July 31, 2015
By ANDY SROKASAN JOSE, Calif. – The playoffs slide another week closer in Week 19, but not before the San Jose Sabercats (15-1) attempt to lock down home field advantage in the postseason in a game against National Conference rivals, the Arizona Rattlers (13-3). Kickoff is set for 10:30 p.m. ET from the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., and can be seen live on the CBS Sports Network.
Basketball has the Lakers and the Celtics. Baseball has the Yankees and the Red Sox. Hockey has the Blackhawks and the Red Wings. Soccer has Barcelona and Real Madrid. Pro wrestling has The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. But for us, Arena Football fans, the SaberCats and the Rattlers is as good as it gets.
The two teams have met in three straight playoffs. Friday night, they battle again for a sneak peek at the perennial postseason encounter. Really, this game isn’t critical to the AFL’s playoff picture. San Jose is a win away from clinching home field advantage through the playoffs, but regardless, both teams are guaranteed a berth in the playoffs and are skilled enough to make a real run at the ArenaBowl no matter where they’re seeded or who they’re playing.
And here’s why: these teams employ rosters stacked with talent. They are the biggest players in the offseason seemingly every year and have two of the League’s best quarterbacks. Over the course of history, the SaberCats have owned a slight edge in their regular season meetings with Arizona, including win in Phoenix earlier this season. But it’s obvious, bearing their last three playoff contests in mind, the Rattlers are on top until proven otherwise. In case you needed reminding, the Rattlers have won back-to-back-to-back ArenaBowls. On each of those three paths to championships, they ditched San Jose at the side of the road – that’s three straight years the SaberCats have fallen to their biggest rivals in an elimination game.
That stings.
Heading into 2015, San Jose knew it couldn’t afford to die the same death it had the previous three seasons. It would just hurt too much. So, they went out and acquired All-Arena quarterback Erik Meyer. Though he spent some time on the shelf this season with an injury, missing three starts, Meyer has added some much needed stability at the position for San Jose. Despite having been sacked 25 times in 2015, he’s managed to maintain a passer rating of 123.53 this season. That’s the highest rating among those not named Randy Hippeard, though, Orlando’s Hippeard has only been able to start nine games this year compared to Meyer’s 13.
One would think a quarterback who endures many-a-sack is prone to the pick, but not in Meyer’s case. He’s still the same passer that opened the 2013 season without throwing an interception in his first 193 attempts that year, an AFL record. Meyer has been intercepted six times in 478 pass attempts this season. Very impressive. And half of them came in a weird and wild overtime loss to the LA KISS. With that kind of efficiency, Meyer and his offense grant their defense behind them the time to apply the pressure and force some turnovers. They’re the only team in the League with two players who have accumulated at least 10 sacks each this year, Francis Maka and Jason Stewart have notched 10.5 and 10 sacks, respectively. But don’t make the mistake of thinking they’re the only two your favorite team’s quarterback has to worry about. Luis Vasquez and Donte Paige-Moss have chipped into the League-leading 40 sacks San Jose has made in 2015, scaring passers on a week-to-week basis.
And then there’s Ken Fontenette. In a season where Jacksonville’s Joe Sykes is shattering his own sacks record and Arizona’s Jeremy Kellem is climbing all-time interceptions charts, Fontenette might be enjoying one of the best seasons we have ever seen from a defender. In his last two games, the defensive back has tallied a surreal 34.5 tackles combined. With 138.5 on the year, Fontenette already has the mark for the second-most in a single-season ever. And yet, even with all that tackling, he’s still crafty enough to have intercepted 12 passes this year, one behind the aforementioned Kellem for the League-lead.
So, you’d think San Jose will be walking into the SAP Center with oodles of confidence in a last minute trial before the real test begins in a couple of weeks.
Maybe not.
The last time most of these players saw Nick Davila, they left Phoenix dejected after a conference finals loss last season. Davila broke his big toe before the teams’ last meeting in Week 6 and did not play in the game. It goes without saying how much better he makes the reigning champions. In other words, Fontenette, Maka, Stewart all had to witness Davila throw eight touchdowns and rush for two more in a devastating season-ending defeat.
Though he’s been healthy for the last two months now, Davila still seems like he’s shaking some of the last remnants of rust off. He’s thrown five picks in his last three games. He’s still been good, no doubt, but the SaberCats have the opportunity to seize the Rattlers’ offense at one of its most vulnerable times in recent memory. Davila is still priming for postseason play, his offensive line allowed him to be sacked four times two weeks ago, and one of his favored options at wideout and electric return man, AJ Cruz, is off to the NFL.
The team may need to lean a little more on its defense than it has in the past.
It certainly has the bodies to do so. While two of the League’s best offenses are squaring off Friday night, the matchup between the best two scoring defenses, statistically, provides the most intriguing angle to an already must-see game.
In addition to Kellem, Marquis Floyd and Arkeith Brown prowl Arizona’s secondary and have poached 23 of the team’s 24 interceptions in 2015. But intercepting Meyers is tough and they can’t cling to the hope that it’ll happen. They have to do their best to cover wide receiver Reggie Gray who just became San Jose’s all-time leader in receptions and touchdown catches. He leads the League with 41 touchdown receptions this year and requires a defense’s full attention if you don’t want him to burn you – and he might anyway.
Even if these squads manage to miss each other in the 2015 playoffs, watching two teams at this caliber meet on the turf is always a treat for Arena Football fans.
Week 19’s main event signals the playoffs have already started.
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