Unfinished Business Remains in Arizona
Patrick Daly
Friday June 18, 2004
The streak currently stands at 10 games and counting. It’s a winning streak that has allowed the Arizona Rattlers to turn a disappointing 3-5 start into home field advantage in ArenaBowl XVIII. However, the magic number is 11, because the last 10 wins will mean nothing if the Rattlers don’t earn their third Arena Football League title and send the San Jose SaberCats home with their first ArenaBowl loss.
“Right now, it just feels good,” said Rattlers head coach Danny White after the semifinal win over the Colorado Crush. “We’ll celebrate this and enjoy it. By [Monday], the unfinished business feeling will sink in, I’m sure.”
Number 10, the semifinal win over the Crush, had as much to do with the defensive play as anything else. That the defense played a major role in the outcome was no surprise.
“I told these players all week long to expect to be on the field at the end of the game,” said defensive coordinator Doug Plank. “In fact, before the game started, I said ‘This is not going to be about the first play; it’s going to about the last play of this game.’ And it turned out that it was.”
Athough the Rattler defense allowed only 10 first-half points, Colorado took advantage of Arizona defensive miscues, especially in the second half. But such is the game of Arena Football; defenses are oft victimized, making each defense stop as precious as gold.
“We made errors in our strategy,” said Plank. “Instead of continuing to make them work the ball down the field, we played man coverage, and those man coverages resulted in easy, quick scores. So, I learned a lesson today: don’t deviate from the gameplan.”
“This was the defense’s day,” said White. “They got us up 17-0. They held them down in the first half to 10 points. Who wouldn’t take that in a playoff game in Arena Football? They scored pretty much at will in the third quarter and fourth quarter until the end, and then we got the two stops that made the difference in the game.”
And when it counted the most, Arizona responded to the challenge and came up with stops on Colorado’s final two drives. The first stop, coming after the Rattlers turned the ball over on downs late in the fourth quarter, was a forced field goal attempt that Colorado K Anthony Brenner hit to give the Crush a three-point lead, but it kept the Rattlers in a position to win the game with a touchdown. Then, after Arizona took a four-point lead, it was the Rattlers defense that bent, but didn’t break.
“I have to tell you, when our offense got stopped, it became very serious on the sideline; no more Mr. Nice Guy,” said Plank. “It was time to go out there, and whatever you had, you’ve got to lay it on the line. I challenged each and every one of those players to give 100% effort, not just on the first play, but every single play. Make your teammates proud of your effort.”
And it wasn’t the first time the defense players came up with a performance to make their teammates and the fans proud.
“This is probably the fourth or fifth time this year that our defense has been on the field at the end of the game in a must stop situation and that’s unusual for Arena Football,” said White. “You usually want to have the ball at the end, and the team that has the ball at the end usually wins. Kudos to Doug [Plank] and the whole defense because that was the difference.”
Thanks to that final stop, Arizona now makes their third straight appearance in the ArenaBowl, but this time around they have the one advantage they’ve been missing the past two seasons: home field.
“This is awesome,” said WR/LB Tom Pace. “There isn’t a better feeling than to play the ArenaBowl here at home. It’s going to be a great opportunity, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Know Thine Enemy
There’s no need for introductions on either side of the ball when ArenaBowl XVIII kicks off on June 27th. Outside of Florida, there’s no bigger rivalry than the one that’s grown over the years between Arizona and San Jose. But the familiarity can make it hard to stay focused, especially with the extra week.
“It’s just as tough for them as it is for us,” said White. “The tough thing is going to be trying to find some creative ways to keep it from getting boring for the next two weeks, looking at the same old tapes against the same old team that we know so well that runs the same old plays. I’m sure it’s going to the be same for them.”
Throughout most of the season, it was San Jose and everyone else, although the New Orleans VooDoo and Chicago Rush each made their runs, and until late in the season, San Jose held the top spot in the playoff seedings. That status is a credit to the talent in San Jose, but it was injuries that kept some of that talent off the field that caused them to falter late in the season, which cost them home field advantage for the title game.
“I believe that San Jose is the most talented team in this league,” said Plank. “That’s no disrespect to the Arizona Rattlers. I just believe they have tremendous personnel on their team. I love playing San Jose because you always want to be with the best. They are the best in terms of talent, but we still beat them twice this year. This is not an all-star league. It doesn’t matter how much talent you have, it’s who has the best team, and I just believe, right now, we have the best team.”
With two weeks between the semifinals and the ArenaBowl, both teams will have the opportunity to heal, which should allow both sides to be as close to full strength as anyone could expect at this point in the season.
“I’m usually not for the bye week, but we’ve got a couple of guys beat up right now, guys who probably need the rest,” said WR/DB Randy Gatewood. “I think it’s going to help us in the end. We’re here at home; we don’t have to travel. Everything’s going to take place right here at home. I think that will relieve a little bit of stress during the week of the ArenaBowl.”
“I think the players will enjoy a week to heal up,” said White. “I think it will make for a better game. There are a lot of guys with injuries that will healed by then that wouldn’t be able to play this coming Sunday. I think you’ll see two teams at their best.”
Who’s next?
In the quarterfinal win over the Los Angeles Avengers, it was Orshawante Bryant that led the team on the offensive side of the ball. Against Colorado, it was Pace’s turn to shine in the spotlight.
“I guess it’s just the difference in the defense,” said Pace. “Orshawante played a great game — everybody played a great game — it’s just the way they were playing the defense that allowed me to be able to get some more receptions and get into the game a little bit more.”
When the Rattlers take the field against San Jose, it might be yet somebody else who’s given the opportunity to make play, and one of those candidates is Gatewood, who made his return after suffering a broken arm about a month and half ago. It’s most certainly an understatement to say that he was looking forward to getting back into the game.
“I was as anxious as they come,” said Gatewood. “I wanted to play last week, but I felt like I just wasn’t ready. This week, I got in the game, got a hit early, knew that my arm would be okay and just wanted to go out and help my team win.”
Rocky Mountain high
The Colorado Crush deserve a tremendous amount of credit as an organization for the record 2-14 to 11-5 turnaround in just their second season. But that feat didn’t make last Sunday’s loss an easier to take.
“Obviously we’re excited to be here, but it still hurts,” said Colorado Crush co-owner John Elway. “The turnaround doesn’t take any of the sting out of the loss. You always think you’re going to win, whether you’re coming off of a 2-14 season or a 10-6 season or a 16-0 season. So it still stings, but I’m proud of where these guys are. It gives us a lot better base to build from next year. We’ve got a group of great guys and a lot character, so we’re building from a great base, which is going to help us next year.”
One of the biggest parts of getting the franchise turned around is head coach Mike Dailey. After spending seven seasons heading up the Indiana and Albany Firebirds, where he led the Firebirds to their only ArenaBowl title in 1999, Dailey was brought to get an inexperienced franchise on the right track.
“Mike has a year under his belt and he’s comfortable,” said Elway. “That’s the first time he made a change in a long time. I think that that’s going to help us tremendously going into the offseason. The group of guys we’re building from is a heck of a lot better than the best that we had to build from last year. We’re hoping to get back into this same position and get another shot.”
Given their success this season and the fact that, barring an expansion draft or NFL contract, the team’s roster is already under contract for next season, which should make maintain continuity all that much easier.
“We’re fortunate in that we’ve got everybody under contract,” said Elway. “We’ve got no free agents. We really feel good about that.”
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.
