Mistakes Deal Blow to Arizona’s Playoff Position
Patrick Daly
Tuesday July 17, 2001
“I don’t know what to say,” commented wide receiver/linebacker Hunkie Cooper about Arizona’s current record. “I’ve never been 7-6. It’s an obstacle to overcome.”
“This is not Rattler football,” continued Cooper. “We lose three at home in a row; LA, San Jose and [New York]. To be 7-6 right now makes me sick to my stomach.”
The opening play may have been an omen of things to come when Leonard Conley returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead for the Dragons. Arizona managed to build a lead in the first half when New York twice settled for field goals after Arizona attempted onside kicks late in the first half. The short field took the Dragons’ vertical passing attack out of the picture and allowed the Rattlers to cover a short field.
“The strategy is that their weakness is their running game,” said Rattlers head coach Danny White about forcing the Dragon into a short field. “Every time we tried an onside kick we stopped them. We should’ve done that all night. I should’ve onside kicked every time. And if we don’t get it, they’ve got the ball at the 10-yard line and they have to find a way to score from the ten. They are a great team, as everybody knows, out in the field. They throw the ball up, lay it up in the corners, and those receivers go and get it.”
Like last week’s loss to San Jose, the defense gave up big plays, which are the mainstay of the New York offense. New York quarterback Aaron Garcia had plenty of time to throw deep passes and Dragons offensive specialist Kevin Swayne caught six touchdowns, all of which came from over 20 yards out, including a 42-yard score on third and long.
“On defense, we can’t stop nobody,” stated Cooper. “It’s as simple as that. If we don’t score 100 [points] we don’t win. When you’re giving up touchdowns on third and one, fourth down… People don’t respect you at all if they’re going for it on fourth down, first of all. You’ve got to have some pride. You’ve got to have something that tells you that you’re going to make a play. You just can’t let a man run up and down the field all night at will.”
“Bottom line, we just couldn’t stop their offense,” said offensive specialist Maurice Bryant. “They had some guys out there running around, catching balls and just making plays. They stopped us a couple of times and they capitalized. That was the game.”
“We’re a team that’s kind of in a rut and we’ve just got to work our way out of it,” said White. “This was a game where it was guys taking turns. The effort was there. It was just execution. Guys had chances to make plays and couldn’t make them. I think, as much as anything, it was trying too hard to make something and not trusting the system enough. That’s what happens when you get a veteran bunch of guys with a lot of pride in games that are close like this. They all try to make a play and make something happen, and they don’t need to. We just need to have more confidence in the system. We played hard tonight, we just couldn’t make the plays.”
“It’s a disease,” continued White. “It’s a contagious disease that we have that’s a lack of confidence. It’s guys trying to force things as desperation. We don’t need to be a desperate team. That’s something that’s like a cancer. It’s just kind of started gradually and built up. We’ve got one week to turn it around and go into the playoffs. I told the guys yesterday that I have not lost confidence in this team. I think we have the talent to be world champions if we can turn our attitude around, our confidence around, and go in expecting to win games.”
In addition to giving up big plays on defense, the Rattlers offense couldn’t keep pace in the second half. Sherdrick Bonner threw two interceptions, including a pick that was returned for a TD by New York’s Chin Achebe on the second play of the second half.
“You could go back through that game and pick any number of plays,” said White about the mistakes that hurt the Rattlers. “It’s the guy running by Ricky Parker three times. That doesn’t happen to [him] very often. The interceptions…we just blew the execution on the second play of the second half and just turned the nose guard loose [on quarterback Sherdrick Bonner]. He hit Sherdrick and they intercept it and walk in for a touchdown. Any one of those plays lost us the game. You can pick any one you want.”
One play that may stand out more than others came on Arizona’s final possession of the game. With less than one minute remaining and a chance to tie the score, the Rattlers made a critical mistake while trying to run time off of the clock.
“I put the ball in the hands of our most capable runner and we fumbled the pitch,” recounted White. “Then he tries to throw it, which is not a bad [idea]. It’s a guy trying to make something happen. At the time I was thinking, ‘what a great idea Bo. Throw the ball. Throw an incomplete pass.’ And he’s got gloves on, the ball slips out of his hands and it’s an interception. If I’ve ever questioned the heart of some of our players, it’s never been Bo Kelly. The guy gives you 100% every play in practice, every play, every drill, every time he steps on the field. So it’s unfortunate that it ended up happening to him, but it should never have come to that. There were too many things during the game that put us in that position.”
Injuries also took their toll on the Rattlers. Lineman Kelvin Ingram reaggravated an ankle injury, which forced him out of the game and may keep him out of the regular season finale next week in Milwaukee. The Rattlers also saw lineman Mark Tucker go down later in the game with a knee injury that could also make him unavailable next week.
“We’re pretty deep,” said White about the line. “We’ve got Oscar Sturgis who hasn’t played in three weeks with a wrist [injury]. He’s ready to go. Brian Drummy is ready to go. Pat Kesi is ready to go. So, we’ve got some guys. We’ll put our healthiest guys out on the field next week and see what happens.”
At 7-6, the Rattlers still control their own destiny as far as reaching the playoffs is concerned, but they’ll face an opponent this week that has nothing left to lose. The 3-10 Milwaukee Mustangs are out of the playoffs, but they would love to beat the Rattlers to close the season with a win.
“It’s the worst situation that we could be in,” said White about facing the Mustangs. “It’s their last game. They don’t have to worry about injuries. They just come out try to murder us. Just throw caution to the wind. They don’t care about anything else except beating the Arizona Rattlers. They don’t worry about next week. It’s probably a coach’s worst nightmare to play a game like that at the end of the season.”
Rattlers Playoff Picture
The loss puts a big roadblock in front of Arizona’s chances to host a home game in the first round of the playoffs. The Rattlers need a win and some help from Florida to get back in position to host a first round playoff game. Meanwhile there are a few scenarios where an Arizona loss will knock them out of the playoffs for the first time since 1992. Currently, the Rattlers hold the tenth position in a crowded race, which puts them behind Toronto, Carolina and New York, all of which are 7-6. Florida, Chicago, Buffalo and Detroit all sit one game behind the Rattlers at 6-7.
Extra Point
Since this season marks the tenth anniversary for the Rattlers, Arizona announced their all-time team during halftime of the game with New York. The ten player list, which was voted on by the fans, includes the following: QB Sherdrick Bonner; FB/LB Bob McMillen; OL/DL Richard Ashe; OL/DL Mark Tucker; OL/DL Joe Burch; WR/DB Randy Gatewood; WR/LB Hunkie Cooper; OS Calvin Schexnayder; DS Cecil Doggette; K Luis Zendejas. Only McMillen (now with San Jose), Ashe (retired) and Zendejas (retired) are no longer with the Rattlers.
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.
