We can add the Chicago Rush to the ‘teams that don’t have backup quarterback issues’ list after watching Russ Michna play for the past two weeks. With Shedrick Bonner sidelined with a knee injury, missing his third game of the season, Michna led the Rush to a come-from behind victory over Grand Rapids this past weekend. His stat-line was truly impressive, completing 28 of 33 pass attempts for 300 yards and five touchdowns. In fact, Michna is currently the highest rated quarterback in the league, giving Rush head coach Mike Hohensee plenty of leeway if Bonner’s injury lingers.

It’s the halfway point of the season for the New Orleans VooDoo, with a 6-2 record in their first eight games. Mike Neu’s team has already surpassed last year’s win total for the full season, when the VooDoo slumped to a 5-11 mark. The biggest key to the turnaround has been their ability to make big plays on defense. New Orleans finished with an extremely rare +6 turnover margin against Arizona in their blowout win over the Rattlers this past weekend. The VooDoo have now forced 26 turnovers through eight games, already surpassing last year’s full season total of 21 turnovers created.

We spent the first month of the season looking to bet against the New York Dragons, as they struggled mightily on offense, failing to score more than 50 points in any of their first five games, thanks to the inconsistent play of backup quarterback Rohan Davey. Davey was subsequently cut; veteran starter Aaron Garcia has returned to health, and the Dragons have scored 66, 63 and 62 point offensive efforts in their last three games, with Garcia guiding the Dragons to touchdowns on 23 of their 29 meaningful drives during that span. Garcia: "We give our receivers a lot of freedom. Each week we play together we’re getting more in sync. The line is playing a little better and that gives me more time with some of our crossing routes. We’re just trying to get better each week and I think we’re taking the right steps."

But to highlight the New York offense doesn’t give their defense the credit they deserve for helping to engineer this major turnaround. The Dragons have shut down four straight opponents, holding Dallas to a season low 33, Grand Rapids to a season low 34, Tampa Bay to a season low 47 and Columbus to their second lowest scoring output, 44 points. Against Tampa this past weekend, the Dragons forced three turnovers and notched a safety. Any defense that allows only 18 touchdowns on 40 meaningful drives through a four game span is doing something very right! Dragons head coach Weylan Harding: "I’m happy with the overall effort of the whole team -- work ethic, execution, effort and those guys playing hard. There’s no secret to football. If we can get all of the guys on the same page and executing, more times than not, you’ll be successful. I can’t say enough how they gelled together."

The Orlando Predators have defined the concept of ‘cardiac kids’ this year. Six of their last seven games have been decided on the very last play of the game, including their wild win over Georgia this past weekend. If it’s a close game, right now, Orlando has a decided advantage. Quarterback Shane Stafford has led the Predators on the game winning drive in the final minute five times in their last six games. And the Predators defense, which struggled so badly early in the season, has been able to protect those leads in the dramatic final seconds. Orlando head coach Jay Gruden, after their last second win over the Force on Saturday: "We have had six games go down to the wire and we have had guys step up in big situations, that’s a great sign for us, everybody stepped up tonight."

The San Jose Sabercats have not looked much like the Arena Bowl champions that they were last year while stumbling to a 4-4 start. We’ve seen their multi-year home winning streak get snapped against Dallas. We’ve seen the Sabercats blow a 26-point lead to lose to Philadelphia. We’ve seen San Jose struggle on both sides of the football in ugly road losses by 23 at Chicago and by 29 at New Orleans. But every one of those losses has one thing in common – they’ve all come against other ‘elite’ level teams, arguably the best four teams in the AFL so far this season. But starting with their game this past weekend at Utah, only one of San Jose’s final nine opponents currently sports a winning record, giving Darren Arbet’s team a prime opportunity for a much stronger second half of the season.

Arena Football is no different from ‘regular’ football in at least one regard – if you consistently lose the turnover battle every week, you’re going to have a hard time winning games. The Tampa Bay Storm have been on the wrong end of that turnover battle week after week, a major part of the reason behind their devastating five game losing streak. After failing to force a single turnover again this past weekend, the Storm have now gone four full games without forcing a single turnover – no fumble recoveries, no interceptions, nothing! Head coach Tim Marcum said last week that he’d never coached a team that had gone three straight games without creating a turnover before, let alone four straight games.

To make matters even worse for Tampa Bay, their special teams units have gone on the fritz as well. Against New York this past weekend, the Storm average starting field position was at their own nine yard line. The Dragons averaged starting at their own 19. In fact, since key return man Sedrick Robinson got hurt in Week 3 against New Orleans, the Storm haven’t started a single drive in the opposition’s territory. During that four game span Tampa Bay’s average starting field position was at their own eight-yard line. Their opponents starting field position averaged their own 17-yard line. That nine yards per possession field position differential (on a 50-yard field) has simply been too much to make up for a team that isn’t forcing many defensive stops.

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