Week 5 Arena Football League Power Poll

[The General]

CURRENT) (TEAM) (W/L RECORD) (LAST WEEKS RANK)


By Mike Rose -- Which teams made the most noise in Week 4? Arenafootball.com's Mike Rose breaks down his Top 10 picks each week in the AFL's Power Poll. This week, the Desperados keep the top spot.


1) Dallas Desperados (4-0) (LW: 1) Even with one of their top dawgs in street clothes, (WR Marcus Nash), the Desperados went into “The Jungle” and dished out another severe beating. Let me rephrase that, Ironman Will Pettis dished out a severe beating as he scored a total of seven TDs, and sealed the deal late with a 58-yard kick-off return. Blowouts have become quite the norm in Dallas this season as the Despo’s have beaten their first four opponents by an average of 26 PPG. What’s even more impressive is that three of their four wins have come in the role as visitor. With three straight home games ahead of them over the next three weeks, look for them to get fat off some home cooking. Up next is a revenge bout with Austin who got the best of them last year by handing them one of their three regular season losses.



2) Georgia Force (4-0) (LW: 2) The Force had their hands full last Saturday night, but they were able to pounce on the fumbled snap exchange of the SaberCats’ two-point conversion late in the 4th to hold on for the victory. The win was Georgia’s fourth in a row, and it’s the second time this franchise has rattled off four in a row under the tutelage of Head Coach Doug Plank. It was a record-setting night as well as WR Chris Jackson reached the 10,000 receiving yards mark for his career, and FB Matt Huebner became the all time single game-rushing leader in Georgia team history as he rumbled for 43 yards on three carries. Offensively, this team ranks amongst the best in the league, but I still have my reservations about the stop unit. That being said, this club is certainly the cream of the Southern Division crop, but will have to set its sights on performing at a high level outside their division over the next month.

3) Philadelphia Soul (3-0) (LW: 3) After viewing the Rock vs. Jock battle that took place last Thursday night, I’ve decided that the Crush are just very average, and the Soul’s scary good. The Soul fought back from a pair of double-digit deficits twice, and cruised to the comfy home win for their third win of the season. The 14,000+ that packed the Wachovia Center were witness to the Souls’ coming out party. QB Tony Graziani put forth a stellar performance as he completed 21-of-31 passes for 312 yards and eight TDs, and was awarded Offensive Player of the Week honors. It almost looked as if he and his WR corps were doing the tango all night long as they just had such excellent rhythm amongst one another. The defense was also tremendous as they picked off Colorado QB John Dutton three times, and they pretty much shut down everyone else but WR Damian Harrell. Division play kicks-off for the Soul this week as they head to NY to take on a Dragon team that was simply embarrassed the last time they took their home field.



4) Chicago Rush (3-1) (LW: 4) Last week’s performance is one the Rush can hang their hats on as it exemplified everything this team is about. Explosive offense, pressure defense, and trustworthy special teams play. QB Matt D’Orazio wanted this one bad, and it showed. He put forth his best effort of the young season completing 23-of-36 passes for 215 yards and four TDs, while scrambling for 21 yards and two TDs of his own. The defense also did a tremendous job stepping up in crucial situations as DL E.J. Burt notched two more sacks and a pair of forced fumbles with one being recovered by LB DeJuan Alfonzo for another TD. Every time the Destroyers looked to have momentum on their side, the Rush snatched it right back. This is the way champions play in this league, and since Week 1, the defending champs have done a rock solid job. They’ll have their hands full this week against an LA club that’s picked up a pair of impressive road wins in their last two outings, but they should be able to secure the home win if they continue to play at their current level.



5) Utah Blaze (3-1) (LW: 7) I didn’t get to keep track of this game at all when it was being played, but my eyes lit up when I saw the final score scroll across my cell phone, 83-42: holy freaking wow!!! Head Coach Danny White has got an offensive juggernaut in his back pocket, and now has a defense that picked up some much needed confidence after holding the Rampage to only 27 offensive points on the night. The other 15 points came as a direct result of Rampage WR/KR Timon Marshall returning two to the house. When the dust settled, the Blaze defense forced five Rampage turnovers and Utah beat an opponent by its largest margin of victory in team history. The victory allowed the Blaze to hold on to sole possession of first place in the West, and this juggernaut now gets to fly into Sin City to take on a struggling divisional foe. Chalk it up as the Blaze move to 4-1 overall!!!



6) San Jose SaberCats (1-2) (LW: 5) By no means am I going to punish the SaberCats too bad this week after nearly upsetting the Force in their own arena. Head Coach Arbet and his staff had a couple weeks to game plan for this one, and it showed. They came out much better prepared, and looked to be a completely different team than the one that took the field in Chicago a couple weeks ago. If a couple things bounced their way, they might have won this game. The battle saw seven lead changes and three ties, so it was pretty much a coin flip as to who was going to win it. Unfortunately, it was the Force that prevailed as they pounced on a fumbled center exchange on the two-point conversion that could have tied the game in the closing seconds. With a 1-2 mark through their first three games, the SaberCats finally get to play a couple at home starting with a Tampa Bay team that will head West in complete disarray.



7) Los Angeles Avengers (2-1) (LW: 10) The Avengers continue to climb the poll during their road trip as they’ve now posted back-to-back road victories in two of the toughest arenas to notch victories in when playing the role as visitor. I thought their win in “The Jungle” might have been a fluke, but now I’m 100% sold on this young squad after they went into New Orleans and dominated the VooDoo in “The Graveyard” from the opening kick. DB Damen Wheeler set the tone of the game after picking off NO QB Andy Kelly (1st INT this season) on their first drive of the game. Avenger QB Sonny Cumbie quickly parlayed the stop into a 7-0 lead for the road team, and the Avengers never looked back. In fact, they never trailed in the game and put forth as dominating an effort in New Orleans as I’ve ever seen. That speaks volumes about this club, and a fantastic ’07 season is just down the road for them if they continue to gel as a team and play at this level. However, they’ll need to put forth another effort like last week if they expect to get out of the Windy City with a three-game road sweep.



8) Orlando Predators (2-2) (LW: 6) Alright, it wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t pretty in the least, but the Preds were at one-point tied with Dallas at 42 in the 3rd quarter. The team just ran out of gas, and playing with a trimmed down roster caught up to them in the end. It also didn’t help that the secondary couldn’t contain any of the Dallas WRs (mainly Will Pettis) that allowed Dallas QB Clint Dolezel to throw for 230 yards and seven TDs. However, I was very impressed with the way the offense looked in the first half against a stout Dallas defense. They moved the chains at will, and QB Shane Stafford looked like a man possessed completing passes right before the Dallas pressure got to him. The injury bug couldn’t have come at a worse time for this bunch as they’re entering what I believe to be the easiest portion of their schedule. They need to make hay here over the next month, or they can kiss the post-season goodbye. That being said, Jay Gruden-coached clubs usually find ways to overcome, and I’m sure he and his staff will figure something out to keep this team afloat.



9) Nashville Kats (2-2) (LW: 14) This week’s largest mover in the poll goes to Head Coach Pat Sperduto’s Nashville Kats, and it’s nice to see them back in the top 10. I personally gave them no shot of going into Austin and defeating the Wranglers, but to my amazement, they went in and dominated. After bolting out to a 17-7 first quarter lead, the Kats never looked back as they went on to win by a 70-63 final count. Since going to QB Jeff Smoker, the Kats are a perfect 2-0 with wins over a white hot Blaze team and a Wranglers squad looking to bounce back after two tough road defeats in front of close to 12,000 screaming fans. The offense is playing at a completely different level with QB Smoker spraying the ball around to his solid WR corps, and the hard-nosed running of FB/LB Dan Alexander has been an excellent compliment. They’ll look to continue riding this wave of momentum in the Pepsi Center against a Colorado club that looked flat out awful vs. Philly.



10) New Orleans VooDoo (2-2) (LW: 9) The VooDoo just killed themselves with bad penalties on crucial situations throughout their entire game with the Avengers. Because of that, they dropped their first game of the season at home and now get the luxury of hosting an injury hobbled Orlando team that just got rolled up for the second time in an ESPN evening telecast. On top of that, the Predators are one of the few teams in the league that have achieved success in “The Graveyard.” Hopefully, New Orleans will get back some of the walking wounded that they missed in last week’s game. If not, and if they play like they did last week, it’s possible that the wounded Predators might still be able to keep their Graveyard streak intact.



And the rest....



11) Colorado Crush (2-2) (LW: 8)

12) Kansas City Brigade (1-2) (LW: 12)

13) Columbus Destroyers (1-2) (LW: 13)

14) Austin Wranglers (1-3) (LW: 11)

15) Arizona Rattlers (1-3) (LW: 15)

16) New York Dragons (1-2) (LW: 19)

17) Las Vegas Gladiators (1-3) (LW: 17)

18) Grand Rapids Rampage (1-3) (LW: 18)

19) Tampa Bay Storm (0-4) (LW: 16)

Week 5 Power Poll - ArenaFootball.com—The Official Web site of the Arena Football League