Avengers Victory Answered some Early Questions
Steven Herbert
Saturday February 8, 2003
The biggest improvement from last season was in tackling, Hodgkiss said. Tackling problems plagued the Avengers in 2002, with plays that should have been short gains occasionally becoming long gains or touchdowns.
Offensively, Hodgkiss said he “was very pleased” by his team’s protection of quarterback Tony Graziani and Graziani’s decision-making process. Los Angeles did not allow a sack, as Graziani completed 18 of 23 passes for 288 yards and seven touchdowns and was not intercepted.
“He didn’t have one bad read,” Hodgkiss said.
Graziani received the maximum 158.3 passer rating and was named as the Arena Football League’s offensive player of the week.
The Avengers receiving corps did a good job of catching the ball, Hodgkiss said, although Chris Jackson (nine catches for 164 yards and five touchdowns) did draw Hodgkiss ire for reaching the ball over the goal line on one of his touchdowns, risking a fumble.
Rookie defensive specialists Wasswa Serwanga and Damen Wheeler, “still have a lot of growth mentally, but they made up for it a lot of ways with their aggression and athletic ability,” Hodgkiss said.
Serwanga made a game-high 8.5 tackles, forced a fumble, broke up a pass and made an end zone interception with 19 seconds to play to seal the victory. Wheeler made 6.5 tackles, third in the game behind Serwanga’s 8.5 and teammate Kevin Ingram’s eight, broke up a pass, made an interception and recovered a fumble.
“I think they`re going to be pretty dangerous once they get along mentally,” Hodgkiss said.
Los Angeles’ special teams did “a good job on kickoff coverage” against “a pretty formidable returner,” Sedrick Robinson, Hodgkiss said. Robinson returned three kickoffs for 68 yards, with his longest return, 24 yards, coming on the final play of the first half.
Avengers kicker Remy Hamilton recorded touchbacks on four of his 10 kickoffs, with one kickoff going out of bounds, giving Las Vegas the ball on it own 20-yard line. The Gladiators other drives began on their 14, 17, 13 and 12.
A special teams disappointment was failing to convert a fake field goal in the first quarter, Hodgkiss said. The ball was snapped to Lonnie Ford, lined up as protector in front of Hamilton, who was stopped after a one-yard gain on a fourth-and-two from the Las Vegas 10.
“I wish we would have executed that better,” Hodgkiss said. “We were misaligned and just didn’t execute that very well at all. We need to do a better job there.”
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.
