Preds Unimpressive but Effective
Jason Lucas
Tuesday February 1, 2005
Both teams came out looking extremely rusty, which is not surprising since the Arena Football League has done away with preseason games. Week One is more like preseason game one than a game that will matter in the end.
Thankfully for the Predators their defense showed up in mid-season form frustrating Crush QB John Dutton all game long, but even then Dutton still had three plays from inside the Preds 10- yard line to get the Crush into the end zone for a win.
A major reason Colorado was still in the game at the end is that they also played stellar defense forcing Predators QB Joe Hamilton into an interception, a forced fumble recovered for a touchdown, and a safety.
For the Predators offense the absence of Marlon Moye-Moore was felt mostly in the rushing department as the Preds ran for just two yards from the FB/LB position with Rupert Grant. That is a dimension the Predators will be forced to miss until he comes back healthy.
On the positive side Hamilton did throw for four touchdown passes, two of which as usual to 2004 Ironman of the Year Cory Fleming who had 10 receptions on the day. Bret Cooper had a touchdown reception as well as Travis McGriff who had a great return game from an injury riddled 2004 season. The most pleasant surprise of the day was from rookie WR/LB Justin Skaggs who had two receptions for 56 yards, one of his catches was a 42- yard reception in the first quarter setting up the first Predators touchdown of the game scored by Michael Brown on a three yard run.
In the "what the heck is going on" category of the day, it was a horrible game to be a kicker. Most will note the four missed kicks by Crush K Clay Rush, three of which came inside 40 yards and the final miss came from 22 yards that would have tied the game at the buzzer and sent the game into overtime. Orlando’s newly signed K Steve McLaughlin had his own woes as well. He missed a whopping three extra point attempts which just added to the agony of watching this glorified preseason game.
All in all I can not bring myself to harp on the Predators week one performance too much, because it is just that, week one. The team that showed up in week one will be a totally different team in week 17. This season’s Orlando Predators is loaded with a line-up full of veteran talent. Give them three, maybe four games and we will all begin to see the bigger picture as they start to come together. You also will not be able to replace the fact that the team started with a win as opposed to last year’s start of two straight losses.
On Sunday the Predators most definitely got away with one. There is no denying that Colorado made all the plays to win that game and really deserved to win, but they will have to learn to finish a comeback and maybe get a new kicker in there too. This coming game with the Arizona Rattlers will tell a huge story as the Predators have just three days to prepare for the best the west has to offer.
Week Two
The Predators travel to Arizona on Wednesday for a big early season match-up with the Rattlers who were last season’s AFL runner-up. The Rattlers are coming off a 58-38 blasting of the lowly Grand Rapids Rampage. Orlando will need another great defensive effort from Kenny McEntyre, Damon Mason and company to stop Arizona’s high-flying air assault in the "Snake Pit". The Predators offense will need to begin to cut down on the many mistakes they made this past week and find a way to execute much better.
Media Bowl II
I have to give myself some big ups for my cameo in Media Bowl II following the Predators defeat of the Colorado Crush. I was able to connect on a 40-yard touchdown pass and a bullet pass for a 5-yard two-point conversion in consecutive plays as my newspaper/TV team beat the evil empire of the radio team 35-6.
Quotes
"I give our defense a lot of credit. Colorado is an awfully good team and they certainly had the momentum for most of the second half but the defense just refused to let them get ahead. We made some mistakes offensively tonight, but a lot of it was some bad play calling on my part. Overall, I was thankful that we won a close one but I know there’s a lot of things we can clean up." – Predators head coach Jay Gruden on his team’s performance.
"I’m usually the go-to-guy for that situation, but I just didn’t come through." – Crush K Clay Rush on his missed chip shot field goal to end the game.
"Coach Gruden had called a slant route to the one receiver on my left. I pumped it once because I saw it wasn’t there, I stepped to my right to avoid some pressure as I saw my second option breaking open on the fly route so I just let it fly and just hoped my guy could make the catch." Hacks QB Jason Lucas on his 40-yard touchdown pass to seal the deal in Media Bowl II.
Closing Thoughts
I really miss Jay Taylor. He brought such a surety to the kicking game last year. I hope Steve McLaughlin can get himself out of his current funk.
How well can the Preds possibly play with just three days to prepare for Arizona?
Why on earth do some newspapers send writers to games that have no idea what is going on? I had to explain the 5-yard missed field goal halo rule at least three times to some writers who looked like they had no idea what Arena Football was.
And finally, can Wes Fritz and his crew really be that incompetent? You would think over the last 15 years he has been doing AFL games he could at the very least learn to point in the correct direction to tell the fans who the penalty is on.
Jason Lucas is a part-time freelance writer based in the Orlando, Florida area. A former director of media relations with the Orlando Predators, Jason is making his return to Arenafan.com after a short stint as a public relations assistant with the UFL‘s Florida Tuskers in 2010. Lucas has followed the AFL since 1992 and began covering the Predators for Arenafan during the 2004 season. He held that position until being picked up by the Preds front office after the 2007 season. Jason‘s knowledge of arena football and love of the game is what drives him to continue covering the sport.
