Opportunity Missed in Arizona
Patrick Daly
Tuesday June 29, 2004
The highest scoring title game in AFL history featured only three stops. The first stop, a San Jose SaberCats missed field goal attempt, was mirrored a few drives later when Arizona turned the ball over on downs on a fourth down sack. But it was the final stop that made all the difference, when a Sherdrick Bonner pass to Hunkie Cooper fell to the turf as time expired, giving the SaberCats their second title in three seasons.
“If you watched this game you would know there were two giants out there on the field battling,” said Bonner. “It was a great game. It came down to probably four plays, total, that were the difference in the game.”
“We didn’t win the football game,” said Cooper. “San Jose was the better team today. We couldn’t stop them and we stopped ourselves a couple of times. I take nothing from them. We turned it around and we made a run, but we ran out. We didn’t finish the rest of this thing.”
Earlier in the game, San Jose converted a 15-yard toss from Offensive Player of the Game Mark Grieb to Ironman of the Game James Roe into a 38-yard catch and run on the first half’s final play. The touchdown took the air out of the arena as the home crowd watched the possible 14-point swing go from Arizona’s to San Jose’s favor.
“If there was one play that you could have back, and there were probably 20 that really determined the outcome of the game, that was one that absolutely should not have happened,” said Rattlers head coach Danny White. “That was the play that ended up making the difference in the game.”
Although it may have been a difference maker, Arizona did have a number of opportunities to gain control at other points of the game.
“We knew the situation we were in at halftime,” said Bonner. “That was a 14-point swing, but we still had opportunities to win this.”
Coming into the game the magic number was 10, as in Arizona’s 10-game winning streak. During the game, that number took on a different and less favorable meaning as San Jose scored touchdowns on 10 straight possessions. Much of that was due to the lack of pressure on Grieb.
“The game was called very consistently,” said White. “They were very, very lenient with holding calls. As a result there wasn’t much pressure being put on the quarterbacks. We felt that [the pass rush] was probably our advantage going in; to be able to get pressure on Grieb and get a stop or two as a result of the pressure. The way it went, we didn’t get any pressure on him and as a result didn’t stop him.”
Even though the Rattlers failed to get pressure on Grieb and come up with stops, they did keep pressure off of Bonner.
“Our offensive line did a great job against a good pass rush,” said Bonner. “We just came up a little short.”
This was a game that wasn’t expected to be the track meet it became. With the defense failing to slow down the San Jose juggernaut, the Rattlers offense was able to break away from their tendency to work the ball down the field by throwing longer passes in order to beat the press coverage that was meant to stop Arizona’s short game.
“It’s not just them, it’s every team that tries to sit on our short game or tries to use their linemen to block passes,” said Bonner. “So we felt like we would have a few extra seconds early to maybe take advantage of it and go over the top. I think it worked all game for us. We had guys open down the field the whole game.”
Despite the incredible game that Bonner played, he would certainly give that up to have another title. At the same time, he knows how Grieb feels earning his first ArenaBowl title at the helm after watching his backup lead the SaberCats to their first title in 2002.
“It’s a good way for him to get the monkey off his back,” said Bonner. “He had a great game and did some good things. He was really consistent all season. We both deserved to win, but only one can.”
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Arizona Rattlers, don’t go closing the door on this team just yet. The ownership changes will begin in the next few days and two of the primary architects of this team, head coach and general manager Danny White and vice president of operations Gene Nudo, are nearing the end of their current contracts. What happens next remains to be seen.
“I don’t know,” said White in response to a question about where he stands. “Until the ownership issue is cleared up, my hands are tied.”
At the same time, two of the key members of the core of players that have put this team into the playoffs for 12 years running, Cooper and Bonner, each have one year remaining on their contracts.
“I love this team and I’m still under contract so I’m going to prepare like I am going to come back and play,” said Bonner. “You just can’t go out like this.”
In time, the pain of this loss will fade, but for competitors like Bonner, it’ll be marked as an opportunity lost.
“You’re not guaranteed to get back here and it’s just devastating,” said Bonner. “Even thinking about it makes my stomach sick. It’s just devastating to think about letting that opportunity go.”
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.
