Blaze can't kick Vipers in loss

Don Eisenbarth
Tuesday April 20, 2010

Arena Football at its greatest is like a prize fight. Each team, like a fighter, delivers and receives blow after blow. It’s not a matter of if a punch will connect, but when, and what you’ll do to respond. Eventually, one of the fighters will run out of energy, or skill, or heart and end up getting beat. 

The Blaze were knocked out early in an overmatched effort in their first game against Spokane. In this week’s game against the Alabama Vipers, the Blaze showed life, energy, skill and even some heart, but still found themselves on the losing end of a 63-54 bout at the E Center.

After last week’s debacle, the Blaze were hungry for improvement. Blaze fans needed hope that this team can go somewhere. What they needed was a lead and a quick score, and they got it, from an unexpected, but familiar source.

The scoring started early on Brandon Hampton’s interception returned for a touchdown. “I think I almost dropped it. As soon as I got the ball, (I thought) I got to score. I got some good blocks. And just took it up the sidelines.” said Hampton. This interception lead to Utah’s first lead in a game this season.

Hampton’s interception was that start of a game in which the defense showed improvement but still has a ways to go. Alabama was able to score on one or two play possessions a couple of time in the game. In an even game, that featured 11 lead changes, lightning quick scores are going to destroy all momentum.  Looking to the future, Hampton says that the Blaze defense needs to “Limit the coverage breakdowns, the little mistakes. When (Alabama) did score it was just one thing here or there. It wasn’t too much, but if one guy’s out of place in arena they can score. We got better this week; we’re going to continue to get better.”

Coach Purnsley was proud of the defensive improvement but understand there’s still much that can be proved upon “We made a couple plays. We got some illegal defense on long yard situations. Guys trying to hustle and trying to do too much and getting out of the scheme. The more we’re together the better we’ll be”

The defense wasn’t the only area of the team to improve. The Blaze offense scored 6 touchdowns and went 2 for 2 in two point conversions. In the first half, new starting quarterback Brett Elliot got into rhythm going 11 for 13 with a touchdown (2 more were scored by rushing). He finished with a respectable 21 completions of 38 passes for 231 yards and four touchdowns.

Elliot’s performance is made especially meaningful when you consider his resent experience. “I haven’t played football in two years. In San Jose I didn’t play. I was on injured reserve. It’s been a long time. Tonight, it felt a lot more comfortable. It hurts not to get the win. I felt like we were in there. I felt like we out played them in the first half but we were still down. I was a little frustrated.”

Elliot led the Blaze offence that looked nothing like the team from the week earlier. This is a team that is a few critical steps away from being a powerful player in the AFL. “We’re better on offence, but we’re still not great. We should be scoring every time and I think there were two or three times we got stopped.” said Elliot of the offensive effort. “We’re only going to get better. This is only our second game…I feel like we’ve progressed well, but it never feels good to get a loss.”

Elliot’s first interception of the year thrown on the end zone late in the fourth quarter was the knockout blow. The Blaze seem like a team with just a few pieces short away from being a competitor in the new AFL. While the game didn’t have the outcome fans were looking for, the game showed that the Blaze have the ability to become more than the joke of the AFL, but until that first win comes, it’s going to be hard to convince other fans that this Blaze team can play.

Byrd Watching

One of the hard cold facts about this game is that 10 points were left on the field from missed kicks by Blaze Kicker Kenneth Byrd, and it was a 9 point loss. And while you can’t blame Byrd in the loss, you have to notice the advantage that even making all extra points and even just one of the two missed field goals would have on the game.

Coach Purnsley noticed, stating that he was “a little disappointed in the kicking game. We can’t leave points on the field. We’ve got to be able to convert. It’s a different game. It’s hard for the kicker. But Kenny’s a professional; he’s got to challenge himself to get better.”

When asked on how the coaching staff will help Byrd improve, Purnsley responded “Looking at his mechanics, he’s slowing himself down. Just working on him kicking the football as apposed to aiming the football. When you aim the football you have a tendency on pulling it in a direction… It’s not a matter of operation time in this league. He’s got enough time to get the hold and get the snap down before the rush gets there. We’ll take a peek at him and see how we can help him.”

Kicking is one of the more interesting aspects of Arena football as 9 feet wide uprights instead of the 18 ½ feet stadium uprights reward accuracy over power. Kenneth Byrd has the power, he kicked more kick-offs through the goal posts than extra points. When asked on how to improve Byrd responded “Practice, practice, practice. Get more snaps, more holds in practice and just improve.”

However, additional kicking practice might be a bit difficult as the Blaze split practice time between the E Center and an indoor soccer facility in order to accommodate the Utah Grizzles hockey playoff run.

The Hampton Effect

The Vipers became the second team to fall prey to Brandon Hampton. After the first kickoff to the Blaze went back for a touchdown, the Vipers followed the Spokane Shock’s example and started going exclusively to squib kicks and kick-offs out of bounds. (This also included a late field goal which was in a makeable range for Viper kicker …)

It appears that no one wants to kick to Hampton. About his playmaking ability Hampton stated, “You don’t think too much when stuff’s going on. You just kind of react to it.” That quick reaction time combined with E Center netting which Spokane Coach … called “trampoline like” leads to a home field advantage that is just astounding.

Brandon Hampton was named the Ironman of the Game for the second game in a row and with good reason; he impacts every facet of the game more than any other player on the field. The Blaze repeatedly start with the ball at the 20 yard-line because of the Hampton Effect: the strategy that it’s better to kick out of bounds than to let Hampton touch the ball. He therefore, helps the offence by providing strong opening field position, while at the same time providing good coverage and great open field tackles on defense (as well as the occasional interception). You almost wonder how well the guy can kick.

Coach Purnsely is excited about Hampton’s start of the year performance and excited about the future prospects of this player “(Hampton) is a playmaker. He’s really good with a ball in his hands. He gives us a spark on special teams, and has some playmaking abilities. He’s a good receiver also. We’d like to find ways to give him the ball.”

Pack the House?

For the second week in a row the Blaze set a new record for lowest attended game in franchise history with only 4,898 fans in attendance, only 134 less then the former record of 5,032 that was achieved at last week's game.  This was a bit of a slap in the face of the “pack the house” promotion where every seat in the house was priced for $10 (which in its own right was a slap in the face to season ticket holders). The Blaze will not have a chance to continue this streak next week as they are traveling in their first away game of the season to play the 3-0 Chicago Rush.