Tough San Jose stands in way

Adam Candee

Friday, May 14, 2004 | 9:54 a.m.

San Jose Sabercats (10-3) at Las Vegas Gladiators (6-7) Sunday, 3 p.m., Thomas & Mack Center Radio: ESPN 920-AM. TV: None

Don't even bother trying to talk about confidence or momentum with Frank Haege.

The Gladiators' coach has seen too many puff-chested teams fall flat and too many struggling teams rise up to believe he can predict how his streaking Gladiators will come out Sunday afternoon against league-leading San Jose at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"If I knew anything about that, I wouldn't be doing this. I'd be betting," Haege said. "I'd be a professional gambler."

The Gladiators (6-7) went all-in a month ago, when a four-game losing skid pushed them toward elimination from playoff contention. In three games against teams fighting with them for the eighth and final postseason berth, the Gladiators have responded with three of their most dominant showings of the year, winning by an average of 25.3 points.

Even having seen his team revitalized on defense and reborn in spirit, Haege still finds the dark lining in the silver cloud of a winning streak.

"We haven't played in the (Western) division since, either," Haege said. "It's going to be interesting for us to go against the top team in the league and see what carries over."

Early in the year, Haege played the must-win card with his team when it fell into a couple of holes. Now, trying to break the task of winning six straight games into chewable pieces, he wants nothing to do with talk of the pressure in facing that top team with any realistic playoff hope on the line.

"The papers talk about that," Haege said. "You guys talk about that."

Las Vegas sits just one game behind in the loss column in the hunt for the playoffs, but there is a logjam below the top four playoff spots. Nine teams are in serious contention for the final four spots and the Gladiators are in a tough position in that bunch, especially facing the Sabercats (10-3) and Los Angeles (7-6) in the next two weeks.

San Jose fell last week at Arizona, 58-41, dropping its road record to a pedestrian 4-3. Gladiators quarterback Clint Dolezel senses that if there is ever a good time to tug on the cape of the league's best scoring offense and third-best scoring defense, it is now.

"I'm kind of excited going into it," Dolezel said. "We're playing our best football right now and I think they're not playing their best football."

Even wounded, San Jose still represents the biggest challenge of the Gladiators' desperation run to the playoffs. Yet Dolezel feels his team is much improved from the one that allowed 79 points to the Sabercats earlier this year.

"We're playing better than that on defense," Dolezel said. "We're playing smarter than that on defense."

That defense, depleted by injuries all year, is finding comfort in newcomers like DeVon Banks and Donald Malloy -- neither of whom has been with the team for a month. Imperative to the turnaround has been the play of Cornelius Bonner at defensive specialist.

With Marvin Taylor nursing a sore quad for the past two weeks, Bonner has led the defense, including a three-interception performance at Philadelphia. Las Vegas has pushed back into the top half of league in turnover margin (eighth, plus-4) with a more aggressive secondary.

"Guys are hawking the ball a little more, taking a few more chances," Haege said.

The Gladiators have also cut down on third and fourth down penalties during their win streak. Las Vegas consistently gave opponents extra chances with an array of offsides, illegal defense and other flags as it skidded through the middle of the season.

A little bit of monetary incentive -- Dolezel would say it exists in kangaroo court, not how much it is -- is catalyzing improvement in that area.

"We're calling that a selfish play on our team right now," Dolezel said. "No more selfish plays. You get to third and fourth down, you make a mistake and it's going to cost you -- literally."