Bobby Sippio Not the Answer in Orlando

Adam Markowitz
Friday May 21, 2010

On Wednesday, the Orlando Predators announced the signing of WR Bobby Sippio. I'm not going to take anything away from the Kissimmee product, as he has put together one of the most illustrious careers that a receiver could have in AFL history. In just four years, Sippio put together an average of 87.5 catches, 1,274.3 yards, and 35.0 touchdowns per season, and he did so in what amounted to be the most talented Arena Football era ever.

But once again, my Preds have fallen short. Whoever is calling the shots with player personnel needs to take a lot closer look at the roster to see where the problems really lie.

I'm sorry, but Nick Hill still isn't an AFL quarterback. Yes, completing roughly 70% of your passes is good enough to make it in this league (in fact, Orlando has the #1 completion percentage in the AFL right now for a team), but 21 touchdowns against six interceptions in five games isn't going to cut it. Hill ranks 12th amongst starting quarterbacks in the AFL with a 110.2 quarterback rating. Only Dallas' Collin Drafts, Utah's Brett Elliott, and Iowa's Ryan Vena are worse.

In spite of the fact that Hill has thrown the eighth most passes in the league (207), he has only thrown for the 13th most yards. Yes, we can fairly say that Hill has only played in five games, whereas most of the league has played six games, but only averaging 6.72 yards per attempt won't get the job done. Only Elliott's 6.63 yards per attempt is worse amongst starting quarterbacks.

Let's look at the defensive numbers, shall we? Sure, the Preds are only allowing 54.0 points per game this year now after back to back solid outings. That's good enough for third in the league.

As Steven A. Smith would say... "How-ev-uh!"...

I was speaking with several credible members of the Arena Football League community in recent weeks, and in conversation with them all, I mentioned the fact that I wasn't impressed that Orlando basically beat up a pair of backup quarterbacks in recent weeks. All of them shared the same sentiments. There isn't a team in this league with a reserve quarterback that is going to win games on a consistent basis. It's just a fact of life. Teams can't afford to keep two competent quarterbacks on their roster like San Jose had back in the day with Mark Grieb and John Dutton or when Philadelphia had Tony Graziani and Matt D'Orazio.

As a result, DB Rayshawn Kizer has picked off a five passes in his last two games. Congrats for him.

The pass rush can't even get to a quarterback who is standing behind an offensive line and is looking into the secondary like he's a deer in headlights. Orlando still only has two sacks on the season, which is by far the most embarrassing number in the entire league.

So yes, the Orlando defense has played two straight respectable games against backup quarterbacks. Take that for what it's worth. I'm not taking it for much.

I still remember back on the final day of April, when Ryan Vena marched his Iowa Barnstormers into the Jungle and walked out with a very comfortable 50-40 victory to drop my Preds to 0-3. I remember watching Raymond Philyaw run one and two play drives all day with his Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings on my defense. Forget about mentioning how bad Jacksonville Sharks QB Aaron Garcia made the red and black look...

Wide receiver is the one thing that Orlando just didn't need. No one is taking away from the performances of WR Derrick Lewis (44 rec, 420 yds, 6 TDs) or WR TT Toliver (50 rec, 577 yds, 9 TDs). In fact, whereas most teams used at least one of their franchise player slots on a signal caller, Orlando used two of their three on wide receivers. Those are the only two that are on the team at this point.

So yes, we all love Bobby Sippio. Let's throw a tickertape parade for him. There's no doubt that Orlando has the best set of wide receivers in the league, and it's not even close.

However, there isn't a defensive back in the league that still isn't laughing his butt off at the fact that Hill still has no clue how to throw a pass more than five yards down the field or that the offensive line can't protect him for long enough to stand in the pocket for more than three steps. Sippio doesn't play defensive back and isn't going to help defend the most dangerous passing game in the AFL this week, nor can he put pressure on the quarterback as a defensive lineman.

This is the decisive week of the season for the Orlando Predators. At 2-3, they have a chance to get back to .500 and to stick right there in the playoff chase. This is also the first time that, for my money, they are going to play against a legitimate team at full strength that has a shot of winning the ArenaBowl.

Unless all of a sudden, Bobby Sippio can play the role of Bugs Bunny and play every position, he is just going to be like everyone else, watching and shaking his head as Hill continues to make those few crucial mistakes in big situations, as the defensive line fails to knock down QB Chris Greisen one time in the entire game, and as the secondary continues to turn and chase after WRs Nate Force, Tiger Jones, and Damian Harrell as the scoreboard operator gets tired of putting points on the board six at a time for the visitors.