Gladiators have tough road ahead to qualify for playoffs

Adam Candee

Friday, April 2, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.

They tried to must-win angle. The bad bounces card is already on the table. Everyone knows about the difficult schedule and the injuries too.

Strip away all those platitudes and what remains for the Las Vegas Gladiators after eight mediocre games is this certainty: Win six of the final eight games in order to have a realistic shot at the playoffs.

"We would definitely have to go at least 6-2," Gladiators fullback/ linebacker Frank Carter said. "And we have the team to do it."

Las Vegas (3-5) would need six wins in the second half of the season just to finish above .500. The Gladiators, who host Chicago (5-2) Sunday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center, are two games behind in the loss column in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot.

In last year's relative playoff pool party, 12 teams made the field and half of them had an 8-8 record, including the Gladiators.

Las Vegas coach Frank Haege is left with only a motivational tool from golf tournament play -- get your eyes off the leaderboard and onto your own game.

"Just keep sawing wood," Haege said. "Just keep sawing wood -- rain or shine or dead of night. Just keep working. That's all you can do. Just put your nose down and just get to work. There's no other choice."

With the solid Rush in town this week and a visit to rival Arizona (3-5) on tap next week, the Gladiators could easily be out of playoff contention by the time their bye week arrives. If they can make it to that April 18 bye in good shape, the outlook improves considerably, as the Gladiators play four of their last six games at home and take on four teams currently at or below .500.

Making it to the break means cutting down on turnovers, which have hamstrung Las Vegas all year. The Gladiators lead the league with 18 giveaways, including four in last week's 60-42 loss at Orlando. Conversely, Chicago leads the league with a turnover margin of plus-12 and Rush quarterback Raymond Philyaw has not thrown an interception this season.

Gladiators offensive specialist Marcus Nash, named Thursday as the league's offensive player of the month, feels there is no easy answer to fixing the turnover problem.

"You can't necessarily pinpoint on why you make turnovers," Nash said. "If you concentrate on, 'don't turn the ball over,' you're going to turn the ball over."

Winning also means getting back to the defensive play that marked the first few games -- something that is easier said than done given the Gladiators' depleted secondary. Defensive specialist T.J. Hill went down for the year with a torn ACL right after Las Vegas dealt fellow cornerback Jeroid Johnson, last year's team MVP, to Los Angeles.

That left Marvin Taylor and rookie Chameion Sutton in the defensive backfield. Taylor, who arrived via trade from Chicago at the end of training camp, notched three interceptions and five pass breakups in Las Vegas' first four games.

But following Hill's injury Mar. 7 at Georgia, Taylor has no picks and just one pass breakup. Including the Georgia loss, Las Vegas is allowing an average of 64.5 points over its last four games.

"It definitely puts more pressure on us," Carter said of the thin secondary's effect on the front five. "It gets us to the fact that we have to get pressure on the quarterback. We have to be able to get the quarterback to throw the ball when he's supposed to throw the ball, make some complications to where he throws turnovers. There's big pressure on us up front right now."

Las Vegas has forced 13 turnovers, but that is overshadowed by its giveaways. It also makes it easy to forget the prolific offense, led by the combination of quarterback Clint Dolezel and Nash.

Dolezel leads the league in completions (198), passing yards (2,305) and touchdowns (46), but he also has thrown more picks (8) than any other quarterback.