Q and A about the 4-0 Wranglers
Mick Cornett
Sunday May 7, 2000
How good are these guys?
Pretty good. Their early schedule has been conducive to winning but I don`t think there`s any question they`re going to be competitive with the best teams in the league. We`ll learn a lot in the next two weeks with road games at San Jose and New England.
What are their strengths?
Take your pick: starting quarterback, depth at wide receiver, starting linemen, kicker & kick-returns. Their coaches seem to know what they`re doing, too.
Why are they scoring so many points?
So far, nobody has been able to slow down their offense. The only time they quit scoring is when quarterback Ron Lopez leaves the game. If Lopez had played the entire game Friday against Los Angeles, the Wranglers might have scored 80-90 points.
What makes him so good?
Lots of things. Of course he takes what the defense gives him, but he throws the deep ball really well. His receivers are pretty special too. Carlos Johnson is a favorite target but when it comes to touchdowns and the ability to get deep, Lopez spreads the ball around. Ironman Bobby McGowens is one of the top players in the league: he`s tall (6-3), fast (4.5), and has great hands. In the first four weeks, he caught three touchdowns each in three different games. Melvin Phillips is 6-5 and another big-play guy. Kusanti Abdul-Salaam played only defense at UCLA and quarterback in high school but Friday night, he made one of the greatest touchdown catches you`ll ever see. And don`t forget Brian Greene. He`s a starter that was injured in the opener and hasn`t returned. In a nutshell, opposing secondaries are having trouble with the size of the receivers, Lopez is getting time to throw, and he`s typically very accurate.
What else?
Up front they protect well, and rush the passer well. In the secondary, Mark Ricks is the top pass defender but so far his biggest strength has been as a kick-returner. He has two touchdowns already. The other defensive specialist is rookie Anthony Fogle. He`s holding his own. Kicker Daron Alcorn has great leg strength. He basically cleared the net on one of his kickoffs and frequently knocks them through the goal-posts or two-thirds the way up the net. The offense has been so productive that he hasn`t been tested with too many field goal opportunities. It`s tougher to gauge how good their defense is going to be. They`ve yet to face a great quarterback.
Playing Devil`s advocate: What could go wrong?
Well, Lopez could get hurt. Head Coach Bob Cortese is working on bringing in one or two new quarterbacks as backups. If Lopez were to get injured, Cortese would have to trade a front-line starter to bring in somebody who could win games. Chances are, the new quarterback wouldn`t be as talented plus they`d lose a good player, or two, in the trade to get him. There`s also the `luck` factor. They`ve only beaten one good team and, it was at home, in a game that could have gone either way. There figures to be several more games like that and they`ll need to win their share. But look at it this way, there are ten games left. They are good enough to beat anyone on their schedule, and if they win just half of them, they`ll be 9-5 and safely in the playoffs.
WEEK-5
Oklahoma at San Jose--Friday, May 12 (9:30 CST)
Mick Cornett was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2001.
