Rusty Kats Overcome Phantoms
Charliy Nash
Tuesday August 7, 2001
Well before the game, Kats’ kicker Steve McLaughlin uncharacteristically seemed a little flustered. His normal pre-game routine had been disrupted. “I got here late,” he explained while kicking footballs into the nets, “and I don’t have anybody to help shag balls.” I chased down balls for him until some other folks showed up, and then pulled out my tape recorder in search of other folks to talk to.
More strange things happened during the singing of the National Anthem. Amidst a rumble of thunder there was a very brief power interruption. The lights and scoreboard stayed on, the video screens and sound system did not. Rather than get rattled or confused, the singer continued singing while waving her arms to conduct the crowd, who enthusiastically joined in. A few seconds later the sound came back on and she completed the song without missing a beat. It was that kind of night in Music City. Odd circumstances with happy endings.
One early play was a picture of the whole night: an Andy Kelly pass to tight end Ben Crosland. After hitting Crosland, the ball bounced up as he went down. Somehow the ball (and two Toronto defenders) landed on Crosland and he managed to hold of for the catch. “I don’t think I’m going to get another pass from here on out,” he joked, “That was real close. It was almost an interception, and it jumped right into my lap. Luckily, I kept my eye on it and it landed right on me. Things just rolled our way this game.”
Another funny bounce-play energized the crowd and shifted momentum to the Kats. A Toronto kickoff came off the net and bounced over the head of return-man Ron Carpenter. It also eluded Tyronne Jones, but it bounded right into the hands of Travis Reece. The 260-pound fullback streaked down the left sideline and into the endzone. Right after the game Reece described the play before he even had a chance to catch his breath. “The ball came out to me – it was my job to make sure that all the balls are fielded – so it just had a high bounce – I got it and just – good blocking – I just took it – good blocking got that one.” After that emotional return near the end of the first half, Carpenter took the opening second half kickoff the length of the field for a far more conventional touchdown.
The Phantoms got in on the strange play sweepstakes as well. A Chad Salisbury pass to Kerry Brown came loose and bounced into the endzone. Charlie Davidson recovered the ball for a touchdown, tying the game at 38-38 with less than five minutes left.
End Game
After the kickoff the Kats had the ball with 4:45 left on the clock. I had spent much of the game standing next to two inactive Toronto players, who had become excited and vocal as their team overcame a 17-point lead to tie the game. As the Kats came to the line of scrimmage I told them, “You’re going to see nothing but running now.” The Kats ground game inched the ball forward, draining the clock down to the 1:00 warning.
A few plays later the Kats had the ball at midfield and called time-out with :07 left. The player nearest me turned to his teammate and said, “Their kicker’s not that good.” Turning to me he asked, “How good’s your kicker?”
“Best in the league,” I answered, “Led the league in scoring. Led the league in field goal percentage. Hit one from 55 yards this season.” They were pretty quiet after that.
To everyone’s surprise the Kats chose to run another play rather than kick the field goal. Andy Kelly found game MVP Cory Fleming in the back of the endzone with :01 left on the clock; Fleming made his second “tightrope” catch of the night, keeping his feet just inside the end line to put the Kats up by a touchdown. I turned around and my two new friends had disappeared before I could get their names.
The strange plays were not quite over. On the final kickoff return I lost count of the number of laterals the Phantoms threw, just keeping the play alive. The only thing missing was a tuba in the endzone. The play, the game, and Toronto’s season, ended with the ball coming loose and being recovered by Nashville.
More on That Last Touchdown
“It was really a hit or miss play,” explained Kelly. “If it was man-to-man (defense) I was going to give Cory a shot. If they’d have gone zone or if he hadn’t gotten open I was going to just throw it away and just let Steve[McLaughlin] kick for the win. But fortunately, Cory did a great job and, like he usually does, got open and I was able to just get it to him in a good enough position for him to make the catch and it turned out to be a big play.”
McLaughlin was ready to make the pressure kick if needed. “I told Marty {Lowe] our offensive coordinator that I was really upset,” he laughed. “I was probably the only guy in Nashville upset that we didn’t get a chance to kick it --”
“He was going to hit it anyway,” interrupted head coach Pat Sperduto, “I will guarantee you that it was going through.”
“In all honesty,” said McLaughlin, “that was just a great play. The guys just stepped up on that last play. The pass was perfect and you couldn’t have picked a better guy to throw it to and you knew he was going to catch it. It was great. I’d much rather kick the extra point than go out there, but if my number gets called for that I was ready to go out there and hit it.”
The Rust Factor
I asked a few of the Kats if the team had been rusty:
“A little bit. We had to adjust to the speed, basically. They came out – that was a very good team we played, you can’t take anything away from them, they played hard from the jump.” – FB/LB Travis Reece
“That’s going to be expected. We came out and we played hard, that’s one thing that you can always give credit to us about. We were kind of rusty. Some passes were low and maybe some guys jumped offside a couple of times, but I think that it’s good whenever you can come out in the first game like this after having three weeks off and just win, that’s all that really matters.” – OL/DL C.J. McLain
“That was a three week off win.” -- Sperduto
More Titan Sightings
Titan’s QB Steve McNair was back, and the Kats’ streak of winning games that he attends remains unbroken. RB Eddie George, who owns the restaurant where the Kats hold their postgame parties, and Safety Blaine Bishop were also at the game. I’ll bet those guys could afford to buy the Kats, and what player doesn’t secretly wish he was an owner? Hmm, I wonder if I could get a finder’s fee?
Charliy Nash has covered both incarnations of the Nashville Kats, and now has make the 2 hour drive to Huntsville for an Arena Football fix. He also covers the Tennessee Titans as a blogger for nfl.com and still hopes this will eventually lead to a paying gig.
