Rush O-Line Loses in Win

Jeff Sims
Wednesday March 16, 2011

One area that the Chicago Rush was bragging about all throughout their training camp was their offensive line. The coaching staff and players were impressed with the size, physicality, and mobility of their line and were confident that this group would be able to keep quarterback Russ Michna on his feet for an entire 18 game season.

Sometimes it is funny in this sport how one game can change the outlook of things very quickly.

In their victory over the Milwaukee Mustangs, 49-41 on Monday night, the Rush suffered two key injuries on that solid offensive line.

Just before the end of the first half, center Beau Elliot went out of the game with a knee injury. The injury is to the same MCL that he had problems with last season. Elliot said that he changed to a more flexible knee brace before the season and now wishes he had stuck with the straight one. He was going to be checked by team doctors on Tuesday and his status for Friday’s game against the Philadelphia Soul is uncertain.

Early in the second half, fullback Asi Faoa, who moved up to the offensive line after Elliot’s injury, also went out with a knee injury. He did not play the remainder of the game and his status is also uncertain for Friday.

Offensive lineman and Arena Football veteran TJ Watkins moved to center for the remainder of the game and the Rush had to go with a make-shift line the rest of the way.

“We will have to reconstruct,” said Rush defensive coordinator and assistant head coach Walt Houseman. “We will move TJ Watkins into the middle. We only dressed three offensive linemen, which didn’t look great this week, because we wanted to go with more defensive guys for the kick-offs and other things.”

The good news for the Rush is that they have a solid back-up plan. Rookie Vince Vance (6’7”, 325) will move into the starting lineup. Watkins will remain at center if Elliot is unable to go and rookie Mike Turkovich (6’7”, 315) will anchor the other side. The team is satisfied with their ability to shift players and still get the job done.

“I bragged about our O-line all through camp, and now we didn’t get to play with any of them,” said Michna. “It is unbelievable. We had one lineman drop and then we had a back-up lineman drop and then we got a little conservative (on offense). Our defense did a great job of closing this game out and pulling us through.”

The defensive line put pressure on Mustangs quarterback Eric Ward in the final minute to close out the win. Joe Clermond sacked Ward for a nine-yard loss during the final drive and Mark Weivoda and Quartez Vickerson pressured Ward into two incompletions to end the game.

Excited to have Elliot back this year as his center, Michna joked about having to work with Watkins during the first game. He is also confident in the teams’ ability to keep him upright.

“I don’t think that I have ever touched TJ’s butt before in my life and I really don’t know if I ever want to do it again,” he said “But I am going to have to. I believe TJ will do fine. We have good linemen, but also we did not dress all of them today hoping we would get through.”

After having an early 21- 7 lead and looking like they would remain potent offensively, the injuries began to happen and the Rush scaled back their offense. Passes became shorter and the running game more of a factor.

The victory was the first for new Rush head coach Bob McMillen and takes the team to an overall record of 5-5 for season openers in the team’s ten year history.

“It was not an easy one for my first victory, that’s for sure,” McMillen said. “We lost some good football players tonight with Beau and Asi. We just have to continue to work. We have a short turnaround with Philadelphia, so we will see what happens.”

What the team hopes is that the injuries to these players that they know will be a key to the season are not too serious and will not keep them out for an extensive period of time, especially with having to turnaround and play again in three days against former Rush head coach Mike Hohensee and his new Philadelphia Soul team.

“You hope everybody can come back healthy,” said Michna. “We will need to see how beat up they really are. Either way, this was a tough schedule for us. We need to get a quick plan in and it will probably be pretty basic.”