VooDoo Continues Chicago’s Hex at the Goal Line
Jeff Sims
Monday March 21, 2005
That trend continued on Sunday when the New Orleans VooDoo, playing their first ever game against the Rush, were able to stop Chicago twice from short distance in the second half en route to a 46-40 overtime victory.
This failure has been a thorn in the side of the Chicago Rush since week one when they were unable to convert an all or nothing two-point conversion attempt in an overtime loss against Dallas. Three weeks ago, the Rush fumbled on the one yard line after a beautiful drive that would have kept them in the game against Orlando.
And even though they came out with a victory last week against Grand Rapids, the Rush could have put the game out of reach within the last minute, but were unable to convert on a fourth down and goal from the one. They ended up winning when the Rampage missed a field goal with no time remaining.
This Sunday, the Rush played a masterful game through the first half. Henry Douglas returned a kickoff for a touchdown, the defense played with an intensity it had been lacking, and Raymond Philyaw looked to be on the mark after missing the last two games with a knee injury.
And then they found themselves needing to convert from the one-yard line.
With a 35-33 lead late in the third quarter, Rush FB/LB Jamie McGourty was stuffed by the VooDoo on a fourth down play. Once again, they had failed.
"I thought our guys for the most part, played well enough to win that football game," said Rush Coach Mike Hohensee. "That is one of the elite teams in this league and I thought that a majority of the time, we outplayed them. But unfortunately, the goal line area hurt us again. We have to find some answers there."
The answers were not to be found on this day.
"We’ve had this problem the last couple of weeks," said McGourty. "We worked on it hard in practice and we thought we got it fixed, but obviously we didn’t and it came back to bite us in the butt this time."
And the next time too. With a 37-33 lead early in the fourth quarter, Chicago was stopped again on three consecutive plays from the goal line and had to settle for a Keith Gispert field goal to put them ahead 40-33.
Knowing that they had two chances to put the game away put a bad taste in the mouth of the Rush and their coaching staff.
"It’s hard because we worked on it," said Hohensee. "We probably overworked on it this week. We knew it was a glaring problem and we worked on it. We worked on the steps and the attitude that we have to have down there. The talks after practice were about that area. So it was no secret that we needed to get better right there. And for some reason, we did not."
The VooDoo would then drive to tie the game at 40-40. Gispert would then miss a 34-yard field goal followed by VooDoo kicker Brian Schmitz missing a 27-yard field goal with the clock running out to send the game into overtime.
In the overtime, Philyaw would make his one big mistake of the game attempting to throw into double coverage to WR/DB Russell Shaw. VooDoo DS Chris Pointer intercepted the pass giving New Orleans possession of the ball. Quarterback Andy Kelly would then hit OS Aaron Bailey for the winning touchdown.
Problems With the Run
The hard part for the Chicago Rush is accepting the fact that they are having difficulty pounding the football in when last season they were one of the leading rushing teams in the league.
Opposing teams appear to be able to anticipate the run and get the penetration needed to stop the plays before they develop.
"It is very frustrating," stated Hohensee. "I think that one of the keys to that is that we do not have the ability to really run at the quarterback position at this point. We’re not as scary as far as that goes, not as threatening with Ray being hurt and Todd Hammel being almost 40 years old. I don’t think people are worried about those guys."
That allows the opposition to focus on McGourty and Bob McMillen, who became the AFL’s second all-time leading rusher on Sunday.
That should then leave one big question in the mind of Rush fans; is Raymond Philyaw even comfortable running at this point?
Coach Hohensee’s description of one of the third down plays on the goal line during Sunday’s game says it all.
"On third down, the last thing I said to Ray as he was leaving was ‘keep it’. He boot- faked out of there and I’m thinking he’s going to walk in, but then he handed it off. So it’s things like that miscommunication that hurt."
Moving On
Although they are 4-4 going into their bye week, the Rush has proven that they can be a quality football team with an opportunity to make waves this season.
The offense has shown bright spots at times and the defense has shown its intensity at other times. It is just a matter of the team making some small adjustments going into the second half of the season and putting together a full 60 minutes worth of football.
"We’re that close to putting it all together," said McGourty. "And when we do, it’s going to be a heck of a run and we realize that. We know we have a great team. It’s a matter of putting together the little mechanical things like getting it in down near the end zone and making blocks. When we do, there is no telling what we can do. There is still a lot of football left to be played."
"We’ve got another half to go," mentioned Hohensee. "It’s like halftime of a game. We can’t hang our heads. We have to figure out as a coaching staff what we have to do to get better, who we have to play at certain positions to give ourselves the best chance at winning. We have to find out how healthy we are going into this bye week. We have to figure out what we do best."
At least they have two weeks to try and figure that out.
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.