Fury Turn Out the Lights on Vegas
Neal Ruhl
Sunday May 11, 2003
The Fury used an MVP performance from the game MVP Andy Kelly who completed 25 of 40 passes for a season best 310 yards to go along with an eye-popping nine touchdowns. Kelly also tacked on a one-yard TD run with 0:38 seconds to play.
“We haven’t played like that all year. When you protect the ball, you play well,” said Kelly. “We want to have more wins then we have right now, but we are in the playoffs. Our next goal is to win the division, but Orlando is a tough team.” The Fury host Orlando next week in the regular season finale.
Fury head coach Al Luginbill was also impressed with his team’s performance. “Both teams were playing as well as they could play. I could tell early on that if you didn’t match what the other did, you were going to be out.” Luginbill was also impressed with the play of his quarterback, “He played one his all-time great games today, but what we also did well was play well around Kelly.” Luginbill added, “Our QB was a little bit better down the stretch than theirs was.”
The timing of the win couldn’t be better for the Fury, who knocked Las Vegas from the Eastern Division race with one game remaining on the schedule. The Fury continued what has been a 30-plus year track record of Al Luginbill teams having strong finishes. “I believe that championships are won in the last third of the season.” The Fury coach was also happy about gaining momentum down the stretch as the season winds down. “In professional sports, being in the playoffs means you competed well.”
Praise should be given to this Fury squad. To come from the depths of a one-win season last year, to making the playoffs with a good shot at winning the division is an incredible feat. The Fury haven’t been the most consistent team, and at stretches have looked borderline terrible. That being said, it cannot be denied that this has been a most remarkable turnaround. With a victory this year at defending champion San Jose’s arena, the Fury have shown that they can compete with anyone. Losing three of six in midseason has shown that the Fury can lose to anyone as well. The playoffs should be fun.
Inside the Fury
With 11:10 to play in the second quarter, the lights went out at the Palace for the second time this week. They went out earlier this week on the Pistons as they hosted Philadelphia in the playoffs…The Fury clinch the East Division with a win over Orlando, or a New York loss to 0-15 Carolina (yeah right)…Congrats to Fury return man Ron Carpenter. He set a new AFL record for return yards in a season with 2,202.
Neal Ruhl lives in the Metro Detroit Area where he has covered the Detroit Lions as well as the Motor City Bowl.
