It’s hard to believe that just one year ago to the day, the New Jersey Gladiators were 1-8 and were coming off an embarrassing 68-22 defeat inflicted by the Carolina Cobras. The New Jersey fans were leaving in droves and those that remained loyal were the butt of AFL jokes until they got in on the joke themselves by wearing bags on their heads to games. Meanwhile, somewhere in the mid-west, a coach was winning his twenty-sixth game in twenty-six tries. Today that coach is behind one of the most refreshing turn-around stories in the AFL this season. Frank Haege & Co. has transformed a laughing stock in to a contender almost overnight and the fans are coming back.
Okay, eight weeks does not a dynasty make, but after the ultra-convincing bashing of the defending AFL champions, you have to excuse Ike’s Army and the New Jersey faithful for being a bit giddy. It’s almost as if last week’s 44-14 whooping in the Windy City never happened. Say what you will (especially you Dragon fans who tore New Jersey a new orifice last season), but the Gladiators have the best record in the National Conference and are sitting alone atop the Eastern Division. And all of this happiness comes at the expense of the Grand Rapids Rampage.
New Jersey had a lot of questions to answer after the Chicago loss. They responded loudly with a stifling defense, solid special teams effort and the resurgence of a chastised quarterback who merely tossed eight TDs without an interception. Forget the drive-by-drive game analysis, this game looked like more of a drive-by-shooting than it did a football game. To sum it up, New Jersey scored a TD on almost every possession while Grand Rapids couldn’t muster up much of a threat. Rumor has it that the Rampage took the Glads so lightly that they passed on game preparations in order to go sight-seeing in New York City.
Wilky Bazille said in a pre-game Q&A that the Gladiators were a good team that still had yet to play to its potential in all phases of the game. Well Wilky didn’t have to wait long for the Glads to fire on all cylinders. Once Gary Compton coughed up the rock early in the first to give New Jersey control of the game, the Glad fans knew they were in for a special treat in the Meadowlands. There was no question New Jersey was on the way to a convincing win. The only concern to the Glads was if Compton would look up his ol’ buddy Jeffrey Kessler to see if he could somehow sue the Gladiators for defamation of ability.
Another question settled was, if after the Chicago loss, Frank Haege would draw his team back into a bunker mentality the way his predecessors had. Nope. Not our man Haege. This Frank may be the biggest Frank to hit this area since Ol’ Blue Eyes was seen crooning the hot spots in Hoboken. Does Haege coach with ice-water in his veins? Answer: the Gladiators never attempted a field goal all night long. For this Frank, each drive was seven or nothing. This head coach beamed with a ‘damn-the-torpedoes’ mentality that was felt throughout the Continental Airlines Arena. And the fans loved all sixty minutes of it.
On a player level, Jay McDonagh made a statement with his performance as did the entire offense. In addition to Mickey D’s eight TDs, Jay and the offense ran for EIGHTY YARDS and TWO rushing touchdowns. Jamaar Ward’s slo-mo rumbling TD was a thing of beauty. He plowed over helpless Rampage defenders looking like Godzilla stomping on a helpless Japanese village. Defensive specialist Damon Mason played like a madman who wanted to prove something after being torched in Chicago. Well Damon… you proved yourself, just play like that every week, okay?
Am I making too much of this win? Maybe so... it’s been a long time coming in New Jersey. Maybe it’s just that the Glads are following a simple pattern of win two and lose one regardless of the opponent or venue. Whatever the reason, New Jersey is winning and Ike is smiling. If the Loss-Win-Win pattern holds true, I wouldn’t want to be Tim Marcum on Saturday night.
In a few days, the Glads pay a visit on a few old friends in Tampa Bay. In their first two years, the New Jersey franchise was en fuego until a 23-49 loss to Tampa Bay in the 1998 semi-finals. Since that August night and up until this season, New Jersey won only twelve of forty-two games. But that was them, this is now. It will also be odd watching ex-Gladiators Lawrence Samuels and David Saunders line up in blue and gold. But this is a new day, a new coach and a new team and no one in the National Conference has a better record than the New Jersey Gladiators!
IN HAEGE WE TRUST...
- Scoopus Maximus
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