New Year Same Story for Preds
Jason Lucas
Friday January 27, 2006
In 2006 the Predators are hoping to turn things around with their new look roster. Wide Receiver/Linebacker Cory Fleming has gone back home to Nashville, other losses include Michael Brown and leading sack man E.J. Burt to Philadelphia. While the Predators have lost a lot of key players from 2005 they look to 2006 with plenty of optimism in their young talent.
Offensive Specialist Jimmy Fryzel returns to the Predators for his sophomore season as well as Wide Receiver/Defensive Back Jerrian James who led the team in kick returns last season. Quarterback Joe Hamilton is entering his third season with the Predators and he will open the season in Atlanta where he attended college at Georgia Tech. A lot of folks around these parts are pretty nervous for Hamilton right now without Fleming who has been his security blanket the last two seasons. I look for Hamilton to find confidence early in James and Fryzel as well as newcomer Scott Cloman who has the body of Terrell Owens but just needs to get in the groove of the Predators offense.
WR/LB Clif Dell was acquired via free agency in the off-season and looks to make a return in week two. The league injured list has Dell officially listed as out for the game with the Georgia Force even though he has practiced all week long with a brace on his injured left knee. Good news for Predator fans is that Fullback/Linebacker Marlon Moye-Moore told us the first day of training camp to stop asking about the health of his left knee that he injured in the 2004 season. That is good because the Predators will need Marlon to be able to run the ball effectively inside the red zone as another option to make up for Fleming’s departure.
On Defense the Predators still have Defensive Specialist Kenny "The Glove" McEntyre as their main cover guy. McEntyre has been a mainstay on the Preds defense since 1998 when he led the Orlando Predators to the Arenabowl 12 championship. In this game he will most likely draw the daunting task of covering Force WR/LB Derek Lee who was a Pred-killer in last year’s series. In the off-season the Predators picked up DS Jeroid Johnson from the Chicago Rush, Johnson has 23 career interceptions entering this season. Johnson is taking over the position that was held by Johnnie Harris last year and for some reason I want to say that is a good thing being that Harris was the "toast" of the town last year if you get my drift.
The Offensive/Defensive linemen for the Predators have stayed pretty much the same from last season. They return Justin Cleveland and Reggie Lee as starters and picked up Henry Taylor from the Fleming trade. Taylor is a pass rusher much like E.J. Burt and should allow the Predators to have a lot of pressure on opposing quarterbacks this season. Greg White is a 6’3 270lb player out of Minnesota who through training camp has looked like a B.J. Cohen type player who is also agile enough to do a full standing back flip.
Keys for the Predators
The Predators must look to get QB Joe Hamilton into an early rhythm starting out with short completions to Fryzel and James to get his confidence going. The one win Orlando had in this series last year was in a game where back-up QB Chris Sanders threw a lot of short passes to maintain ball control and limit possessions to give the Preds a chance to win late. I have to believe Predators Head Coach Jay Gruden will employ this philosophy to try and wear the Force down early and try to beat them deep later in the game as the Predators did in that April 22nd meeting last season.
The Predator defense must find a way to get to Force QB Matt Nagy who is a very dangerous passer when he gets out of the pocket. His mobility often buys him enough time to complete deep passes to Lee and OS Chris Jackson. When the Predators force Georgia into 3rd and long situations they must get pressure on Nagy and force him into mistakes that Johnson and McEntyre can capitalize on in the Predators secondary.
In practice this week the Predators have really concentrated on protecting Joe Hamilton. If they had protected him in Georgia last year, the Predators could have very well went onto Las Vegas and been your Arenabowl 19 champions. However, two safeties recorded by the Force defense led to the Predators squandering a 12 point fourth quarter lead and sending the Force to Arenabowl 19 where they would eventually lose to the Colorado Crush. Throughout the week Gruden has had Hamilton taking snaps from his own two yard line and dropping back into the end zone under duress. So far Hamilton has responded well, but will this be the same story on Saturday night in Philips Arena?
What’s at Stake?
Really there is nothing at stake in this game as it is just week one. The Predators would love to go up to Georgia and break the Force’s 12 game home winning streak and start the season 1-0 with a leg up in their division. A lot of week one games will look like preseason games from the old days when the AFL had a preseason. It is the teams that can overcome the rust early in the season that can really get a jump out in their conference and have an inside track to have home field in the playoffs. The Predators and Force really are not going to surprise each other too much and this should be a pretty even match-up as most southern division games are. A few plays made by the Preds at the right times could lead to a 1-0 record coming home for Kansas City next Friday.
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.
