagging an errant snap on the final kick and got the hold down.

6. Rasheed Marshall, a receiver who has been on an NFL roster before, never had a pass thrown his way by the Destroyers. Quarterback Matt Nagy didn’t even look at him. Marshall also got lit up on a kick return that knocked him into next week.

7. I’d never seen a false start penalty called on the defense before, until last night.

All in all, it was a fairly enjoyable experience for us. I would love to go back to another game sometime, especially if it means watching Harold Wells break off a run of longer than two yards.

Some other reflections on the weekend in sports…

1. Nothing makes me happier than Carolina going down. I don’t know if it’s better that they were getting waxed and almost came back before Kansas blew it open again – making it more heartwrenching for the Tar Heel fans – or if Kansas had simply crushed them by like 50. Either way, I’m pretty happy right now. It’s just too bad Tyler Hansbrough didn’t sob at the press conference again.

2. I had picked UCLA to win the title in all my brackets. Clearly, that was a poor decision as Memphis ran them out of the gym. I didn’t think Memphis had it in them to win the big game, but then again, it’s not like UCLA has won the “big game” either in the past two years. I think the title game will be pretty good, and it has to be in order to get something positive out of a rather pedestrian March Madness.

3. It’s nice to see the Cavs are limping their way to the finish line. With LeBron at less than 100 percent, the Cavs are a very mediocre team. Actually, they’re a pretty pitiful team. Anytime people cite his supporting cast (read: Skip Bayless) as the reason for the team’s success are out of their bleeping minds.

Sure, every once in a while someone has a big game in addition to LeBron, but let’s be honest – without LeBron, this is a 13-win Cavs team. Substitute LeBron for a solid, not-quite-a-star player – say an Andre Igoudala – the Cavs are a 20-win team. Substitute LeBron for a star – Caron Butler, perhaps – and the Cavs win 25-30 games. And substitute LeBron for the superstars – Kobe, Chris Paul – the Cavs are in the same position as they are now, the fourth-best team (by a thread) in the Eastern Conference. 

At this point I’d be shocked if the Cavs make it out of the second round. Heck, with the way they’re playing right now, even a first round win is no guarantee.  

Here is my Week 5 Power Poll and Preview of games

This week there are some key games to watch out for in Week 5.

You have the final two undefeated teams playing this weekend and looking to stay perfect on the year.

The Philadelphia Soul (4-0), #1 in the Power Poll, hosts #5 Tampa Bay Storm (2-1), on Saturday, March 29 at 2p.m. ET (ESPN2 HD, ESPN360.com).

The Soul's offense did not look like it missed injured QB Tony Graziani at all last week against Los Angeles. Backup QB Matt D'Orazio stepped in and was 28 of 42 for 338 yards and eight touchdowns. 

The Dallas Desperados (4-0), #2, travels to the Nassau Coliseum to take on #15 New York Dragons (1-3) on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m. ET in a Eastern Division matchup.

Desperdos QB Chris Sanders was 20-of-28 for 276 yards and six touchdowns last week as the Desperados ended the SaberCats 15-game home winning streak 

The Desperados are looking to go 5-0 for the second consecutive season with a win. Dallas is 32-4 in their last 36 regular-season contests, including 12 in a row and six straight on the road. 

The Chicago Rush (3-1), #3, welcomes the Arizona Rattlers (2-2), #9, to the Allstate Arena on Friday, March 28 at 8:30 p.m. ET (AFL NET, FSN Arizona - Delay, at 9:30 p.m. PT, CSN Chicago - Delay, 3/29 at 4 p.m. CT, SIRIUS Radio - Channel 130).

This game marks the first time Rush QB Sherdrick Bonner will face his former team of the past 14 seasons.

Bonner, left Arizona as the team's all-time leader in passing yards (40,979), attempts (5,268), completions (3,261) and touchdown passes (829).

Bonner also led the Rattlers to five ArenaBowl appearances and two championships in ArenaBowls VIII and XI.

This weeks other games include:

Saturday

#8 San Jose (2-2) at #16 Kansas City (0-3), 6:00 P.M. ET, (FSN Bay Area/NBC Local - Live, KSMO Local - Live)

#7 Orlando (2-2) at #13 Columbus (1-3), 7:00 P.M. ET, (AFL NET, WRDQ TV - Live, Columbus Sports Net - Live, CSS - Delay, 3/30 at 5:30 p.m. ET, SIRIUS Radio - Channel 130).

#14 Georgia (1-3) at #17 Utah (0-4), 9:00 P.M. ET, (CSS - Live, KJZZ - Live)

Sunday

#10 Los Angeles (2-2) at #12 Grand Rapids (1-2), 2:00 P.M. ET

#4 New Orleans VooDoo (3-1) at #11 Colorado (1-2), 4:00 P.M. ET (FSN Rocky Mountain Local - Live).

Bye Week: #6 Cleveland (3-1)

Power Poll Rankings:

 1) Philadelphia Soul (4-0, LW: 1) Beat Los Angeles 71-34 on 3/20

 2) Dallas Desperados (4-0, LW: 2) Beat San Jose 59-56 on 3/22

 3) Chicago Rush (3-1, LW: 4) Beat Colorado 70-35 on 3/22

 4) New Orleans VooDoo (3-1, LW: 6) Beat Cleveland 63-24 on 3/21

 5) Tampa Bay Storm (2-1, LW: 8) BYE WEEK

 6) Cleveland Gladiators (3-1, LW: 3) Lost to New Orleans 24-63 on 3/21

 7) Orlando Predators (2-2. LW: 11) Beat Georgia 50-45 on 3/22

 8) San Jose SaberCats (2-2, LW: 5) Lost to Dallas 59-56 on 3/22

 9) Arizona Rattlers (2-2, LW: 13) Beat New York 62-33 on 3/21

10) Los Angeles Avengers (2-2, LW: 7) Lost to Philadelphia 71-34 on 3/20

11) Colorado Crush (1-2, LW: 9) Lost to Chicago 35-70 on 3/22

12) Grand Rapids Rampage (1-2, LW: 15) Beat Kansas City 92-52 on 3/24

13) Columbus Destroyers (1-3, LW: 17) Beat Utah 52-49 on 3/21

14) Georgia Force (1-3, LW: 10) Lost to Orlando 50-45 on 3/22

15) New York Dragons (1-3, LW: 12) Lost to Arizona 33-62 on 3/21

16) Kansas City Brigade (0-3, LW: 14) Lost to Grand Rapids 52-92 on 3/24

17) Utah Blaze (0-4, LW: 16) Lost to Columbus 49-52 on 3/21

WEEK 4 HONORS

CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYERS: Grand Rapids Rampage QB James MacPherson and Philadelphia Soul WR Chris Jackson

ADT DEFENSIVE PLAYER: New Orleans VooDoo DB Calvin Spears

IRONMAN PLAYER: Chicago Rush WR/LB DeJuan Alfonzo