Unless you’re willing to listen to a motivational speech that will have you ready to walk through a wall, don’t ask Rashad Floyd why a 6-10 team would want to play in the postseason.
If Floyd and the Colorado Crush beat Kansas City on Saturday night at the Pepsi Center, the Crush will finish the Arena Football League’s regular season 6-10 and be in the playoffs. And if the Utah Blaze loses at Arizona (8-7) on Saturday, the Crush not only will be in the playoffs, it will have a home game.
There are practical and prideful parts to Floyd’s speech.
“It’s fair to say our record doesn’t show how good of a team we have,” Floyd said. “We’d be 6-10 with players who have won a championship. That’s the difference. The effort has been there all year and now we want to do something special.”
And there’s a side to Floyd’s speech that says, “Show him the money.”
“The contracts we have are for 16 games in the regular season,” Floyd said. “Everything we would make in the postseason is a bonus. We don’t have high salaries in this league and the postseason is a chance to earn some extra money.”
Floyd, who moved into second place on the league’s all-time tackle list with 744 after last week’s 62-55 victory over Arizona, believes a trip to the playoffs wouldn’t be a token appearance. In the last two seasons, the Chicago Rush and Columbus Destroyers have played in the ArenaBowl after entering the playoffs with less than a .500 record. The Rush won the title two years ago.
“The faith is there,” Floyd said. “We haven’t fragmented as a team and there hasn’t been finger-pointing. If we didn’t believe in ourselves as a team, we would have given up.”
As a team captain, Floyd delivered a message to his teammates.
“I told our players before we played Arizona that we had to be good soldiers,” Floyd said. “Anytime you have coach Mike Dailey as the head of the ship, you have a great opportunity.”
Floyd practiced what he preached against the Rattlers, with nine tackles and a pass interception as the Crush snapped a five-game losing streak.
“If we want to be one of the teams still playing next week, the effort we had against Arizona has to carry over to Saturday night,” Floyd said.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
