Ironman Spotlight Should Have Shined on Samuels
Adam Markowitz
Sunday July 20, 2008
One of the greatest quotes I’ve heard in the past few years came out of the ArenaFan chat room by one of our members. He/she said, “Lawrence Samuels is so overrated.”
And so it stuck. Any time I’ve seen the Tampa Bay Storm play since, every time Samuels made a diving catch, a shoestring tackle, a leaping interception, or a one-handed snare, it was always that he was overrated.
As an Orlando Predators fan, it’s really easy for me to believe that a man that has a grand total of zero Ironman of the Year awards is nothing more than some overrated guy who hung around for a lot of years to rack up some outrageous numbers. But let’s be real here. This is Lawrence Freaking Samuels.
A few days after the Arena Football League named Will Pettis its Ironman of the Year for the second consecutive season, I can’t help but look back at the career that Samuels has built and very politely ask the following question:
How the $^&# has Lawrence Samuels NOT won an Ironman of the Year award?
In 1998, Chad Dukes won the award. Yeah, that Chad Dukes. In fairness, Dukes had a pretty nice year for a FB/LB. He rushed for 364 yards and recorded a couple forced fumbles. Samuels had pedestrian receiving numbers (55 catches for 667 yards and 14 touchdowns), but did record three picks, two forced fumbles, and three recovered fumbles. Though those numbers aren’t more impressive than those that Barry Wagner put up that year, how can you seriously justify to me that Chad Dukes has an Ironman of the Year award and not Lawrence Samuels?
Don’t get me wrong. Will Pettis is a truly tremendous athlete that excels on both sides of the ball. It doesn’t get much more Ironman-esque than Pettis’ game in the Jungle against the Preds this year. He threw for a touchdown, ran in a score, caught a pass for a touchdown, ran back an INT for a touchdown, and I swear I saw him selling popcorn in the stands in the 4th quarter when the game was out of hand. In a day and age that basically nobody plays both sides of the ball on a consistent basis anymore, Pettis racked up 1,960 all-purpose yards, did everything and more on offense, and picked off two passes on the year. By today’s standards, those are vintage Ironman numbers (and yes, it makes me very sick).
But how do you ignore what Samuels did this season? All the 38-year old Ironman did was rack up more receptions than Pettis, more receiving yards than Pettis, more tackles than Pettis, more pass breakups than Pettis, and more interceptions than Pettis, and he did it out of the jack linebacker spot, not the defensive back position. Plus, the essence of Ironman football is being the guy who plays every down in every game. Pettis played in 14 games. Samuels played all 16.
No, it wasn’t Samuels’ greatest season as a member of the Tampa Bay Storm, but for a guy who has been in the league since 1994, his 121 receptions, 1,197 yards, and 16 touchdowns is pretty dang impressive, especially when you consider the fact that he probably played half of the Storm’s downs on defense as well. I’ll also throw in the fact that Samuels basically had to learn a new position as a “modern day” jack linebacker and can move from sideline-to-sideline.
The WR/LB position that Samuels has manned for 15 seasons was always one that was overlooked in Ironman voting (save with Hunkie Cooper). The much more glamorous WR/DB position was dominated by Barry Wagner (though Wags did play a lot of jack linebacker in his career as well). Especially with the jack confined to the box for the majority of his career, it’s amazing that Samuels has recorded the 13th most tackles in AFL history (485) and the 19th most interceptions in league history (32).
His offensive records are beginning to look a lot like his predecessors as well. Though he inevitably will not hold the record for long, Samuels will forever be the first man in AFL history to log 1,000 receptions in his career. He finished the 2008 season with 1,022 catches, ahead of the great Wagner by 31. He also became the 5th man in AFL history to top the 12,000 receiving yard plateau in 2008. Samuels’ biggest bugaboo has been in receiving touchdowns, where he has only logged 167. For guys like Siaha Burley, Chris Jackson, and Damian Harrell, that’s three season’s worth of work. His lack of receiving touchdowns is probably the reason that he was inexplicably left off the list of the 20 Greatest Players in AFL history two years ago.
However, Samuels is one of the four guys in AFL history to log 600+ receptions and 30+ interceptions. Darryl Hammond, Randy Gatewood, and that Barry dude are the others that can say they’ve reached the 600/30 club. The three combined for eight Ironman of the Year honors. Take note of who isn’t on that list. Two-time Ironman of the Year, Hunkie Cooper only had 15 INTs for his career in the same position as Samuels.
Forget about the numbers, though. What Samuels meant to the Storm is off the charts. If you faced 4th down and 6, Samuels would make a catch two yards short of the sticks and fight for the necessary yardage. If you needed a receiver to go over the middle, Samuels was your man. If you needed a guy to go up and get a jump ball, the 6’2” Samuels was the perfect target. If you needed a linebacker to stand in there and take on the fullback, you could count on Samuels to make the open-field tackle. If you needed a pass breakup over the middle, you not only got the breakup, but you probably ended up with an interception as well. There was nothing that Lawrence Samuels couldn’t do in the AFL, and the best part about it was that after the play, you never knew if he caught the game-winning touchdown pass, or a 5-yard out on 1st and 10. There was always a quiet demeanor about Samuels that made him a sleeping giant on the field.
In an interview I had with Samuels earlier in the season, I tried my best to get him to say something good about his own career. After getting the cliché answers, I put a big smile on my face and asked him, “Do you realize how great of a career you’ve really had?” He put on a grin from ear to ear and responded like only Lawrence Samuels can. “At this point, we’re just trying to get victories. I’m not looking at individual accomplishments.”
Getting the ‘W’ has always been what sports stand for. They’re not about glitzy numbers; they’re about putting points on the board and outscoring the guys in the opposite colors. Nobody put more out on the line every single night on both sides of the ball like Lawrence Samuels did and will hopefully continue to do.
After all, when his Head Coach, Tim Marcum was asked whether there was any sign of decay in Samuels’ career, his response was classic Tim Marcum.
“Those 38-year old legs are still working.”