Arena Football Title Hinges on Trench Warfare
Patrick Daly
Saturday June 26, 2004
That second linebacker, who by the way plays receiver on offense, can’t leave an imaginary box two yards behind the line of scrimmage until the quarterback throws the ball, hands it off, fakes a pass or leaves the pocket. One receiver is allowed to start in motion, running full speed towards the line of scrimmage just before the snap of the ball. The four players allowed to rush, three linemen and one linebacker—no corner back blitzes, please—must rush straight ahead and the linebacker cannot rush around the outside.
So with all of the focus on offense and skill position players, how is it that, like football on the big field, it’s the battle in the trenches that plays such a big part in the outcome of each game?
“It’s protection and getting after the quarterback,” said Arizona Rattlers line coach Chris Conlin. “The guys know that; we’ve talked about it all week.”
A big part of the Rattlers’ success late in the season was due to the pass rush, particularly the presence of Bryan Henderson, Wendall Gaines and mid-season addition Tony Plantin. The bye week played a big role in allowing Gaines extra time get better, although it may not have been enough to allow Plantin to suit up on Sunday.
“It really helped out for Wendall,” said Conlin. “He didn’t play against Colorado and it really helped him get over that because he got injured against LA. We’re hoping Tony Plantin can come around. He got injured in the second game against LA in the regular season and he’s hobbling around on a bad knee since that time, so we’re hoping he can come back.”
As it has been for Arizona, the San Jose SaberCats have found success through the strong play on the line, particularly on defense.
“They are really strong defensively,” said Conlin. “I’m not saying anything new; everybody knows that. Sam [Hernandez] is one of the best in the league ever—I can say that because I’ve seen other guys play. Joe [Jacobs] is very good, also; Joe’s probably a better two-way player. All around they’re a very good team. They’re very explosive. They’ve got big guys; they’ve got good size and they’ve got guys that come off of the edge very well.”
As Conlin mentioned, linemen Sam Hernandez and Joe Jacobs make up a big part of the San Jose rush, which Jacobs believes is a big part of the game.
“It’s a big key,” said Jacobs. “Even pocket pressure is important; just collapsing the pocket. Arizona gets rid of the ball fast and does a lot of runs. They screen the ball, where we throw the ball down the field more. We hold the ball longer than them. That’s just their offense and our offense. That’s a main key; getting pressure and protecting from pressure.”
It’s that dichotomy that makes the lineman position a great example of the ironman aspect of Arena Football. Not only do you have to have someone you can put pressure on opposing quarterbacks, you need players that can help keep their own quarterback off the turf. For Arizona, the mix of offensive versus defensive skills on the line is relatively even.
“It’s kind of mixed I think,” said Conlin. “We like to get a guy that can play both ways. For myself, it goes back to my Tampa Bay Storm days, where you get your two true centers and everybody else is a defensive lineman, and you teach those guys how to ‘hold.’ That’s basically what it is. That goes way back.”
Offensively, teams look for ways to slow down the pass rush aside from the technique that the linemen must employ. In general, when the defenses knows you will throw the ball more often than not, you have to find ways to stop the defensive lineman from pinning their ears back and coming after you. In Arena Football, that means slipping in the occasion run as well as throwing in screens to take advantage of over pursuit by the defense.
“Arizona does that to try and keep me and Sam [Hernandez] from getting in rhythm, so it’s a lot of runs and lot of screens,” said Jacobs. “It’s a lot of three-step drops, a lot of one-step drops where [Bonner] will take one step and throw the ball. It’s impossible to hit him. In those situations you want to get your hands up. We have certain defenses that we’ll call where we try to get in the rush lanes and block passes.”
These two ArenaBowl XVIII opponents have different philosophies on offense, which means the each defense has a slightly different task at hand. For Arizona, the plan is to work the ball down the field, bring the defense up with short passes and then go over the top occasionally to keep the defense honest. On the other hand, San Jose looks to beat you deep first before settling for something underneath. It’s that philosophy that makes it harder as the offensive lineman must hold the defense off longer, but it’s the high risk, high reward style that the SaberCats have thrived on.
“I guarantee you we’ll throw the ball down the field,” said Jacobs. “We always throw the ball down the field. It’s what we do; it’s our philosophy. In the two games that we played them this year in a couple of key situations they got pressure on our quarterback which turned the game around.”
It’s that pressure that can translate into the lifeblood of the defense: stops. Hold the opposing offense even to a field goal and you can call that drive a success. Get a turnover on downs or takeaway and you have the opportunity for a 14-point swing. It’s what turns a back and forth game into a blowout and it’s also what can get you back into a game that may have gotten out of hand.
“Hopefully, you just get a couple of defensive stops,” said Conlin. “We talk it about it all the time. Even our second game this year against San Jose, they were just going up and down the field on us. We went into the locker room and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to start finishing plays, get a couple stops and we’re back in this game.’ And that’s exactly what happened. You get a couple of stops in this league and it’s huge.”
Stay tuned on Sunday and count the stops, because they will be huge.
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.
