Rush Win Game of Star Performances
Kevin Sheller
Sunday April 21, 2002
Rush OS Joe Douglass scored three touchdowns – with style. A beautiful kickoff return. A one-handed grab. A tipped pass that he managed to catch as he fell to the turf. In this game at least, Douglass gave Rush fans something to get excited about – and it wasn’t the defense.
Then there was WR/DB Dameon Porter, who spent most of the evening matched up with OS “Touchdown” Eddie Brown, who only scored one. Yes. You heard me right. Brown scored only one touchdown. He wasn’t hurt. I know. It’s crazy. Porter was all over him. Multiple times, the football was about to land softly in Brown’s hands and the fans stood up, and the music started to play, and the concession stands started to get busy, but then, to everyone’s grand surprise, a little hand would reach out from Porter and smack the ball away.
“A lot of good players on the field,” said Porter. “A lot of great plays tonight. I think for an opening night, we put on a show. Both teams did.”
 Gary Compton is back - in orange. Image courtesy of |
“I’ve never seen [Compton] play like that,” admitted Porter. “I’ve been in this league five years, I’ve never seen Compton beat anybody deep. Ever. In my life.”
Defense Wins it
The scenerio was this: Ten seconds on the clock. Indiana had the ball and a five-point deficit on the Rush 8-yard line. They had two chances to get it in the end zone, and to everyone in Conseco Fieldhouse, it was just a matter of how, not if it would happen.
The Rush defense regrouped.
“We called a time-out, and the eight of us got in the huddle and decided that we were going to do whatever we could to try to win the ball game,” said Porter. “A lot has been talked about our defense.”
The Rush defense needed to prove that they could, in fact, win the game. So they did. On the very next play, Brown broke away from the pack, running wide open on the right side of the end zone. Indiana QB Raymond Philyaw rolled right and tossed an easy one. To his surprise, Chicago WR/LB Anthony Ladd reached up and plucked the ball out of the air, and plucked the win out of Indiana’s grasp.
“The thing about being down in the red zone is that jack linebacker almost becomes a fourth DB, and it’s tough to throw a drag route across the back of the end zone,” said Porter. “We prepare a lot for those types of things, and tonight it showed. Big time.
“Hopefully the next thirteen weeks won’t come down to a last-second drive with our backs against the wall, but it’s nice to know you can persevere in that situation.”
The Future
Looking ahead, it appears that the Rush are going to be able to win games with the almighty stop. They stopped the Firebirds six times, three of those on interceptions, the other three on downs. Chicago DS Cedric Walker gave the defensive performance against Indiana a C+.
“We had a few mental errors and communication breakdowns to work on. You could tell it was the first game,” said Walker. “Right now, we’re probably about 75% of where we need to be. They had 41 points. That’s too many points. Sure, it’s Arena Football, but we gave away 21.”
Offensively, the Rush did not dominate. Stopped four times, three of those were interceptions, the other was a turnover on downs at Indiana’s 2-yard line in the first half. Nonetheless, Dicken still threw six touchdowns and handled the pressure and crowd noise well. He also threw touchdown passes to five different receivers, while eight players caught Dicken passes on the night, including OL/DL James Baron.
Dicken and the offense were also wizards with the snap count. Multiple times the Rush gained an easy five yards by drawing Indiana offsides with well-timed hard counts and man-in-motion tricks. The strategy helped keep the Firebirds’ defensive line guessing, and reduced their explosion off the ball.
Four-Game Stretch
The Rush are now 1-for-1 in a difficult four-game stretch. Two more road games against the Florida teams and a home opener against the Champion Grand Rapids Rampage remain.
Before the season began, it looked impossible to start off with a winning record, but with the Firebirds down, at least a 2-2 start is probable, a 3-1 start is now possible, and heck, a 4-0 start is at least an outside shot.
“It was a big win for us. Last time we were here, we got decimated,” said Porter. “Any time you can beat the Firebirds in Indiana, you’ve accomplished something. No matter what the score was, no matter how you played.”
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.
