New York’s Complete Game Stops Carolina
Dwayne Smith
Thursday May 13, 2004
After a back and forth opening series of drives, the Dragons would stop Carolina once and hold them to two field goals in the next 30 minutes of game time, while continuing their own offensive assault. By the end of that stretch, New York’s 14-13 first quarter lead turned into a 42-19 rout in progress in the third.
Dragons quarterback Aaron Garcia seemingly had all sorts of time to pick apart the Cobras’ secondary, hitting five different receivers for touchdowns. Garcia admitted offering “a little extra incentive” to his offensive line if he didn’t get hit, and despite the cost to his wallet it was money well spent. The Arena Football League’s career leader in touchdown passes went 15 for 20 with seven touchdown passes and was not sacked.
The Cobras, on the other hand, were continually under pressure by the Dragons front line and covered by their defensive backs. This effort comes on the heels of a stifling defensive performance in Dallas, where they held the Desperados to 20 points. This time it came without the reigning Arena League Defensive Player of the Week, Corey Johnson, who had three interceptions in Dallas.
With such a dominant performance, Shell gave what has become his trademark team criticism, fueled by the late touchdowns allowed by the Dragons. Stressing the ability to close out a team and finish a game, the coach worried that “sometime that possession or that drive could end up being the difference in the game.”
With three regular season games left, Shell is thinking of not only a return trip to the playoffs, but a championship run. Shell, a member of two NFL championship teams, knows that playing all out for the entire game is a quality of winners. In fact, he won’t even talk in regular season terms.
“This is a six-game season now,” said Shell. “And we just talked about it in there and that’s what I talked to them about at the end of the game; about finishing for 60 minutes, because that’s what champions do.”
Next week, the Dragons face the Los Angeles Avengers, who find themselves on the brink of playoff elimination, following their shootout loss to the resurgent Tampa Bay Storm. The Avengers world-class combo of quarterback Tony Graziani and offensive specialist Chris Jackson are electrifying and promise to be a huge challenge to New York.
Acknowledging the improved level of competition for next week’s showdown, Shell admits that “keeping them to 40 points is going to be tough chore.”
“They do all the right things,” said Shell. “They’re well coached and they’ve got some weapons, so we’ve got our work cut out for us next week.”
The East Coast – West Coast battle will be broadcast on NBC this Sunday at 3:00 p.m. EST.
Dwayne Smith covers Arena Football and the NFL for different web outlets along with providing a fantasy column to FantasyGMs.com. Dwayne has also been a contributor to other online and print outlets, including the Dallas Morning News. In 2003, he covered the NFL Draft from the Headquarters of the New York Jets.
