Hans Olsen has a theory as to why the Utah Blaze played arguably their worst game of the season Monday night — resulting in a 64-42 loss to the Los Angeles Avengers in the wild card round of the Arena Football League playoffs at the Staples Center.
"It was a weird season," said Olsen. "It's been filled with such high emotions mixed with such low emotions that it just drained us and sapped the team. You can't go through a season with such big highs and such extreme lows. It just takes too much out of you."
The last two weeks — with a pair of games against the exact same team at the exact same venue — served as a microcosm of the entire season for the Blaze.
On June 23, in their first game since the death of popular teammate Justin Skaggs from complications of brain cancer just eight days earlier, the Blaze were in a must-win situation in order to get to the playoffs. Dedicating the game to Skaggs, the Blaze played well — particularly defensively — in beating the Avengers by 10 points. It was a big high after an unthinkable low.
But Monday was a different story. While the players still had Skaggs on their minds — they had dedicated their playoff run to him as well — this time it wasn't enough. The defense struggled to stop the Avengers but not as much as the offense struggled to score in the second and third periods. Los Angeles put up 37 consecutive points, as a 14-14 tie at the end of the first quarter became a 51-14 blowout by late in the third quarter.
"We made too many mistakes," said Blaze coach Danny White after his team turned the ball over five times. "We beat ourselves. They didn't (beat themselves)."
The record-breaking tandem of quarterback Joe Germaine and wide receiver Siaha Burley were held in relative check by the Avengers. Germaine threw three interceptions — two off the back net in the end zone. Burley, who shattered the AFL records for catches and yards in a season, had just five receptions for 71 and no touchdowns. It was the first time in Burley's Blaze career that he didn't score at least one TD and the first time this season he didn't have multiple end-zone celebrations.
"Every time Siaha went in motion they played zone so he couldn't get open in his deeper routes," said Blaze receiver Tom Pace. "When I went in motion or (Aaron) Boone went in motion they would play man-to-man."
The result was that Burley — the AFL's top receiver this season — was only the third leading receiver on his own team in Utah's playoff game. Pace had 11 catches for 138 yards and three scores, while Boone, in his first game back from the injured list, had seven catches for 97 yards and a pair of TDs.
"It was frustrating not being able to get (Burley) the ball more," said Germaine.
Utah beat Los Angeles by double digit margins in both of their regular season meetings. But the Avengers avenged those defeats when it counted most in the playoffs.
"It's disappointing to put this much work into it and then come down here and lose like that after we beat them two times (in the regular season)," said Pace. "But it's tough to beat a team three times in a row."
The team flew back to Salt Lake City on Tuesday afternoon. They will meet with the coaches for exit interviews before heading in various directions — some to be back on the 2008 Blaze roster and others who won't return.
"It's a disappointing year not to get out of the first round of the playoffs," said White, who is also the team's general manager in addition to being its head coach. "We said going in that we needed to get beyond the first round. We were healthy tonight and we can't complain about injuries. We just didn't get it done. So we'll go back to the drawing board, start looking for players and get ready for next year."
E-mail: lojo@desnews.com