Handling Adversity in Arizona
Patrick Daly
Friday June 21, 2002
Yes, you’ve probably heard it all before. That which does not kill you makes you stronger.
Fortunately, in the case of the Rattlers, the struggles that nearly killed them at this point last year may be what saves the 2002 season. What has changed? Character.
“I still think—and I’ve been saying this for a couple of weeks now—I still think the character of this team is totally different from last year’s,” Rattlers head coach Danny White said. “Last year, there was a lot of complaining, a lot reasons, a lot of excuses for not playing well.
“I just think we learned a lot last year about not letting those little seeds of mental weakness get planted in our team. I still think that the character of this team is going to turn it around. That’s going to be the difference.”
That thought also rings true for Rattlers offensive specialist, and potential offensive MVP, Chris Horn.
“I think it’s a night and day difference,” Horn said. “I think this year’s team has a lot of character and I think this year’s team can go through something like this and get out of it, and be strong enough to turn it around and get back on the right track. Whereas last year’s team, we were at the same point, facing the same problems and we basically folded.”
While no team ever hopes to lose, good teams learn from their mistakes. Why does it take a loss or two to highlight problems that are often overlooked when all appears well?
“The funny thing about winning is that when you win, generally there are no problems,” Horn said. “Winning covers up a lot of problems. I hate losing, and everyone that plays sports hates to lose, but sometimes it can be a positive because it forces you to look at problems that are there, where they might be overlooked if you’re just continuously winning every week. We’re trying to take that attitude from this.”
It sounds funny for a 6-3 team, a team that holds the league’s second best record along with New Jersey, to talk about adversity. However, just as a 5-1 start has slipped to 6-3 in the last three weeks, that same 6-3 record could look like 8-6, or worse, if the Rattlers don’t handle the current slump well.
“There’s no question, adversity does bring it out—it exposes weaknesses, which you can then address,” White said. “We’ve addressed some of them this week and we’ll continue to address them. I’m going to get the players more involved in decision-making. We have a panel of captains now that I will meet with regularly. These are things we probably should have done sooner. I made the comment that we wouldn’t even be having these meetings if it wasn’t for losing two of the last three games. These issues wouldn’t even be coming up. So maybe there’s a positive side to this whole thing and maybe this is it.”
The idea of falling into a slump is not confined to any single sport and, while each person may handle it differently, the Rattlers have a course of action.
“What do you do when you’re in a slump?” White said. “That’s the question right now that we’re facing. Golfers go through it. Freethrow shooters go through it. Baseball players go through it. What do you do? Do you work you’re way out of it? Or do you just get away? Some guys, they just get away. They go somewhere. We don’t have that luxury. We’re going to work through it.”
And they have been working through it over the past week. From a players-only meeting to sharper practices, the Rattlers are working hard to get back on track.
“We’ve had probably the two best practices that I can ever remember,” White said. “The players got together. I got together privately with the players. We talked about what we have to do to turn it around. The adversity has brought about some good changes. We just hope that transfers onto the field.”
One of the changes comes on defense, but not in the form of personnel changes. While the return of DS Derek Stingley may take some pressure off of Cecil Doggette, the defensive change comes in the form of mixing up what the Rattlers will throw at opposing offenses.
“One of the things we’re really going to start to more of is changing,” White said. “My philosophy on defense has always been to create confusion in the mind of the quarterback by using a variety of techniques and coverages. Don’t ever be predictable defensively. We’ve been too predictable.
“When it came down to the game being on the line [against Dallas]—third and ten, them on their five-yard line—we’re too soft. We give them the first down. That was the time where we should have been going for the big play and trying to win the game.”
With only five games remaining, there’s no time like the present to get the team headed the right way.
“Everyone can sense it; there’s urgency,” Horn said. “We’ve got to get this going in the right direction. We’ve got five games left heading into the playoffs, so now is the time. We had our midseason slump, so now we’re ready to get this thing going.”
Ideally, that means capturing a top-four spot in the playoffs, which earns a bye week in the first round. Although, the high level of competition this season means the Rattlers cannot look past any opponent and it’ll still be up to each player to make a difference.
“We need to start ramping up now for the playoffs,” White said. “That means playing well Saturday. Then we’ll worry about next week. It’s all the stuff we weren’t doing earlier in the season. It’s penalties. It’s lack of concentration; broken routes; missed throws. The thing, in our game, is it only takes each guy doing it one time. Randy Gatewood plays very well, but he runs the wrong route on one play—it happens to be third and 10—it costs us the series and it costs us the game. And you can go right down the line of the number of guys who played very well except for maybe one play. If that play costs us the series, it costs us the game. We’re not very far off, but if each guy plays five percent better we’re right back where we want to be.”
At 4-5, the Indiana Firebirds are a prime example of a good team that’s had to work through injuries and tough competition. Defensive specialist Cornelius Coe will miss the game on Saturday, which could benefit the Rattlers offense, but receiver Eddie Brown, who is destined for the AFL Hall of Fame, may give the Rattlers trouble.
“They’re playing well,” White said. “They’re right in the thick of things. They’ve got everything in the world to play for. They need the win and they’re playing extremely well. They’re a talented veteran group. Everybody is though. Going from 19 teams to 16 teams, you plug all of those veteran players in, everybody is now a veteran team. Even Dallas is a veteran team. I’m convinced that part of this deal is catching teams at the right time.”
The Rattlers released kicker Chris Sailer earlier in the week after another poor performance. After selecting Sailer in the dispersal draft late last year, it appeared the Sailer would be the answer to the recent instability at kicker. Unfortunately for Sailer, he wasn’t able to break out of his personal slump where he struggled on consistently hitting field goal attempts and kickoffs. As of Thursday, the Rattlers planned to sign and activate kicker Scott Cannon for the game on Saturday. Cannon spent some time in camp prior to the beginning of the regular season and was one of a few kickers that have been in for tryouts over the last few weeks.
Despite the problems, the Rattlers still have a great opportunity to enter the playoffs on a roll, which will be crucial if they’re going to reach their potential. That said, anything short of the ArenaBowl has to be considered a disappointment.
“I think that we were playing well early in the season,” Horn said. “I think that we still have not reached the potential of this football team. Right now our mindset is to get the boat moving in the right direction and see if we can reach that potential as a team.”
Players to Watch
OS Chris Horn, Arizona—Despite the overall problems on offense last week, Horn still managed nine catches for 114 yards and a touchdown, and he still ranks first or second in all three major receiving categories.
WR/DB Eddie Brown, Indiana—While he’s been slowed by recent injuries, Brown can take over a game at any point in time and he still figures in as a key element of the Indiana offense.
DS Derek Stingley, Arizona—Although he’s nearly two years removed from his time with the Firebirds, Stingley will get a shot at his former team.
WR/LB Van Johnson, Indiana—It looked like Gary Compton would hold the receiver/linebacker spot, but after Compton’s release Johnson has stepped in as one of the primary weapons for quarterback Raymond Philyaw.
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.
