Kansas City Command- A Team of Inconsistency

Sharon Soares
Tuesday May 10, 2011

Due to many injuries before this week's game and during the game, the Kansas City Command lost to the New Orleans VooDoo.  What should have been an easy win turned into a game of chance and insecurities.  Head Coach Danton Barto commented, “This team right now is fragile. When one thing goes wrong, it's like, 'Oh God, here we go again.' I thought we regrouped at halftime, came out and got the lead, but again we give up one-play touchdowns twice.  In Arena Football, you can't have that.”

Quarterback JJ Raterink had to adjust his playing strategy throughout the whole game and has had to throughout the season.  Injuries have plagued the Command both on offense and defense.  Less than a month since Tommy Saunders was signed, a player that should have brought in MU fans, he was injured during practice and will be out for six weeks.  A normal procedure, scoping of the knee, that would normally have a player out for one week, has had Bradly Chavez out for the past two weeks and still healing.  During the game against New Orleans, Christian Wise sat out some plays due to an injury.

Six different players caught the ball.  It seemed the inconsistency that the Command dealt with had a lot to do with the trust between the quarterback and too many receivers.  “When you don't have the guy you've been throwing to over the middle, your offense bogs down,” Barto said.

Defense showed up pretty well and seemed to be the only players playing in the first quarter as New Orleans possessed the ball for 11 minutes, but for the game as a whole, the possession time was about equal between New Orleans and the Command.  It came down to what the teams were going to do with their possession time.  New Orleans beat the Command 59-52.  The Command had one too many fumbles recovered by New Orleans, or one set of downs that just didn't make it to the end zone.

The best and worst part of the whole evening was the player signing at the end.  The players have so much love for the sport and for entertaining the fans, that they seemed to be so disappointed in themselves.  Coach Barto stated, “It's the most disappointing loss of my career to be quite frank.  That's not saying anything against New Orleans.  But they're scoring 30 points a game, and we give up 59, at home.” 

Players hung their heads.  Comments were made when asked how they were that it's not good, “we're the worst team in the league”.

The fans felt disappointed about the loss but still proud of their players.  Fans were overheard telling players, “It's alright.  You played great.  We'll be back.” Little children receiving autographs, taking pictures with the players, and showing their big smiles.  Even though the players were disappointed and the coaches knew that changes needed to be made, the fans were glad they had their team. 

One might expect that watching a 2-6 team would be a boring disappointment.  It's quite the opposite.  The team is a great team.  Their record does not show their full potential.  Once the individual pieces of the team start working together for a full sixty minutes, the wins will come and the team will show what they are capable of.  It is difficult as a player to wait until that happens and keep a positive attitude while doing it.  It may be even more difficult for the coaches.  They see the potential this team has and know what they are capable of.  That does not mean that changes won't occur on the team, but the coaches know who has potential and will work well as a team.