Sloppy Play Won’t Go Far against Georgia
Patrick Daly
Friday May 10, 2002
“I can watch the film as many times as I want to. It’s still going to be a sloppy game,” Rattlers head coach Danny White said. “It’s not going to get any better — I figured that out after about the fifth time.”
To put that performance behind them, Arizona cannot afford costly penalties. Holding and illegal formation calls brought back touchdowns that the Rattlers were fortunate to make up later in the series. For a team that prides itself in playing precise, disciplined football, allowing Toronto to sway the tempo of the game was not part of the plan.
“I think it was intimidation,” White said. “I think we just let them get to us. Their style of play is very different from ours. We’re a disciplined team that relies on guys being in the right place at the right time—timing and all that. They rely much more on just physical skills. When you get into fights, scuffles and things like that it tends to hurt a team that plays the way that we play much more than it hurts a team that plays physically like they do.”
“It affects us,” White said. “We had ten penalties, which is way too many. That’s an indication that they got us out of our thought pattern, out of sync with what we normally do and how we normally play. That’s what hurt us, especially in the second half.”
While many of the former Nashville Kats remained with the team that has been reborn in Georgia, two key players are notably absent. After helping lead the Kats to two straight ArenaBowl appearances, quarterback Andy Kelly went to Dallas to join the expansion Desperados. Lineman James Baron has been named to four out of the last five All-Arena first teams and opted to go north to Chicago.
“Andy Kelly was there,” White said. “Andy was kind of a pick you apart kind of quarterback. You had to be very consistent defensively. They don’t have James Baron on the defensive line, but they’re a tough football team.
“They should have beaten San Jose last week, so we can’t get caught up in that ‘they don’t have their quarterback, they don’t have their defensive lineman’ kind of mentality. We’ve got to go in there and play them just like they were the Nashville Kats last year.”
Despite the connection with the Kats, Georgia has made some significant changes. A pair of Milwaukee Mustangs holds the quarterback spot, with Kevin McDougal getting the nod over former Rattler Donnie Davis. Rattler fans should remember Donnie Davis as the quarterback that helped guide the Rattlers to their second Arena Football title in 1997. Even more significant for Georgia is the change in defensive schemes with former Los Angeles head coach Robert Lyles now in charge.
“They are different defensively because Robert Lyles, who came from LA, is their coach. So they’re playing the LA defense from last year,” White said. “That’s very different from what Nashville did. Their schemes are like a different team, but their players are basically the Nashville players.”
In the injured-reserve department, the Rattlers look to get Cecil Doggette and Derek Stingley on the field in Dallas next week, but don’t expect to see personnel changes this week as the Rattlers plan to stay pat in that department.
“If we make any [changes], it’ll be a Saturday or Friday decision. If nobody gets hurt or sick or anything we’re not anticipating any changes.”
Players to watch
 Sherdrick Bonner scrambles as a Phantom closes in Image courtesy of |
OL/DL Oscar Sturgis, Georgia — Big Oscar Sturgis played four seasons in Arizona before heading to Georgia during the off-season.
OS Markeith Cooper, Georgia — The Force signed Cooper from their open player tryouts and he led the team with four touchdowns against San Jose last week. Cooper has replaced Tyronne Jones, who is currently on injured reserve.
Arizona Defensive Backs — Jerrick Bledsoe pulled off the hat-trick with three interceptions last week, but the Rattlers will need consistent play from the defensive backs to keep Georgia’s offense in check as the Force currently ranks number one in scoring offense.
WR/LB Darryl Hammond, Georgia — Hammond is playing in his twelfth season, with stops in Albany, St Louis and Nashville before arriving in Atlanta, and is among the top players in career scoring, receptions and tackles.
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
