SaberCats Determined to Return to Excellence
Tim Ball
Saturday February 22, 2003
While SaberCats players and coaches focus on the direction of the 2003 season and the remaining 13 regular season games, how the players respond from here will determine who will be playing for what at the end of the season. Disappointing as it has begun, the San Jose team knew that this season was not going to be a cakewalk.
San Jose’s head coach, Darren Arbet, has constantly drilled to his players that the goal is to make the playoffs. The “tournament,” as he puts it, is the goal to achieve the main goal. In a league with as much talent as the AFL, and with rules designed to keep the game hanging to the very end, losses are inevitable. One missed play for any team can -- and usually is -- the reason for defeat.
How a team handles adversity is as important as any single aspect of competitive sports. The San Jose SaberCats are well aware that the losses they’ve suffered can be turned into the catalyst that can bond the team together to reach the goal for this season.
2002 was a season like no other, and that chapter in the history of the AFL has been written. 2003 has seen a direction where every team, whether champion or expansion, are going to have to fight for every victory down to the very last second of every single game.
The San Jose players know the task at hand is to regain the excellence they possess. Only as a team will they succeed.
The players
Though serious, the players were open to questions on what they think of the first three games and made no excuses.
“Those guys on the other side are talented as well and playing hard,” said DS Clevan Thomas. “They are going to score. We all know that. We know when teams play us that they step it up, and each series of downs we can’t let up. Our goal is to learn from these losses and go on. It’s part of the game.”
Being the target for most offensive game plans, Thomas knows what he’s talking about. As targets for every team in the league, the SaberCats know each game is going to be intense.
As I approached other players they all knew the questions that would be asked.
“No one is happy about losing,” said quarterback Mark Grieb “I think what’s key is that we haven’t found a rhythm yet. The good thing is that we are still keeping the games close. We had several games last year that were decided the same way except that we made the plays. Now we need to focus on improvement.”
Barry Wagner has been at this for as long as any active player in the game. “The first game last year against Arizona, Clevan intercepted the ball in the endzone to stop the Rattlers from winning on the last play,” said Barry Wagner. “We had close games against Chicago and Georgia that went down to the wire. And look back at the game in Tampa. That one went down to the last play as well. The breaks that we got then, these other teams (L.A. and Georgia) got this time.”
Reflecting on the last two losses, Wagner went on, “It’s not like they’re beating us. We’re beating ourselves. If you look back at the films, we had both games won. We only lost by two points last week and by one point the week before.”
Sam Hernandez, whose intensity is legendary in this league, sums it up as a matter of fact. “We expect to win around here. We expect to make the big plays and we didn’t,” said Hernandez. “You’re not going to blow out everyone, especially on the road. So, we gotta regroup and come back this week.”
Offensive specialist James Hundon has shined the brightest in all three games and seems to be in midseason form. Hundon’s first four catches against Georgia went for touchdowns. Hundon’s optimism may be an aspect of his game that will help him and the SaberCats best.
“It’s a marathon and not a sprint,” said Hundon in his opening remarks on the goal for the season. “If you look at both games, we’re two seconds and two plays from being three wins, no losses. Last year we made the plays at the end of the game. It’s a long season we haven’t dug ourselves in hole yet. These kinds of setbacks are part of the game.”
The most impressive player feedback came from lineman Joe Jacobs. Jacobs was injured on the first play in the first game of the season against Arizona when he tore a biceps muscle while blocking and will be sidelined for most of the season.
Unfortunately while I understood the passion in the words being proffered by the intensity of Jacob’s verbiage, I can’t really quote them for print. Let’s just say, he thinks luck played a part in the other teams beating the SaberCats!
The fact that Joe Jacobs was at practice, when he can’t even begin rehab -- let alone suit up, is an indication that the SaberCats expect to be in a place at the end of the season where the starting lineman will be relied upon. Also, the numbers of players after practice willing to give their input to a reporter (I didn’t have room for them all,) shows a team who does not take losing easily and doesn’t make excuses.
The team effort that it will take for San Jose to rise above the onslaught of teams rising up to try to beat them is highlighted in players not rushing to their cars immediately following practice. This indicates a team that knows it will have to face that challenge together.
A team effort
Arena Football quite possibly has defined the evolution of team sports as it relates to the importance of every single individual involved in the outcome. While team sports like basketball and hockey also see the lead change hands quickly and to the very last moments of the game, Arena Football doesn’t rely on one or two stars on each team to carry the load.
In Arena Football the big men are pitted man-on-man like boxers pounding on each other round after round. The quick, the fast and the agile are set against each other just moments after one burned the other for a score and are now forced to stop the payback without taking much of a breath.
The San Jose SaberCats are an Arena Football team. The player’s coaches and staff realize they are no longer on the road to perfection, but they are still on the path winding its way to where they want to be.
Tim Ball is a writer in the Chicagoland area. Married and father of three, his opinions on Arena Football reflects the positive aspect of the game as a family event second to none in pro sports.
