Nashville’s Nightmare Ends
Charliy Nash
Tuesday March 20, 2007
The already depleted line lost Joe Minucci to a knee injury last week. WR Alonzo Nix was also out with an injury. Four players would have to dress for their first game in Kats’ uniforms making this young team even younger. “Nine rookies,” coach Pat Sperduto said, “I think that may be unprecedented.”
And the undefeated Utah Blaze were in town.
I have to admit that as I looked ot the Utah roster – Siaha Burley, Orshawante Bryant, Frank Carter, Ryan Dennard – the odds of Nashville getting their first win did not look good. The game started out looking like the repeat of the recurring nightmare. Rookie QB Jeff Smoker, making his first AFL start, threw an interception when he was pressured. This quickly turned into a 20-7 Utah lead.
I don’t know what was the catalyst. Maybe it was the late hit on rookie WR Kenny Higgins after his first touchdown. Maybe it was Jason Witczak’s onside “mule” kick which the Kats recovered. Whatever it was, the Kats rallied for 21 unanswered points to take the lead which they never gave up. After being shut out in the third quarter of their previous games, the Kats scored on their first possession then rookie LB/DL Brendan Givan picked up a fumble for one of their three takeaways and the team scored on the ensuing drive.
One of those new faces was Ironman of the game WR/LB Maurice Brown. Returning kickoffs, starting at jack LB, and filling in at WR, Brown contributed in every phase of the game. “I just want to get in where I fit in,” he laughed. His biggest impact was an interception of a ball that seemed to ricochet endlessly before Brown hauled it in. “Right place, right time. Get close to the ball and things will happen.”
The unquestioned star of this game was FB Dan Alexander with five rushing TD’s. “It’s play calling,” he deferred, “I just thank the coaches for trusting me and getting the ball to me in those situations.” Alexander has now scored at least one rushing TD in every game, and has totaled nine for the season.
Those nine rookies grew up quickly. Higgins had 98 yards and 3 TD’s. LB Liam Ezekiel pulled in a Utah onside kick and made a big stop on a kickoff return. DB Keon Raymond had an interception, 2 breakups, and a tackle for loss. Smoker recovered from the shaky start to throw for 5 TD’s and 273 yards behind an offensive line that was rock solid. “Aw man,” Smoker exclaimed, “They did a heck of a job! I had a lot of time back there, only got hit a couple times. They did a great job getting me good lanes to throw in.”
WR Cornelius Bonner, who contributed two receiving touchdowns, was not at all surprised by the success of the rookies. “It’s no secret to us. You finally get an opportunity to see these guys on stage, but they’ve been doing it behind closed doors day in and day out. I wasn’t shocked by their performance.”
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.
