Milwaukee Mustangs Mistakes Too Much To Overcome

Jeff Sawatzke
Tuesday March 15, 2011

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Mustangs lost to the Chicago Rush 41-49 in a well fought battle.  The Mustangs had a very good showing but were hampered by 12 penalties combined with poor special teams effort which proved to be a too big of a burden to bear.

In all the Mustangs had 12 penalties for 59 yards and some of these penalties came at very inopportune times.  One costly delay of game call in the first quarter forced a bad field goal attempt.  The poor special teams play of the Mustangs allowed Chicago to get great field position with a 29 yard return putting the ball on Milwaukee’s 21 yard line.  Chicago took advantage of this great field position making the score 14-7.

In total, Milwaukee was called for three illegal defense penalties and five defensive offside penalties.  These mental mistakes all gave momentum to the Rush who were in charge of this game from the second drive on. The Mustangs did have a chance to come back at the end of the game, but they were unable to connect and went four and out.

Along with penalties the Mustangs special teams overall were less than stellar.  Milwaukee kickoffs allowed Chicago an average 12 yard return while Milwaukee only averaged seven yards per kickoff.  A missed field goal and a missed extra point were other special teams miscues in this game.  This is definitely an area for improvement.  The Mustangs also tried an onside kick late in the fourth quarter which was recovered by Chicago.

Offense: B-    The Mustangs offense played pretty well overall. The passing game for the Mustangs overall was good.  Eric Ward threw 25-44 with an average completion of nearly 12 yards while only allowing one interception.  Damian Harrell made some spectacular one hand catches that got the crowd out of their seats. Harrell caught the Mustangs first touchdown pass with a one hand grab that really got the crowd into the game early.

Defense: D     The Mustangs defense definitely needs to have better discipline.  The illegal defense penalties and offside penalties are unacceptable.  The defense had 10 of Milwaukee’s 12 penalties.
 
Special Teams:D    Milwaukee’s special teams had poor kickoff coverage and less than average kickoff returns.  This combined with a missed extra point and a missed field goal mean that special teams has some work to do.

The Milwaukee Mustangs play against the Arizona Rattlers on Saturday March 19th and they are back in Milwaukee on March 28th at 6:30pm.