Predators Win with Less than Awe Inspiring Performance
Dan Ryan
Monday July 16, 2001
"If we play like this, we`re going to be watching some games on TV," Orlando Predators coach Jay Gruden admitted after his Preds held on for a 48-40 victory over the Buffalo Destroyers, whose post-season hopes are fading as fast as Senator Gary Condit`s status as a respectable human being.
The Preds are in the playoffs, which means we get to hang in out in the Jungle one more time to see the World Champs slosh it out with some 7-7 team in the first round. That`s Good. Not Nashville good, not San Jose, not even Grand Rapids good. It also means that if the status quo holds, Orlando in all likelihood will have to win two or three on the road to get another trip to the jewelry shop.
Yeah, they`ve been there and done that before. Yeah, the league`s so whacked that if all 19 teams made the playoffs, Milwaukee or Florida could probably win the damn thing. But wouldn`t you like to have a week off to heal Siaha Burley, and wouldn`t Jeff Bouchy like to see a couple more nights of gate receipts?
There`s playoff ball, and then there was Friday night.
When Cohen smashed James Kubiak 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, came up with the ball and finished his 42-yard lumber with a dive that wouldn`t earn many points neither style nor degree of difficulty, Orlando`s up 15 with 14:23 left. Should be over. Not.
Buffalo closed to eight, and after a Preds fumble, then had a chance to tie. The Destroyers, who had early success with a trick play, tried another flea-flicker but the Orlando defense pulled a Roger Daltry and decided they won`t get fooled again.
It helped that these eyes (from “The Who” to the “Guess Who” in one paragraph, bonus points) of Matt Andreas telegraphed the play for Orlando`s Thomas Bailey, who had never played defense before this season. It also helped that Andreas didn`t make a good read and threw a pop-up into double coverage, but let`s not spoil Bailey`s decisive interception.
Craig Whelihan connected with Junior Lord on a bomb with one minute remaining to make it a 15-point game again, but the Destroyers responded with a Derrick Branch score that took all of nine seconds. Orlando preserved the victory by gaining positive yards on its final three plays, forcing Buffalo to burn its remaining timeouts. Our awe needs a little more inspiring that that.
Dan Ryan has been involved with all forms of arena football since 1988, including writing for ArenaFan when Joe Kauffman and Tim Capper aren’t killing his columns because they don’t get his jokes or perspective. His day job is at Bethune-Cookman University, which has produced both an NFL Hall of Famer (Larry Little) and an Arena Football Hall of Famer (Stevie Thomas) and his hobby is tracking how many f-bombs Adam Markowitz drops in the chat room on game nights.
