Deja Vu All Over Again
Charliy Nash
Friday April 29, 2005
The key to this game is going to be very simple; whoever dictates the pace is going to have the edge. San Jose wants a track meet, with scores higher than the prices of lattes at the HP Pavilion. Nashville wants to slow it down with long drives, keeping the score below room temperature. "They’re really a big play team," said Kats DS DeRon Jenkins, "so you want to try to make them work the ball down the field and make them have patience and obviously in this league most teams want to score within three to five plays. If you can make them drive, and really put together a seven, eight, nine play drive then you have a likelihood of success." Why does this seem so familiar?
Speaking of familiar, when San Jose’s Barry Wagner and Nashville’s Darryl Hammond take the field, they’ll represent a combined 27 years of Arena Football experience. "He’s still a solid player, really good down in the red zone," Hammond said of Wagner, "He’s a great tackler. He will knock the living daylights out of you. You do what you can to slow him down. He’s the best player of all time in my opinion."
The Sabercats’ QB Mark Grieb had a perfect game last week – completing every pass he threw. Kats’ QB Leon Murray has struggled at times, but since having knee surgery during the bye week his play has been steadily improving. He has gained confidence as the offensive line has given him better protection, and has become very comfortable with his new receivers. "[I’m] just making my reads and trying to take care of the ball and not forcing anything and just getting the ball into the guy who make plays hands and letting them do most of the work," Murray explained, "When you play with confidence and you’re having fun, good things happen."
Coach Pat Sperduto summed it up nicely, "If we play our pace then we’ve go a chance. If we play their pace, then we’re in for a long evening and a long flight." The team has come together and believes in the plan. Victories over Los Angeles and Tampa Bay have given them the confidence that "big boy football" will work against some of the league’s best teams. Sperduto had a short week to prepare his young team for San Jose, but believes they are ready, "We’re going to bring everything we’ve got and then some, and hopefully it’s enough to compete with the best team in the league."
So it’s the classic confrontation between the best offense and the best defense, the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. Wait, now I know why this sounds familiar. This is exactly what everyone was saying the last time these two teams met – the last game the original Kats played in Nashville. How did that one turn out?
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.
