Kennedy shows promise, lacks help for VooDoo

Adam Markowitz
Friday April 17, 2015

TAMPA -- Adam Kennedy probably should make sure that he has his life insurance policy paid up.

The young pivot for the New Orleans VooDoo had a particularly long day at the office on Friday night, as he was battered and beaten time and time again with each passing drop back in a 42-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Storm.

Kennedy has gotten used to the pressure behind his offensive line. He was sacked nine times in the first three games of the season, tied for the most in the league with, ironically, Jason Boltus of the Storm. However, this was probably the worst display for the young VooDoo offensive line. Kennedy was sacked two times, and he had to pick himself up off of the ground on several other occasions.

In the third quarter when the game was still rather competitive, Kennedy threw the ball across his body on fourth down. He took a huge hit for his efforts and stayed down for a bit before coming back in the game.

His last hit though, was one which could have been far worse. Kennedy appeared to have suffered a shoulder injury after getting flushed to his weak side.

Though Kennedy told ArenaFan that he was okay after the game, we would still recommend him hitting the ice bath before getting back on the team plane.

The end result wasn't pretty from a statistical standpoint. Kennedy went 20-of-42 for 172 yards and just one touchdown in what amounted to be one of the worst games of his young career. He only had one career start in which he completed less than 50 percent of his passes, and he only had one game with just one touchdown pass prior to this.

Kennedy's 4.1 yards per pass attempt was also a career-low.

However, neither those stats nor the one offensive touchdown that he generated really told the whole story about Kennedy on this night. There were some real moments of brilliance, believe it or not.

Kennedy put a ball on a rope in the first quarter to Marcus Smith to set up the lone VooDoo touchdown, and he made a tremendous pass in traffic to Chris Duvalt in the third.

Clearly, for a team which has had nothing but rotating quarterbacks since the 2010 relaunch, even as the Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings, Kennedy still shows a heck of a lot of promise.

The problem that the VooDoo have is that they just don't have the pieces around him yet. Their offensive line is certainly in shambles. The receiving corps is badly missing Larry Beavers, who has now missed consecutive games.

"It'd be really nice to have the same group of receivers out there," said Kennedy after the loss.

In a game where TT Toliver posted his 250th touchdown reception in his career, it should be noted that the entire receiving corps for the VooDoo which played in this game totals just 80 career touchdowns.

Chris Duvalt has had his solid moments, while Marcus Smith leads the league in receiving for rookies.

Kennedy doesn't seem to have any answers though, for what's going wrong after such a horrid showing.

"It's definitely not an effort thing. You can see the guys are really trying," Kennedy said. "I just think it'll come with time. I think that's all it is."