Avengers Straighten Out Before Playoffs
Steven Herbert
Sunday July 21, 2002
The Avengers got things straightened out, ending a two-game losing streak with a 46-41 victory at Staples Center which gave them an 8-6 record, the No. 5 seeding in the Arena Football League playoffs and a first-round home game.
“It’s very big to get the win here,” Hodgkiss said. “It gives us that boost of confidence heading into the playoffs.”
Los Angeles will open the playoffs against Tampa Bay. The Avengers defeated the Storm, 38-24, May 17 at Staples Center.
“This program expects to be in the playoffs,” Hodgkiss said. “We’re not satisfied with just getting in. We’re looking forward to going deep in the playoffs.”
As the Avengers enter for the first time in their three-year history, Hodgkiss said he wishes they “were executing more smoothly on offense.”
“We’ve been up and down all year,” Hodgkiss said. “I thought we did a pretty decent job tonight. The defense is playing much better the past two weeks.”
The seeds of Saturday’s victory were planted during the week of practice, when Hodgkiss broke from professional football custom and had his players do live tackling in an attempt to improve from their poor tackling performance in a 56-53 loss at Indiana July 14.
“The guys went though and did it hard [in practice] and tonight, it showed on the field,” Hodgkiss said. “I don’t think the score indicated it, but we played much better than last week. I thought we were physical, we tackled better and didn’t fumble.”
Los Angeles lost three fumbles against Indiana, but none against the Destroyers.
Still, like in the Avengers’ previous two games, the outcome was not decided until the final play, but this time they emerged victorious, with Chad Dukes sacking Buffalo quarterback Jeff Loots.
One play earlier, Loots’ pass into the end zone went off Lamont Cooper’s hands, with defensive specialist Mark Ricks either deflecting the pass, or distracting Cooper, the Don’t Blink Player of the Year for the past two seasons for being the most electrifying player, enough to prevent him from making the catch. (Replays were inconclusive.)
Los Angeles never trailed, scoring touchdowns on four of its first five possessions, failing only when Tony Graziani threw a second-quarter interception.
“If we didn’t have that interception, it would have been a moot point about how close it was,” Hodgkiss said.
Buffalo, which lost its fourth consecutive game to fall to 6-8, scored touchdowns on its first three fourth-quarter possessions, cutting the deficit to two points twice and three points once.
Graziani completed 23 of 30 passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns, two to Greg Hopkins, and also ran for a score.
Loots, starting in place of Fred McNair who had a sore right knee, completed 19 of 32 passes for 253 yards and five touchdowns and ran for a sixth score. He was intercepted once.
“I thought we played gutty, hard, with some intensity that had been lacking, but we made far too many mistakes,” said Destroyers coach Ray Bentley, citing 15 penalties. “They were costly, killed drives and kept their drives alive in some instances too and that was tough to overcome.”
Aside from the penalties, Buffalo “played well at times,” Bentley said.
“We fought real hard,” Bentley said. “I’m pleased with that.”
Steven Herbert began covering Arena Football in 1988, the league’s second season. He has covered the sport for The Associated Press, Arizona Republic, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Providence Journal-Bulletin, Palm Beach Post, Daily Oklahoman and other publications. Herbert has also written on college and NFL football for The Washington Post and spent five years as a Los Angeles Times staff writer.
