Proving They Deserve it
Kevin Sheller
Tuesday July 24, 2001
“You guys suck.”
“No we don’t. We made the playoffs!”
Yeah, yeah. The clichés come out. “It’s a new season – a clean slate.” Except that you still have the same average players, same average coach, and same average attitude.
Gosh, I’m negative, aren’t I?
Anyway, my point. The Rush mathematically earned themselves a playoff berth. But they did something even more important. They spiritually earned it. By outplaying the Orlando Predators, they proved to themselves and to their naysayers that they have a legitimate chance of earning a win or two.
“I’ll tell you what, we earned our right to go to the playoffs,” said head coach Mike Hohensee. “I think right now we’re going into the playoffs with just enough momentum as anybody, and just enough to think that we can beat anybody.”
The natural critic that I am, I tried very hard to look at the truth behind this latest win. Sure, Orlando isn’t the powerhouse they were last year. But still, the Predators didn’t beat themselves either. They were beaten.
“We didn’t have a lot of penalties tonight,” said WR/DB Dameon Porter. “Usually there are flags everywhere when we play. I think that was one of the things that was crucial tonight. We didn’t beat ourselves.”
Orlando had seven penalties for 56 yards. This is about average. The Predators also had three turnovers -- which is high -- but two of those were earned, not given away. You can also tell a team has been beaten by watching the play of the line. Chicago consistently put pressure on Orlando QBs Craig Whelihan and Chris Wallace, while at the same time, they gave Rush QB Billy Dicken plenty of time to throw.
“The line did an excellent job tonight against a great football team,” said Dicken after the game. “I think they took more pride in it this week. Tonight they just got after it quite hard.”
And wow what a difference DS Cedric Walker made! I talked to Walker last week, and he told me that he was going to bring a physical game to an otherwise finesse defense. He proved his words with serious action on Saturday night. On both special teams and in the defensive backfield, Walker punished receivers and return men up and down the field.
“The acquisition of Cedric Walker I think made a huge difference for us tonight,” said Hohensee. “The kid played physical. When they tried to dump the ball down on that short side, he just came up and gave them no extra yards over there. His presence actually made everybody in the secondary a little more confident. That’s the kind of people we want. The way I look at it, I hope I coach that kid for another four weeks.”
Walker really seemed to be the difference in the play of the Rush defense over previous weeks. For that, he earned MVP of the game.
“That’s the first time. I’ve been playing in this league for six years,” said Walker. “This is the first time I ever got it.”
“Welcome to Chicago,” said Porter.
Porter Ties Record
As we all know, Porter tied the record for the most interceptions in a season. He did it on a Whelihan pass that he bobbled but held on to as he bounced across the turf. The interception turned the game around in the first half when the Rush were down by two touchdowns.
“I told you guys last week that the playoff berth was my goal this year. Twelve interceptions – fine. Great. Nobody will be talking about that once the playoffs start. All the regular season business is exactly that – regular season business. A whole new season starts next weekend. Twelve interceptions, no interceptions, we’re 7-7 and going to the playoffs.”
Playoff Reactions
“It’s unbelievable to be an expansion franchise – to be in the playoffs the first year,” said Rush managing partner, Alan Levin. “I believed in coach Hohensee right from the beginning, and I believed in his choice of the players, and he delivered. We played like a championship team tonight.”
“We wanted to show the fans here in Chicago that we are a championship team,” said DS Derek Stingley. “In order to be champions you have to get to the playoffs first. The way we’re playing right now, hopefully we can knock off some big dogs and then we can have a championship game, maybe here in Chicago – you never know. I think we can be a force to be reckoned with.”
“Now that we’re in the playoffs, anything can happen,” said Walker, who already has a championship under his belt with the Arizona Rattlers.
“[Making the playoffs] is a great goal,” said Hohensee. “We’ve achieved it and we have other goals now. And that’s to win next week no matter who we play.”
Hmmm. How about Orlando again?
Kevin Sheller ia founder of Arenafan Online and was the principal owner until 2004. Kevin graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in technical writing, and has been a member of the Arena Football Internet community since 1993. He has worked as a professional web programmer and is also the executive producer for a computer/video game company. The most recent Xbox title to his credit is called Hunter: The Reckoning.
