Shock can't weather the Storm

Brian Beaudry
Sunday May 22, 2011

The Spokane Shock missed out on yet another chance to climb to .500 on the season, dropping their second home game of the season, 51-42, to the Tampa Bay Storm.

The game was marked by sloppy execution on offense and dominant performances from both defenses, especially in the scoreless third quarter.

Shock quarterback Casey Hansen, making his first appearance in a game since 2009, struggled, especially over the middle half of the game as the Shock were held out of the end zone for 32 consecutive minutes from the second to the fourth quarter.

Hansen, who became the starter after a three-way battle for the job started Monday due to injuries sustained by Bill Stull and Kyle Rowley in a win over the Dallas Vigilantes, led the Shock to touchdowns on their first two drives, but didn't get comfortable against the Storm's zone coverage until too late.

"I'm not going to make any excuses. I should've come out tonight and made some reads. They threw some zone at me after the first quarter and that seemed to bother me a little bit," said Hansen. "I need to get in the film room and just work on it from here."

The game started poorly from every angle for the Shock. They lost the coin toss. Return man Terrance Sanders fumbled the opening kickoff and his knee wasn't ruled down, giving the Storm the ball and setting them up for their first touchdown two plays later. When Ruschard Dodd-Masters ran the ensuing kickoff return back for a touchdown, the Storm blocked the extra point, as they would three others.

When the Shock offense finally did step on the field six minutes into the game, they took a delay of game penalty before Hansen's first snap as a starting QB in the AFL. After Raul Vijil capped off the drive with a touchdown, he forgot about his holding duties and the Shock had to take another delay of game on the extra point.

"There's no business we have getting extra points blocked, dropped interceptions, being stopped on fourth down - I know we have a new quarterback, but we can't blame it on him," said Head Coach Rob Keefe. "It's all on us as coaches. Just a lot of poor execution. I'm amazed we held them to 51 points."

Tampa Bay's defense certainly didn't allow Hansen or the offense to get in a groove, whether by getting pressure up the middle legally or by jumping the snap repeatedly and waiting for the officials to get tired of calling offsides. Storm defensive lineman Tim McGill got away with his patented hit-the-center-before-he-snaps play at the beginning of the fourth quarter, forcing a fumble to end a Shock drive.

The lack of a flag was notable in a game rendered nearly unwatchable by all the penalties, "only" 28 of which were accepted between the two teams (though a preliminary count through the play-by-play shows 24 committed by Tampa Bay alone,  including a play in the fourth quarter where they were cited for illegal defense, offsides, and a personal foul all on the same play).

Spokane's only offensive bright spot int he second half occurred midway through the fourth quarter, when Raul Vijil caught his second touchdown of the game. The touchdown was his 150th in a Shock uniform. As per usual for the night, he didn't know about it and threw the ball into the stands before being notified of the milestone. Vijil finished the game with a game-high 14 receptions for 146 yards to go with his two touchdowns.

Storm wide receiver Huey Whittaker, who helped the 2010 Shock win the ArenaBowl over the Storm, led Tampa Bay with 11 receptions for 123 yards and three touchdowns as he found himself on the winning side yet again in the Spokane Arena.

"This is a tough time for the Spokane Shock. We've got to find ourselves a little bit," said Keefe. "Fortunately for us, teams are losing to help us out, so we're still in the playoff hunt, but we've got to get better."

Despite an uneven outing, Keefe saw good things in Hansen's performance against a brutal Tampa Bay defensive line and sounded hopeful for the rest of the season.

"I thought he did a great job considering he had three days of practice," said Keefe. "He did the best he could, and we'll evaluate the tape and see where we're at.

"Fortunately for us, we have a Saturday game. That gives us an extra day to kind of lick our wounds," said Keefe. "We just have to build on what we did see with a young quarterback. Hopefully we're better because of it."

The Shock take on the Kansas City Command on Saturday, May 28. The Shock won their first game against the Command, 61-34 on April 1.