LAS VEGAS (AFLWA) – In possibly the biggest game for Grand Rapids in five years, James MacPherson must not have felt the pressure.

MacPherson

With his team needing to win to move on to the playoffs for the first time since 2003, the Rampage quarterback passed for seven touchdowns and ran in three more to win the final Arena Football League Writers Association's Player of the Week Award for 2008, as Grand Rapids won on the road at New Orleans on Saturday night. It was just the second loss at home for the VooDoo, which was eliminated from the postseason.

The 86 points for Grand Rapids also marked the fifth-highest scoring output for any team in AFL history. The Rampage will travel to Phoenix to face Arizona on Monday.

It was the third time this season MacPherson won the award, matching Dallas' Will Pettis, who won it three times as well.

MacPherson, who was 21-of-32 for 244 yards, put the game away by throwing three touchdown passes in the first 13 minutes of the fourth quarter.

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. The association will name an AFL Player of the Week each week throughout the 2007 season. The AFLWA has presented this weekly award since its inception during the 2004 season. Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is the AFLWA's founder and executive director.