Kats Outrush the Rush
Charliy Nash
Monday March 20, 2006
"That was kind of the game plan, Murray explained, "We’d just come in and pound it on them a little bit because the have a couple of good pass rushers and we wanted to slow them down some and running the ball can do that." Murray accounted for 27 yards on an improvised scramble, "The jack linebacker did a real good job of covering up our throwing lanes – that left the field wide open and the guys did a great job creating a hole for me to run and I just took off running."
"We tried to use our ground game to try to help Leon out," agreed Grant, who contributed two rushing touchdowns, "Leon doesn’t need any help, but we just figured it’s his first game back so we’d make it easy for him."
Alexander marked his return to the lineup by rushing for 36 yards and a touchdown, "I just thank the Lord that He prepared me for this game. I really felt prepared. I’ve been waiting my turn to get back in there and I felt ready and felt relaxed and felt ready to go – and today’s my birthday so it’s a good birthday present."
Other than that the game came down to an onside kick and a two-point conversion attempt.
With 0:48 left in the first half the Kats executed what coach Pat Sperduto described as a goat kick, but it wasn’t a play that the coaching staff came up with. "I brought that one with me," said new kicker Jason Witczak, "I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve." After placing the ball on the tee, Witczak turned as if to begin pacing off his kicking distance from the ball. He then abruptly executed a backheel kick which caught the Rush completely off guard and wound up in the hands of T.T. Toliver after bouncing off a Chicago player. "I get that one compliments of Gary Zauner, the special teams coach of the Arizona Cardinals," Witczak explained. "He taught me that one when I was about 14 years old and I used it one time in a game my junior year to start the season off, and we recovered it. Never had an opportunity to use it since that. Pat really liked it and it was awesome."
Just like the first earlier meeting between these two division rivals, the outcome of the game hinged on a late two-point conversion attempt by Chicago. Injuries during the game left the Kats defense stretched thin with some people playing in unfamiliar positions. With 0:28 left in the game and the Rush trailing by one point quarterback Matt D’Orazio tossed a swing pass to C.J. Johnson who swept around to his right where he was met by Kats’ defensive specialist Rober’ Freeman and forced into the wall. "That was a nuts and guts play," exclaimed Freeman, "We knew we had to get a stop and we knew what we had to do to get it."
Two games; two one-point victories. These teams are likely to meet again in the playoffs. If they do, it will be a game you will want to see. Or as Rober’ Freeman put it, "Anytime we get together with the Chicago Rush it’s going to be a dogfight to the end."
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.
