Don’t Blame Michna for This One

Jeff Sims
Monday May 17, 2010

Chicago Rush fans do not have anything to worry about………yet.

But if you have more turnovers in a game than the Iowa Barnstormers (who now have 26 in their first six games), you are not going to win Arena Football games.

After having six turnovers last week in a loss to Milwaukee, the Rush committed four more turnovers on Saturday night in a 44 – 30 loss to the Iowa Turnovers.

There are definitely some glaring offensive concerns after this home loss. And don’t blame them all on Rush QB Russ Michna.

Yes, he has thrown a John Dutton-like 5 interceptions in the last six quarters, three Saturday night which is a new career high. And while the passes have come from his left hand, there is plenty of accountability elsewhere in the offense for these turnovers.

In what was being rumored as becoming a predictable offense around the league and the thought that their signals were being stolen by opposing defenses, the Rush tried to make some changes and put some different wrinkles into their offense. It appeared on Saturday night as if these new “wrinkles” confused their own offense instead of the opposing defense.

There were many instances of their wide receivers running the same routes on plays, stopping on routes acting as if they didn’t know where to go, or not breaking a route to make a play. This group as a whole was not on the same page. At other times, Michna did not have enough time to get the ball off.

This game was an embarrassment for the Chicago Rush!!

The team was in good spirits and brushed off the loss to Milwaukee accounting it to a number of bounces not going their way. This week, there was no excuse.

“I thought we had a good game plan going into it,” said Rush head coach Mike Hohensee, “But for some reason we were unable to execute it.”

And they did a great job of not executing it.

The team was shutout in a quarter for the first time this season as they failed to score in the first quarter. Michna was picked off on their first series as wide receiver Nichiren Flowers failed to complete a route and Michna threw it to where he thought he was going, not his fault. The teams “jumbo package” down by the goal line was stopped twice from the Iowa two yard line on third and fourth downs to end the quarter.

The good news for the Rush was their defense. They held the Barnstormers to 44 points and forced QB Ryan Vena to throw three interceptions.

Even on special teams, the Rush played well. Only being down 15 points to start the fourth quarter, the special teams forced a turnover on a kickoff, giving the offense an opportunity that they could not take advantage of. Michna was then intercepted by Iowa DB Jason Simpson for the second time in the game on a mistimed play by the endzone. Once again, an interception that was not his fault.

“Things were not exactly the way they were on film,” said Hohensee. “They zoned up a lot more than they had in the past and they did not bail out. Russ had to hang on to the ball a little longer than usual and I think our protection broke down a little bit and all of a sudden we are trying to find some things on the run. We are not an on the run type of team. Kudos to them (Iowa) for changing things up. They did a great job.”

It is uncharacteristic of a Mike Hohensee led team to be outplayed on any given night. But on this night, they were definitely outplayed and outsmarted. Russ Michna does not throw interceptions like this, never. If he is feeling pressured to make something happen, he sure isn’t getting any help.

The team and the coaching staff are certainly disappointed in this performance and did not have answers for what went wrong and what needs to change. They will be looking for answers on how to get the swagger back that they had going 4–0 before traveling to Dallas next Saturday night to play the Vigilantes.

“The result surprises me,” said Hohensee. “I don’t understand. I don’t know why we got this performance. We will go back and look at the film and figure it out. If it is personnel or if it is coaching, we will figure it out and right the ship.”

Luckily, Michna is a class act and will not implicate any of his teammates. Also, being the QB of the team, he has no problem taking the heat for his teams’ short comings.

“We (as a team) made a lot of mistakes that we don’t usually make. That is the frustrating part, at least for me,” said Michna. “We made critical errors over and over and over again. I’m embarrassed for this organization, for myself, and for this team, for everything. This is not the way we play and I’m pretty sure it won’t happen again.”

Let Me Join The Party

I am feeling left out from the rest of my ArenaFan family in not blasting the new statistics program being used by the league. After Saturday night, I feel the need to join, be it a little late.

The DakTronics software used by the league this season was “down” and not ready for the start of the game on Saturday night. Even better yet, it was not ready after halftime. First quarter play by play was distributed to the press box after the third quarter. That is all that was received. There were no stats to be found, during or after the game. Everyone in the press area was scrambling to try to find someone keeping manual stats.

Media Coordinators for each team should not be made to handle this disaster and should have a program that works and gives them what is needed to give to members of the media during a game instead of being stressed to find alternative ways to obtain game information.

Luckily, I had enough fingers to count all of the turnovers that occurred. If I would have needed my toes, it would have gotten ugly.

It should come to no surprise to anyone that the Friday night games from the IFL (Indoor Football League) did not have stats available right away after games. The IFL uses this same system. I could not obtain stats from Friday’s Chicago Slaughter game until after the game.

This system is the pits!!!