Cobras on NBC in Fight for .500 Season
Chuck DiLullo
Friday April 2, 2004
“I’m very excited about it. I’m excited for the owner, the organization and the players,” said defensive coach Mo Blanding, who has been with the club since they moved to Charlotte. “It will be good to get the exposure.”
“There is a sense of excitement in appearing on TV this weekend. A lot of guys are looking forward to it,” said QB Matt Nagy. “New York has been on TV every week so they are used to it. It won’t change how we prepare or approach the game but it will definitely make it more exciting.”
The game holds another intangible that cannot be ignored. Head coach John Gregory was fired four games into last season after coaching the franchise for nine years dating back to their days as the Iowa Barnstormers. Eight current Cobras, including OS Todd Doxson, WR/DB Damien Groce, QB Matt Nagy, OL/DL Cory Stone, OL/DL Robert Stewart, OL/DL Sean Tremblay and WR/LB Jack Walker, Jr., all played for Gregory in New York. The game has importance to the Cobras in their effort to get back in the playoff hunt and New York is a team they would have to leap-frog to accomplish that, but the emotion that is percolating in the background has to be something that is boiling in the guts of everyone touched by this.
“I’d certainly like to win the ball game, there is no question about that,” said Gregory.
“It will be a fun game and I am looking forward to it,” said Nagy. “There is going to be a little extra going into this game for sure with all the ex-players and Coach Gregory coming from there.”
“I am not going to lie to you and say that I am not excited,” said Doxson. “There are some guys who have negative emotions when they face their old teams but that’s not the case with me. I am excited to go out and play against my friends and compete at the highest level.”
“This is a very important game because we definitely need a win,” said defensive coordinator Ron Selesky. “We are more focused as a team on what we have to do to get a win rather than get caught up in the emotion of playing against the Dragons because we have so many ex-players and Coach Gregory. We have to get back to .500 before we can start realistically talking playoffs, which means we have to win this week first. We have to claw and scratch and dig our way out of a hole and the Dragons happen to be in our way at a critical point and we have to have a sense of urgency no matter who we are playing.”
“We have to get a win over New York before we start looking at the stretch run of the playoff drive,” said Blanding. “We can’t look too far ahead because we have to beat New York to even have a chance to reach that goal.”
“I don’t think about numbers of wins. I point back to last season in New York when we struggled and came back to make the playoffs,” said Doxson. “ I can only control what I can and that is making plays for this ball club.”
The Cobras are preparing for the most prolific passer in AFL history. Aaron Garcia is the all-time leading touchdown passer and is ranked third in the league this season with 41 touchdown passes.
“I think we have to do a good job with coverage because Aaron Garcia is extremely ac- curate and reads coverages well,” said Gregory. “We are not going to fool him. We will simply have to win our man-to-man coverage battles.”
“We are preparing for arguably the best quarterback in the league. We have to pay attention to detail and focus on what we do best,” said Selesky.
The Cobras look to improve to 4-5 on the season while taking aim at a team that is in their way if they hope to make the playoffs. They also look to win their second straight home game. Kickoff will be at 12:00 P.M. on Sunday, April 4th, at the Charlotte Coli- seum.
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.
