Has the Defense Awakened in Austin?
Christopher M. Duchene
Friday April 16, 2004
“That’s team defense,” Foster said at the post-game conference. “Our guys worked hard all week and came up big.”
Came up big is exactly how the Wranglers got the job done. When you hold your opponent scoreless for one quarter in the Arena Football League, most of the time you are going to get yourself a win. But after holding the Force scoreless for two quarters, the first and fourth, the Wranglers defense looked as if it had been resurrected from the dead as it has been looking shaky in games leading up to this pivotal Southern Division game.
“Good communication between the secondary really helped us,” Wrangler wide receiver/defensive back Charlie Davidson said after the game. “Everyone worked well together today and the strong first half just poured over us.”
Now let’s not just talk about the improvement the Wrangler secondary showed, but let’s also look at the improvement the Wrangler front line. The front line, led by Tom Briggs, continued to step up, recording tackles, batting down passes, and, most importantly, getting to the AFL’s second leading rusher when it comes to quarterbacks in Leon Murray. But how? How has the Wranglers defense gone from one of the leagues worst to being able to step up in a pivotal game, such as last week’s?
“We just haven’t been getting it done the last few weeks,” Briggs said. “Getting to the quarterback was a big part of the defense.”
Let’s not start jumping to conclusions though, the Wranglers defense may have found something. The point is, the Wrangler defense got it done on that one day and Foster knows that consistency is what wins games in this league.
If the Wranglers have any chance of making an end of the season push to the top of the division, it’s their defense that will have to show us something.
Christopher Duchene is from El Paso, Tx. He currently lives in Austin, Tx and is a Freshman at Austin Community College majoring in Sports Management. After college he hopes to attend law school where he will study sports law hoping one day to become a successful sports agent.
