The Salt Lake Stallions have too often found themselves
on the losing end of a tight game this season, dropping three of their
four road games by a combined 9 points.



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On
Saturday, they’ll have a chance to exact some revenge for one of those
losses when the San Diego Fleet come to town. Game time is 6 p.m. MDT
(NFL Network) at Rice-Eccles Stadium.With three games left in the
regular season, the Stallions (2-5) find themselves facing an uphill
climb trying to finish their inaugural season in the Alliance of
American Football with a .500 record. They still have an outside shot at
the postseason, as Salt Lake is currently two games behind second-place
Arizona in the Western Conference standings.The Fleet (3-4) enter the
contest a game up on the Stallions but coming off a 32-15 loss to the
Hotshots. Salt Lake, meanwhile, fell 19-15 last week at Western
Conference-leading San Antonio. The Stallions, trailing 17-9, drove for a
touchdown in the final two minutes and had the chance to tie the game
with a 2-point conversion. The Commanders, though, picked off Salt Lake
quarterback Josh Woodrum on the conversion attempt and took it the other
way for a defensive score.The Stallions were also bit by late-game
plays in their 27-25 loss at San Diego on March 9. Salt Lake rallied
from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to take a 25-24 lead with 51
seconds to play, but the Fleet drove downfield for a game-winning
44-yard field goal on the final play.“We just need to continue to start
fast and finish strong,” Stallions defensive coordinator Ronnie Lee
said. “Championship teams produce great defenses. Our mindset is to go
out there and play a complete game for four quarters.”This weekend’s
game will be another challenge for a defense that rates among the best
in the Alliance in several categories. The last time the two teams met,
San Diego had 322 yards of total offense to 424 for Salt Lake, but the
Fleet benefited from two defensive touchdowns.In past two weeks since
the loss to the Fleet, the Stallions have recorded 13 sacks and will try
to get pressure on San Diego quarterback Mike Bercovici. In their last
meeting, Bercovici was sacked twice, though he threw for 291 yards.“It
all starts with the guys up front. We don’t have to bring too many
blitzes because they get enough pressure on the quarterback with just a
four-man rush. Those guys are doing a great job, and they’re feeding off
each other. That’s the amazing thing. It’s like a competition for
them,” Lee said.The Fleet will be without two of their top offensive
players — running back Ja'Quan Gardner and wide receiver Dontez Ford
were placed on injured reserve earlier this week.Gardner had rushed for
311 yards and three touchdowns before injuring his right shoulder last
week. He will undergo surgery to help him heal up for any possible NFL
opportunities that may come to fruition this summer, Fleet team writer
Jeff Goldberg reported.“He was going to come out and play and we had him
in a brace and he could have played until the end of the season then
have that shoulder (operated on),” San Diego coach Mike Martz told
Goldberg. “That doesn’t serve anybody. It’s in his best interest to get
that done now. …“Like I’ve said from the very beginning, we’re here to
help these guys, period. Would we like to have him? Oh yeah, absolutely.
But we’ll get by.”Ford is third in the league with 435 yards receiving.
He caught a 45-yard pass on the Fleet's final drive in their previous
game with Salt Lake that helped lead to the winning field goal. He was
injured two weeks ago against Birmingham and diagnosed with a bone
bruise in his right ankle.“He has a bone bruise and those things take forever to heal,” Martz told Goldberg. “They’re worse than a sprained ankle.”With
the Stallions’ goal of finishing the back half of the season with a
perfect 5-0 record foiled by last week’s loss, the focus turns to
finishing the season strong. Salt Lake has two of its final three games
at home, with games against San Diego and San Antonio in Rice-Eccles
Stadium sandwiched around a visit to Atlanta.“We also say one thing:
There is something different about a man that’s hungry and a man that’s
starving. We’re starving for another win, so you’ve got to go out there
and produce — which they have been doing. We’ve just got to continue
staying on the same page, continue to execute the defense and continue
to have fun,” Lee said.