Utah Blaze, Battling Mediocrity, Hire Keefe

Don Eisenbarth
Thursday May 24, 2012

The Utah Blaze have, historically speaking, always been mediocre. Their best winning percentage has been 0.500, which they've achieved twice. Last year, they won the most victories in a season (9) but that could be attributed to the fact that they played more games then they have other seasons (18).

So when the Utah Blaze started the season at 6-2, cautious optimism reigned in the Utah fan base. Sure, they had come out with the best start in franchise history, but they had an incredibly hard schedule ahead of them against San Jose, Arizona and San Antonio. They could possibly lose to any and all of that schedule of the elite teams in the AFL. So, it was time for the Blaze to show who they were. If they were going to show themselves as a true playoff contender team, they'd need to win in this stretch to separate themselves from the other playoff contenders. But after two straight losses, the other thing the Blaze are trying to compete against is mediocrity.   

The San Jose game was a disappointing loss, but overall the Blaze played well but a couple of bounces went to San Jose, and the Sabercats played a flawless game, and the Blaze lost. But that's bound to happen against one of the best teams of the league at their house. The loss to the Arizona Rattlers was what really hurt the Blaze. The Blaze had shown that they were better, and fans could expect them to come out and compete, fans could expect them to not do exactly what they did in the first quarter.

The first quarter was a complete failure on all sides of the ball. Alvance Robinson was unable to cleanly recover the first two kickoffs from the Rattlers. Tommy Grady started the game with a fumble and two interceptions. Arizona was able to score at will and when the Blaze finally did score Kyle Brontzman missed his first extra point. At the end of the first quarter the Blaze found themselves in a tough hole 21-6.

From that point on the game was basically decided. Arizona is too good to even let Utah sniff the lead, and the Blaze never got within single digits for the entire second half. The Blaze find themselves going from a win away from first place in the west to now fighting for the last spot in the playoffs. In short, for the Blaze, these two losses against San Jose and Arizona hurt.

"Two substandard performance in a row against the upper echelon teams of the league, that says it all. Right now we are not playing at that level." said Utah Blaze Head Coach/President Ron James "We didn't play a lick of defense."

The Utah defense allowed 86 points, and Nick Davila went 22-30 and tied the single game passing touchdown record with 11 touchdowns. So far this season, the Blaze have the worst defense in the league. Opponents are averaging 64 points a game. The next closest team is the Iowa Barnstormers who are allowing opponents 58.7 points per game. Some of that can be attributed to the Blaze offense scoring as much as they do, but ultimately the Blaze are allowing too many points, and it's costing them a chance to the postseason. "We have to compete better in the secondary. We have to force the Quarterback to hold the ball longer. We have a good pass rush, but it's been non-existent in the past few weeks because the reads down the field have been too easy."

In response to the defensive woes, the Blaze have looked to do what they can to salvage a very important season. The Blaze have hired former Spokane Shock coach Rob Keefe as the defensive coordinator for the remainder of the season. So far, little is known about the standing of former defensive coordinator Michael Brown within the organization.

Keefe has Arena Bowl rings as both a player (DB with the Philadelphia Soul in 2008) and coach (with Spokane in 2010). Keefe and Utah Blaze offensive coordinator Matt Sauk both coached on the 2010 Spokane Shock team and find themselves bringing their championship resumes to the Blaze.
"Making a change on the coaching staff is difficult at any juncture of the season," said Coach James, in a press release on Thursday. "We are fortunate that a coach of Rob Keefe's caliber was available and we are confident that he can help us make the necessary adjustments to enable us to play a better brand of defense for the remainder of the season."
The remainder of the season starts Saturday in a tough battle against Aaron Garcia and the San Antonio Talons. A win would help the Blaze as they contend for playoff positioning in the National Conference. "We're fortunate to lose two games in a row and still be in the thick of things. For us to rebound we have to play a strong game and we have to find some answers on the defensive side of the ball." said Coach James. The Blaze will finish the season with featured match-ups at Spokane and Arizona and hosting Chicago and Georgia. If the Blaze are able to win some of those tough opponents and win the games that they are supposed to, the Blaze still very much have a shot to get themselves in the playoff and become what no Blaze team before has been, a proven winner.