Rattlers Ready to Get Physical
Patrick Daly
Saturday August 3, 2002
 Randy Gatewood steps up in the playoffs Image courtesy of Mike Wright |
“So there’s a certain amount—especially from a strategy standpoint—of laying back and seeing what they’re doing, and not just coming out and beating them in the first quarter. Our veteran guys know that and I think they do a pretty good job of feeling the flow of the game, but you want to, at some point in the first half, send a message and not let them hang around and end up having to win it in overtime or on the last play of the game like we have so many times. It’s the playoffs now and we don’t want to leave the outcome of our season to chance, to the officials or to the bounce of the ball. We’ve got to control it ourselves.”
One of the potential drawbacks to an increased physical presence is penalties, but it’s a trade that White is willing to accept, especially when setting the tone at home will play a big part in the outcome on Sunday.
“Our focus all week has been on being very, very physical, even at the expense of a penalty or two.” White said. “I hate to say that, because discipline is a big part of my philosophy, but we’ve got to go out — and I’m not saying to ever intentionally take a penalty -- getting a penalty doesn’t become your number one objective. Your number one objective is to play physical football. Be the hitter and not the hittee; we’re going to be the hitter on Sunday. Sometimes that overrides the discipline part of staying onsides or staying in the box. You’re just so anxious to go hit somebody, and I hope we come out with that attitude. If we could ever get that attitude and eliminate penalties at the same time, we’d be unbeatable. There’s a fine line there. There’s a middle point that we need to try to achieve, but clearly our emphasis, at least going into the game, is to be very physical.”
“You’ve just got to play physical,” Rattlers defensive specialist Derek Stingley said. “That’s the only thing I can say. With Mike Neu, he’s a great head coach and he can make the matchups. He gets what he wants, but at the same time, we have good coordinators on this side of the ball that can put us in great spots. We just can’t be afraid of what they’ve got to offer. I think physical is the key and I’m quite sure coach [Doug] Plank is thinking the same thing on defense.”
Plank knows a little bit about playing the physical game. As the namesake of the 46 defense, Plank was never afraid to go out and hit someone, which has rubbed off on a defense that intends to put the Carolina receivers on the defensive.
The Rattlers have won their first playoff for the past six seasons, but only one has ended with the taste of ultimate victory. In 1997, Arizona knocked off Milwaukee and Tampa Bay before sending Kurt Warner and the Iowa Barnstormers home with an ArenaBowl loss. The Rattlers overcame a broken leg suffered by quarterback Sherdrick Bonner in the overtime win against Tampa Bay in the semifinals and then went on to a 55-33 victory over Iowa in ArenaBowl XI.
For wide receiver/defensive back Randy Gatewood, the playoffs are special. While some players may disappear when pressure builds, Gatewood has thrived.
“If you haven’t been there before, it’s a totally different atmosphere, a totally different feeling,” Gatewood said. “For us, we’re very fortunate, because we have a really good core group of guys who have been in the playoffs for years now.
“I think, all my career, I just took pride in the playoffs—not that I don’t take pride in the regular season—but I’ve always been one guy who would always step up in the big game,” Gatewood said. “If you can’t get excited to play in the big game, you’re in the wrong industry. I think, all my career, I made a living in the playoffs and in championship games. It’s just being in that position before and being confident. Being at ease on the field and knowing my assignments and being prepared.”
As a younger player on the 1997 team, Gatewood was able to follow the example of veterans like Hunkie Cooper and Sherdrick Bonner after they won their first championship in 1994. Now he’s one of the veterans trying to present that same example.
“I go back and I think back to ’97 when we in this position and how the veterans on that team told us, ‘if we do this, if we do that, we’re going to have some success and we’re going to be champions’,” Gatewood said. “We took it—me and that group of guys we had that year—and ran with it, and in the end we won that championship. I’m hoping that the guys do that same thing; use us as whatever motivation you have to get to that next level.”
A number of players that were part of the 1997 championship team remain: FB/LB Bo Kelly, QB Sherdrick Bonner, WR/LB Hunkie Cooper, WR/DB Randy Gatewood, OL/DL Mark Tucker, OL/DL Joe Burch. This is a team with great experience, but there is no substitute for playoff experience.
“I think that helps a lot,” Gatewood said. “We touched on that as a team, about how there’s very few guys on this team who’ve experienced what we experienced in ’97. We’ve talked about we’re going to take that veteran leadership and use that as a motivation—motivate the younger guys who haven’t been there. Explain to them what it takes to get to that level and then understand how much it’s worth in the end if you do win it all. It’s a tool that I think we can use to our advantage because a lot of teams in the playoffs now don’t have as many veterans, especially as many veterans that have been to an ArenaBowl and actually won it.”
Even White is a strong believer in the difference that experience makes from one player to the next. Players that might tune out the coach—yes, that does happen—are more likely to take notice when the guy next to him explains what is at stake.
“It makes all the difference in the world,” said White, “because I can stand up there and preach to them until I’m blue in the face, but when they hear it from a teammate, a guy that’s been there and played in games and had the agony of defeat and the pain of losing a playoff game when you weren’t supposed to, and also experience the thrill of winning championship when you weren’t supposed to, there’s a big, big gap between those two things and it’s hard to put that into words for the young players. When they’re around guys who have done that and experienced that it helps a lot.”
For many teams, talent isn’t the only factor, especially when that talent is unable to play. Injuries play a big role in deciding whether a team can make a run, and it’s often the difference between a trip home and a ring.
“I think that’s the only reason why I probably don’t have three or four championship rings,” Gatewood said. “We haven’t had the best of luck in the playoffs. We had some injuries, and stuff like that, to hold us back at certain positions. It’s extremely important. If you look back over the last few years, the team who had the least amount of guys hurt won the championship, especially the key guys. So it’s very important that we keep our guys healthy, and that we’re ready to play this game and we’re hitting on all cylinders from the beginning of the game.”
After working to earn the second seed in the playoffs, the Rattlers have benefited from the bye week. Although the team did practice last week, it was also an opportunity for a few players to rest and get healthy.
“Bo Kelly would not have been able to play last week,” White said. “Sebastian Barrie would not have been able to play. Ken Talanoa would have been very questionable. Those guys should all be close to 100 percent this week. If you think those three players are important to us, then I would say yes and I think they are.”
Kelly is the team’s top fullback, and even though rushing is not the focus of the offense, a runner like Kelly can get the tough yard that could make or break a drive. Barrie is one of the team’s best pass rushers, while Talanoa’s size and experience make the Rattler offensive line better.
In some cases the off week can also hurt a team in the playoffs. After playing a 14-game regular season schedule, the week off can upset the momentum and continuity that’s built up over the course of the year.
“We really don’t try to worry about that,” Gatewood said. “We go out and we prepare for this week just like we prepare for any other week during the regular season. We worked hard, so we really don’t look at the bye week as being a negative. If anything, we look at it as a positive. We had two or three guys who probably needed that week to rest and get them ready for this game. We’re just taking it on as it’s a regular week and it’s a one-game season from here on out.”
How does a Carolina team ranked 15 out 16 teams in scoring offense manage 72 points against a much higher seed? For the Cobras, the simple solution was to face off against a Grand Rapids defense that ranked second-to-last in points allowed. Carolina didn’t manage more than 58 points in a single game during the regular season, but quarterback John Fitzgerald tossed eight touchdowns, six to Aaron Bailey, to lead the attack.
After rotating through two other quarterbacks, Aaron Sparrow and Connell Maynor (now in Orlando), Fitzgerald has settled into the job with three wins over the last four games. Like the pitcher-catcher relationship in baseball, good rapport between the quarterback and receivers is crucial.
“Personnel-wise, they’re very similar,” White said. “They haven’t changed much. Their quarterback is playing better. That’s probably the biggest difference, and he’s playing better because the receivers are on the same page with him and the linemen are giving him time. There are a lot reasons, but they are playing better.
“There are some things we can draw from the last game, and personnel is one. Their schemes haven’t changed that much. They still do a lot of the same things. We just have to know they’re going to be a better team this time than they were last time and we have to be a better team. We have to match that improvement.”
“You can’t look at week eight, because I’m quite sure they’ve gotten a whole lot better since then,” Stingley said. “It shows in what they did to Grand Rapids. It’s a new season. We can only go by what they recently did. We’ve just got to play physical with them and not let them get easy scores. Whenever the ball is being thrown we’ve got to be around the ball and make something happen.”
Even with home field advantage, the Rattlers will take to the road on Saturday night. While the simulated road trip won’t take the Rattlers far from home, the idea is to take the team away from the distractions of everyday life. With fewer distractions, the team will focus on one thing: win on Sunday.
“One of the problems you face playing at home is you’ve got all the distractions of family and friends, and running errands and your honey-do list,” White said. “On Saturday, before a game, I’m out running around doing things. I think it’s one of the reasons teams play better on the road. You’re either on a bus, in a hotel room, in a dining room, but you’re all together. You’re locked in there and you don’t have any distractions other than maybe a TV set. Your mind naturally drifts to the game. You think about the game; you don’t have anything else to think about. We’re trying to create the road trip atmosphere for them and help them focus.”
In the end, there is no telling what will happen on Sunday. There are no crystal boards or tarot cards that will determine the outcome. A good week of practice could mean a win on Sunday, but even after coaching the Rattlers for eleven seasons, White will learn the outcome of the game along with everyone else.
“One of the toughest parts of my job is that I can never predict,” White said. “We can have a terrible week of practice and go out and just play great. We had that trip to Albany a couple of years ago that was just a trip from hell, and we go out there and just blow them out. They were the defending champions. It was just crazy. I had no indicator that told me that they were going to do that.
“Last week, the indicators were right on. And if they’re right on this week, we’ll play very well. Because there was three great days of practice, we’ve had a week off, guys are fresh, we’re healthy, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. I think we’ve done everything to get ready, to get in position. We’ve worked hard to get the number two seed and have home field (advantage), but we’ve still got to step out there and do it—we have two and a half hours to do it on Sunday or it’s over.”
When you get down to it, the players know what they need to do on Sunday. The Rattlers will get to see how San Jose fares on Saturday, which could provide extra incentive should the SaberCats lose. As the number two seed, the Rattlers have the next best shot at hosting ArenaBowl XVI. However, Arizona has plenty of incentive to come away with the win against Carolina.
“It’s just knowing that the opportunity that I had before to win a championship before or go so far in the playoffs, to know what it’s all about, so you have to play all out,” Stingley said. “Every play, you’ve got to think it is your last play, because anything can happen. That team is coming in fired up. We’re coming in fired up. For all we know it might just go down to the wire or whoever makes the only mistake. In the playoffs, that’s crucial. You’ve got to be on your P’s and Q’s.”
Players to watch
OS/WR/LB Chris Horn, Arizona—In his second season, Horn led the league with 218 points and finished second in receptions and receiving yards. As one of the younger players on the team, he’s been a big part of why the Rattlers are in this position and he’ll be an important part of continued success in Arizona. Horn had 159 yards receiving and scored three times, including the game-winner, in the Rattlers 48-42 overtime win against Carolina in week eight.
OS Aaron Bailey, Carolina—Since the loss to Arizona, Bailey has amassed 54 receptions for 654 yards and 18 touchdowns, including a six-touchdown performance in the opening round of the playoffs last week.
WR/LB Cory Fleming, Carolina—After reaching the ArenaBowl with the Nashville Kats each of the past two seasons, Fleming has helped solidify the Carolina offense and provides some needed playoff experience.
DS Cecil Doggette and Derek Stingley, Arizona—The Cobras have a tougher matchup on their hands this week as they’ll face the league’s number one defense in points allowed. Doggette will probably draw that task of covering Aaron Bailey, but look for some switches as the Rattlers try to confuse quarterback John Fitzgerald.
WR/DB Randy Gatewood, Arizona—If Carolina puts too much focus on stopping the other offensive threats, Gatewood could be the key on Sunday. In one of the biggest games of the season, Gatewood racked up 110 yards receiving and four touchdowns in the week 13 victory over San Jose.
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
