The Owners Aren’t Playing
Charliy Nash
Saturday February 12, 2005
Contrary to what some reporters and publicists may wish, it won’t be McGraw and Bon Jovi on the field wearing pads and helmets. In fact Tim McGraw won’t even be in Philadelphia because of a prior commitment to the Grammy Awards. And in case the word hasn’t gotten out, McGraw is a minority owner of the team – meaning he owns a small piece of it.
While a lot of the press is caught up in the made for TV owner match-up, the Kats are focused on correcting their mistakes and getting back to playing winning football. Head coach Pat Sperduto determined that one of the problems in the loss to New Orleans was that many of the young players were too tentative. "We went back to a lot of the basics," explained Sperduto, "Just go out and play. Don’t be so scared to make a mistake. Don’t be so scared of not having perfect technique."
Another problem was that after injuring his knee in the game at Columbus, QB Leon Murray was unable to practice before last week’s game. This week, he has been able to take all of his repetitions in practice. "Last week I think I was a little rusty sitting out of practice all week," Murray said, "It’s no excuse, but it feels great getting back in there and practicing and getting the timing back together."
The Kats should get a boost from some injured players making their debut with the new team. WR/LB Jermaine Green and OL/DL Wes Stephens have been activated from Injured Reserve, and the team’s emotional leader, OL/DL James Baron is expected to play this weekend. Just having Baron on the field will help the team to play with more intensity. "I’ve been known to have a loud mouth," Baron joked, "I get in the locker room and I try to get them fired up and juiced up."
While the Kats have not played Philadelphia before, Baron has. He also remembers a game in 2001 when Soul QB Tony Graziani played for the Los Angeles Avengers and wasn’t around to see the end of a game against the original Kats. "We would like to remind him of the last time he met the Kats," Baron laughed, "We banged him around pretty good."
While everyone else has been pointing out the differences between Philadelphia and Nashville, as of last Sunday they share an unusual bond. Both cities have had both of their professional football teams play on the same day. On August 11, 2001 the original Kats won a playoff game against the San Jose Sabercats and the NFL Tennessee Titans defeated the Chicago Bears in preseason action. And last Sunday both the Philadelphia Soul and Philadelphia Eagles had games. How’d that work out for y’all?
Charliy Nash has covered both incarnations of the Nashville Kats, and now has make the 2 hour drive to Huntsville for an Arena Football fix. He also covers the Tennessee Titans as a blogger for nfl.com and still hopes this will eventually lead to a paying gig.
