Avengers Still have Something to Play For
Steve Jacobson
Saturday July 21, 2001
The Arena Football League hasn’t eliminated the Avengers from playoff contention on their playoff seedings, but John Tamanaha, V.P. of Communication for the Avengers, said there really is no mathematical situation where the team would make the playoffs.
Even with the best of luck, Los Angeles would wind up in a five-way tie for 11th place, with 12 teams making the playoffs. There is also a possibility the Avengers could wind up in a four-way tie for 12th place.
“I’m not concerned about it,” said Los Angeles interim head coach Robert Lyles. “I spoke to the team about the situation five weeks ago. I told them to take care of it ourselves so we wouldn’t be in this predicament. We just didn’t respond to the challenge last week.”
With one game remaining against the Oklahoma Wranglers on Sunday, the 5-8 Avengers will try to catch up to Florida, Chicago, and Detroit, who all sit at 6-7.
“I’m not worried about us,” Lyles said. “If the playoffs happen, it’s a blessing. We still need to address ourselves as a team and as coaches if we don’t we won’t have anything to worry about.”
For the second week in a row, the Avengers will send a quarterback on to the field who is making his first-career start in the AFL. Wally Richardson, who was 13-for-24 passing for 129 yards and three touchdowns against three interceptions and one fumble in relief duty, will need to follow the game plan and find his rhythm.
Lyles said he would also take a look at backup Jim Druckenmiller. Last week’s starter, Harry Leons, will not be active against Oklahoma due to a separated shoulder suffered in the first quarter against Carolina last weekend.
“If the situation permits, we will play them both,” Lyles said. “I will be picking the spot out and playing Jim regardless of if Wally is playing good or bad.”
Much like last week’s game, Lyles will call a more conservative game offensively early on, before opening up the playbook. Last week was the first time Lyles, who began the season as the defensive coordinator, called plays on offense.
“I thought it worked out pretty good,” Lyles said. “We had a good game plan. We were executing pretty well. We mixed the plays up and let our quarterback get comfortable. I thought we were going pretty good up until Harry got hurt. … I thought we moved the ball pretty well (in the first quarter). We had them on the run.”
The defense did receive some good news as defensive specialist Mark Ricks is practicing and expects to play despite injuries to the right calf and ankle. Ricks leads the Avengers in interceptions with eight this season. He is fifth all-time with 33 career interceptions with seven of them being returned for touchdowns, an AFL record.
“He’s determined to play against his former team,” Lyles said. He’s not going to let the injury set him back. He’s practicing and doing pretty good.”
For the second week in a row, the Avengers will face a kick-return threat in Lamont Cooper. In all likelihood, Cooper could break five single-season records on Sunday. He needs: 62 all-purpose yards to break Steve Papin’s record of 3,190; three kickoff returns to break his own record of 79; 19 kickoff return yards to break his own record of 1,669 yards; five combined returns to break his own record of 89; and 181 combined return yards to break Papin’s record of 1,997 yards.
Last week, Carolina Cobras kickoff return specialist Corey Johnson returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and averaged 34.3 yards per return against Los Angeles.
Despite having several inexperienced players on the roster, Lyles has decided not to give them extended playing time in order to evaluate their skills.
“I thought about it, but no, we’re going to stay with what we have,” Lyles said. “The guys we have need to be evaluated as much as the young guys do. We’re going to try to go in there as we are and see how we do.
“There’s still a lot for this team to accomplish,” Lyles said. “With the last game of the season, a lot of times teams tend to lay down and pack their bags. This game has a bigger meaning for these players. Some of their futures are uncertain. Some guys will be here (next year), some guys won’t. Some will be free agents and some will want more money. It’s still a big game for these guys. We still want to win the game. 6-8 is better than 5-9.”
The Los Angeles-Oklahoma game will be televised nationally as TNN’s AFL Game of the Week and will air at noon Pacific time.
Steve Jacobson was a writer for ArenaFan Online during the 2001 season.
