Philyaw`s Return Changes Game Midstride
Matthew Pickut
Wednesday April 9, 2003
The Indiana Firebirds fell just short of what could have been the greatest comeback in their Indiana tenure after QB Raymond Philyaw entered the game down 20 points with eight minutes to go. He spearheaded the team to a lead that they were ultimately unable to hold.
The game came down to two untimed plays with the Firebirds down seven. On the first, OS Eddie Brown almost hauled in a TD. The second had WR/DB Evan Hlavacek actually make the TD only to have the play called back on off-setting penalties. “I’m going to make that catch someday,” said Brown after the game. “I missed it twice, but I’m going to make that catch.”
Even with the 20-point deficit when he entered the game, the team looked obviously more focused after Philyaw relieved QB Jose Davis. “It’s huge. You saw what he did when he came in,” said FB/LB Leroy Thompson whose premature motion prompted the offsetting call, “but it’s tough to lose a game like that, especially on a stupid offside penalty. I pride myself on playing mistake-free football and that just shouldn’t have happened.”
Brown echoed Thompson’s appraisal of Philyaw’s return. “Our captain came back and he just knows how to say certain things that just gets everybody’s mind focused on what they need to do, not worried about this or that or the score, just focused on what you need to do,” said Brown.
Clearly, after four years, Philyaw has matured into a team leader. “He’s matured really well,” said Brown. “I’ve been proud of him with the progress that he’s made. He’s done a great job. He’s a great leader not only on the field but off the field as well. He does a lot of things off the field that a lot of people don’t know about – he takes the linemen out to dinner at least once a week, he sits down with the receivers and gives us a hard time, he does a lot of things that happen behind closed doors that no one knows about. Every Thursday he takes the linemen and Mack backers out to breakfast and pays. He sits down and talks to them and gets their input and he’ll do the same with the DB’s and wide receivers. When you’ve got a guy like that you’re willing to give up anything.”
Philyaw stepped into a storied set of shoes as team leader when he took over for QB Mike Pawlawski. “They lead in different ways,” observed Brown. “Pawlawski is one of the smartest men in the world. Some people don’t know that. That’s what he brought with his fiery attitude.”
“It’s come with his experience level,” said head coach Mike Dailey. “He’s a guy whose a great competitor. He’s not a real vocal guy like Mike Pawlawski was, but he leads by example and he has a great work ethic. He comes in and does a great deal of film study. He’s there on his off days working with the coaches on the game plan … My intention was not to play him, he’s not 100%, but he came in and game us a spark. The defense made some plays and we were back in the game.”
“We had a chance at the end, and except for one penalty we’d be in the position to kick the extra point or go for two and win …” Dailey said. ” I would have gone for two because I understand the rules of overtime. Each team gets a possession and so you hope to go on defense. If you stop them, great! You can just kick a field goal. But if the other team goes down and scores and goes for the extra point to go up seven, then on your position you score and you kick the extra point. The next possession is sudden death; then you don’t want to give them the ball back. So, at the end of the game you’re going to have to go for two eventually to win the game.”
Regardless of the lingering soreness in his knuckle, Philyaw was glad to be back in action after being on the IR for five weeks. “It feels good. I had a good week of practice but I wasn’t expecting to play tonight. You have to give Jose credit for putting 20 points on the board,” said Philyaw. “I know some people will want to downplay his performance but he put up some points. The tough thing about the comeback is that we came up short and there is nothing good about losing. I was glad I could come in and gets some reps in under fire.”
The finger will need some time to heal but Philyaw knows he can play through the pain, “It’s one of those things that will take time to heal,” said Philyaw. “With the cast I have, it pushes up against it and keeps everything in place. After a while [the swelling] will go down. There are still two fractures on both knuckles so it will still probably hurt for the rest of the season.”
Despite the loss, Dailey saw positives in the team’s performance. “I’m proud of my guys. They’ve played hard even through the losing, but they have to be professional,” said Dailey. “That’s what I’m expecting from everyone in the organization.”
Both WR/DB Evan Hlavacek and WR/LB Eddie Brown showed that professionalism in their new responsibilities. Brown added to his résumé with some great hits, once taking down a 300+ pound lineman on a screen play with a textbook tackle. Brown, who publicly complained earlier about his diminished role in the offense, continued to play through his disappointment and came up with a big game.
“It’s great, just great – it feels good,” said Brown of his performance. “You know at one point when I wasn’t part of the offense I started questioning myself. I didn’t have that feeling about myself (this time). I just put it behind me and moved on and focused on the things I know that I can do to be successful. I just tried to stay humble and all of a sudden more balls are coming my way.”
With both Brown and Philyaw beginning to regaining their form, next week’s game against Dallas will be a test of just how far the team has come back after a rash of injuries. Next week, if they get down a few touchdowns, I’ll keep watching – I’ve learned my lesson.
Celebration Update
During the game, FB/LBs Rich Young and Leroy Thompson celebrated scoring plays by miming shaking salt and pepper on the field. “Salt and Pepper?” Young said after the game when I asked him about the celebration. “That’s my brother over there [pointing to Thompson]. He’s black, I’m white. We play the same position and he’s my dog.”
Matthew Pickut is a pastor in northern Indiana and a long time AFL fan. He also writes for his own website: The Brown Paper Blog. He graduated from Taylor University in Upland Indiana (class of `96) with degrees in Biblical Literature and Sociology as well as a healthy respect for the medicinal properties of coffee.
