Offseason Work Paying Dividends for Gatewood, Rattlers
Patrick Daly
Saturday May 24, 2003
 Sherdrick Bonner Image courtesy of Ken LaRue |
“It feels great,” said Gatewood about the awards. “It lets you know that I’m at a level I’m capable of playing at. It lets me know that all that work I did this offseason did pay off. It also lets me know that I have a great group of guys around me this year to help me get to where I’m at. When you’ve got all of those things in place you’re going to have success. Hopefully, we can continue to do that now for at least four more games and win a championship.”
Gatewood credits both his physical and mental preparation for his success on both sides of the ball, which has been a critical part of Arizona’s success this season.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” said Gatewood. “Physically, I’m in better shape. Mentally, I’ve been on key all year. I think Coach White has played me a lot more defensively than he has in the past. That’s a tribute to my physical ability this year—coming in in shape this year. I’ve had the opportunities to play defensively a lot this year and I’ve made the most of it. I’ve just got to continue to work hard on both sides, be effective on both sides of the ball, and hopefully, at the end of the game, we’ll come out on top.”
Gatewood has been a consistent performer over his career and he has accepted whatever role is required to help the team. This season he’s seen that role expand on both sides due to the departure of Chris Horn and injuries to other receivers, such as Orshawante Bryant and Terence Davis.
“My role on this team has been about the same every year until this year,” said Gatewood. “I think this year gave me a chance to make more plays, just based on the fact that Chris wasn’t here, we’ve had some injuries at offensive specialist.
“Coach White has made it his thing to try to get me the ball more and I’ve been ready to make those plays when he’s done that. I’m enjoying it. My role is just to make plays and be there when those guys need me. This year, I’ve been able to do that a whole lot, and it’s paid off. But if I don’t get that championship, the Ironman, the touchdowns, the interceptions, it really doesn’t mean as much.”
After recording just one interception over the past three seasons, Gatewood has taken advantage of more playing time by putting himself in the right place to make a play. And in a game where one or two turnovers often turns the tide, his contribution on defense has been crucial.
“You look for the defensive line to force their quarterback to do something he’s not used to,” said Gatewood. “Make him throw it before he wants to. It’s anticipation also. You just have to watch the film and anticipate what they want to do from time to time. This year I’ve been somewhat aware and have had an understanding of what they might do in certain situations.”
As part of an experienced nucleus that has led the Rattlers to success in the past, Gatewood understands how critical it is for the younger players to learn from those who’ve been there before. As talk of strengths and weaknesses circulates through the league, the common theme is that Arizona does have experience working for them, which includes Gatewood’s contributions.
“I think it plays a lot, because, in our case, we have a lot of young guys,” said Gatewood. “If we set a good example for those guys, they’re going to follow. I think that’s what we’ve done the last six or seven out of our last eight games. We went out and led the rest of the team and they just rallied around us. We have to continue to do that. Going into the playoffs, you need guys who’ve played in those games and been in those situations, and know, over the course of the game, what it’s going to be like.”
When it comes to rallying around number 17, Gatewood has been there. Now he’s looking to do it again.
Wild Card Showdown
As the number six seed, the Rattlers host the 11th seeded Las Vegas Gladiators on Sunday. The last time these teams met, the Rattlers pulled out a 46-42 win in week two under the direction of QB Chris Hixson, who got the nod while Sherdrick Bonner was injured.
“We faced them earlier this year—the second game of the year—and they’re a totally different team now, just like we are,” said Gatewood. “Sherdrick didn’t play in that game either, so we sputtered a little bit offensively. But it’s one of those games now where it’s playoff time, it doesn’t matter how you played them the first time or what they did the first time. We’ve got to go out and take care of ourselves. We can’t make mistakes. We can’t let them force us into mistakes. We’ve got to go out there and play football like we’re capable of playing football. As long as we do that, we shouldn’t have a problem.”
The last 11th seed team Arizona faced almost sent the Rattlers home early in the 2002 playoffs. After upsetting Grand Rapids, the Carolina Cobras nearly claimed the Snakepit as their own if not for a last-second Hail Mary touchdown catch off the nets by Chris Horn as time expired. This year, in the opening round, the Rattlers are looking to leave little doubt about the outcome.
“You do want to avoid those situations,” said Gatewood. “That’s one of the worst feelings in the world; to be down by two or three points, or four points, in this league knowing you need a touchdown and the only way it’s going to happen is on a miracle. That’s the worst feeling in the world. We’d like to go out early and take charge of this game and get a few stops early and get in control of the game. Then you can play a little bit more freely. That’s our goal. We just have to go out now and achieve it.”
When you get down to it, there really should be no surprises, no need for trickery or misdirection. This game, along with the remainder of the playoffs, will come down to avoiding mistakes. On Sunday, the Rattlers hold their own fate in their hands.
“I can’t say it enough,” said Gatewood. “We have to play like we’re capable of playing and not make mistakes. Those are the teams that are winning championships; the teams that make the least amount of mistakes. That’s what we have to do. Cut down on mistakes, execute, and just go out and play like we’re capable of playing and everything should be fine.”
And the award goes to…
Along with the All Arena Team awards for Bonner and Gatewood, and Gatewood’s All-Ironman team honor, the Rattlers placed someone on the All-Rookie Team.
While he’s a rookie by AFL standards, OL/DL Bryan Henderson earned First Team All-af2 honors with the Wichita Stealth last season, where he recorded 16 sacks, so he’s no stranger to the arena game. In 2003, Henderson recorded three sacks over thirteen regular season games for the Rattlers.
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
