Maynor Leads Offense, Preds to Victory
Jason Lucas
Monday March 29, 2004
Reading the arenafan.com message boards last week you would get the feeling that most fans in Orlando had no confidence in Maynor. Some of those comments came from yours truly. A lot of us also thought when Craig Whelihan was brought in on Thursday it would be to start at quarterback for the Predators. Well, we were all wrong and I am glad to say Connell Maynor proved us wrong. At least for this week we were all wrong as Maynor showed up looking more like Superman than the Clark Kent from last week.
“Blocking was a lot better for Connell,” said Predators head coach Jay Gruden. “We gave him a chance; in Chicago we never gave him a chance. We dug ourselves into a big hole, and we are going five step drops and their linemen are teeing off on us and I felt bad for him. Nobody wants to be a quarterback in that situation, but like the warrior that Connell is, he bounced back and had one of the great games in Predators’ history tonight after a horrible performance last week.”
Giving Maynor more time to throw, and giving very talented receivers Cory Fleming, Travis McGriff, and Sean Riley time to run their routes downfield, the Predators had no trouble putting up 60 points against Las Vegas. The Predators (3-4) leading receiver and Ironman of the game, Cory Fleming, had six receptions for 112 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Travis McGriff added three catches for 42 yards and two touchdowns including a 28-yard touchdown pass from Maynor in the fourth quarter.
The story of the night had to be Marlon Moye-Moore, who had 37 rushing yards on just six carries. In the Arena Football League that many yards would translate to well over 100 yards in the outdoor game. Moye-Moore added a spectacular nine-yard touchdown run in the third quarter in which he broke five tackles on his way to the end zone. At one point in the fourth quarter the Predators rushed the ball on three consecutive plays, gaining five yards per carry and running precious time off the clock. Orlando seemingly ran the ball at ease on the Las Vegas Gladiators (3-5).
Connell Maynor had 243 yards passing on 14 completions in 17 attempts, and accounted for 5 touchdown passes. Maynor also had 17 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the night. Maynor seemed to be having a lot more fun this week than last week.
“Last week was a total disaster for the team, offensively, defensively, everywhere,” said Maynor. “You can’t live off of last week’s performance, just like next week we won’t live off of this performance. The thing we tried to keep was that that game was over with. We got to prepare for this game and we did from the opening kick. We went down and scored; we played Predator football all night.”
The Orlando Predators special teams also warranted a mention this week. Jay Taylor did an exceptional job of placing his kickoffs on the bottom bar of the net and got great bounces back there. Las Vegas returners had trouble all night fielding Taylor’s kicks and it showed when a kick in the second quarter landed right in the lap of the Predators’ Jermaine Smith. When Las Vegas finally did get a grasp on a kickoff they were tackled inside of the one-yard line and sacked for a safety on the following play.
This week we saw how well Connell Maynor and the Orlando Predators are capable of playing. Next week, we will see if they can do it again in Ohio against the expansion Columbus Destroyers.
Jason Lucas is a part-time freelance writer based in the Orlando, Florida area. A former director of media relations with the Orlando Predators, Jason is making his return to Arenafan.com after a short stint as a public relations assistant with the UFL‘s Florida Tuskers in 2010. Lucas has followed the AFL since 1992 and began covering the Predators for Arenafan during the 2004 season. He held that position until being picked up by the Preds front office after the 2007 season. Jason‘s knowledge of arena football and love of the game is what drives him to continue covering the sport.
