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By Mike Rose
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Thursday, May 19, 2005
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Arena Football Power Poll - Week 17
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1) Georgia Force (11-4) The Force catapult back into
the number one position after their impressive home win
that dealt the deathblow to the Dallas Desperadoes’
season. The victory kept their perfect home winning streak
intact, and all but wrapped up the Southern Division crown
for them in 2005. What HC Doug Plank and his coaching staff
have done with this squad is remarkable. Going into the
final week of the regular season, the Force has dropped a
total of four games by a combined 5 PPG. That speaks volumes
for just how competitive this team really is, and how
they’ve taken on the persona of their head coach. A win
this weekend at San Jose would assure them of the home field
advantage through the playoffs, so look for them to put
their best foot forward and make the defending champs earn
their way back into the second season.
2) Los Angeles Avengers (10-5) What the Avengers
have done this season has been quite remarkable. They let
go of two of their biggest stars in the off-season, suffered
a traumatic loss with the death of Al Lucas in live action,
and still managed to match the franchises best season going
into week 17. This is a very gritty club that’s the hottest
in the league at the time of this writing, and is playing
some truly inspired ball with their angel up top looking
out for them. It would truly be one of the all time great
stories in sports if the Avengers were able to grab a ticket
to ArenaBowl XIX and play for the championship. That being
said, a win is a must this weekend up in Grand Rapids
combined with a Colorado loss for them to hold serve in
the Staples Center throughout the post-season.
3) Colorado Crush (10-5) The Crush had us befuddled
over the last month of the season, but they’ve now put
together a pair of impressive victories and look to be
back on track. Last weeks win was huge for a number of
reasons. For one, they locked up the Central Division with
the victory, and second, they proved to themselves that
they could fight back in their own arena and take out
a very hot club. The second point leads us to this week
where the Crush have to go into NY and win in order to
secure themselves of the home field advantage throughout
the second season. It won’t be easy, but the Crush
are 4-3 on the road this year and just beat the VooDoo in
"The Graveyard" their last trip out of the Pepsi
Center.
4) New York Dragons (9-6) The Dragons have been
an incredibly tough team to gauge throughout the 2005
season, and they’ll be a real pain in the butt for
whichever squad gets to play them in the second season.
They’ve now won the Eastern Division for the second
year in a row, but get to go and compete for a shot
at an ArenaBowl Championship this time around. They’ve
been a very mediocre road club this season as evidenced
by their 3-5 record, but they have a chance to grab
one home game this weekend with a victory over the
Colorado Crush combined with losses by Orlando and
Tampa Bay. Easier said then done, but it’s not out
of the question. Either way, it’s great to see QB
Aaron Garcia back in the second season and rookie
HC Weylan Harding partaking in his first.
5) Tampa Bay Storm (9-6) We’re now in the
final stage of the season, and once again the Tampa
Bay Storm look primed to make it to the second season
for the 15th consecutive season under the tutelage of
HC Tim Marcum. They became just the second team in
AFL history to win every home game with their win
over NY. This is a club that’s one five of
it’s last 8 games, and would assure themselves
of a playoff ticket with a win in Columbus on Sunday.
This season could best be described as enigmatic
as you never could really tell what you were going
to get every time they took the field. The bottom
line with this club is that they’re exceptional
at home, but it doesn’t look like they’ll
get the honor of hosting any games in the second season.
In fact, the best they could do is grab the #3
seed with a win vs. the Destroyers and an Orlando
loss. They’ll put their 1-6 road record to
the test this weekend, but it’s by no means a
sure thing they’ll grab the victory.
6) Orlando Predators (9-6) The Preds were
flying high going into Week 14, but then suffered
a rash of injuries to some of their major players
and lost their last two games to tighten up the
Wildcard spot in the Southern Division even more.
Huge game on deck for them Sunday afternoon as
they come off their perfectly timed bye week to
host the VooDoo in ’The Jungle’ who
are looking to avenge their Week 7 home loss.
It’s close to impossible to get a good
read on them right now since its not known just
how healthy they are going into this battle.
That being said, "The Jungle" is the
toughest place to go into and grab a win. With
playoff ramifications abundant, I can’t
see the Preds dropping this one. Look for them
to secure the #3 seed in the second season.
TIED FOR #7
New Orleans VooDoo (9-6) Barely escaped
the wrath of Austin in "The Graveyard"
who knocked them off earlier this season. By
no means are the Doo headed back to the second
season. Chicago Rush (8-7) All you have to do
is beat Grand Rapids at home and you’re
assured of getting back to the post-season
for the 5th season in a row...DOH!
San Jose Sabercats (8-7) Looks as if the
Sabercats are reverting back to their earlier
season form. Definitely not the time to do that,
but look for them to get to the post-season
and look to defend their championship.
Las Vegas Gladiators (8-7) Is it possible
for the Gladiators to play in their own venue
in the ArenaBowl? It is, but they have to beat the
streaking snakes first and hope for a Chicago or
San Jose loss.
Eliminated...
11) Nashville Kats (6-8-1)
12) Dallas Desperadoes (7-7-1)
13) Arizona Rattlers (6-9)
14) Austin Wranglers (6-10)
15) Philadelphia Soul (6-9)
16) Grand Rapids Rampage (3-12)
17) Columbus Destroyers (2-13)
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