Firebirds Next to Try to Keep Gruden`s Team Down
Matthew Pickut
Thursday May 23, 2002
Firebirds’ Head Coach Mike Dailey expects to need to fight hard this week, “Sure they’ve struggled early,” admitted Dailey, “but they have a lot of pride and will get things turned around down there. We better be ready both physically and mentally for a tough game.”
The Firebirds come into the game with numerous injuries, including defensive stalwart DS Cornelius Coe and K Nelson Garner. Coe and FB/LB Umar Muhammad will both be out at least until next week’s game against Tampa Bay. Garner, however, will be evaluated this week with a decision made sometime on Thursday. “We haven’t tried to shake things up [bringing in new people], you just always look for the positive,” Dailey said.
The biggest new name the team added to the roster is NFL and NFLE veteran QB Dameyune Craig. “He’s a talent and will grow quickly. Hopefully he’ll give us some depth at the position,” Dailey said as he also closed the door on an immediate QB controversy. “You bring in a guy, you better give him a chance to grow, or you’ll be disappointed… it’s a different field and a different game.”
Last week a familiar name to the Firebirds helped the team become the last team in the league to record their first sack. OL/DL Chris Snyder tallied two sacks and three tackles for a loss against Detroit. Coach Dailey felt good about the effort but knows that stats sometimes don’t tell the whole story. “We played better, but its tough in this league, you don’t know what the offense will give you, with a lot of three step drops.”
Last week’s 28-point fourth quarter showed what kind of explosiveness this team can produce. Coach Dailey thought the offensive outburst marked a change in attitude for the team. “I thought that was big. Guys were fighting and kicking and knew that was a scenario where we hadn’t done a real good job. Guys were aware and did what we wanted them to do, and it was good to see them have a sense of urgency.”
This year more than others, with no bye week, the team needs something to get over the injury bug. If the Firebirds can play with that kind of urgency this week against the Predators, they may stand a good chance even with a string of lingering injuries.
Matthew Pickut is a pastor in northern Indiana and a long time AFL fan. He also writes for his own website: The Brown Paper Blog. He graduated from Taylor University in Upland Indiana (class of `96) with degrees in Biblical Literature and Sociology as well as a healthy respect for the medicinal properties of coffee.
