| 2007 Dallas Desperados season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Will McClay |
| Home field | American Airlines Center |
| Results | |
| Record | 15–1 |
| Division place | 1st |
| Playoff finish | L 66–59 vs Columbus |
The 2007 Dallas Desperados season was the 6th season for the franchise. They made the playoffs again after finishing 2006 with a 13–3 record. They had a 15–1 record and qualified for home-field advantage throughout the National Conference playoffs.
Schedule
| Week | Date | Opponent | Home/Away Game | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 4 | New York Dragons | Away | W 60–7 |
| 2 | March 10 | Tampa Bay Storm | Home | W 59–40 |
| 3 | March 16 | Kansas City Brigade | Away | W 66–54 |
| 4 | March 26 | Orlando Predators | Away | W 70–49 |
| 5 | March 31 | Austin Wranglers | Home | W 68–64 |
| 6 | April 5 | Columbus Destroyers | Home | W 53–51 |
| 7 | April 16 | Philadelphia Soul | Home | W 51–41 |
| 8 | April 21 | Georgia Force | Away | L 78–63 |
| 9 | April 27 | Nashville Kats | Home | W 69–62 |
| 10 | May 4 | Utah Blaze | Away | W 66–59 |
| 11 | May 14 | Chicago Rush | Home | W 52–48 |
| 12 | bye | |||
| 13 | May 26 | Columbus Destroyers | Away | W 56–47 |
| 14 | June 1 | Philadelphia Soul | Away | W 59–56 |
| 15 | June 9 | New Orleans VooDoo | Home | W 80–79 |
| 16 | June 16 | New York Dragons | Home | W 67–13 |
| 17 | June 25 | Colorado Crush | Away | W 77–58 |
Playoff schedule
| Round | Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | July 7 | (6) Columbus Destroyers | Home | L 66–59 |
Coaching
Will McClay started his fourth season as head coach of the Desperados.
Stats
Offense
Quarterback
| Player | Comp. | Att. | Comp% | Yards | TD's | INT's | Long | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clint Dolezel | 375 | 533 | 70.4 | 4475 | 107 | 9 | 49 | 128.2 |
| Nick Browder | 17 | 27 | 63 | 208 | 5 | 1 | 22 | 110.8 |
Running backs
| Player | Car. | Yards | Avg. | TD's | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh White | 93 | 278 | 3 | 10 | 22 |
| Will Pettis | 14 | 33 | 2.4 | 2 | 8 |
| Clint Dolezel | 10 | 5 | .5 | 1 | 4 |
| Marcus Nash | 4 | 5 | 1.3 | 3 | 3 |
| Andrae Thurman | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Willis Marshall | 4 | 2 | .5 | 2 | 2 |
| Nick Browder | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Duke Pettijohn | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Wide receivers
| Player | Rec. | Yards | Avg. | TD's | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will Pettis | 130 | 1471 | 11.3 | 40 | 46 |
| Marcus Nash | 77 | 1080 | 14 | 20 | 45 |
| Andrae Thurman | 65 | 839 | 12.9 | 19 | 49 |
| Willis Marshall | 66 | 747 | 11.3 | 12 | 48 |
| Dialleo Burks | 18 | 243 | 13.5 | 9 | 30 |
| Anthony Armstrong | 10 | 126 | 12.6 | 2 | 34 |
| Terrence Dotsy | 16 | 102 | 6.4 | 6 | 15 |
| Josh White | 9 | 72 | 8 | 3 | 13 |
| Devin Wyman | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Touchdowns
| Player | TD's | Rush | Rec | Ret | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will Pettis | 46 | 2 | 40 | 4 | 278 |
| Marcus Nash | 23 | 3 | 20 | 0 | 142 |
| Andrae Thurman | 19 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 114 |
| Willis Marshall | 15 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 96 |
| Josh White | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 78 |
| Dialleo Burks | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 54 |
| Terrance Dotsy | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 36 |
| Anthony Armstrong | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 |
| Clint Dolezel | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Bobby Perry | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Duke Pettijohn | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Devin Wyman | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
Defense
| Player | Tackles | Solo | Assisted | Sack | Solo | Assisted | INT | Yards | TD's | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jermaine Jones | 87.5 | 82 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 71 | 2 | 40 |
| Bobby Perry | 60.5 | 51 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Will Pettis | 59.5 | 56 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Chris Brown | 58 | 53 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 0 | 13 |
| Duke Pettijohn | 43.5 | 35 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bobby Keyes | 39.5 | 38 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 67 | 1 | 30 |
| Colston Weatherington | 19.5 | 17 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rickie Simpkins | 16.5 | 13 | 7 | .5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Waine Bacon | 13.5 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Willis Marshall | 13.5 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Peter Lazare | 13 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh White | 12.5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andrae Thurman | 9.5 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Daleroy Stewart | 9 | 6 | 6 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Devin Wyman | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dialleo Burks | 3.5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Anthony Armstrong | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Todd Sievers | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Terrence Dotsy | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jermaine Brooks | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeremy Calahan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| James Cannida | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clint Dolezel | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Special teams
Kick return
| Player | Ret | Yards | TD's | Long | Avg | Ret | Yards | TD's | Long | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will Pettis | 58 | 1229 | 4 | 58 | 21.2 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 9 |
| Willis Marshall | 29 | 485 | 1 | 56 | 16.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bobby Perry | 1 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andrae Thurman | 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jermaine Jones | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kicking
| Player | Extra pt. | Extra pt. Att. | FG | FGA | Long | Pct. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Todd Sievers | 115 | 119 | 8 | 13 | 49 | 0.615 | 139 |
| Dustin Bell | 11 | 17 | 0 | 1 | – | – | 11 |
Playoff Stats
Offense
Quarterback
| Player | Comp. | Att. | Comp% | Yards | TD's | INT's |
|---|
Running backs
| Player | Car. | Yards | Avg. | TD's | Long |
|---|
Wide receivers
| Player | Rec. | Yards | Avg. | TD's | Long |
|---|
Special teams
Kick return
| Player | Ret | Yards | Avg | Long |
|---|
Kicking
| Player | Extra pt. | Extra pt. Att. | FG | FGA | Long | Pts |
|---|
Regular season
Week 1: at New York Dragons
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Week 2: vs Tampa Bay Storm
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Week 3: at Kansas City Brigade
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Week 4: at Orlando Predators
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Week 5: vs Austin Wranglers
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Week 6: vs Columbus Destroyers
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Week 7: vs Philadelphia Soul
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Week 8: at Georgia Force
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Week 9: vs Nashville Kats
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Week 10: at Utah Blaze
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Week 11: vs Chicago Rush
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Week 13: at Columbus Destroyers
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Week 14: at Philadelphia Soul
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Week 15: vs New Orleans VooDoo
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Week 16: vs New York Dragons
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Week 17: at Colorado Crush
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Playoffs
Week 2: vs Columbus Destroyers
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (6) CLB | 21 | 7 | 17 | 21 | 66 |
| (1) DAL | 21 | 17 | 0 | 21 | 59 |
at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas
The Destroyers blew a 30-point lead and lost to the Desperados earlier this season 53–51 and they lost the 2nd game in Columbus 56–47. This time, it looked as if Dallas, after a shaky start, would continue their dominance over the Destroyers. Leading 38–28 at the half, the tide turned on back-to-back kickoffs by Columbus kicker Peter Martinez. Dallas, who had deferred, got the opening kickoff. However, the ball bounced off the goalpost and into the hands of Columbus' Josh Bush. On the very next kickoff, a nearly identical play occurred when the ball again bounced off the goalpost and Columbus recovered at the 4-yard line. On the next play, Damien Groce ran the ball in to give Columbus a sudden 42–38 lead 58 seconds into the second half. After a Clint Dolezel interception set up a field goal for Columbus, Jason Shelley put the game away with a 28-yard reception with 12:55 left in the game to give Columbus a 2-touchdown lead that they held onto to pull off the upset against the Desperados.