Chicago Kicks the Crap out of Detroit
Kevin Sheller
Sunday June 9, 2002
Where was I? Oh yeah, so you just whipped two teams in ways that are difficult to describe. Stomping, over-at-halftime victories where even the home crowd gets bored of all the success, and the only thing you find yourself rooting for is how many quarters can the Rush go without allowing a touchdown, or how many interceptions WR/DB Dameon Porter has on the season-leading chart, or what the score is for the Grand Rapids game so you can determine if you are in first place or not.
Hmm. I keep losing my point here.
One more time. So you are the Chicago Rush, and you look as good as you’ve ever looked in your short, 1.5 year campaign. Are you really ready to take on what looks like the very best team Arena Football has seen in a while? Yes, I’m talking about San Jose. Sure, it’s debatable whether the 2002 SaberCats are better than last year’s champion Grand Rapids Rampage, who scored on practically every possession in the post-season, and only needed one or two stops to claim victory. But still, San Jose is looking as good as their 8-0 record. If any team can go undefeated in AFL history, it seems these SaberCats can.
So would you really be ready to send your impressive, but unproven team into the jaws of San Jose?
Before you answer that, let’s celebrate the Rush’s devastating victory over the Detroit Fury, who managed to give Chicago fits in 2001.
Porter grabbed two more interceptions to give him the lead in the category for the season. A few weeks ago, Porter told Arenafan that he needed to start making two interceptions a game to catch up with last season’s 12-interception total. Since he said it, that’s just what he’s done. And now he’s halfway there with six.
QB Billy Dicken was on-target, throwing 10 for 14 in the first half plus one series in the second. When the score is 43-3, there’s really no reason to risk injury to your quarterback. Thank goodness the coaching staff had the smarts to see that. Nonetheless, when Dicken is on, the team can go a long way.
Choosing an MVP wasn’t easy, but it was good to see FB/LB Jamie McGourty get recognized for powering for two tough rushing touchdowns and a sack. “He’s been great ever since he’s come back,” said head coach Mike Hohensee after the game. “He was like a caged animal for those first three or four weeks when he couldn’t play.”
Ultimately, it was a team victory, however. DS Cedric Walker started the night off with some big hits, four different receivers caught a touchdown pass each, and the defensive line put tons of pressure on Detroit quarterbacks.
And yes, yes, once again, the Rush took advantage of a bad team. The Fury looked terrible, misconnecting on everything but the center exchange. Bad passes, bad route-running, bad receiving. They were bad. But guess what? The Rush didn’t just win, they routed.
And if you can’t beat the bums, you can’t win the division. And if you can’t win the division, you don’t get any home playoff games. And if you don’t get any home playoff games, well, then you have to play like Orlando or Nashville and find a way to win on the road. So let’s just take these blowouts, and we’ll see what happens in the playoffs.
After the game, Hohensee told his players to enjoy the victory – for a few minutes. Because every thought from this point forward is concentration on next week’s opponent.
We’ll take a page out of Hohensee’s book. The time has come to think about San Jose. So think with me. How can the Rush beat those scary SaberCats…?
Terrific Defensive Performance #2
When I talked briefly with Walker in the tunnel after the game, I congratulated him on another under-20 defensive performance. He wasn’t all that pleased.
“We still let them score on that post route.”
Yes, it was true, a blown coverage had allowed Detroit OS Chuck Levy to get completely free and catch an easy ball on the two-yard line. Levy simply backed into the end zone from there – the nearest Rush player was at least 10 yards away – covering other receivers. But the game was already beyond reach by 40 points.
It’s that sense of perfectionism that will either help the Rush get better, or allow themselves to be overly critical and blame each other when performances aren’t perfect. We saw signs of that earlier in the season. As long as the deep three can look at that mistake as something to improve upon, and not something to use as a source for blame, then the team can succeed.
“It was my fault,” admitted Walker.
Crazy Stats
The Rush Defense: Since last week against the Gladiators… Four straight quarters without allowing a touchdown. Twelve straight possessions without allowing a single point. Fourteen straight possessions without allowing a touchdown. Four total scoreless quarters allowed.
Other: The first-ever missed field goal returned for a touchdown for the Chicago Rush.
Enjoy stats like these. They are about to change in San Jose.
Kicking Game
David Cool had an unusual night. He attempted four field goals. Two were good, one blocked, and one missed outright. He missed two of six extra points. Once he hit the ceiling of Allstate Arena on a kickoff. Once he shanked the ball badly out of bounds on a kickoff. Once he kicked an extra point completely over the top of the nets and into the stands. (Which has never been done by a Chicago Rush kicker) And the rest of his kickoffs were very successful, hitting iron a few times, and sailing unreturnable out of the back of the end zone. Overall a decent performance.
“The good thing about it was he showed up in the fourth quarter and kicked,” said Hohensee. “He’s got to get better if he wants to stay. I have a list of six or seven kickers on our chalkboard if this doesn’t work out, so we’re not going to be surprised.”
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.
