Rattlers Will Make 13 a Lucky Number
Patrick Daly
Sunday February 8, 2004
For the past two seasons, the Rattlers have played the role of the bride’s maid, falling just short with two ArenaBowl losses that have cost them that third championship. This year, the goal is to bring the ArenaBowl to Arizona, making home field advantage their advantage.
“That’s our first objective,” said Rattlers head coach Danny White, the team’s only head coach in their 13-year history. “We’ve talked about it the entire preseason. We feel like a home field championship game is a huge advantage. We’ve played on the road two years in a row now, and we know what a disadvantage it is to have their fans, their announcer, their program, their cheerleaders, their everything. The only thing we can do about that is play it at home, and that means getting off to a better start than we did last year.”
That goal is also something that’s not lost on the players.
“It’s mandatory that we win early,” said Rattlers wide receiver/defensive back Randy Gatewood. “If we’re going to put ourselves in a position to win a championship, I think it’s going to come through our home field. The last two years, in San Jose and Tampa, we fell short on the road both times.”
If you turn back the clock to the middle of the 2003 season, you’ll find the Rattlers coming off of an embarrassing loss to Tampa Bay that dropped Arizona to a 4-5 record. Rather than throw in the towel, the Rattlers won nine of their next ten games, including the playoffs, before falling to Tampa Bay one more time in the ArenaBowl. This year, with the reduced number of playoff spots, getting off to a bad start will make it an even steeper hill to climb.
“With them taking those four playoff spots away, it’s imperative that we get off to a great start—win games early—because later on in the season you tend to play better than you do early in the season,” said Gatewood. “If we can do that, go on a run early, and just sustain it throughout the season, I think we’ll put ourselves in that position.”
A quick start will be helped by a schedule that features four of the first fives games at home. However, it’s the first game of that five game stretch that may be the toughest.
“It seems like every year we draw one of the top two or three teams in the league,” said Gatewood about the season opener. “For a few years it was San Jose, now it’s LA. It’s a big challenge to start off with a team like that the first game of the year, but I think it’s a challenge I feel like we’ll be ready for and be up for.”
Without the benefit of preseason games, or even a scrimmage against another team, the Rattlers are as excited as they are anxious about Sunday. Despite the lack of facing off with another foe in the preseason, White expects the veteran experience and home field to be an advantage.
“That’s the thing that’s going to be real important for us,” said White. “The fact that, number one, we’re playing at home and, number two, that we’re a veteran team. With no scrimmages, no preseason games, it’s a little bit scary.”
Arizona has held a few live intrasquad scrimmages over the past few weeks, but that will never match the speed of playing against a live opponent in a game that counts.
“I know when I played—in my thirteenth year—every changed when you strapped it on for real. The tempo picks up. Decisions have to be made quicker. Everything happens just so much faster. Even though a lot of our team is vets, it’s the first time in a long time that they’ve been out there at that pace.”
That difference is also obvious to those who will strap it on this Sunday.
“We went live quite a bit this training camp where we had some scrimmages against each other, but it’s still nothing like playing against someone you haven’t seen all camp,” said Gatewood. “There’s nothing like that game tempo against somebody else that you don’t practice against every day.”
When Arizona takes the field on Sunday, it’ll be the first time offensive specialist Siaha Burley does so in a Rattler uniform. His athletic ability makes him a threat to score from anywhere on the field, but he’s still picking up the intricacies of White’s offensive system.
“It’s one thing to have the moves and the athletic ability to get open,” said White. “It’s another thing to know when you’re running into a zone or a combo coverage, and get somebody else open. He’s still learning that.”
And how has the learning progressed?
“So far, so good,” said White. “He’s on track. He’s not there yet in what we want in a specialist. There are a lot of little intricate details in our routes that he’s still learning. Most teams, I think, just run posts and corners, and he needs to know when to run a post to get open and when to run a post to get somebody else open. That’s becoming a complete receiver.”
Another new area is the fullback position, but not necessarily due to new players. Bo Kelly, Frank Trentadue and Joe Jackson remain from last season’s team, but they’ll be given a chance to play a bigger role in the pass rush.
“Our linebackers are as good a group as there is in the league and we’re going to turn them loose a little bit more and let them rush the passer a little bit more,” said White. “We’ll probably dress three of them instead of two, which we have usually done.”
That pass rush will be crucial in every game, but even more so on Sunday. Avengers quarterback Tony Graziani and offensive specialist Chris Jackson have developed nearly perfect timing on the post-corner route that has helped them stomp on a number of opponents. A key to beating the Avengers will be to disrupt that timing.
“The strength of their whole team is Jackson running that post-corner route and they time it up so well the key to stopping it is the pass rush,” said White. “Because it is down the field, it does take a little bit of time, and if we can some heat on Graziani that’s our best shot of slowing them down. If you rely on the defensive backs to stop them, it’s going to be a long day. We can stop the post and the corner, but we’ll leave guys underneath wide open.”
Speaking of defensive backs, the Rattlers return the same core group of defensive specialists from last season, which gives Arizona experience and depth. Hamin Milligan, who was picked up last season after being released by the San Jose SaberCats, will man the middle of the defense, which essentially equates to being the quarterback on defense. Milligan will have plenty of help with Kelvin Hunter and Clarence Lawson playing a key part, as will Ricky Parker, although he will most likely miss Sunday’s game due to injury.
“Hamin will play in the middle to start and we’ll see how he does,” said White. “Clarence can play the middle and Kelvin can play the middle, so we’ve got three guys that we feel very comfortable with.”
To make a run for their third title try, the Rattlers have put in a lot of work during the off-season. Now it’s time to strap it on and go get it.
He is Ironman
Randy Gatewood credited his off-season training for his success last season, which included winning the Arena Football League Ironman of the Year award. Based on his work during the most recent off-season, he should be in as good a shape this year.
“Going through last season really got my confidence up on both sides of the ball,” said Gatewood. “I felt good early on last year, and I did the same thing this off-season that I did last off-season. I feel like I had a pretty good camp. I came into camp in really good shape and I know that’s one of the main keys for me to starting off the season well early.”
After winning the award last year Gatewood has set the bar high, but that won’t change his approach.
“I prepared myself last year—every week—to go out and play as hard as I could and as well as I could every week,” said Gatewood. “With that kind of work ethic and the way things turned out last year I was fortunate enough to set the bar high and go out and have a great season.
“This year, I’m just going to go out and try to do what I did last year. If my number is called, be ready, be prepared and just continue to make plays.”
If last year is any indication, we should see number 17 called often.
Keep an eye on…
OS Siaha Burley – As the most notable newcomer, Burley has a little more pressure on him to contribute, but holding the offensive specialist role in the Rattlers’ offense is a great place to be. Given that he’s still new to the offense, White has some other options that he may consider, including Tom Pace, Orshawante Bryant and Ricky Parker. However, expect number five to be involved early and often.
FB/LB Joe Jackson – Word around camp is that Jackson has looked good and could play a bigger role this season. Bo Kelly remains the main man and Frank Trentadue has shown he can make plays, but Jackson will benefit from White dressing three fullbacks, so he’ll get his chance to shine.
OL/DL Kelvin Ingram – It’s been three years since “KI” has worn Rattler black, but he’s back. There have been a number of changes along the line, but Ingram will contribute right away.
WR/LB Hunkie Cooper – Football is not a sport that encourages longevity, but Cooper remains one of the best, if only because he wills it. His leadership and passion are a crucial part of this team. If I’m going to battle, his name is at the top of my list.
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.
