Blaze Defensive Struggles Continue
Josh Fisher
Tuesday March 20, 2007
Things started good for Utah when Ryan Dennard intercepted Jeff Smoker on Nashville’s second possession. After Utah turned that into a 20-7 lead the game started to resemble the contest in 2006 when Utah hammered the Kats 63-34. That was the last point this game had any resemblance to last season’s game.
Nashville used trickery, an on-side kick while the kicker had his back to the ball, to ignite the team. They scored from all parts of the field and moved the ball at-will. Every time the defense could get off the field, the Kats offense would come through. Nashville was just 3-of-6 on third down, but was 2-for-2 on fourth down.
When they were stopping the offense, they were beating themselves. Utah committed 11 penalties, several on third down to extend drives.
Things got so bad for Utah they had to Play Siaha Burley at defensive back on a few possessions. Burley hadn’t seen time at DB since 2003 when he played for Los Angeles. He even had a chance to make a huge tackle, but instead the receiver bounced off and scampered the remaining 13 yards for the touchdown.
Nashville finished with 308 yards of total offense and 23 first downs. The Blaze rank last in the Arena Football League allowing 67 points per game. They are also 17th of 19 team allowing 319 yards per contest.
In three games the Blaze defense has come up with a grand total of four stops. Two missed field goals, the Dennard interception, and the Rattlers’ final drive where they just ran out of time at the 2-yard line.
Head Coach/General Manager Danny White was quoted in Monday’s Deseret Morning News as saying, “We need to get better on defense. Whether it's changing up our schemes or making personnel changes or whatever. We will do what we need to do to get better defensively."
With just five days until they host Grand Rapids they will have to get better fast.
Josh Fisher has been a fan of the AFL for as long as he can remember. He followed the Arizona Rattlers since they began playing. Josh works for the University of Utah
as their head statistician. He is also the media contact for Klub Boom
Volleyball Club and the head volleyball coach at Park City High School.
