Avengers’ Bye Goes Bye-Bye After Loss

The Avengers’ quest for a first-round bye in the Arena Football League playoffs ended Sunday evening at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis when Nelson Garner kicked a 50-yard field goal as time expired to give the Indiana Firebirds a 56-53 victory before 12,286.

The Avengers (7-6) needed to win their last two games of the regular season to have any chance of earning the No. 4 seeding in the playoffs and a first-round bye. The loss to Indiana dropped them into the No. 6 spot and means they must win their regular-season finale against Buffalo at Staples Center on Saturday to guarantee themselves a top-eight seeding and a good chance of playing host to a first-round playoff game.

“We didn’t play very well,” Avenger quarterback Tony Graziani told KMPC radio. “I think we had three fumbles and you just can’t do that in this league.”

Indiana (6-7) converted two of those fumbles into 14 points.

Indiana’s Brett Bech returned one of the fumbles 27 yards for a touchdown. On offense, he had six receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown.

The Avengers tied the score, 53-53, on a one-yard sneak by Graziani with nine seconds left in the fourth quarter. But when Remy Hamilton missed the extra-point attempt, the game appeared to be headed for overtime.

Indiana quarterback Jim Ballard threw an incompletion after the kickoff before Garner made his career-long field goal.

Graziani completed 25 of 38 passes for 328 yards and five touchdowns and ran for two touchdowns and a two-point conversion.

Greg Hopkins had three touchdown receptions for the Avengers and Chris Jackson had two.