VooDoo Survive Storm Warning
Jack Bedell
Sunday February 27, 2005
Unfortunately for the 16,503 fans in attendance, the game leading up to Pointer’s heart-stopping tackle was more frustrating than exciting. Both offenses came out struggling. While stats rarely tell the whole story, with only 48 yards for the VooDoo and 25 yards for the Storm at the end of the first quarter, it was clear both teams were fighting for every inch.
Whether it was quality defense, or the fact that one team was coming off a bye and the other had only four days’ rest, each team seemed to be running its offense underwater. VooDoo quarterback Andy Kelly and his Storm counterpart Shane Stafford relied heavily on the short passing game, both sporting per-attempt averages well below their season averages. With Kelly going 31-of-47 for 281 yards and Stafford ringing up a nearly-identical 32-of-54 for 274 yards, the ball seemed to creep down the field.
As VooDoo coach Mike Neu said after the game, "The best word to sum it up is we were ‘sluggish.’ We just seemed unable to play at any point in that game with any consistency. We weren’t very sharp. We just weren’t in-synch offensively. The first half really got us in a bind, going 3 of 6 for scoring drives. We just weren’t very good. But you have to give the guys credit because we fought and battled. We found a way to get it done."
Offensive Player of the Game ‘Ques Rumph added, "[The yards] were real hard out there tonight, but it’s going to be like that sometimes in arena football. Everything’s not going to go your way; you’ve just got to fight through adversity. After halftime, we corrected it and got down to business."
The Storm offense was so frustrated at one point in the first half they attempted one of the ugliest plays I’ve ever seen. On third and short, Stafford ran an unblocked option toward the short side of the field, right into the wall for a loss. If that play is ever called again, someone in the Storm organization should lose his job.
Thankfully, the VooDoo defense picked up the slack with constant pressure and good coverage. "At the end of the game," Neu said, "those guys stepped up and made a statement especially knowing the circumstances." Starting with Ironman of the Game B.J. Cohen’s fourth-quarter sack of Stafford, the defense took things over down the stretch.
Frustrated by uncalled holding all night, Cohen and his fellow linemen managed to pull themselves together for some late-game heroics. Cohen gave all the credit to the coaches for keeping the defense focused, "The coaches did a great job of keeping my head level and telling me to stay aggressive, and play my game and that’s what I did." Neu, though, bounced the praise right back, "The first thing is I’ve got to give the guys up front all the credit. They played a ton of minutes, and they just kept coming. We found a way to make one more play than [the Storm] made."
No doubt, Friday night’s hard-fought victory was a huge ‘W’ for the 4-1 VooDoo in the toughest division in the league. And with four one-loss teams, the Southern Division is not getting any easier. As coach Neu put it, "In this division, we’ve got to win our home games, because we know going to Tampa’s a tough game, going to Georgia’s a tough game, and going to Orlando is a dogfight." Sometimes those fights have to be won an inch (or two) at a time.
GAME NOTABLES
Offensive Player of the Game ‘Ques Rumph’s diving 12-yard touchdown reception provided the margin of victory for the first overtime game in VooDoo history. Andy Kelly connected on the 3,000 completion of his storied career, and his five touchdown passes kept him on pace to shatter the single-season record.
NEXT WEEK
The VooDoo travel to Dallas to face Clint Stoerner and his Desperados, who looked unstoppable in their dismantling of the fading Philadelphia Soul Sunday. Hopefully, VooDoo defensive specialist Monty Montgomery will be available to help shut down Dallas’ hot trio of receivers.
Jack Bedell was an inaugural season ticket holder for the af2's Lafayette Roughnecks and the AFL's New Orleans VooDoo. He's been a fan of the league since he first saw Browning Nagle heaving touchdowns for the Buffalo Destroyers. Jack's married to a lovely wife, Beth, and has two sons, Jack and Samuel Eli. He works as an associate professor of creative writing at Southeastern Louisiana University.
