Fury Fall to Winless Dragons
Neal Ruhl
Monday March 17, 2003
“Winning football teams take advantage of other team’s mistakes, and we did not do that here today.” That was the quote of Fury Coach Al Luginbill, and he was right on the money.
Coming out of the Locker room to begin the second half and trailing 36-28, the Dragons attempted to catch the Fury napping by trying an onside kick. Detroit recovered and took over at the New York six-yard line. Following a Dragon penalty, the Fury had six attempts to get the ball in the end zone and land what could have been a deathblow to the winless Dragons. They failed an all six attempts, and to make matters worse, kicker Todd Latourette missed a 19-yard field goal rendering the Fury scoreless on the drive. It appears as though that series is what shifted the whole momentum of the game. The Fury would not score a point in the quarter, and New York took control.
“I don’t know what happened there in the 3rd quarter.” Said Fury QB Andy Kelly, who in the game became the first quarterback in professional football history to throw for 500 touchdowns. “For whatever reason, we just didn’t come out well after halftime.”
The scoreless third quarter continued what has become an alarming trend for the Detroit Fury. Almost every week they have a quarter similar to what was witnessed today. This must stop in a hurry as the Fury are set to embark on a brutal stretch of games that will see them play five of the next six on the road. Historically, the road has not been kind to the Fury as they have only one victory away from the Palace in the last two years.
The Fury might want to look for wide receiver Marcus Nash a little more than they do right now when the offense bogs down. At 6’ 3”, Marcus looks like a man among boys on the field. He has the height to take balls away from the smaller defenders, as well as the size to shed tacklers. Coach Luginbill likes to spread the ball around, but this is game of match-ups and the Fury do not capitalize enough on this one. This is a man who was a first round draft pick in the N.F.L, and has two Super Bowl rings. He needs the ball more.
Inside the Fury
As mentioned before, Andy Kelly became the first QB to throw for 500 touchdowns in his career, however next week will more than likely see Kelly get some company in that club as Dragons QB Aaron Garcia now sits at 497…Fury WR/LB Marcus Nash was named the game’s Ironman…Dragon’s OS Mike Furrey enjoyed a career day as he caught 15 passes for 229 yards and 6 td’s…It was Andy Kelly bobble head day Sunday at the Palace. “The guys joked with me that it looked like (Fury kicker) Todd Latourette more than it looked like me,” said Kelly.
Neal Ruhl lives in the Metro Detroit Area where he has covered the Detroit Lions as well as the Motor City Bowl.
