Rattlers Start Slow, Suffer Another Season-Opening Loss
Patrick Daly
Wednesday February 11, 2004
This isn’t necessarily a bad omen, considering the fact that the Rattlers have reached the ArenaBowl despite season-opening losses. However, they have plenty to learn from a game in which they lost the turnover battle by a wide margin and, outside of a few bright moments, the timing was off for nearly everyone.
A strong pass rush that got to Los Angeles quarterback Tony Graziani shone brightly, with Graziani going down three times and letting go of the ball twice, one of which the Rattlers recovered. Unfortunately, five turnovers overshadowed that performance.
“We’ve just got to get more consistent at it,” said Rattlers head coach Danny White about the defensive pressure. “That’s normally enough in a regular game. If you have one or two real good series defensively with the pass rush, that makes the difference. We just had too many turnovers, so it wasn’t enough. There were couple of times where I was really, really happy with the pressure we were getting on Graziani. I think we probably hit him more than they hit us.
“What you do with the ball when you’re under pressure is what really counts in this game. Graziani did a good job of not hurting his team when he got under pressure. He found a way to throw the ball away, take a sack, or do something with it without turning it over. And when it was on the ground, two or three times we knocked it out and I think we only got one of them.”
Of the five Rattler turnovers, four were interceptions, belying the fact that the timing between quarterback Sherdrick Bonner and his receivers was there.
“I was worried about this one all week and I guess all my fears came true,” said White. “We played like it was a preseason game. The timing was just off between the quarterback and receivers. It’s the first time that we’ve really gone at a full tempo like that and I was just counting on our experience and the veterans just being able to step out there and play, and we didn’t do that.”
However, just because the interception statistic ends up under Bonner’s name, doesn’t mean White put all of the responsibility on him.
“A lot of it was pressure, but a quarterback still has to make the right decision under pressure,” said White. “He threw a couple of balls to Siaha Burley that I thought Siaha could have at least prevented the interception and he didn’t. From protection to the receivers, I think everyone shares the blame in the turnovers and interceptions. We’ll know more after we watch the film, but it looked to me like at least on a couple of them there was not enough effort on the part of the receiver to knock the ball down and keep it from getting intercepted.”
In terms of numbers, Burley had a good day (six catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns), but he certainly doesn’t feel comfortable yet in the overall offense. That will come with more practice.
“It felt great, physically,” said Burley. “It’s a new offense for me and, at full speed out there in the game, things move a little faster and you’ve got a lot of reads. I’d be lying to you if I said I felt really comfortable. I might know my job, but it’s one thing when they mix up the defense and you’re on the go trying to read [the defense]. I can’t say I feel 100% comfortable and that’s probably why I made some mistakes. It’s frustrating because the mental things can keep you from physically performing the way you want to.”
Bonner didn’t let Burley carry the responsibility on his own.
“We miscommunicated a few times and it’s more my fault than his, because I have to give him the time to work,” said Bonner. “I’m definitely going to take the shoulder on this one. We’ll get it together. He’s definitely an explosive player that we need to have on the field.”
Although he’s not satisfied with the initial outing, White still believes that Burley will be the right guy.
“We’ve got to have more confidence in the specialist position,” said White. “It’s his first game; a lot of it is to be expected. We’ll just see if it gets better. It’s got to get better, I know that, and I think it will.”
In the end, it came down to making too many mistakes across the board against a team that will make you pay for those mistakes.
“Playing a team like LA, you know it’s going to come down to who makes the least amount of mistakes,” said Rattlers wide receiver/defensive back Randy Gatewood. “They made some mistakes, too. It’s just unfortunate that we had a few more than they did and we couldn’t capitalize when we did have chance; against a good team that can’t happen. We’ve got to let it go and get ready for Detroit next week and see if we can’t get us a win.”
Who’s Next?
Looking at the schedule, the Detroit Fury have an advantage since they have a week to prepare while the Rattlers have just four days between games. Part of the preparation for their upcoming game will include simplifying things in order to focus on fundamentals and timing.
“We get back to the timing of the receivers, the timing routes,” said White of this week’s focus. “We simplify things. I think part of the problem today was we had way too much to think about. Our game plan was way too complex and I think we get back and simplify our game plan, we get down to a few plays and limit the things we’re trying to do, and just get a lot of reps at it.”
Gatewood agreed that mastering the basics and sound execution will go long way to success.
“We’ve got to get fundamentally sound as a team and execute, offensively and defensively,” said Gatewood. “When we do that we’ll win ball games. This was a challenge tonight against a good team. Unfortunately, we came out at the wrong end of the stick. We understand what we have to do, we’ve just got to go out and do it.”
As disappointing a performance as it was, you won’t find anyone more disappointed than the players themselves.
“We felt coming into this game that we had a good training camp,” said Gatewood. “We felt like we worked our butts off. Of course, it comes down to executing on the field. Tonight, we just didn’t play like we’re capable of playing. Hopefully, we can find a way next week to get us a win and see if we can get this thing going.”
After all, this is only the first game in a 16-game season. While every team wants to start off on the right foot, the good teams pick up the pieces, learn from their mistakes and move on.
“We’ve overcome a little adversity before in our years here,” said Gatewood. “One game by no means is going to set us back.”
To Kick or Not to Kick?
One of the most disappointing performances on the day came from kicker Nelson Garner, who missed three extra point tries and a field goal attempt. Prior to the beginning of the second half, Garner came out early to work on his kicks and was rewarded with cheers after hitting a few between the uprights, but he missed his third point a little later.
The kicker position is a lot like a golfer or hitter in baseball, where confidence and rhythm play a huge part in determining success or failure. Occasionally, a good player will end up in a slump. While White is perceived to give kickers a short leash, he expressed utmost confidence in Garner’s ability.
“I still think that Nelson’s the best kicker in the league,” said White. “I really do in spite of what happened today. He showed me enough last year, and I see the way he works every day, the way he practices. Nelson had a bad day and that’s all that was. I’m going to chalk it up to that and we’re going to forget about it and go on.”
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.
