VooDoo Charm Cobras
Robert Carver
Sunday March 28, 2004
As they have in their past three home games, the VooDoo jumped out to a good lead late in the first half. The sold-out crowd was the loudest so far this season, and the VooDoo fed off of their deafening roar on offense and defense. The VooDoo were on their way to another dominating home performance, and the defense appeared to have held the Cobras in check only to have a couple of great defensive plays called back due to penalties. This allowed the Cobras to mount a drive and cut the lead at halftime to seven, keeping them very much in the game.
Again, the VooDoo defense would step up to make a great play during Carolina’s first drive of the second half only to find a yellow flag on the field that kept the Cobras on the move. This drive culminated in another touchdown and the VooDoo found themselves in a tie ballgame after opening a promising first half lead. The crowd was subdued at this point, stunned that their VooDoo had relinquished the lead in such atypical fashion; penalties and coverage miscues are not the norm for this stingy VooDoo defense.
New Orleans took the ensuing possession, regained their poise, and drove the field to re-establish the lead at 35-28. The Cobras were unable to match the touchdown and had to settle for a 47-yard field goal to cut the lead to four. It was that pair of drives that may have been the turning point in the game.
“I think it was big after we held them in the second half to a field goal and we took that lead by four points,” said VooDoo head coach Mike Neu. “I think that was also a turning point in the game. We held them to that field goal and we felt like, ok, now we got the control back in our hands and let’s not let it slip out again.”
The VooDoo brought the Graveyard alive when quarterback John Fitzgerald connected on a 17-yard touchdown pass to his favorite target, offensive specialist Aaron Bailey. The roar of the crowd could be heard down on Bourbon Street and the energy flowed through the VooDoo team. This felt like the turning point of the game to those in attendance.
“We went up 42-31 and our defense got that stop,” said Neu. “I really felt like there was a sense on our bench that we got the clamp on right now, let’s squeeze a little bit tighter.”
The “stop” Coach Neu referred to came on the Cobras next possession when the VooDoo defense eliminated their previous mistakes and stepped up to shut down the Cobra attack. Unable to complete a pass, Carolina turned the ball over on downs.
New Orleans took advantage of their defense’s fine play to run a time consuming drive that led to another VooDoo touchdown. Fans in the Graveyard knew that the Cobras were finally dead meat at this point. Carolina got the ball back with only a minute left in the game. They were unable to score again and became another victim now buried in the VooDoo Graveyard.
VooDoo head coach Mike Neu stated that this was a big win and he challenged his guys at halftime as they had penalties in the first half and weren’t paying attention to detail.
“In the second half, we came back out and started off a little bit shaky, but our guys responded and we held them to just ten points and we scored on every possession we had of the second half,” said Neu. “I am proud of our guys. It is a great way to end the first half of the season and get some rest going into the bye week and looking forward to second half of the season.”
That the win came over his former team, made the win over Carolina more special for him.
“Absolutely, it meant a lot to me,” said Neu. “I won’t lie. I understand that is part of the business when I was let go two years ago after that playoff game; it hurt. I took it very, very hard and beat myself up a lot over it. I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to come to New Orleans and to be sitting here 7-1. I’m excited to get a win to finish off the first half of the season against Carolina certainly means a lot.
“Dan (Curran) had a big game again today; he had that one long run. When we had the opportunity (to run) when it presented itself, we took it. There was a challenge; their coach challenged us a little bit when he said he doubted we could run the ball on them. Our guys rose to the challenge and accepted it.”
The are off this coming week and the bye comes at an opportune time for the VooDoo, especially with changes that have been made to deal with injuries during the first half of the season.
“We need the bye week because we got some injuries; some guys were really playing injured in the second half,” said Neu. “Tim Martin played through a sprain on his shoulder. He really sucked it up. That is a true sign of heart for all of our guys, but we need to get some guys back healthy. We’ve shuffled the skilled guys around the last few weeks, so we’re excited for the bye week to get some guys healthy.”
One of the efforts to watch has been the play of WR/DS Denario Smalls, who was promoted from the practice squad to fill the void left by injury to Luke Leverson and Kerry Hayes.
“I think he did a great job and I think that is a credit to our players on how hard they work in practice because we’ve got some other guys, in addition to Denario, that are on our practice squad that can certainly step in,” said Neu. “You can’t get everybody on the field, and Denario played great. He practices hard every day and never once did he complain about not being on the field. So an opportunity presented itself and he made the most of it.”
The VooDoo have benefited from the support they’ve received at home playing in front of the raucous home crowd at the Graveyard, a point that’s not lost on Neu.
“We’re 4-0 at home, and a lot of that credit goes to our fans because they make this environment unbelievable,” said Neu. “I see our players out there asking for the crowd to get loud and let me tell you, to see them get loud and see them do the wave, I mean we owe a lot of our success right now to our fans and we appreciate them. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the fan support and the people that have said great things to our players and to our coaches. We just want to play hard and make them proud, and we try to leave it all on the field and give them something to want to come back to the next game for.”
“It’s been great from the start,” said fullback/linebacker Dan Curran. “The fans have been great from day one and we really appreciate the home field advantage here.”
Dan Curran also talked about running against the Cobras.
“We feel like, with our line and our receivers blocking downfield, we can probably run on anybody,” said Curran. “It is obviously tough to run against anybody in the league just the way the game is designed. The guys up front have done a great job all year, so it wasn’t really anything that they showed us. It is just we have a lot of confidence in our guys up front. I think coach felt like we earned a little bit of respect, and maybe they didn’t think we could do it, so we were glad to get out there and have a couple of successful runs. Obviously you want to go into a bye week with a win just because if you lose that is going to be a long two weeks. It is good to finish on a good note, and we are at the halfway point and, hopefully, if we will go 7-1 the rest of the way—that would be great—we would be in the playoffs in good position.”
B. J. Cohen, who was named U.S. Army Ironman for the game talked about his expectations in coming to New Orleans.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Cohen. “I know this is a party town, but I know they know football. I am from Atlanta and I know when the Falcons come over here it is crazy. I didn’t know if they would jump behind us the way they have. If you build a winner they will come out. They have been loud and a determining factor for us throughout the season at home. We are trying to get the home field advantage throughout the playoffs. That would be good for us.”
VooDoo owner Tom Benson signed autographs for several fans after the game and commented on the large crowd swarming the arena field to interact with the players and coaches.
“Boy, I am going to tell you one thing. The experience of letting these players and coaches out here signing autographs for these people, I think it is just fantastic,” said Benson. “What a fine football team Mickey Loomis and then Mike Neu put together here—it has just been outstanding.”
When asked if he had dreamed before the season that the VooDoo could go 7-1, Benson smiled.
“No, you don’t think about being 7-1,” said Benson. “You think about being 8-0.”
Notable performances
VooDoo quarterback John Fitzgerald connected on six touchdown passes, three to offensive specialist Aaron Bailey. Fitzgerald was named the Baby Ruth Offensive Player of the Game for his 15-of-22, 211-yard performance. Offensive specialist Ira Gooch made his first career start, finishing with five catches for 87 yards and a touchdown. Defensive specialist Monty Montgomery was the ADT Defensive Player of the Game, racking up five tackles and six passes defensed.
After the win the VooDoo are set for their bye week before returning to play on Friday, April 9th in Orlando.
Robert Carver is a historian residing in New Orleans. He is married and has recently returned to the Big Easy. He loves the NFL and is a die-hard Saints fan. Robert also follows the SEC closely, cheering on his home state Tennessee Volunteers. He has also had the opportunity to attend the af2's Tennessee Valley Vipers games while living in Huntsville. Robert feels that New Orleans will embrace the wide-open energy of the AFL experience.
