Rattlers Rekindle Drive in Rout of Wranglers
Patrick Daly
Sunday June 10, 2001
In true Arena Football fashion, Horn scored on a two-yard run, an eight-yard pass reception and a 37-yard interception return in a 51-7 scoring run by Arizona during the second and third quarters. His performance proved what the Rattlers already knew; Horn can play.
“I think as the year goes on Coach White is getting confidence in me,” said Horn about his progress this season. “Hopefully, if I just keep performing he’ll continue to have that confidence. As a rookie I’m still in a learning process. I’m just trying to play very consistently.”
Rattlers Head Coach Danny White confirmed Horn’s ability.
“Chris [Horn] is a player,” said White. “We’ve known that all along. I think the best of Chris Horn is still yet to come. He’s just a kid that has one speed. He’s tough as nails, he’s quick, (and) he’s got the tools. He’s another prototype Arena Football player.”
After coming up just short on a number of kick returns, Horn was happy to finally score on an interception.
“It was nice, because I’ve been struggling on those kickoff returns, I keep getting tackled at the two yard line,” said Horn. “Even though that wasn’t a kickoff return, it was nice to get across the goal line.”
The pregame warmups and the first few series in the first quarter gave no indication that the Rattlers would eventually win in such a convincing fashion. Despite knowing the importance of this game, the attitude didn’t appear until the Rattlers put their first touchdown on the board late in the first quarter.
“I felt, coming out, that we were a bit flat,” said White. “I kept looking for the spark. I kept looking for the energy. I didn’t see it. I even commented to one of the assistant coaches as we started to kick the opening kickoff. That first offensive series was kind of that way. Maybe guys were just uptight. That’s what happens a lot when you’re uptight, after the first series guys settle down, loosen up.”
“I’d like to crawl into each one of those guys’ heads, see what’s in there,” continued White. “I’m at a loss. I do know that when we get it going we’re as good as anybody.”
Once the Rattlers defensive line started to get to Oklahoma quarterback Ron Lopez, control of the game shifted firmly to Arizona. Quarterback pressures, pass deflections at the line, and forced fumbles all contributed to turnovers.
“You’ve got to credit them, because that’s where it all starts,” said Schexnayder. “They did their job and it made our job easier.”
“The guys up front start it all off, and if you don’t have that then you don’t have a chance of doing anything else,” added White. “It translates into turnovers defensively, it translates into touchdowns offensively and that was the entire difference. I just think it’s guys coming to the game rested and prepared mentally; good things will happen. I think it’s really up to the players, especially the veteran players and the leaders on our team, as to how good we can become.”
In order to concentrate resources on the line, the Rattlers made offensive specialist Maurice Bryant inactive against Oklahoma. Bryant is one of the team’s leading receivers, but the move was made necessary by Arizona’s recent play up front.
“We wanted to dress eight lineman and that was the trade-off,” explained White. “It’s that exact thinking--what good is Maurice [Bryant] if we’re not protecting the quarterback. Maurice can run down the field and make plays, but if you don’t get him the ball then what good is he? Let’s get this right first and then, later on, if we get our pass protection working maybe we can get to the point where we dress Maurice. Now we get better offensively. We’re a tough match-up with Maurice, but we’ve got to get it right up front first.”
For the second time this season, Arizona has responded to an embarrassing loss by beating up their opponent the following week. Now, along comes another test, bigger than anything the Rattlers have faced so far. The Rattlers travel to Tampa Bay for a Friday night game against the currently undefeated Storm. With the win, Arizona has pulled even with San Jose for the Western Division lead at 5-3, but the season is far from over.
“There’s a lot of games left,” said White. “We’ve got a big one coming now. This will be a real test for us; flying across the country, short week and playing a team that’s undefeated.”
“I think we need to go down there and play our game,” added Schexnayder. “We’ve played Tampa Bay; we know what they do, they know what we do. It’s a game of who’s going to make the least mistakes. We know Tim Marcum’s team is always going to be prepared. We’ve got to have the same kind of preparation that we did this week. That’s what it boils down to.”
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
