Bonner Healthy as Arizona Shuffles off to Buffalo
Patrick Daly
Thursday June 27, 2002
“It could have been a career-ending injury,” Rattlers head coach Danny White said. “Fortunately, it turned out to really be a kind of bruise.”
Indiana’s Umar Muhammad came in low on Bonner during a play in Arizona’s second offensive series in what may or may not have been an intentional hit. Even after reviewing tape of the game, White really couldn’t make a call on the intent and left it to the referee to be the final judge.
“The tape’s never very clear on something like that. I don’t think anybody really knows whether it was intentional except him. I wouldn’t ever accuse somebody of doing something like that intentionally unless I knew there was [intent]. Wes Fritz, the referee, seemed very confident that it was intentional and he was standing right there, so I’ll take his word for it.”
Bonner has practiced with the team this week and didn’t show any effects of the hit during practice on Wednesday evening. For now, unless his knee flares up, Bonner is the starter, but last week’s hero, Chris Hixson, may become an option if Bonner doesn’t get the time he needs.
“He’s taking regular snaps in practice,” White said of Bonner. “If the pressure gets to be a problem, it could become an issue because Chris [Hixson] can move around a lot better than Sherdrick can. Hopefully it won’t. Hopefully, he’ll be able to sit in the pocket and make his throws.”
He’ll start on Friday night in Buffalo against a Destroyers team that has rebounded from a so-so start to win three in a row and grab a share of first place in the Eastern Division. At 7-3, the Rattlers hold a tenuous one-game lead for the second seed over six different teams, including three of their final four opponents. While the Rattlers have to worry about the Destroyers this week, they still have a tough race to complete.
“It’s not just them, it’s all of the 6-4 teams,” White said. “There’s a whole bunch of them and two of them are in our division. They’re all important at this point in the season. It’s a short week—a shorter week for them—but they’re at home. It probably all balances out. We’ve just got to go beat them. The team that plays the best is going to win.”
With 11of the league’s 16 teams holding records between 4-6 and 6-4, it really has come down to which team has the better night. There are no nights off and gone are the games where a team can slip and still make up enough ground without too much trouble.
For the Rattlers, a key to success on Friday night is shutting down Buffalo quarterback Fred McNair. The older, but perhaps lesser known McNair—younger brother Steve McNair plays quarterback for the Tennessee Titans—is playing his ninth season in the AFL, and his experience, along with his size and strength, presents Arizona with a tough challenge.
“Just great experience and a great arm,” White said about the Buffalo quarterback. “The guy’s got an unbelievable arm and he knows the game. Another one of those guys that can light ‘em up or he can stink it up. Kind of like our guys. They can do either. We just hope we get enough pressure on him to slow him down a little bit. He’s going to make some plays—he’s a good player.”
Any reason the Rattlers can’t get pressure on McNair this week?
“No reason whatsoever,” White said. “Especially with Wendall [Gaines] back. We should control the line of scrimmage just like we did last week.”
Players to watch
OS Chris Horn, Arizona—Horn didn’t see as many opportunities last week with Maurice Bryant in the offensive specialist role, but he still remains a player to watch in three aspects: receiving, defense and kick returns.
OS Lamont Cooper, Buffalo—This two-time Don’t Blink player has run his record for touchdowns on kick returns to 24, which gives credence to the award he’s earned the last two seasons. When Cooper goes back to field a kick, don’t blink or you might miss the touchdown.
QB Sherdrick Bonner, Arizona—All eyes will be on Bonner to see if he can bounce back from the scare last week and sustain the focus with which he started the season. Good protection from the line is key to Bonner’s success.
QB Fred McNair, Buffalo—McNair earned Offensive Player of the Week honors with his six-touchdown performance against New Jersey last week. The Destroyers have knocked off division opponents in their last three games and it’ll take a strong performance from McNair to get the job done again this week.
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.
