Rush Score Highest Loss Ever
Jeff Sims
Wednesday March 31, 2004
This crowd seemed to sense that this was going to be a long game, and they were right. Detroit came right back and scored on a touchdown pass from Kelly to Thabitit Davis, who would score four more times before this game was over. The crowd was seeing the seventh different defensive line-up in seven games for the Rush this season. Granted, with a 5-1 record going in, Chicago was the best defensive team in the league.
They certainly didn’t look like it on this day.
The Rush offense scored 71 points, the most in team history to end in a loss. Yet, lose they did, in a heartbreaker to the Detroit Fury, giving up 72 points.
The injuries to the defense have finally taken their toll.
“Unfortunately, I think the injuries caught up to us a little bit today against a team that needed to have a great game,” said Rush head coach Mike Hohensee after the game. “Our tackling at times was atrocious and it was something that we haven’t had here. It is something that we will work on.”
The Rush was without DS Corey Sawyer this week. DS Malcolm Moore was lost for the season last week with a broken leg. DS Greg Williams returned from a hand injury after being out since week one and DS Kareem Larrimore has seen limited action the past two weeks. This team was bound to crumble defensively and did it in the worst way. The Rush were so desperate defensively, they were forced to play rookie FB/LB Chris Browning, who was returning from an injury he sustained in training camp and was seeing the
first action of his career.
“We never have the same people out there,” said Hohensee. “We work hard and just try to get lined up and that’s what cost us today. We didn’t even get lined up right at times which gave them a couple of touchdowns.”
Detroit knew that with the injuries to the Chicago secondary, they had to focus on a different part of the Chicago defense, the front line.
Fury QB Andy Kelly said after the game, “Our guys up front did a pretty good job pass protecting and we thought that coming into this game that was going to be the key, pass protection against their defensive front. For the most part, we did a pretty good job on the lines and I think that was the key.”
Kelly was only sacked once and was able to throw for 306 yards and 7 touchdowns in a win that keeps Detroit’s playoff hopes alive at 3-4.
The crowd didn’t really come alive until the end of the third quarter when OL/DL John Moyer blocked a Fury PAT and WR/DB Etu Molden returned it for two Chicago points. There was still hope in the land of lost defense that the offense would be able to pick up the slack and sneak out a victory.
Well, almost anyway.
With three seconds remaining and the crowd as loud as it had been all day, Detroit utilized their own version of a lateral from WR/DB Jeff Russell back to Kelly for the winning touchdown as the crowd grew as silent as they had been to start the game.
“We basically had it for a two-point play in case we needed it,” said Kelly. ”As things worked out, it ended up being a good play for a touchdown for us. I’m not the fastest guy in the world. I just wanted to see the white line and get over it.”
Getting over that line confirmed what everyone in the Allstate arena had thought all day, something just wasn’t right.
A Kicker’s Fury
What does a crowd do when it needs to let out some anger? Pick on the kicker, what else?
Rush K Keith Gispert, sixth in the league in kicking, made both of his field goal attempts and seven out of his eight PAT attempts. So why was the crowd booing such a performance?
After the lights jumped in the way of three kickoffs and the scoreboard blocked a couple, one finally got through and the crowd gave Gispert a “standing ovation”, obviously making him the goat of this game in the eyes of the crowd. Every time, this gave the Fury the ball at the 20-yard line, which on a 50-yard field makes it a little easier to score, especially the way the Rush secondary was playing.
“You just get frustrated,” stated Gispert in disgust. “When you keep hitting the lights, keep hitting the scoreboard and everything, it’s amazing. You just laugh at it (with everyone) and try to keep kicking.”
“I (let up on it in the second half) because of everything I was hitting. I moved off a little to the right and I’m still hitting the lights. What are the chances of hitting the lights in here? Only one time in practice have I ever hit those lights.”
“Last week, I had a great game kicking off here. And this week, I was hitting the ball solid, but I was hitting everything that was above the field.”
Hohensee defended his kicker, stating, “The only chance he gets to kick in the arena is right before the game starts. It’s tough to hold him responsible for hitting things hanging from the ceiling.”
So then why not give your kicker the chance to win the game from your own five-yard line with :03 to go?
The answer was pretty simple.
“We would’ve been kicking inside the endzone,” said Hohensee. “When we’re kicking it from the goal line hitting scoreboards and things like that, the chance of even getting it there would have been slim.”
Gispert said, “It’s a 60 yarder. Can I get the ball down there and have a chance of it going in? Definitely! But my chances of making it look good? Ask any kicker in this league and they will tell you no. Not from 60 yards, no.”
Sometimes it’s tough to be the kicker.
Time to Move On
“We don’t dwell on our wins; we’re not gonna dwell on our losses,” said Hohensee. “We’ll work on our mistakes and we will fix those. We have to get ready for Vegas.”
The Rush travel to Las Vegas to take on the Gladiators this Sunday in attempt to get back on the winning track and put this performance behind them.
Jeff has been writing for ArenaFan.com since 2004. Originally from New York, Jeff has been living in the Chicago area for the past ten years and is an avid football fanatic. He holds a BA in communications from Hofstra University in New York and a sports management certificate from Loyola University in Chicago.
