Home Field Advantage Only First Half of the Puzzle for Arizona
Patrick Daly
Sunday June 6, 2004
Eight games and eight wins later, the Rattlers own the top spot throughout the postseason and a have first-round date with the Los Angeles Avengers, a team that’s certainly better than your typical eighth seed. The Avengers are also a well-known foe for Arizona, as they faced off twice in the regular season, each team winning on the other’s turf. But that familiarity doesn’t really translate into an advantage for either team.
“It matters, but it’s not a factor, one way or the other,” said Rattlers head coach Danny White. “I think they know us, and we know them. I think it’s a lot like playing San Jose; their strength is their explosiveness—the ability to score quickly. They know us as well as we know them, so it’s really not an advantage one way or the other.”
One of the ways the Rattlers will try to hinder the Avengers’ explosiveness is to do one of the things that’s been a big part of the second half turnaround, and that’s get pressure on the quarterback. In the Arena Football League, sacks don’t come often, but when they do come, it’s with a huge impact. And getting the sack isn’t always as important is disrupting your opponent’s rhythm on offense, and that means putting Avengers QB Tony Graziani into uncomfortable positions on Sunday.
“It’s getting in this league where that’s the top priority against every team,” said White. “It is especially true against [Graziani] because they are such a quick-strike offense and they like for their receivers to get down the field and run those post-corners down the field. That’s a real staple in their offense. Whereas we’re more of a ball control, short passing game, work it down the field kind of an offense.
“What that means is they’ve got to have time for those receivers to get down the field, so if we can get pressure on him, he can’t set his feet and throw the ball. It’s almost impossible to cover those guys downfield, because they turn and the ball’s right there. So we’ve got to find a way to disrupt his rhythm just a little bit.”
One of the players that has been able to cause disruption is FB/LB Frank Trentadue, but he’s best when healthy and he’ll likely miss Sunday’s game, as White would prefer to go with the healthiest players he has available. That means, in addition to the experienced Bo Kelly, the Rattlers will rely on Joe Jackson and, potentially, Phil Glover to keep the pressure on.
“We’re resting him right now, just in case there’s a chance,” said White about Trentadue’s situation. “That’s the only way he can play [later]. It’s a pain issue more than anything else. Frank’s been a real factor when he’s been healthy, but when we played him when he wasn’t healthy he wasn’t as much of a factor. So it’s a situation where we want to go with our healthiest guys. Joe Jackson, when he’s healthy, is a real force. Phil Glover is a force—better offensive player than defense, but still a force. That’s a position where we’re pretty deep in and everybody brings something a different to the table, so let’s pick the healthiest guys and go with them.”
Another injury situation to watch is that of WR/DB Randy Gatewood. Prior to breaking his right arm and wrist against Los Angeles about a month ago, Gatewood was a big part of starting the streak that’s propelled Arizona to the top of the playoff seeding. Now, rather than accepting the injury as season ending, there’s a good possibility that he’ll be on the field Sunday, although it’s expected to be a game-time decision.
“He’s close,” said White about Gatewood’s potential return to the lineup. “We’ll watch him [Saturday] and see how the thing responds from the last two days of practice. He’ll be a game time decision, I’m sure.”
Although the eight-game win streak will mean nothing if the Rattlers bow out in the first round of the playoffs, it’s still a feat that deserves recognition, especially when you consider that the Rattlers finished with one of the toughest schedules in the league.
“It’s been a great accomplishment any way you look at it,” said White. “Any time you put together a string of eight victories against the teams we played against, especially the last few weeks of the season, there’s a lot of satisfaction that goes with that. Our goal this whole year has been to get home field advantage for the playoffs, but it’s not much good if you’re not playing. It’s a two-piece puzzle and it’s not a pretty thing with only one piece.”
That second piece of the puzzle is the thing that’s eluded the Rattlers for the past two seasons, an ArenaBowl victory. To earn that final piece, Arizona must extend their win streak to eleven games, which means three more victories. To some, winning three more after stringing together eight wins might be harder to do than without the win streak. In my book, the regular season is over and eight teams will start 0-0 with three games to play.
“Some say, ‘You’re bound to lose sometime,’” said White. “Others say, ‘Well, you’re on a roll.’ I guess we’ll know Sunday afternoon about three o’clock.”
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
