Turnovers Continue To Plague the Vigilantes
David Smithey
Tuesday April 20, 2010
Was this really week three of the season or did I just manage to watch a rerun of week two? Last week the Dallas Vigilantes lost to the Tulsa Talons due to a devastating fumble in the last minute of the game, resulting in a Talons winning touchdown. Like many other Dallas fans, I shrugged off the disappointment by reassuring myself that it was just a case of the first game jitters that are so prevalent in many teams this early in the season.
Undoubtedly, Dallas had some ball control issues to correct before traveling to Florida to play the dominant Tampa Bay Storm in week three of the season. However, with the major plays on offense and defense during the Vigilantes’ season opener, it was easy to believe that Dallas was more than capable of achieving their first win against the Storm.
Unfortunately for Dallas fans, the game quickly proved to be mimic week two. Yet again, Dallas faced a strong opposing team on the road. Again, they looked promising as they opened the game with an unsuspected touchdown. Again, alas, fundamental errors and turnovers cost the Vigilantes another potential victory.
The Vigilantes faced a number of obstacles going into the game. Fans piled into the arena to watch the Tampa Bay Storm’s home debut. The crowd was even large enough to impress Tampa Bay’s coach Tim Marcum. In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Marcum excitedly stated, “This is a football city, man. What a crowd, my goodness”.
Additionally, the Vigilantes had to face the consequences that lingered from last week’s game against Tulsa. Last minute losses are emotionally draining and can continue to haunt a team if they dwell on past games. Week two took its toll physically as well. Dallas’s starting quarterback, Shane Stafford, had to watch the game from the sidelines due to a foot injury he suffered against the Talons.
Luckily, Dallas fans were able to smile and breathe a sigh of relief when the Vigilantes’ Kenny Henderson returned the opening kickoff. On the next drive, Tampa Bay answered with a touchdown as well. The two teams then found themselves exchanging touchdowns for the rest of the first half. Momentum shifted before halftime when Dallas was unable to score from the one yard line on a fourth and goal. The Storm managed to capitalize on the play and score before the half ran out, giving them the lead. Dallas was unable to recover from that point on.
It would be easy to make excuses for the 41-54 loss. Some may blame home field advantage and others may find the fault in Stafford’s absence. While these might have played factors in the defeat, fundamental mistakes burdened Dallas the most. Collin Drafts, who started at quarterback in place of Stafford, managed to have a decent game. He overcame his nerves and completed 21-of-30 passes, a very respectable rate for a second string quarterback.
While Drafts did throw an interception and fumbled as well, he still managed to created opportunities. In one instance, the Storm defense put heavy pressure on Drafts causing him to lose control of the ball and fumble. Drafts immediately gained composure and was able to return the favor by stripping the ball back, recovering the fumble to maintain Dallas possession of the ball.
By the time the final whistle sounded, Dallas had fumbled three times and lost possession in each instance. These turnovers, accompanied with the interception, were the main element in the Storm’s victory. Tampa Bay was able to control the ball, throwing no interceptions and only fumbling once.
Vigilantes’ head coach Rich Ingold told a dallasvigilantes.com reporter, “We’ve got to stick together right now as a team. We’ve got a good core of players here that really want to win. We’re just hurting ourselves right now with mistakes.”
Fundamentals are the key ingredient to success. While luck and big plays play a role in winning, the foundation for winning is found in limiting mistakes. Turnovers and penalties can cause a great team to become mediocre or even poor. They separate champions from the rest of the pack. The Vigilantes showed improvements by being able to limit costly penalties this week. However, as I stated last week, if Dallas is going to succeed they are going to need to drastically reduce their turnover rate.
Even so, I will continue to be an optimist and find the silver lining of the cloud that is shadowing the Vigilantes. It is still early in the season and the Vigilantes have only played two games. Dallas also has explosive receivers, like Henderson and Lee, who continue to thrive each week.
More importantly, the Vigilantes have their second bye week coming up. They will need to use the time wisely, continuing to work on ball control and fundamental errors. This will also give the injured players on Dallas’s roster a little time to heal before their home debut in week five against the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz. With a little bit of work during the next two weeks, maybe the Vigilantes will be able to shake off their plague of turnovers and be the dominant team that they are capable of becoming.
