Blaze Can’t Snap Losing Streak against Rattlers
Don Eisenbarth
Sunday May 30, 2010
Oh, wait! That title has wrong punctuation. It should have been "Blaze Can’t Snap! Losing Streak against Rattlers."
The Blaze keep finding new and inventive ways to lose. Whether it’s bad clock management, an inability to rebound kick-off off the net, final quarter sputtering, and simple blown assignments, the Blaze haven’t disappointed fans in their ability to disappoint. With all those past losses in the rear view mirror, Blaze fans were looking forward to seeing some promise from a team that really has had glimpses of brilliance. (The NFL game of the week against the Iron stands out prominently among them.) Fans again left disappointed.
When time ran out the Blaze once again found themselves on the short end of the stick as their division rivals, the Arizona Rattlers, won handedly 83-58 in what was probably the best played 25 point blowout of all time. The Blaze matched the Rattlers in all sides of the ball except one, and that was (of all things) the ability to snap the ball.
Yes, the simple act of getting the ball from the center to the quarterback proved to be too much for the Utah Blaze. The loss is made deeper by the fact is that we were in this game for 2, maybe 3, quarters but the snapping errors completely ended all hope of a victory for the Blaze. As a fan I’m actually kind of infuriated by it, and my anger has proved me rather ineffective to write a coherent review, so let’s take a look at what Blaze coaches and players had to say. And just use that. First, let’s start with excuses reasons with why the Blaze are now 1-6.
“We came in this week with a couple guys banged up,” said Coach Purnsely “We're patching together in some respect, but we got to be sound fundamentally, we've got to tackle, we've got to cover, we've got to get after the quarterback.”
“We got the latest start of any team in the league,” said GM Steve Videtich, “but in the long term we’ll be competitive as anyone.”
“Our receiving core is a young group,” said WR Aaron Boone. “Most of our team is a young group.”
“We just need to clean up little things,” said QB Michael Affleck.
Isn’t that the truth! Never before in any football game whether it be at a professional, college, high school or even little league level have I ever seen a game where the game was lost at the snap. That’s a basic part of the game, that should rarely even be discussed not to mention should be the main reason why your team lost.
(As a side note, the biggest thing I’ve heard from other fans on why they’ve stopped attending the games is because of a large drop in the level of competition. I’ve tried to argue that there really hasn’t been that huge of a drop in talent from the old AFL to the new AFL, but games like this one REALLY aren’t helping my cause!)
So, why did this happen?
“It looked like he (Affleck) was pulling out a little early,” said Coach Purnsley. “Need to look at the film, it’s tough to really see from the sidelines.”
“I think he (Affleck) threw the ball well, but we’ve got to clean up the snap. You just cannot win with little things like that. That’s something you shouldn’t even think about, it should be automatic,” said WR Aaron Boone. “His passing wasn’t too bad, you know.”
“It’s like football 101, you’ve got to be able to get a snap,” said Affleck, who then added “but, the center is new. He’s never played center before. He’s a great athlete, a great blocker. I’m not saying he’s not a good center, but me and him have to work on it, so we can do it in our sleep.” (Center Ed Mulitalo played 10 years in the NFL as a guard, but this is his first season as a center.)
Well, for whatever reason, the Blaze had six fumbles that all came from missed exchanges to and from Affleck. One was on a hand-off that never really happened because of a bad snap. The other five saw the play starting and the ball instantly on the ground. Affleck and company were able to recover three, but three lost fumbles and a few other fourth down stops proved to be way too much to overcome.
For their 1-6 record and last place position in the National Conference by two games, the Blaze seem strangely optimistic.
“We’re improving; we’re getting a lot of good things done,” said QB Michael Affleck. “We would have won the game if it wasn’t for all those fumbles. Every time I got the ball in my hands, we were doing something good with it.”
(The fans echoed the statement that we would have won the game, except for “all those fumbles” was replaced by “Affleck wasn’t playing today,” but that’s for another article.)
“You see AFL veterans like today and it’s just clockwork. (We’re) a work in progress. We’re about there. We need to get to be some of these like these other teams where it’s just clockwork,” said WR Aaron Boone. “We just have to turn the page, and get to that next level and make it happen. It’s just frustrating when get close and you think you’re going and, you know, little mistakes. There’s just no room for it.”
My thoughts exactly, there’s just no room for it.
Still, honestly, I believe that there’s not only a playoff team in the Utah Blaze waiting to get out, but a championship quality team waiting to bust out of the Utah Blaze. They aren’t there yet, but they can get there, and they can get there some. So, I consider the rest of this year to be a mulligan. We might miss the playoffs this year (we might not, the year’s still young), but I’m not going to worry about that anymore, I’m going to enjoy seeing a team of talented players develop into a fantastic AFL team. And they will too… just once they learn how to snap the ball.
TV “Commitment”
This is word for word from a press release at the beginning of the season:
“We are excited to have a partnership with the local ABC affiliate, KTVX. They have demonstrated a desire to be true partners with the Blaze through their commitment to air our home and away games this season,” said Dave Affleck, Blaze owner. The agreement includes the broadcasting of Blaze home games on Friday and Saturday nights from 7-10p.m. on CW30. In addition to Sunday telecasts from 12 noon- 3 p.m. on Untamed Sports.
Apparently the “commitment to air our home and away games this season” isn’t all that committal. Current television listings don’t have the Blaze games on Friday or Saturday nights, opting instead for reruns of Smallville and Legend of the Seeker respectively. CW 30 has taken a Friday night game and showed it on tape delay Saturday night. (Why you show a game after the fact doesn’t make any sense to me, but I’m not in TV, so what do I know?) Requests made to CW30 about the current situation with the Blaze have gone unanswered, and the Blaze no longer mention CW30 on their press releases.
The Blaze can still be heard on the radio at 1280 the Zone or seen on NiftyTV.
Hail Caesar!
You’ve got to love Arena Football! What other type of football can you get 3 turnover for touchdowns and still lose by 25! It’s a real shame that the horrendous play of quarterback/center exchanges overshadowed a superb performance by a stand-out defensive player.
“We played hot and cold, but we had some guys that stepped up and made some plays,” Utah Blaze head coach Ernesto Purnsley said. “The guy that stands out is Caesar Rayford. He played a really good game. He’s always been a motor guy and it paid off tonight for him. He’s always a high effort guy and he’s got a lot of length.”
“If you’re going hard and rushing and go were the ball is, sometimes things fall in your hands,” said Rayford. “Always go hard, you never know what’s going to happen.”
I love that attitude, and I’m happy that the giant Rayford is on our side. Who knows what would happen if Affleck saw that big, big man rushing at him!
Final Thoughts
- Brandon Hampton had a good game today, receiving 9 kickoffs for 196 yards. A couple of Arizona kick-offs were unreturnable because they hit an overhead scoreboard. It shows what a playmaker Hampton is when a 21 yard average is a considered just a “good” game.
- This game ties for 3rd most points ever scored against the Utah Blaze. The most points scored against the Blaze was 84 which was scored by the Chicago Rush and the New York Dragons in 2006 (The Blaze lost the game by the Dragons by 3 points. 84-81). The Rattlers Scored 83 against the Blaze back in 2007 as did the Grand Rapids Rampage.
- The attendance of 8,501 is the highest attendance ever in the E Center, and the highest attendance of the season. The doubling of the season’s previous high attendance can probably be attributed to a free student ticket vouchers given to local school and the fact that the Osmonds were in attendance.
