The Tampa Bay Storm (10-3, 2-1) take their conference-best record on the road this week to take on in-state division rival Jacksonville Sharks (9-4, 6-2) on Saturday, July 17 at 7:05 p.m. The contest marks the second and final regular season meeting between the two clubs, who last met on May 7 at the St. Pete Times Forum in a game that resulted in a 46-43 Storm loss.

Since the first meeting between the pair of division foes, Tampa Bay has rolled off eight straight wins, including the most recent which clinched an AFL-record 21st playoff berth for the team, and could tie the franchise record of nine consecutive victories with an additional win on Saturday. The Storm have not won nine straight contests since 1998. Jacksonville, meanwhile, has won two in a row after dropping three of its previous four.

The primary matchup in Saturday’s game will center around both teams’ quarterbacks, Tampa Bay’s Brett Dietz and Jacksonville’s Aaron Garcia. Both passers are coming off record-setting weeks in which Dietz surpassed his previous career-best, single-season record of 86 touchdown passes, throwing six against Dallas, and in which Garcia became the first football player at any level to reach 1,000 combined touchdowns in his career.

Dietz tops Garcia with the league’s top mark of 90 touchdown passes to his counterpart’s 75, the AFL’s seventh-highest total. Dietz also has a substantial advantage in terms of passing yards this season with the league’s third-best total of 4,111. The statistics favor the Storm signal caller, but Garcia should not be overlooked. The Jacksonville passer has a number of weapons to assist him in putting points on the board, including receivers Jomo Wilson and Dallas Baker. The Sharks’ wideout tandem leads the team in receiving yards with 964 and 958 respectively, and combined for three scores and 199 yards last week against against the Utah Blaze.

Tampa Bay, with the league’s third-ranked total offense, has its own threats in receivers Hank Edwards and Tyrone Timmons, and despite Edwards entering the game with the AFL’s fourth-highest total in receiving yards with 1,472 and Timmons coming in with 100 receptions on the year, the passer-receiver combo might not be enough to pull out Tampa Bay’s ninth straight victory.

In addition to Dietz and his receivers continuing the trend of putting together high performances, Tampa Bay must also rely on its defense. The Storm have received significant contributions on a consistent basis each week from Daryon Brutley, Brandon Hefflin, Kelvin Kinney, Cliff Dukes and Tim McGill.  Brutley and Hefflin continue to maintain a presence in the secondary by registering numerous pass break-ups and interceptions, while Cliff Dukes, along with McIntosh and Michael Hawthorne, have played an essential role in forcing fumbles and creating turnovers.

In order to shutdown Garcia, Tampa Bay must count on McGill to apply pressure up the middle and penetrate Jacksonville’s front men, and must rely on the rest of the defense to create points from turnovers much like it has it recent weeks.

Conversely, the Storm’s offensive line needs to protect Dietz from Jacksonville pass rushers RaJon Myles and Henry Taylor.  If they can create pressure the Sharks’ defensive backfield, led by Micheaux Robinson,  will have plenty of opportunities to kknock down passes as they are an aggresive hard hitting secondary. Robinson forced two of the five total Storm turnovers on the night in the team’s first meeting on May 7. Dietz will also have to be cautious of the Sharks’ Dee Webb, who is among league leaders with 19 passes defended  this year.