Firebirds Lose Four in Victory
Matthew Pickut
Tuesday July 3, 2001
These words spoken by DS Cedric Walker sum up the state of the Indiana Firebirds after their 59-49 victory over the Milwaukee Mustangs. That victory came at a high price as the Firebirds suffered injuries to Walker, QB Raymond Philyaw (ACL), OL/DL Mark Valvo (possible left torn bicep tendon), and OL/DL John Sikora (knee injury).
Playing though the pain of a broken hand, Walker came up with three tackles on the night and played well enough to take the pressure off the other DB’s. Even though the defense gave up over 400 passing yards again, giving up 404 yards to Milwaukee QB Kevin McDougal, many of those yards (119) came in the fourth quarter with the game already out of reach.
“If you noticed at the end of the game our defensive backs were trying to corral the receivers and keep them in bounds.” Coach Dailey reminded the press after the game. “We weren’t worrying about breaking up the pass.”
The secondary played inspired ball for most of the game. They laid down some great hits and really got into the heads of the receivers. More then one catchable ball fell to the turf when a Mustang receiver came down with a severe case of ‘alligator arms.’ Grant, who caused the most noticeable case of the drops on a second quarter pass to Milwaukee’s WR/LB Kevin Huntley, attributed the defensive’s presence to a strong start.
“It seems like when we came out and hit them in the mouth, it seemed like they didn’t want to be aggressive anymore. If you watched out there, their guys were diving on the ground, worried about getting hit, or giving up the ball.”
The ‘Birds came up with three forced fumbles and an interception while building a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter. The win and interception makes the Firebirds 9-0 when intercepting the opposition. With an amazing +19 giveaway/takeaway margin, Indiana continues to show that while they may give up a lot of points, but they also make opportunities for the offense. Ironman of the game WR/LB Greg Hopkins put on yet another display of great football on both sides of the ball. On offense, “Hop” caught seven passes for 68 yards while forcing two fumbles and recovering one on defense.
The offense needed all the extra opportunities they could get as Philyaw went down in the first quarter after completing a 25-yard touchdown pass to OS Eddie Brown. Philyaw came back to throw a 24-yard touchdown toss to WR/DB Jay Jones on the next possession but came out of the game in favor of QB John Rayborn.
“I think I was just running on adrenaline,” said Philyaw. “I just wanted to be in the game, I just wanted to be there for my team. I came out of the game and put an ice pack on it, and I came back out and I couldn’t put pressure on it.”
Even though there is never a good time to lose your starting QB, the loss of Philyaw strikes at a difficult time for the Firebirds. Last Thursday, New Jersey claimed third-string quarterback Chris Boden off Indiana’s practice squad. With Rayborn as the only listed QB healthy enough to play, Coach Dailey turned to WR/DB Jay Jones to step in as back up.
Jones took some practice snaps at half time but thankfully he stayed at his usual post for the game. Coach Mike Dailey revealed after the game that Jones’ position did not come as a surprise. “We wanted to be ready if Rayborn got injured. He [Jay Jones] and [WR/DB] Van Johnson are our emergency back up QB’s; they both played quarterback in high school.”
Jones won’t have to worry about learning many plays this week. The team plans to aggressively pursue another QB and hopes to have one in place before next Saturday’s game against the New Jersey Gladiators. “We’ve already, while the game was going, got a call into someone,” said Dailey, “and were going to have to wait and see what their status is.”
The team now faces bringing in a new starter or leaving Rayborn in to replace Philyaw. Rayborn (7-10, 119 yards 3TD 0 INT) played well in spite of having little practice time to prepare and playing with an injury-decimated line in front of him.
“It was hard. We were down to four linemen at one point, and so those guys couldn’t come out of the game,” said Dailey, “I’m very proud of him [Rayborn], because the way we do things the number one quarterback gets most of the snaps in practice. In pro football, you really don’t get that second guy ready. There are a lot of adjustments and timing, and in arena football with guys who play both ways you have to work all of your receivers and only one quarterback can take those snaps. John has been doing a good job in practice getting himself ready.”
“Touchdown” Eddie Brown received a game ball from media relations director Justin Campbell for becoming only the second player to break10,000 yards receiving in the AFL. “It was great [to break 10,000 yards],” Brown said of the achievement, “but I wish we would have won that game. You want to break 10,000 yard with a win. Its nice just to get there and get your name in the record books.”
Brown thinks this team will respond to the injuries well. “We’re going to respond alright. What you have to realize is we’re off until Wednesday so the guys can go about taking care of themselves.” It remains to be seen how many, if any, of the Firebirds’ walking wounded can be ready for next weeks’ game.
With the Detroit Drive (yeah, I know, but I like Drive better)defeating Grand Rapids, the Firebirds now climb back into a tie for the division lead. After losing to the Rampage twice this season, Indiana still can win the division but needs another Grand Rapids loss to do so because of the head to head tie breaker. Next week Indiana faces another tough quarterback in New Jersey’s Todd Bankhead. The team will have to overcome injuries to key personnel and hope for another gift if they want to be Eastern Conference Champions this year.
Extra notes:
Here’s hoping for a quick recovery for the leader of the Big Uglies, Mark Valvo. “Biggs”, as his teammates call him, is one of those people that it’s easy to pull for. Even after injuring his arm, he shook my hand in the locker room and called me by name. Calling on my vast training as a pastor, I think my response was something along the line of, “That’s too bad.” I wish I could have said more because after eight years in the league, in a position that doesn’t get much press, he deserves better than to have his season end like this.
As I gathered my pre-game material, I spoke with assistant media relations director Wesley Reynolds in the media room downstairs at the Conseco Fieldhouse. “I think Detroit can beat Grand Rapids,” he said. I have to admit, I thought Wesley was a few sandwiches short of a picnic. As usually happens when I am sure of anything, however, it turned out that I was wrong: the Detroit Drive did indeed beat the Rampage. Then again, I thought Kevin Sheller was a bit loopy to predict the Mustangs victory over Grand Rapids two weeks ago, and I was wrong then too. So I have an announcement: I, Matt Pickut, hereby relinquish my rights to ever try to predict a Grand Rapids game again or ever argue with anyone else who does.
Let me tell you something about the players in the AFL. After I interviewed Walker as he came off the field, I heard someone call his name. Just another autograph I thought, until I heard the request. “Mr. Walker,” said a young woman, “can you get Spike [the Firebird’s mascot] to sign this for my son.” Walker, broken hand and all, called Spike off the field to sign a giant foam hand. Here he was after coming back from a pulled groin and breaking his hand, being passed over in favor of a giant orange bird by an autograph seeker. Walker’s attitude never changed; when many professional athletes would have gone prima donna, he made sure the kid got what he wanted. You have to like a league where the players have that kind of attitude about the fans.
Matthew Pickut is a pastor in northern Indiana and a long time AFL fan. He also writes for his own website: The Brown Paper Blog. He graduated from Taylor University in Upland Indiana (class of `96) with degrees in Biblical Literature and Sociology as well as a healthy respect for the medicinal properties of coffee.
