Sharks look for 4th straight in L.A.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sharks return to the road this week, as the team travels to face the Los Angeles KISS on Sunday, May 31. Kickoff from Honda Center in Anaheim is set for 6:00 p.m. ET.

Winners of three in a row, Jacksonville (4-5) sits one game behind the first-place Orlando Predators in the South Division standings, and has moved ahead of the 3-5 Tampa Bay Storm. Even with games against their two divisional foes on the horizon, the Sharks cannot afford to overlook Sunday's game against a Los Angeles (0-8) team that will surely be desperate for its first win.

Now in their second year as a franchise, the KISS have struggled to find a consistent winning formula, as Los Angeles has dropped each of its last seven games by double digits. The KISS have undergone extensive transition at the quarterback position, as starter Adrian McPherson was placed on injured reserve after the fifth game of the season. In all, five different players have thrown at least 25 passes in a game for Los Angeles this season. By contrast, Jacksonville quarterback Tommy Grady has thrown 314 of the Sharks' 317 pass attempts to this point in the campaign.

Despite the constant change at quarterback, the KISS offense does feature one of the most dangerous receivers in the league. Morgan ranks second in the Arena Football League with 960 receiving yards, recording that total in one fewer game than the Sharks' Tiger Jones, who leads all players with 1,017 yards. Dating back to last season, Morgan has been on the receiving end of 55 of the 104 touchdown passes in the history of the Los Angeles franchise. Clearly, stopping Morgan will be a primary objective of the Jacksonville secondary on Sunday.

Overall, the Shark defense enters this week in rhythm, as Jacksonville has held each of its last three opponents under 50 points. Consistent pressure from the front four and opportunistic play from the secondary has helped the Sharks force a total of 12 turnovers in that three-game stretch. One of the major pieces of that defense is Joe Sykes, who added two more sacks last week to bring his league-leading totals to 14.0 tackles for loss and 10.0 sacks. Facing a KISS team that has allowed 25 sacks through eight games – far and away the most in the League – Sykes and the rest of the Sharks' pass rush will look to make life rough for Los Angeles quarterback Danny Southwick.

It is not just the Jacksonville defense that enters this week's action in good form, as the Shark offense put up a season-high total of 70 points in last Saturday's victory over the New Orleans VooDoo. In that game, the Sharks scored on 10 of 11 offensive possessions and faced just five third-down situations. Grady looks to continue his efficient play, as he threw more touchdown passes (eight) than incompletions (five) in that game.