Page 20 - Fl Stats News Today

The Arena Football League was founded on players playing offense, defense and special teams. You had to do a little bit of everything if you wanted to make cut it. The AFL has since become tremendously specialized, and it isn't often you see a player who can play both sides of the ball effectively.

One started in Finland and stopped in Cincinnati, Louisville, and Kansas City. The other spent time in South Carolina, Columbus, Wilkes-Barre, Manchester, and Arkansas. However, on Friday night, both Tampa Bay Storm QB Brett Dietz and Spokane Shock QB Kyle Rowley will take to the field for ArenaBowl XXIII.

Last year, the Jacksonville Sharks and the Arizona Rattlers combined to score 143 points in a 73-70 game. It was the highest scoring ArenaBowl in league history, and it is the second highest scoring playoff game that the AFL has ever seen as well. The Rattlers are back, but this time around, it is the Philadelphia Soul that they are playing for the Foster Trophy this weekend, and the fireworks could be flying if both of these offenses play up to their potential.

Some people view athletes as stuck up, big-headed and uncaring about their fans. But, when it comes to the AFL that's not the case.

Week 12 saw Arizona continue its dominance over the league with a 70-21 crushing of the San Antonio Talons to go to 11-1. We saw another low-scoring game for the sixth week in a row with Iowa and Cleveland grinding out a 37-33 final. Orlando scored a stunning win in the War On I-4 and is now a possible playoff team. At 3-8, yes at 3-8.

On Thursday night, the Arena Football League canceled the Week 18 game between the New Orleans VooDoo and the Las Vegas Outlaws. A statement made by the AFL really shed no light on why the game was being canceled, how the game was going to show up in the standings or what it was going to mean to the playoff picture. There are really only two resolutions at this point that the league can take, though. Either the ownerless Outlaws need to be shut down immediately, or they need to be barred from th...

The 2013 season was a roller coaster for the Spokane Shock. They started hot with a five-game winning streak and then cooled considerably with a three-game losing streak. They rebounded and finished the season on a 10-1 run to finish the regular season with a 14-4 record. They won a nail-biter against the now-defunct Chicago Rush in their opening playoff game followed by a crushing defeat to the Arizona Rattlers. Their sights are still set on the ArenaBowl for 2014.

Since Week 1, the Philadelphia Soul have allowed only the Jacksonville Sharks to score more than 50 points in a game. The defense has been very strong so far this season and may not even be at their peak yet.

On a night new head coach Lawrence Samuels called overwhelming, the Tampa Bay Storm were able to grind out a 62-57 win over the division rival New Orleans VooDoo.

How about that third quarter? Thanks to great defensive line play, turnover mojo, and a Jacksonville implosion, the San Jose SaberCats turned what was a competitive game into a laugher in just 15 minutes in ArenaBowl XXVIII.