VooDoo Dig Their Own Grave
Jack Bedell
Monday March 14, 2005
Down as many as 19 points in the second quarter with the heart of his defensive line, OL/DL B. J. Cohen, cramping on the sideline and unable to stay on the field, VooDoo coach Mike Neu had no choice but to resort to the short kicks in order to convert possessions and make up ground. As Neu explained after the game, "With B. J. Cohen out, I’d rather take my chances playing red zone defense than kicking the ball deep and asking Bruce McClure and Hans Olsen, who are two true centers, to rush the passer. You know, that’s kind of unfair when I need those guys because I’m down linemen."
Unfortunately, Orlando recovered every on-side kick and capitalized with touchdowns given the short field. For the 16,000 fans packed into the Graveyard Sunday, this strategy amounted to little more than a choice for fast bleed over slow, and they showed their collective displeasure with several choruses of boos for the home team, something I can’t say I’ve heard a single time in the New Orleans Arena. It obviously made an impression on Coach Neu as well: "It’s tough to have our fans against us in our own building, but I hope they understand that we’ll always play hard for them and represent them in a first-class manner."
I’d love to be able to say it was poor effort or a "sluggish" start that dug the VooDoo’s grave against the Predators, but the team played hard under trying circumstances. With Cohen out most of the game and Bruce McClure hobbled, several untested players were forced into action on the VooDoo offensive line against the heavier, more aggressive Orlando front. Young players like offensive/defensive linemen Mike Landry and John Hilliard, who are principally defensive guys, were thrown under the wheels. And while these replacements played exceptionally well given the situation, Coach Neu was the first to admit the task was almost too much to ask, "When you’re lining up and asking guys who haven’t played a lot of downs of offensive football and you’re asking them to block against a team like Orlando that can really rush the passer, that’s a difficult task, but we fought and we scrapped."
This game really was a perfect example of what a 20-man roster and harsh substitution rules can do to a fine team under such pressures. Neu said it best, "Unfortunately, you don’t have 53 guys to just pluck another lineman out of."
On the offensive side of the ball, poorly-thrown passes, penalties, interceptions, and fumbles all combined to put the VooDoo in the ground Sunday. Quarterback Andy Kelly seemed uncharacteristically skittish under the Predators rush, even though he had ample time on most snaps. Kelly constantly drifted in the pocket, often throwing off his back foot and fading away leaving most of his balls high and off target. He fell prey to Predators defensive specialist Kenny "The Glove" McEntyre’s baiting on two occasions when McEntyre gave VooDoo offensive specialist Aaron Bailey a ten-yard cushion only to close quickly on Kelly’s touch passes for the interceptions.
In concert with the failed on-side kick attempts and several drives turning the ball over on downs, McEntyre’s picks sealed the VooDoo’s fate. Coach Neu was the first to give The Glove props, "Kenny McEntyre is the best defensive specialist playing in this league. He was the Defensive Player of the Year last year, and he got two interceptions on us. We just shot ourselves in the foot."
The Orlando Predators are the only visiting team to leave the Graveyard with a "W," having now won both of their trips, and they obviously present several match-up problems for the VooDoo. Andy Kelly’s patented touch passes are a bad match against the Predators’ ballhawking secondary, and the VooDoo’s lean, pass-rushing linemen have trouble with Orlando’s big heavies up front.
With the Southern Division tightening up down the stretch, Coach Neu and the rest of the squad are going to have to find a way to break the Predators’ winning streak against them. There were enough highlights—Aaron Bailey’s 54-yard kick return for a touchdown, WR/LB Thabiti Davis’ deep routes, Jason Bratton’s hard running, and the scrappiness of those beleaguered linemen—mixed in with the lowlights to give VooDoo fans hope that things won’t always go down as they did on Sunday.
UP NEXT
The VooDoo (5-2) travel to Chicago on March 20 to take on the Rush (4-3) fresh off their win over the hapless Rampage. With Orlando visiting the Georgia Force and the Tampa Bay Storm flying to Philadelphia, the VooDoo need the win to keep pace in the League’s toughest division.
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.
