One day after losing their fourth straight game, an Arena Football League legend arrived in town in hopes of helping the Utah Blaze out of their current slump.
Andy Kelly, the AFL's all-time leader in passing completions, attempts and yards, drove from Kansas City — where he was cut by the Brigade last week — to Salt Lake City on Saturday. He is expected to sign a contract with the Blaze for the remainder of the season, either today or Monday, and will be in uniform for the team's next practice Monday morning — as long as he passes his physical and the signing is approved by the AFL, as is expected.
What the signing means for Jason Gesser, who has started the past four games in place of injured starter Joe Germaine, is unclear. With Friday night's home loss to the Arizona Rattlers, the Blaze fell to 3-8 on the season with five games remaining.
Gesser blamed himself for Friday's loss immediately after the game. He openly wondered if he would lose his job.
"I may not be here next game," said Gesser. "When a quarterback doesn't come through in the clutch like that, you never know what is going to happen."
Blaze coach Danny White said Gesser won't lose his roster spot, however.
"Jason will be on the team," said White. "Jason is our kind of guy. I know he is taking (the losses) hard, but he has worked hard and has spent hours and hours and hours in the film room studying. (The losses) are not due to a lack of effort on his part. He's doing the best he can."
Gesser, an AFL rookie, and Kelly, who has spent 13 seasons in the league, will battle it out this week in practice for the starting job in Saturday night's home game against the Los Angeles Avengers.
Kelly was the starter for the AFL's other expansion team through the first seven games of this season, but the Brigade went just 1-6. After being benched for two games, he was cut on Wednesday.
"Who wants to be the guy to cut Joe Montana?" Brigade coach Kevin Porter told the Kansas City Star last week. "It's probably been the toughest thing I've done in football."
Kelly has passed for 38,468 yards during his AFL career, completing 62.3 percent of his attempts. He has 741 touchdown passes with just 151 interceptions. Kelly had a league-high 13 interceptions through the first seven games of this season, however.
Germaine is out for at least one more week while he recovers from a broken middle finger on his right (throwing) hand.
E-mail: lojo@desnews.com