Bonner Expected To Return
Patrick Daly
Saturday February 26, 2005
One of the key pieces missing over the past three weeks, all of which have been losses, has been Arizona QB Sherdrick Bonner. While QB Joe Germaine has grown tremendously over the past three weeks, Bonner has been a key fixture in the Rattlers’ offense for good reason.
"The one thing about Sherdrick is he gets rid of the ball," said Rattlers head coach Todd Shell. "He’s been doing this for a long time and he’s not going to hold the ball. If the play’s not there he’ll get rid of it and go to the next play. That’s the one thing that Joe’s still struggling with, just because he hasn’t got that many snaps and he’s played against three pretty formidable teams, defensively."
Early last week, it appeared that Bonner was set to return to face the Colorado Crush, which would have given the Rattlers an emotional boost, but his progress took a step back, leaving him to watch from the sidelines.
"Last week, after a couple days of practicing—even walking out of here—I was extremely sore and probably shouldn’t have even practiced those two days," said Bonner. "It’s hard to sit around."
Before worrying about their next opponent, the Rattlers have had to turn the focus back on themselves first. Mistakes are magnified on the small field, where you can’t afford to give up possessions or give an opponent extra chances with penalties.
"It’s not about doing anything differently," said Shell. "It’s about executing. We’ve just got to take care of the football. You turn the football over in this league and it’s a 14-point swing. We’ve had too many stops, and when they turn into one-play touchdowns it’s tough. Right now we’re our own worst enemy. If we can get past the mistakes I believe we can beat anybody in this league."
The task gets no easier facing a New York Dragons offense that can score points, particularly with QB Aaron Garcia at the helm and weapons like OS Kevin Swayne and WR/LB Mike Horacek. Add WR/DB Will Holder and WR/LB Chris Anthony, as well as OS Markeith Cooper, and the Dragons can turn a few defensive breakdowns into a long day.
"They’re a great offensive team so it’s going to be a task for us defensively to shut them down," said Shell. "They’ve got some talent. They’ve added a couple new weapons offensively. The key to it is getting to the quarterback. If you can get to Garcia you have an opportunity to create some turnovers."
Getting pressure on the opposing quarterback has always been a critical part of the game of Arena Football, but it is something the Rattlers haven’t done much of so far this season. Shell is looking for better output from the defensive line and rush linebacker, which is how Las Vegas shut New York down two weeks ago. With FB/LB Frank Trentadue and FB/LB Kerry Taylor banged up, the pass rush may be helped by the addition of FB/LB Phil Glover to the lineup.
"I think Phil Glover will help us a little bit there," said Shell. "Trentadue wasn’t really healthy last week, but we’ve got to have guys like Wendall [Gaines], John Frank, and those kind of guys step up and get some pressure on the quarterback. I feel by moving around we might be able to get some pressure up the middle this week on them. Las Vegas did a really good job of getting pressure on [Garcia] and he couldn’t throw the ball down the field, and that’s why they won the game."
In addition to Bonner and FB/LB Bo Kelly returning to the field and Glover making his first appearance this season, WR/DB Evan Hlavacek is expected to see his first action in a Rattlers uniform. The former Indiana Firebird will probably displace WR/DB Justin Taplin in the lineup this week, but he should provide additional support in the defensive backfield.
Another change comes at the kicker position, where Anthony Brenner was placed on injured reserve due to a leg injury suffered early in last week’s game against the Crush. He overcame the injury enough to hit all nine of his extra point attempts, but it did hamper him on kickoffs, particularly the deep kicks where a number of which came up short of the end zone nets. In his place it appears the Rattlers have signed Danny Kight, a former NFL kicker who has served primarily as a kickoff specialist in Indianapolis and Baltimore. With his signing, the Rattlers are taking a bit of a gamble on the Arena Football rookie, but he should do just fine on kickoffs.
Regardless of the new faces on the field on Sunday, the Rattlers have to come together as a team and leave it all on the field if they’re going to turn their poor start around and make noise again.
"We just understand that the playmaking ability and the players are here, we just have to go out and execute and keep ourselves out of bad situations," said Bonner. "I just think everyone is trying so hard to get it done, sometimes you try too hard and you put yourself in a bad situation. I think everybody out here wants to win. They’re working hard in the weight room everyday, so I know they want to win. We’ve just got to relax, go out and have some fun and execute each and every play like it’s our last one, like we want to leave the field with a great play."
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.
