The Wheels on the Bike Go Round and Round
Adam Markowitz
Wednesday July 2, 2008
Even though I’ve already referenced this quote once this year, I just have to go back to it to describe the last two seasons for the Orlando Predators.
“It’s kind of like wiping your butt with a bicycle tire. The stuff just keeps coming around.”
Ironically, this was the quote of Tampa Bay Storm Head Coach Tim Marcum after almost collapsing against the Preds in a 48-41 victory in the Jungle. He was talking about his Storm and not my Predators, but the quote still really fits.
A couple years ago, the Predators were a couple special teams disasters away from winning the ArenaBowl. QB Joe Hamilton was replaced by a guy who fit the mold that Head Coach Jay Gruden took when he quarterbacked in the AFL. Shane Stafford was supposed to be the guy that pushed us over the top.
Fellow ArenaFan writer, Adam Locascio warned me. He warned me, and he warned Predator nation. In fact, in an article he wrote right after Stafford was signed by Orlando two off-seasons ago, Locascio wrote the following:
“But Stafford was good for about one dropped snap per game, usually at an inopportune time. He never became the kind of quarterback that makes everyone around him better.” He also pointed out that his regular season record was only 32-29 and that the Storm were 1-4 in the playoffs in five seasons with Stafford in blue and gold.
See Adam, you’re a moron. It felt like a whole heck of a lot more than one dropped snapped a game. He did hold true with that regular season record (17-15 in 32 regular season games) and postseason standard though (0-2 in two playoff games).
Depending on whose eyes you’re looking through, it’s either a blessing or a curse that there is almost no way that Shane Stafford will ever suit in black and red again. You absolutely cannot introduce your starting quarterback and team leader as a guy who is going to get the you-know-what booed out of him every single time he takes the field.
(And those are just the home games.)
Now, I know what everyone’s thinking. Here comes a whole article dedicated to me ripping Shane Stafford and Jay Gruden, saying that the entire season was a disgrace to the black and red, and that we should just can the entire team and start over again.
Sorry to disappoint you.
The Predators were not the better team on the field on Monday night’s 69-66 defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Gladiators which ended their 2008 season. Orlando played miserable football down the stretch, essentially backdooring their way into the playoffs by virtue of the New Orleans VooDoo falling even flatter on their collective faces, while Cleveland was a surging team clearly on the rise.
After 17 days off, the 17th consecutive playoff appearance for the Predators was destined to be short, but Coach Gruden had the boys fighting. They really did play their hearts out. A secondary which was overmatched by a potent passing attack found a way to intercept Raymond Philyaw for the first time in well over 200 attempts and get their paws on two others. An offensive line which was scrutinized all season found a way to let Stafford take a 5-step drop at times for the first time seemingly all season. A defensive line which only got 14 sacks put constant pressure on Philyaw.
Yet when it was all said and done, the team that set the record for fumbles in a season (32) were done in by, what else… a fumble.
The stuff keeps coming around.
The biggest sin of the last competitive offensive drive of the 2008 season was that it was TT Toliver, who was seemingly the only Predator who didn’t fumble once all year, who committed the fatal error that sent the Preds packing.
Even after that… Even after Cleveland scored and Orlando countered, prayers were almost answered in the form of another fumble. Marlion Jackson, the league’s leading rusher, was stripped by little 5’8” Jason Perry of all people, but neither Marlon Moye-Moore, John Mohring, or any of the other Predators could fall on the football to give Orlando one last chance at survival.
Even after that… Even when all hope was lost, Rob Schroeder and BJ Cohen kept putting the pressure on Philyaw even when he was just trying to chuck the ball into Section 304 to run the clock out. The pressure caused him to throw the ball in the field of play, but dangerously close to a Predator defensive back.
Even after that… Even with just 0:03 remaining, Schroeder was there in the backfield, trying his best to cause that one slip to prolong their season, even if just for one more play.
For a team that I said had absolutely no heart a few weeks ago, the Orlando Predators played their hearts out, and did so until the clock read 0:00.
After the 2006 season, I said that the now-af2 Austin Wranglers put up an impressive showing against the Philadelphia Soul in their first (and only) playoff game because they never gave up in a game that was well out of hand. I said that they were on to something. Instead of building on what they had, Doug MacGregor fired Head Coach Skip Foster, and mutilated the team. All they really needed was better quarterback play than what John Fitzgerald offered. The Wranglers went 4-12 in 2007 and were relegated to af2 play starting in 2008.
Though I think changes need to be made, the 2008 Predators showed some spunk down the stretch that we hadn’t seen since the middle of the season. It was a sign of hope.
So I’m warning all of the members of the brass of the Predators: Do not implode this team. Find a new team leader and see if they can head to the Promised Land once again. Cut your losses on Shane Stafford, if for no other reason but to get the fans back on your side, but keep the rest of the core pieces in place. Tweak some things here and there, and you will once again find yourself in Southern Division supremacy. Do not make the same mistake the Wranglers made.
For once, in a year where that bicycle tire kept returning us to the same old problems over and over again, I don’t want to change that much. For 2009, I need a bright, shiny new tire, not a new bike… or a new butt to wipe.
