Mirror Image
Charliy Nash
Friday February 3, 2006
The 2006 Columbus Destroyers have very little in common with their predecessors. Last year they were led by Chris Spielman, who had never coached at any level and was new to Arena Football. New head coach Doug Kay has 12 years of experience in the league, and has rebuilt the team as a defensive powerhouse.
Quarterback Clint Stoerner is impressed by what he’s seen of the Columbus defense, "They look big up front, they get their hands up and knock a lot of passes down, they move around in their secondary, so we’ll see." Far from being worried, Stoerner expressed confidence in his teammates, "We’ll be fine up front. We’ve got great guys up there. They can protect and we’ve got receivers who can break off routes."
FB/LB Frank Carter, who had four sacks in his first game as a Kat, expects the Destroyers to offer more resistance. "They have a pretty good line," he said, "They have guys that can pass protect and they have guys that can get to the football. We’re definitely facing a better team up front than last week."
DS Monty Montgomery explained that the Kats can apply plenty of defensive pressure of their own, "We’ve got a great bunch of guys up there rushing the ball and that makes it easy. When their guy’s on his back all the time or running for his life and he’s throwing the ball up, we get a chance to go out there and make plays."
So this week we have the top two defenses going up against each other. D vs. D. Big boy vs. big boy. I believe Frank Carter best summed up the team’s attitude about the game, "I’m looking forward to the battle that I’m going to have to face."
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.
