The second game of the National Arena League (NAL) playoffs is set to kickoff this weekend as the Monterrey Steel travel to Florida to face the Jacksonville Sharks. Here’s some information about the Monterrey Steel-Jacksonville Sharks Playoff matchup.
Game Info
Game: No. 4 Monterrey Steel at No. 1 Jacksonville Sharks
Arena: Veteran’s Memorial Arena
Location: Jacksonville, Florida
Time: Saturday, June 22, 2017 at 7:00 pm
Monterrey Steel @ Jacksonville Sharks Playoff Preview
A postseason playoffs will finally be played in Jacksonville for the first time since 2013 this Saturday as the Sharks (11-1) square off against the Monterrey Steel (7-4).
The first two times these two met, it was Jacksonville who came out victorious by a long-shot, but Monterrey had the final laugh of the regular-season, ending Jacksonville’s perfect year.
Monterrey Steel Preview
Monterrey had some quarterback issues in the first half of the season, but found the perfect fit with Bernard Morris.
Morris, in his four games, threw 51 of 79 for 607 yards, 13 touchdowns, and three interceptions. Morris also leads the Steel in rushing with 16 rushes for 88 yards and four touchdowns.
The Steel recently dropped Mardy Gilyard, their second-best receiver in yards and touchdowns.
London Crawford for the Steel got things going this season with 59 receptions for 745 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Their next best receiver outside of Gilyard is Dello Davis. Davis has 32 catches for 343 yards and 5 touchdowns.
It’s pretty obvious who Morris is going to go to most of the time, not only because Crawford leads the team in receptions, yards, and touchdowns, but because Crawford has performed well in Jacksonville against his old team and they will keep feeding him more.
The Monterrey Steel offense averages 43.5 points per game this season.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Steel have the best defensive line, getting the most sacks in the whole NAL with a total of 48.
Joe Sykes leads the steel in sacks with 15.5 and Jabari Fletcher is right behind him with 13 sacks.
Svante Davenport leads the team in interceptions with seven for 74 yards and one touchdown. The next person in line is Justin Broome with six interceptions for 77 yards and two touchdowns.
The Steel defense averages 33.1 points allowed per game this season.
Jacksonville Sharks Preview
Just like the Monterrey Steel, the Jacksonville Sharks have not had a steady quarterback situation the whole year.
Tommy Grady got injured when the Sharks beat the Steel earlier in the season.
Damien Fleming took over in Jacksonville and threw 90 of 138 for 1,047 yards, 18 touchdowns, and six interceptions in his 10 out of 12 games played, six of them being starts.
The Sharks signed Jason Boltus later in the season, hoping he would bring this Jacksonville offense some light, but in just two games, he threw 17 of 38 for 196 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions, one game being a start.
Although these stats may give him the best quarterback rating with 131.03, Boltus has caused some issues in the previous game with not getting the snap under control.
The Sharks have an amazing wide receiver combo. Maurice Williams, Darryl Thompson, and Thyron Lewis combine for 132 receptions for 1,778 yards, and 33 touchdowns.
A new face in Jacksonville is Emughedi Umodo. In his two games in Jacksonville, he has 10 receptions for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Watch out for him because as the numbers say, he will break out and become a star when he needs to be.
Don’t forget about Derrick Ross. Ross has put up some impressive numbers this season. He has 110 rushes for 521 yards and 25 touchdowns. He will run over people and hurdle through defenders as if there was nobody to begin with.
This Jacksonville team puts up an average of 58.1 points per game.
The Jacksonville defense has experienced a lot of changes throughout the season, losing players, adding players, and even recently having a defensive coordinator change.
Marvin Ross leads the Jacksonville defense with eight interceptions and one touchdown before leaving to go to the Canadian Football League after Jacksonville’s eighth win.
The next active player on this roster is Charlie Hunt Jr. with seven interceptions for 147 yards and two touchdowns.
The leading tackler on the Sharks defense is Micheaux Robinson with a total of 37.5 tackles. Shortly behind him, there is Hunt with 36.5 tackles.
The sack leader for Jacksonville’s defense is Jermiah Price with nine sacks. Keep in mind that Price was injured and didn’t play the last game of the regular season. This could have contributed to Monterrey winning last weekend.
What To Look For
Jacksonville, according to nationalarenaleague.com, signed Wide Receiver Joe Hills from the Tampa Bay Storm on Thursday. The former AFL player is a dangerous threat on any offense.
The main question for the Sharks receivers is how they will play all five (5) of their receivers evenly. That will be something interesting to watch for in the game.
Look for Greg Reid and his second game with the Monterrey Steel.
Last week was a little silent for him as he recorded four tackles and a fumble recovery. The fumble recovery was potentially the game-winning recovery, because he recovered a fumble in their own end zone with under a minute remaining in the game to secure the Steel their first victory in Jacksonville. Watch out for Reid and his explosiveness on the field.
Special teams will play a huge factor in this game. The Steel have Brandon Rutherford. who has made a career in the NAL for kicking field goals like they’re nothing.
Nick Belcher, on the other hand, for the Sharks averages 11 points per game, being the fourth best in the NAL this season. If Belcher goes on a deuce streak in this game, it could be lights out and goodbye for Monterrey.
The penalties from both of these teams are crazy. Both teams are so hungry for the ball and hungry to score that they will do anything to do just that, even if it means a flag will fly onto the field. Whoever has the least amount of penalties in this game will have the biggest advantage. Penalties are free yards for the other team, so do not give the other team the advantage.
All of the action can be seen live on YouTube this Saturday.
