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Posts Tagged ‘Cleveland Gladiators’

July 3rd, 2010 By Andrew "Mr. Multi-Task" Ryan - Cappersinfo Contributor

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After a full Friday night slate of games, the AFL betting campaign wraps up its 14th week of play on Saturday night with three more tussles. In our highlighted game of the week, the Cleveland Gladiators will take to the road to battle with the Orlando Predators at Amway Arena.

Cleveland Gladiators (+3) @ Orlando Predators
Saturday, July 3rd
7:30 ET, Amway Arena, Orlando, FL

Cleveland Notes: This is the final road game of the season for the Gladiators, mercifully. The squad had been playing decent ball away from home before its last two encounters as visitors. Cleveland was dropped 65-44 last week in Tulsa and 82-54 in Milwaukee back on June 12th. However, this is still a defense that has played some fantastic ball in the interim, holding five of its L/7 opponents to 55 points or less. That may not sound like a great benchmark, but in this league, keeping that consistent, especially against the likes of Jacksonville and Chicago, is saying something. After throwing eight picks in his first three games of the season, QB John Dutton has really limited his mistakes. The AFL veteran has completed 65.3 percent of his passes this year for 3,511 yards and 68 TD passes. His leading receiver, Ben Nelson, is one of the best in the league. Nelson has already accounted for 118 catches, 1,526 yards, and 39 TDs on the season. His worst game this season saw him catch just seven balls for 98 yards against Chicago, a nd he has found the end zone at least twice in all of his games.

Orlando Notes: The good news for the Predators is that DB Rayshawn Kizer is going to be the man matched up against Nelson all day long. Kizer has nine picks on the season to go with five pass breakups and three fumble recoveries, making him one of the top defensive backs in the league. Orlando's defense has come a long way from the outset of the season, holding four straight and six out of seven foes under that critical 55 point barrier, but the offense has really been either hit or miss all year long. Since scoring 70 points on Dallas in Week 5, the Preds have only topped 58 points once in a game. QB Nick Hill has some of the worst numbers in the league, as he has only thrown for 2,766 yards and 44 TDs against 13 INTs in his first season in the AFL. Hill does have the ability to scramble when plays break down, but even his 11 rushing touchdowns doesn't make up for all of those mistakes. His wide receivers are in a heck of a lot of trouble right now, as TT Toliver and Bobby Sippio will be playing banged up, while Derrick Lewis has most likely already been lost for the season.

The Final Word: Consider this as good as a playoff game to either team. Yes, Orlando knows that an Alabama loss to Jacksonville on Saturday night is just as good as a win against Cleveland, but the Preds aren't going to want to take their chances. The Gladiators are 2.5 games outside of the playoff chase right now, but with three home games left on the slate after this, anything can happen if the team can still reach nine wins. We aren't really thrilled about the way that either team is playing right now, as both were taken behind the shed on the road last week. This game is pretty much a tossup that we could see going either direction. When all else fails, grab the points given to you. Cleveland is every bit as strong as Orlando is, and is a heck of a lot healthier to boot.

Prediction: Cleveland 48 – Orlando 44

Week 14 AFL Betting Card
Cleveland (+3) @ Orlando
Jacksonville (-6.5) vs. Alabama

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June 25th, 2010 By Andrew "Mr. Multi-Task" Ryan - Cappersinfo Contributor

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Arena Football League betting action continues on Saturday with the 13th week of play. In what should be one of the most hotly contested battles of the weekend, the Cleveland Gladiators will travel to the Sooner State to tango with the Tulsa Talons.

Cleveland Gladiators (+2) @ Tulsa Talons
Saturday, June 26th
8:00 ET, BOK Center, Tulsa, OK

Cleveland Notes: The Gladiators are starting to really put it together. They rebounded from the beat down they suffered at Milwaukee two weeks ago by coming home and absolutely tattooing Iowa 76-35. QB John Dutton is going to surpass the 70 touchdown barrier this week, as he has 68 for the season. Dutton has thrown for 3,511 yards and completed 65.3 percent of his passes on the year, and after starting off with eight picks in his first two games, Dutton has calmed down and only thrown four blunders since then. Keep a close eye on WR Ben Nelson, who has been one of the best receivers in the league all season long. Nelson leads the team in receptions (118), receiving yards (1,526), and receiving touchdowns (39). With 89 yards through the air, WR Chris Johnson will hit the 1,000 yard mark on the season. The defense has picked off 12 passes on the season, two of which came last week. DT Anthony Hoke picked up two sacks against the Barnstormers as well, giving him a team high 4.5 on the year.

Tulsa Notes: Since starting 2-0, Tulsa has been a very average team that really hasn't picked up any tremendously impressive victories in the interim. QB Justin Allgood entered Week 13 as the leading touchdown passer in the AFL with 75. He has thrown for 3,063 yards as well, including back to back games with at least 340 passing yards. FB Odie Armstrong is quickly becoming one of the most feared rushers in the league, as he has 236 yards and eight scores on the season. WR Donovan Morgan should be able to compete with Nelson, as he has 88 catches, 1,309 yards, and 37 scores on the year. WR Jeff Hughley has over 2,000 all-purpose yards and 22 TDs. The defense has allowed three straight foes to reach 50+ points and has consistently failed to pick up the offense when it is faltering.

The Final Word: This is a very, very important game for both teams. Cleveland, at 5-6, probably won't stand a chance of making the playoffs with a defeat, as it would drop three games in the loss column behind the Milwaukee Iron for the final playoff slot in the National Conference. Tulsa has no worries about making the postseason unless the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz catch some fire, but trying to keep up with the 8-3 Tampa Bay Storm in the American Conference is the goal. Cleveland should be playing with more intensity in this one, especially considering the stakes, and we're going to go with the team with the hotter hand right now to come away with a road victory.

Prediction: Cleveland 55 – Tulsa 51

Week 13 AFL Betting Card
Cleveland (+2) @ Tulsa
Chicago (-7.5) vs. Orlando Utah (+14.5) @ Iowa

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April 9th, 2010 By Andrew "Mr. Multi-Task" Ryan - Cappersinfo Contributor

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The NFL Network will be covering yet another fantastic AFL betting duel on Friday night, and here at Cappers Info, we've got the lowdown on everything you need to know about the game between the Cleveland Gladiators and the Chicago Rush, as well as the rest of our Week 2 selections.

Cleveland Gladiators (+8) vs. Chicago Rush

Cleveland Notes: QB John Dutton had one of the worst games of his AFL career in Week 1 against Arizona. In spite of the fact that he threw for 287 yards and seven TDs, he also threw four interceptions. However, it became clear that this was going to be a lethal offense if Dutton could hang onto the football. WR Ben Nelson scored four times in what could be a real breakout year for the veteran that used to play in San Jose. WR Brent Holmes, who was solid with the Georgia Force two years ago, caught six passes for 85 yards and two TDs, and he also picked up 30 kick return yards to boot. The biggest problem that this team had in Week 1 was kick coverage, as two kickoffs were returned for touchdowns. The Gladiators led 35-14 at halftime, but gave up the lead with a miserable start to the third quarter in which Arizona started on a 21-0 run.

Chicago Notes: The jury is still out on the Rush this year. Beating a lowly Iowa team that many expect to see amongst the worst in the AFL isn't exactly impressive by any means, particularly since QB Russ Michna, much like Dutton, turned the ball over four times (one INT, three fumbles). The Chicago offense might've scored 61 points, but by no means can HC Mike Hohensee be overly thrilled with that unit. His defense came up with stop after stop though, forcing six turnovers and coming up with a turnover on downs. All three defensive backs picked off passes for the Rush, while LB Clifton Smith picked up two of the four Chicago sacks on the day. The 61-43 win was the biggest margin of victory in Week 1 of the season.

The Final Word: This line has already dropped from 10.5 down to eight as of Friday morning, and will most likely drop even further by game time. Don't be overly surprised to find out that the wrong team is favored in this one. The Cleveland offense proved last week that it can do anything it wants to, while the defense only legitimately conceded six touchdowns, three of which were on very short fields. Chicago has one of the best home field advantages in the AFL though, so it may pull out a narrow victory. Still, taking the points, even as low as +3 is probably the better option.

Prediction: Chicago 59 – Cleveland 57

Entire AFL Week 2 Card
Cleveland +8 @ Chicago
Spokane +1 @ Utah

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April 3rd, 2010 By Andrew "Mr. Multi-Task" Ryan - Cappersinfo Contributor

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The Arena Football League is back after a year long hiatus, and after a great first night of action, the league returns with a four-pack of games on Saturday night to dig into.

Arizona Rattlers (+3) vs. Cleveland Gladiators

Arizona Notes: On one glance, losing out on QB Joe Germaine in the offseason was bad news for the Rattlers. However, grabbing Nick Davila, who went 38-3 in the af2 over the L/3 seasons as a starting quarterback in the af2, isn't stepping back too much even though the name isn't as recognizable to AFL fans. Even though neither WRs JJ McKelvey nor Cleannord Santil are going to suit it up, there is still plenty of Arena League quality talent coming back to the desert. The offensive line should be amongst the best in the league with Troy Reddick and Kyle Young, and the defensive front is going to be solid with DLs Ron Jones and Darrell Shropshire as well.  Look for WRs Tod Devoe and Trandon Harvey to have big games against an inexperienced Cleveland secondary.

Cleveland Notes: QB John Dutton takes over the reins in Cleveland off of a season in which he threw 17 picks, his fourth straight season in which he chucked at least 14 duds to the other team. In a league where taking care of the football is paramount, that's a terrible statistic. The combination of Ben Nelson, Brent Holmes, and Chris Johnson makes up for a veteran set of wide receivers, but neither of the lines really have any substantial arena league experience to fall back on. The defensive backs also haven't seen a lot of time on the turf at this level either.

The Final Word: Arizona is simply the better team in this game. Both head coaches, Kevin Guy (AZ) and Steve Thonn (CLE) know what they're doing in this league, but Guy has assembled the better set of assistant coaches, including Arena Football Hall of Famer Danny White, who led this Arizona squad to two Arena Bowl titles in his tenure. But as long as Davila doesn't catch a case of the AFL fever, he should be good enough to lead his Rattlers to a road upset in a game which could feature a ton of scoring.

Prediction: Arizona 79 – Cleveland 68

Entire AFL Week 1 Card
Arizona +3 @ Colorado
Oklahoma City +4 vs. Jacksonville

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