Rattlers Looking for Consistent Execution
Patrick Daly
Sunday February 12, 2006
Why do I bring this up? Well, it’s important to note that even though it’s eight individuals strapping it up on each play, it takes eight guys playing as one on each play to win. And it’s that key that has eluded the Rattlers so far this season.
It’s been mistakes here and there, even by just one player, that have left the Rattlers in their current position. Whether it’s how receivers run their routes or protection up front, or something else, it’s come down to a failure to execute.
"It’s just execution," said Rattlers quarterback Sherdrick Bonner. "It’s been one or two out of the eight guys not finishing play or not executing. It’s just the basics: pitch, catch, block. You run with the ball or you catch the ball. Throw the ball to the guy when he’s open. It’s just all those little things that have accumulated to put us where we are. We’re all at fault. We all have a role in what’s going on and we’ve just got to keep working and understand that there’s another side of what’s going on right now. We will come out the other end as long as we continue to work."
The biggest missing piece of that execution has been on offense where the Rattlers just haven’t found their rhythm yet. The team has played well enough on defense and special teams to keep the Rattlers in the game, but you still have to outscore your opponent in order to win, no matter how well the other aspects of the game go.
"I’m pleased overall where we are in two thirds of our game," said Nudo. "This is Arena Football and the bottom line is, although you can say the game is divided in thirds with special teams, offense and defense, offense is a big portion of this game and right now we haven’t held up our end of the bargain."
That has put the Rattlers into an 0-2 hole to open the season, although they’re not alone in that struggle. Their biggest rival, the San Jose SaberCats, comes to town at 0-2 and wants to come away with their first win of 2006. With 0-3 staring both teams in the face, neither team can afford to come out of this with a loss. In addition to the implications within the division, the SaberCats have only started 0-3 once – that was back in 1998 – and the Rattlers have never dug an 0-3 hole to open the year.
"I don’t look at an 0-2 opponent, I look at our rival, San Jose," said Nudo. "That’s the bottom line. I don’t view them as an 0-2 team. They’re a better team than they’ve shown, just like I think we are. Now one of us has got to step up. Somebody is going to get the ship righted this week."
To have a shot at righting the ship, the Rattlers get Bonner into the lineup after a week out to rest his left shoulder. Bonner has looked good in practice this week and hasn’t shown any ill effects in the practices leading up to Sunday’s game.
"It’s important to have him back, but it’s more important to keep him healthy and let him work his craft and be the man that he is," said Nudo. "He did some good things this week. He’s throwing very well and he’s overcome his injury. He’s not doing anything different because of the injury. I’m comfortable with where his and I’m excited to have him back on the field."
Bonner is also more than ready to get back on the field and wants to put the injury behind him in order to take advantage the opportunities he has.
"It gets sore at times, but I’m not going to really think about it," said Bonner. "I’m just going to go out and try to play my game and have some fun. Any time you get an opportunity to go out there and play you never know when it’s going to be your last.
"It’s just one of those things. You can’t take any game for granted. You just really appreciate the opportunity to go out there, so I’m not going to worry about."
Something that should help things a bit is the continued improvement in communication between Bonner and offensive specialist Damien Groce. By getting on the same page, Bonner and Groce will form a critical bond that’ll make the Arizona offense tough to stop, but that will come from working together each week.
"He is very explosive," said Bonner about Groce. "The more I know about what he’s doing, that puts him in a better situation. If I don’t know what he’s doing he’s so fast that he’ll outrun your arm any day. Some of it is watching his body motion and being able to pick up what he’s doing on option routes and let the ball go with timing so that we’re not asking the line to do more than they should have to do."
Welcome back
With the first two weeks in the books, players that began the year on the injured reserve list are eligible to come back. For Arizona that means getting two linemen back on the active roster, Anthony Hutch and former SaberCat Steve Warren. The Rattlers had also hoped to get Steve Mascorro back as well, but he reaggravated the leg injury that knocked him out earlier.
Warren returns in time to face San Jose after spending his rookie season with the SaberCats last year, but signed with the Rattlers after San Jose cut him loose. Warren may also be asked to help out at the fullback/linebacker spot with Bo Kelly the only player at that position on the active roster, but it’s a role he filled well last year for the SaberCats. Either way, Warren has a chance to show the SaberCats that they made a mistake in letting him go.
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.
