Who’s the Man?!
Matt Krueger
Saturday June 17, 2000
Will it be last week’s overtime hero Nick Browder or former NFLer Browning Nagle?
Kevin Mason, who completed 15 of 29 pass attempts for 187 yards and a season high three TD’s last week, was placed on IR with a separated shoulder. He will miss the next four weeks.
Coach Ray Bentley, former Buffalo Bill and creator of Darby the dinosaur, said he is unsure which quarterback will get the nod.
“That’s something that we will probably hold until right before kick off, before we will make an official announcement on that,” he said. “Both of them have done an excellent job leading the team and getting the work done this week. I feel confident that regardless of what the decision is, we’ll be able to get the job done in that regard.”
He should certainly hope so. Buffalo’s only victory this season was last week against the Albany Firebirds, when Nick Browder led the team on a game-winning, overtime drive.
“He threw that first one up in the stands just to get the arm loose, in fact I told him to do that,” coach Bentley said. “I said ‘throw that first one up in the stands, build the other teams confidence and then we’ll come out firing.’” Yes, he was making a joke.
“Then he settled in and he did a hell of a job leading a drive to a winning score,” Bentley said. “And that’s a tough situation regardless of who you are. His response to it was very good. He was calm. He didn’t have the deer in the headlights look at all and I was really pleased with the confident manner in which he approached the situation.”
Whoever starts for Buffalo will have to keep the momentum going as the Destroyers have managed to put together a one game win streak. That ties the franchise record.
Bentley said the team’s win over Albany last week was a big one, but it is in the past now.
“We celebrated for about 24 hours and then we put that one up on the shelf and now we’re back to work,” he said.
So what is Buffalo’ plan for the Houston Thunderbears? “We don’t want to give up big plays to them,” Bentley said. “We’re going to make them work their way down the field, come up and attempt to punish their receivers and then when they get in the red zone, that’s when we’ll make our stand.”
The fight in the red zone is of particular interest to Bentley. “They (Houston) have had a lot of success running the football in the red zone, and we have had a lot a success defending the run in the red zone, so that should be a heck of a match up,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that challenge and seeing who comes out of that one ahead.”
Bentley seemed very confident in his press conference and said he thinks the Destroyers can make the playoffs despite their 1-8 record.
“There are seventeen teams in the arena football league, three of them have one win and there are five of them with three wins. 12 of the 17 teams will make the playoffs, so we’re two games out of a playoff spot. I really believe we need to win all of our remaining games to get a playoff spot.”
Saturday will be the first step toward that goal and the Destroyers aren’t taking it lightly.
“We expect a real dogfight with the Houston Thunderbears,” said Bentley. “We feel that the most physical team will come out on top in this football game. We intend to be very aggressive in the manner in which we play the game and in the manner in which we game-plan this game. We feel that’s our best chance.”
Matt Krueger was a writer for ArenaFan Online during the 2000 season.
