Fury Look To Put Out Firebirds
Neal Ruhl
Monday February 23, 2004
Fury coach Tom Luginbill wants to see if his guys can keep an even keel after coming off the big road victory. “I am curious to see if we can stay up. By that I mean I want to know if we can take how high we were last week, and carry that over into this game.” Luginbill also wants to see if the Fury can stay away from the turnovers that plagued them in the loss to San Jose. “I like what we can do when our guys do what they are coached to do. When they get out there and start improvising, we turn the ball over and we lose. In Arizona we didn’t turn it over and you see what happened.”
Detroit starts a part of the schedule where they should be favored to win the next five games. If the Fury can rack up some wins, they might get a little of the respect they deserve. “I tell the guys we got one win, now we have to put together a streak. Then people will look at the schedule and say hey we gotta play Detroit this week, we gotta get it up.” The Fury, who are coming off a road playoff win, and who were nine yards away from beating the Arenabowl champs (Tampa Bay), were a notable absence in the most recent release of the league power rankings.
Fury QB Andy Kelly also looks build upon the momentum he created last week when he threw for 204 yards and four touchdowns. More important to the Fury however, is the fact that he threw no interceptions. “I tossed a few more into the stands last week, and that’s okay with me. I may miss a receiver here or there, but if I don’t see something I like, I throw it away and we still have the ball.” Last week’s performance should quiet some of the Fury fans who were calling for Kelly’s replacement after the season opener. That doesn’t bother the Arenaleauge’s all time passing leader however. “I’ve been booed by 97,000 people before, so I don’t get too caught up in that.” Said Kelly.
UNLEASH THE FURY
In Addition to Indiana/Detroit, the Central division also has the two leaders squaring off in Chicago when the Rush host John Elway’s Colorado Crush, both teams are 2-0…The Detroit Fury practice at the relaxing hour of 5:00 am on Saturday…
ON THE AIR
Catch ArenaFan’s own Neal Ruhl in his regular segment on the Fury pre game show on 1310 am WXDX in Detroit…Also catch Neal on the Firebird’s flagship during halftime on ESPN 950 am in Indianapolis.
Neal Ruhl lives in the Metro Detroit Area where he has covered the Detroit Lions as well as the Motor City Bowl.
