Onside Kicking Plank Nearly Saves Preds

Adam Markowitz
Saturday March 30, 2013

For those of you that have listened to my various rants throughout the last few years, you know that I'm a big fan of the onside kick. In fact, I'd only ever boot onside kicks. Ever. Apparently, someone listened to me. Head Coach Doug Plank of the Orlando Predators onside kicked six times on Friday night. The San Jose SaberCats recovered all six of the onside kicks, but the fact that Plank had the fortitude to try all those onsiders changed the game and really was the only reason the Predators were even remotely in a game that turned out to be a 65-62 defeat at HP Pavilion.

The truth of the matter is that Orlando had no business being on the same field as San Jose. The defense managed virtually zero pass rush on QB Aaron Garcia, and the secondary allowed six passes of at least 20 yards for the game. QB Kyle Rowley was only sacked twice, but it felt like he was hit about 30 times over the course of the game. Though he did throw for 373 yards and nine touchdowns, Rowley's numbers were awfully deceiving. The first touchdown of the game covered 49 yards on 4th and 12, and that was the first of five touchdowns passes that were thrown on fourth down.

Of course, Rowley also threw three interceptions and essentially sacked himself in the end zone for the safety that turned the tide of the game. The veteran signal caller literally tripped over his own player, falling into the end zone, and making a 55-49 game that should have been in hand and made it a 55-51 game that San Jose was able to go on and win.

With all of the marbles on the line, Rowley folded for the second straight week, throwing a pick in the end zone on the pass that would have won the game. Now, instead of being 2-0, the Preds are 0-2 with the Philadelphia Soul coming to the Jungle next week for the home opener.

In fairness to Orlando, this was a horrid scheduling spot early in the season. The team played on Sunday in New Orleans, had to fly back to Orlando, and then out to San Jose for a Friday game. I'm exhausted just thinking about that type of a travel schedule.

So why, in spite of everything that went wrong, were the Predators still in a position to win this game?

Because Doug Plank is a freaking genius.

In the second half, Orlando's newest head coach only kicked deep twice. The first San Jose drive on a full field covered 40 yards in six plays and put a TD on the board. The second deep kickoff was returned for a touchdown with less than a minute left in the game. Six kickoffs. Two deep. Four onsides.

Alas, this is why it makes so much darn sense to just onside kick every single time! When Garcia was stuck in the pocket trying to pick apart a smaller field, he had all sorts of problems. On drives that started following Orlando onside kicks, Garcia went 8-for-17 for 72 yards with three touchdowns and two picks. Three of the six drives ended in touchdowns, two ended in interceptions, and one ended on downs. For the rest of the game, Garcia went 14-of-19 for 216 yards with four scores and no picks, and every single drive ended in a touchdown.

Dear Coaches: Why haven't you figured out that this strategy really does work? It is a zillion times more difficult to try to score from 15 yards away from the end zone than it is from 45 yards away from the end zone. It's tougher to throw the ball into tighter windows, the back line of the end zone acts as another defender, and the jack linebacker legitimately becomes a part of the coverage without leaving his box. Are you going to get stops all the time? Of course not. But can you get those one or two key plays to ultimately turn the tide of a game? You betcha.

In the stat sheet, it is going to say that Orlando went 0-for-6 on onside kicks, and that's going to make Plank look like he did a lousy job. However, he managed to take a team that had no business competing in a game and put it in a position to win. Typical "coach speak" suggests that a team can win something from every defeat.

In this case, maybe the coaches should learn a lesson or two from what Doug Plank was smart enough to figure out on Friday night.