Cobras Scorched by Dragons` Fire

Ron Groh
Tuesday July 10, 2001

It was no secret going into Saturday night that the New York Dragons had incredible firepower. The pass and catch combo of Aaron Garcia and Kevin Swayne was the premier quarterback/receiver duo in the AFL. Garcia was on pace to break the season TD mark by the end of the year, but no one expected him to come close to reaching that record in one night. Garcia’s 11 touchdown passes puts him 3 shy of the all time record of 92 in one season. Coach John Gregory stated the obvious; “It was a record breaking night.” Four AFL records were either tied or broken, most TD passes/game (11), most TD catches/game (7), most PAT’s/game (13) and the most painful for the Carolina Cobras, most points/game (99). The sportsmanship exhibited by Coach Gregory, in the face of a chanting crowd, not to run up the score to 100 was a class move. When asked about his decision not to go for the 2-point conversion, he said, “That would be uncalled for in that situation. I wouldn’t do that.”

The Cobras had put pressure on Garcia early, recording a vicious sack by Juan Porter, but the Dragons came right back with a TD strike from Garcia to Swayne. With the speed of a striking cobra, KR Corey Johnson brought the ensuing kickoff back for a 54 yard TD. Johnson set a franchise record of his own on Saturday, with 13 returns for 326 yards and 2 touchdowns. As the Cobras and Dragons traded touchdowns, it seemed that the last team with the ball would win. A tough New York defense stopped the Cobras, and on 4th down, Fred McNair fumbled on the 1-yard line. A quick score gave Dragons a two TD lead, which opened the floodgates. The first half ended 21-7 shortly after an Aaron Bailey TD catch was called back. The AFL game can turn on one or only a handful of plays and that is what happened to the Carolina Cobras’ chances of winning. Aaron Garcia summed it up. “Those kinds of things change the whole momentum. We get stopped there, I might throw 5 or 6 [TD’s] and we might lose the game. That’s how this game is. Tonight was just one of those nights.”

On any other night, against any other team, scoring 68 points would have been enough. Although the Carolina defense kept the pressure on Garcia all night, the elusive QB found a way to adjust and find an open receiver. “My receivers had to change their routes and keep working,” said Garcia. “I had to scramble; move around a lot.”

The Cobras defense had their hands full with a deep group of receivers, led by Kevin Swayne, who is looking forward to the return of WR Shon King. ”We have the best corps [of receivers], the deepest corps and we’ve got our best [King] coming back in a couple of weeks,” said Swayne.

Garcia recognized the Cobras were without starting DB Carlos Brooks. “Their best DB was out tonight, [Brooks]… he kind of controls things back there. They had some busted coverage.”

Three weeks ago, it looked like Carolina and Buffalo would battle to the wire for the Eastern Division title. Now, after each team has completed 3-game losing streaks, the battle may be to just make the playoffs. The equation for the Carolina Cobras is a simple one. Win the next home game against the LA Avengers and then beat divisional foe Toronto in the final game at the ESA in Raleigh or watch the playoffs from home.

 

The opinions expressed in the article above are only those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts, opinions, or official stance of ArenaFan Online or its staff, or the Arena Football League, or any AFL or af2 teams.

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Carolina Focused on Winning 7/20/2001
Cobras Scorched by Dragons` Fire 7/10/2001
Suddenly on the Bubble 7/7/2001
Gut Check Time for the Cobras 6/28/2001
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