The Colorado Crush won’t have a downhill run through the second half of the Arena Football League season, if quarterback John Dutton has his way. Dutton laid out a tough uphill course Thursday for the defending ArenaBowl champions, starting with Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against the Columbus Destroyers at the Pepsi Center.
“We’re No. 1, and we don’t want to relinquish that,” Dutton said. “Our goal is to win all eight games. We figure that teams such as Nashville are going to win, so we have to keep winning, too.”
Dutton and coach Mike Dailey left little doubt the goal is to stay ahead in the race to gain home-field advantage in the postseason. The Crush leads the American Conference with a 6-2 record, one game ahead of Nashville (5-3) in the Central Division. The Crush hosts Nashville a week from Saturday.
Columbus begins a tough two-week test against conference leaders. After playing the Crush this week, the Destroyers play at National Conference leader Dallas (7-1).
“To get the No. 1 seed is our goal, and I think we’re going to have to win the next eight games to reach our goal,” Dutton said. “The home field is huge, especially in the Arena League,” Dutton said. “The home-field advantage probably is the key to winning a championship.”
Only five of the 18 teams have records better than .500 heading into the second half of the season.
“Our hope is to make the playoffs and to be in the best position to advance,” Dailey said. “The things that matter in that regard are, are you healthy and are you playing at home.”
Dailey noted in the past two seasons, 10 or 11 victories were required to make the playoffs.
“Maybe it could be a little less this year,” he said. “There are a variety of factors. We have two expansion teams this year, and the movement of players through free agency always is a factor.”
Crush/Saturday
Who: Columbus Destroyers (4-4) vs. Colorado Crush (6-2)
What: Arena Football League
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Pepsi Center
TV/radio: FSN/KHOW 630 AM
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
