Coach Mike Dailey didn’t need anything more than the final score in Friday night’s game against the San Jose SaberCats to know it was time to put a net under his Colorado Crush’s free fall in the AFL standings.
Dailey didn’t want to look at the scoreboard, which told of San Jose’s 89-41 rout at the Pepsi Center. The score was enough to make Dailey say he wasn’t going to offer the same excuses for his team any longer.
“We’re going to have to do some things to get ourselves back together after getting beat up badly two weeks in a row,” Dailey said. “I don’t want to rush to judge, but we got our rear ends kicked good, and I don’t have an answer. You can’t assume anything ever at this level of football.”
The loss to the SaberCats came five days after a 75-51 loss at Chicago. The two losses have put the Crush’s prime position in jeopardy. Colorado (8-4) is one game ahead of Chicago (7-5) in the Central Division and tied with San Jose for the best record in the American Conference.
“We’re going to have to fight, kick and scratch to try to get ourselves back to playing well,” Dailey said.
The Crush plays Saturday night at Grand Rapids.
The SaberCats’ 89 points set an AFL record for points by a visiting team. San Jose quarterback Mark Grieb set a league record with a perfect game. Grieb completed all of his 15 passes (for 331 yards and eight touchdowns) to break the previous best of 12-for-12 by Carolina’s Carlos Garay in 2000.
The loss to the SaberCats left most of the Crush players in shock, but veteran quarterback John Dutton knows what this week will bring.
“Coach is going to kick us in the butt, and maybe we need that,” Dutton said. “I’ve never seen or been a part of a performance like this. We have to somehow make some changes. I don’t what else to say. It was unbelievable. We went in at halftime already behind by 42 points (56-14).”
During the game, Dailey benched defensive specialist Rashad Floyd, the arena league’s leading tackler. Dailey was critical of his team’s tackling. The SaberCats scored six touchdowns on one-play possessions, four on Grieb passes and two on kick returns.
Receiver and defensive back Willis Marshall was the lone bright spot for the Crush. He had seven catches for 64 yards and a touchdown as well as 235 yards and a touchdown on eight kick returns.
“When you’re playing a good team, you can’t afford to get behind more than one touchdown,” Marshall said. “Look just how quickly we can go from being in the driver’s seat two weeks ago, and now we’re fighting for our lives and our backs are against the wall right now just to make the playoffs. To get to the ArenaBowl, it’s about just making the playoffs for us right now.”
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
