Steve Wasil News Today

The playoff teams are all set. Chicago and Cleveland won their respective divisions, while Georgia, Orlando and Spokane clinched playoff berths. Jacksonville has dropped three straight and San Jose failed to reach the postseason for the first time since 1999. The defending champion Shock pulled off a miracle last-second play to sneak into the playoffs after starting the season 4-7. There's a lot to cover in the first Week 19 in AFL history so buckle up.

It may not have looked pretty, but the Kansas City Command won their second game of the season against the Chicago Rush with a final score 58-51. The Command showed up, ready to play this game, and ready to put last week's loss behind them.

The Tampa Bay Storm (4-3) took the Southern Division lead in Week 8 in the league's version of Monday Night Football over the hapless Kansas City Command (0-6) 63-46. But of course, a comedy of errors, a few utterly hilarious comments, and a shameless promotion gone bad later, all that was left from this one was a bunch of things to laugh about a league that is getting worse and worse with each passing week.

After back-to-back bye weeks, I'm back with more breakdowns, more history and more AFL than anywhere else. Arizona won the West, Jacksonville won a record tying 12th straight, Tommy Grady tossed ten TDs again, Derrick Ross set the single-season rushing record (without apparently anyone knowing about it), Tampa Bay evened the War on I-4 and a few more thousand words to fill the void until Week 16 kicks off. Breaking it Down is back!

Another late comeback was not to be. Entering the final quarter with a seven point lead, the Rush stepped on the gas and pulled away to a comfortable 58-30 victory.

Last season wasn't exactly a banner year for quarterbacks around the Arena Football League. It was the first time in the AFL v2.0 era that only two men threw for more than 100 touchdowns, and it was the first time since 2002 that no one completed even 68 percent of his passes.

Back in the day of the AFL, there were four games (and often as many as six) that you never wanted to miss. You knew when the Tampa Bay Storm played the Orlando Predators that the game was going to be bloody and that both squads were going to give it their all to beat the snot out of the other. You also knew that when the Arizona Rattlers played the San Jose SaberCats that there would be fireworks.

Anyone who has followed my writing over the years knows how much of a fan I am of clock management. I harped on Jay Gruden about it seemingly each and every week when he was coaching the Orlando Predators, and I have written articles about how to manage the clock in the past. On Friday night though, my ire is with Steve Thonn of the Cleveland Gladiators, who watched his team get demolished 69-48 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in front of 8,686 fans.

After twenty grueling weeks and 156 games, the longest AFL regular season has come to close. Lucky for you, this final regular season edition of Breaking it Down is perhaps the longest single article about the AFL in league history. Nearly 7,000 words of wisdom chock full of nuggets, morsels and all sorts of chewy and yummy AFL notes that'll fill you up while you're not watching live AFL playoff games in your living room this week.

The Kansas City Command played 60 minutes of intense action Friday night. That only earned them a tie. They needed one more touchdown in overtime and a spirited defensive effort on the Jacksonville Sharks final extra point attempt to secure this win, 49-48