San Jose’s 89-41 victory against the Colorado Crush last week caused a buzz across the Arena Football League.
For starters, two players from the same team gained weekly AFL honors for the first time this season.
San Jose’s Rodney Wright gained the league’s Ironman award with three receptions for 81 yards and a touchdown, two touchdowns on kick returns and seven tackles, an interception and a pass breakup.
San Jose, which set a record for points by a visiting team, also had quarterback Mark Grieb named offensive player of the week. Grieb completed all 15 of his passes, eight for touchdowns. The 15-for-15 effort set an AFL record.
Damen Wheeler, a former University of Colorado star now with the Los Angeles Avengers, broke up a potential sweep for the SaberCats by being named defensive player of the week. The Avengers defeated Chicago 52-49, providing the Crush with the only good news of the weekend. Chicago’s loss kept the Crush in first place in the Central Division.
But keeping first place was little consolation for Crush coach Mike Dailey. Still smarting from the loss, the Crush went through a quiet, but rigid practice Tuesday.
Dailey talked of the championship curse that seems to have his team in its grip. Colorado’s four losses have come to Orlando 39-36, twice to Chicago by scores of 51-48 and 75-51 and the lopsided home loss to San Jose. Orlando and San Jose have won AFL championships, with the the SaberCats winning two of the past three ArenaBowls.
“If we want to make strides forward as a program, those are the teams we have to be competitive with and be able to win against those teams,” Dailey said.
Dailey waived lineman Tank Reese, but said the decision wasn’t based only on the game.
“We have to go back to fundamentals,” Dailey said, “go back to what made us good when we won eight games.”
Crush defensive specialist Rashad Floyd, who was replaced during the San Jose game, was eager to make amends.
“There are no excuses,” Floyd said. “I take full credit for what happened in our secondary. … The most important thing right now is getting back on the winning track. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Pop Warner team, we have to get a win.”
The Crush (8-4) plays Saturday night at Grand Rapids. The Rampage is 1-11.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
