LAS VEGAS (AFLWA) – After engineering a stunning 63-33 victory over the defending champion San Jose SaberCats, Tampa Bay Storm quarterback Shane Stafford was selected as the Arena Football League Writers Association (AFLWA) Player of the Week.

Stafford tied the Storm's record with eight touchdown passes in the game. He also completed 28 of 35 passes for 273 yards.

The game was a matchup between No. 1 San Jose and No. 2 Tampa Bay, according to the preseason AFLWA Top 8 Poll, Stafford's play is almost assured of making the Storm No. 1 when the latest poll is released later this week.

Perhaps making Stafford's performance even more impressive, he was without wide receiver/defensive back T.T. Toliver, who is out with a torn MCL.

"It's just timing," Stafford told the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. "Knowing your receivers, trusting that they'll be where they're supposed to be and that kind of thing and just getting a relationship with them. That's the biggest thing, developing not the on-the-field relationship, but joking around with them and knowing little things about them, stupid things."

The AFLWA, founded at the start of the 2004 season, is a national organization made up of media members who cover the Arena Football League. Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is the AFLWA's founder and executive director. The association's website is www.aflwa.com.