New York Dragons Get Win, Lose Playoff Berth
Dwayne Smith
Wednesday June 2, 2004
At nearly the same time as Brown’s interception, in Dallas, Texas the Desperados would come up short in a comeback of their own by failing on a two point conversion against the defending Arena Football League Champion Tampa Bay Storm. The Storm’s 59-57 victory put them a three-way tie with the Dragons and Los Angeles Avengers. Despite being the 2004 Eastern Division Champions, New York found themselves out of the playoffs and making off-season plans due to tie-breakers that do not factor in winning a division.
The 9-7 record of the Dragons is actually an improvement over last season when they also won their division, made the playoffs and went to the second round. After the Storm won the 2003 Championship, the league reduced the number of playoff teams from 12 to 8 and the decision was made which rendered winning a division irrelevant toward entry into the postseason.
Despite the apparent controversial nature of this rule change, New York head coach Todd Shell knew exactly where to point blame for not getting back into the playoffs.
“We knew that coming down the stretch, as long as we won we were going to be in,” said Shell. “When you leave it up to somebody else, you don’t deserve to be in it.”
Truth be told, the Dragons’ losses to Los Angeles and the Orlando Predators in the last two weeks set up this situation, but they can probably point more toward losses at Columbus and Philadelphia as the reason why they are on the outside looking in for an AFL Championship. The bittersweet nature of this victory, essentially caps a Jekyll and Hyde season for New York. On any given week they would dominate the elite teams of this league—San Jose, Colorado, Tampa Bay—or lose to teams that aren’t playoff quality.
As for this game, New York aggressively looked to put the Soul away early by successfully recovering an onsides kick while up 28-10. From the 8-yard line, Dragon’s QB Aaron Garcia would throw a perfect pass to Chuck Wesley for a 42-yard score and a 35-10 lead.
Also featured in this game was the home debut of offensive specialist Kevin Swayne. The much hyped mid-season addition played his first game at the Nassau Coliseum and gave the home fans a taste of what could have been. With four receptions and two touchdowns, Swayne showed a remarkable burst of speed on a first half score in which he went from an adjustment to receive the ball to full speed before the Soul defensive backs could catch him. His impact also allowed Chris Anthony and Wesley to get favorable coverages and have big games. Garcia was happy to have his former go-to guy back.
“(Swayne’s play is) something to look forward to going into next year and I think the fans saw some things that they’re gonna see next year—not just the talent, but he knows the game,” said Garcia.
The Soul, as mentioned before, fought back and forced turnovers, while New York seemed to let down and allow this to become the competitive game it was. The killer instinct of this team and its ability to close out teams is something Shell has mentioned before and although it didn’t cost them this week, it can certainly be looked at as the reason why they are going home, while eight other teams continue on.
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.
