Cobras Prepare to Tangle with Winless Predators
Chuck DiLullo
Thursday February 26, 2004
The Predators are coming off a bye week and head coach Jay Gruden shook up the defensive roster by waiving two rookie defensive backs, Paul Miranda and LaVar Glover, stating emphatically, “Our problem has been on defense and we need to get better on the defensive side of the ball, particularly in our pass defensive coverage.”
“It doesn’t change our approach because Orlando is making personnel changes. We still know they are going to come in and play smash mouth football,” said defensive coordinator Ron Selesky.
Orlando assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Bret Munsey must be feeling the heat as the Predators allowed either a touchdown or first down on 11 of the 14 third and fourth down plays they faced in their last game versus the Austin Wranglers, a statistic Gruden has said clearly is unacceptable.
The Predators are a physical team and will offer challenges for the Cobras line to deal with when protecting quarterback Matt Nagy. The Predators did manage four quarterback sacks and forced two turnovers in the game versus the Wranglers. This fact did not escape Ron Selesky.
“We have to be able to match their physical play,” said Selesky. “They are very physical and aggressive up front. We have to be able to play that same style of football.”
Matt Nagy is coming off his first bad game of the season. He struggled against the Arizona Rattlers, throwing for three interceptions—his first three of the season—including two on the final three drives of the game where the Cobras were kept off the scoreboard in the fourth quarter.
“Matt is a great quarterback. He has made some spectacular throws,” said Selesky. “I have no doubt that he will continue to grow as a quarterback. What happened last week was a great opportunity for Matt to learn.”
The struggling Predators defense may be just the tonic Nagy needs to recapture the form that won him the Baby Ruth Real Deal Offensive Player of the Week after the first game versus Dallas.
The Predators have never lost to the Cobras, winning all six games previously played by the former divi- sion rivals. Jay Gruden visits the arena where he fractured his ankle in Week 4 of the 2003 season, forcing him to miss six weeks. The six games played between these two franchises have either been complete blowouts with an average victory margin by the Predators of 25 points, or have been very tight ball games with an average victory margin by the Predators of only three points.
The Cobras look to keep pace with the Dallas Desperados at the top of the Eastern Division while the Predators look to stay close to the undefeated expansion New Orleans VooDoo. The Predators know they cannot afford to start the season 0-3, while the Cobras look to regain their winning ways by capturing their first home victory since moving to Charlotte.
Chuck DiLullo works for a manufacturer of process control instrumentation as a sales engineer. He has been a fan of professional, college and high school football since he could walk. Chuck is originally from Philadelphia and he became a huge Arena Football League fan while living in Buffalo. Chuck has lived in Charlotte since 2000 with his wife & three children.
