Blaze Need to Just be Competitive

Don Eisenbarth
Friday July 2, 2010

After losses to the Tampa Bay Storm (8-3) and the Iowa Barnstormers (5-6), the Utah Blaze have now lost 8 of their 11 games this season by over 20 points. It’s one thing to lose an arena football game. Even the best arena football teams lose games, and good arena football teams can have losing records (see 2007, 2008 Utah Blaze teams), but it says something about your team when you’re down by three possessions in the final minutes of the game.

“We’re not a good enough football team to overcome the turnover deficit that we have,” Blaze coach Ron James said after the Storm loss to describe the Blaze’s difficult position.

In 15 words, James describe the problem and solution to the problems of a team that now finds itself with a losing record no matter what happens the rest of the season. Personnel changes at most positions and at all stages in the coaching staffed haven’t changed the fact that the Blaze can’t seem to hold onto the football. “It’s one of those things were you look at it and say ‘different people same results.’” Said Coach James “We have to sure that up.” 

The loss to the Storm was particularly odd as it featured 5 turnovers from team leaders who are usually consistent. Sure handed wide receiver Aaron Boone found himself with 2 fumbles, and quarterback Brett Elliot, back from a month out with injury, found himself with 3 interceptions.

“Brett forced them early. That’s a function of not being in for a few weeks, and trying to make something happen,” said Coach James about his starting quarterback, also adding, “It was an atypical performance from our wide receiver core. Aaron’s a guy that does not put the ball on the turf. He’s disappointed in himself.”

Coach James continued, “I felt like we had a great game plan going in. I felt good about the end of the half. We wanted a back and forth game and we had that for the better part of three quarters, it got away from us midway through the third quarter.” It was in the third quarter in which Utah ended up fumbling the ball with a chance to tie up the game at the start of the half. From there, the Blaze just couldn’t find a way in the end zone.

“To score thirteen points in the second half just isn’t arena football,” said Coach James after the Storm game. The Blaze have scored 19 points in the second half of the last two games combined, and that inability to put points on the board has been consistently the Blaze’s undoing.

Coach James understands this and has tried to enforce a strong idea of being careful with the ball. “The turnover situation can steamroll on you. It has for the 3 games that we’ve been in so far. I finally felt coming into this week that our team knew what we wanted to accomplish, now we have to get those results.” They can, but they haven’t yet.

At some point, you have to wonder if the psyche of the Blaze has been damaged on some level. As if, in one way or another, this team has gotten used to losing. I wouldn’t imagine a team with this much raw talent helmed by a coach as experienced as Coach James to be overcome with a losing attitude. The Blaze have been a team that always seemed to have heart, and I don’t believe that they would succumb to a losing attitude, but just they just somehow seem to lack the ability to win.

I also don’t believe that the May 14th game against the Milwaukee Iron was a fluke. In that game, the Blaze played almost flawlessly and had a couple chance to win against the then league leading Iron in Milwaukee. The Blaze have proven that they can be a competitive team and win. They just seem to lack something. The Blaze now find themselves still having to fight to make sure they aren’t the worst team in the AFL (the Blaze are currently tied with the Dallas Vigilantes with a 1-10 record) and at their best they can beat any team in the AFL.
 
Here’s hoping that the final home stand of the year against talented Milwaukee Iron and Jacksonville Sharks teams will show that the Blaze team can continue to be resilient to adversity and give their loyal fans a much needed victory… or at the very least a competitive ball game or two.

Saturday Night Live

Blaze games have suddenly become more prominently promoted on CW30 as of late. The last two home games were broadcast on local television. While the broadcast aren’t the highest quality ever, I’d say for a local broadcast it’s a good broadcast and fun to watch in retrospect after seeing it in person.

While it’s not even close to the excitement and fun of being there in person, I’d say the CW30 broadcasts of Blaze football are of equal or better quality as BYU and Utah college football games on the Mtn. TV network, for what that’s worth, and I applaud the local CW affiliate for supporting Blaze football. I hope that the partnership with CW30 can grow in the future and include all home games live and maybe the occasion feed of an away game.

The Hampton Effect

Defensive Back and special team standout Brandon Hampton was not seen in the building for the home game against the Tampa Bay Storm. Brandon Hampton averages 21.9 yards per return and the Blaze return yards for the game went down to 17 yards per return with a couple of kicks being un-returnable due to either hard to catch off the iron or incorrectly fielded off the net. 5 yards per return in a game of inches can be momentous.

When I asked team officials they stated that he was “inactive.” Coach James was a bit more informative. “It was a team discipline issue. He decided that he was not going to be here tonight, and that’s pretty much it.”

It’s a real shame to see a star player not playing because of team rules, but those rules (whatever they are) are important to enforce.

It appears that Hampton resolved all the issue, as he brought his explosive and playmaking nature back onto the field against the Iowa Barnstormers and went for 166 yards on 7 kick returns (an average of 23.7 yards).

If anything else, I’m looking forward to the last 2 home games of the season to see what else Hampton can bring to the table. He’s been a joy to watch every game this season (that he’s been present) and been a consistent bright spot on what’s been a dark year.