Offensive reality hits Brigade hard
Dan Stroud
Thursday March 27, 2008
After the first two weeks of the Arena Football League season, it looked as if the squad was on the verge of big things. After all, wasn’t the defense ranked first in the league despite the early 0-2 start.
Hadn’t the Brigade’s wide receiver corps at times resembled a circus spectacle of speed, agility and toughness, with veteran Mike Horacek racing down the field as Charles Fredrick and Jerel Myers generally ran their routes underneath the opposing team’s coverage.
There seemed little doubt that the Brigade were right on that cusp Monday night when the then winless Grand Rapids Rampage came to town. After the Colorado Crush were soundly defeated by a beastly Chicago Rush squad, there was even talk in the pre-game of being in second place in the AFL Western Conference’s Central Division.
The one fly in the ointment seemed to be at perhaps the most crucial spot on the field. That would be at quarterback.
After a lackluster first two games that saw veteran QB John Fitzgerald throw multiple interceptions in the end zone, nullifying deciding scoring opportunities against both the Tampa Bay Storm and the New York Dragons, it seemed clear a change was warranted. But was backup quarterback and rookie D. Bryant ready to take the helm?
Apparently that question never had a chance to come up. After the Arizona Rattlers tried to sign Matt Kohn off the Brigade practice squad during the bye week, management moved quickly to protect their then third string quarterback.
After the dust had cleared and the sidewinders had been thwarted in their attempt, Kohn was named the new starting quarterback. That Fitzgerald deserved a demotion there was little doubt, but the move seemed less on the merits and more about contract negotiations.
Kohn obviously had leverage and whether he forced the Brigade to make him the starter or not seems the million dollar question. It also calls into question the reasoning of the Kansas City coaching staff as well as its management.
Brigade Head Coach Kevin Porter painted a rosy picture of the offseason acquisitions and the list looked rather impressive, even to this writer. But if the team continues to struggle as it has thus far, it will be the move that wasn’t made that will stand out the most.
The grumblings were ever so slight in the off-season when the club decided not to make a push to retain last year’s star quarterback Raymond Philyaw. Perhaps it’s true that he was drawn by the opportunity to play with his old coach in Cleveland.
But even in a league with tight budget constraints such as the AFL, money always seems to talk a little louder than loyalty on most fronts.
After making it to the Arena Football playoffs in only their second season of existence, Porter deserves some credit, and maybe to a small degree some benefit of the doubt.
With the defending champion San Jose Sabercats in town on Saturday followed close behind by games with both Colorado and Chicago, this season could quickly slip away. Porter no doubt is well aware of that fact. Let’s hope for his sake as well as the team’s, Kohn quickly develops into the star and leader this team needs.
It certainly didn’t happen in his first Brigade start, though he was impressive early, leading scoring drives in each of his four possessions. But after hiccups on special teams and a hurried throw that turned into an interception, his performance quickly slid down hill.
The loss certainly doesn’t fall on his shoulders, there was plenty of blame to go around, but the quarterback must lead his team, even when they fall into unexplained funks. There is not a lot of room for rookie mistakes on a squad with much higher expectations.
If Kohn can’t make the turn, management will likely have to ride the quarterback carousel once more next off-season, this time using a little more moxie and perhaps a bit more money to get the job done.
There’s far too much talent on this roster to watch it slip away for lack of one position on the field, that being the most important position of all, the quarterback.
Dan Stroud is a graduate student at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. He is completing a Master of Arts degree in Political Science while continuing to feed his passion for sportswriting. As the sports editor for the UMKC University News, he is also the beat reporter for the Kangaroo men's NCAA Division I basketball team.
