For Carey, the Third Try`s the Charm
Andrew Mason
Monday June 19, 2000
 Tim Carey warms up before his team`s big overtime win aganist Carolina Image courtesy of Mark Canello |
First, in the Sea Wolves` loss to the Los Angeles Avengers in Week 8, he tossed an interception at the Avengers` three-yard-line that caused a 14-point swing late in what became a 50-46 loss. Then, at San Jose, his team tallied a franchise-record 76 points, helped by Carey`s four touchdowns. In both games, though, he had the ball in his hands at the most suspenseful moment a football game can provide. The team in possession--trailing by less than a touchdown, under a minute left—had the chance to change the outcome on the line. Truly la vida loca, at least for a quarterback.
With a game-ending incompletion against the Avengers and a last-minute interception against the SaberCats, Carey was 0-2 in clutch opportunities. But after the Carolina Cobras missed a field goal with 35 seconds remaining in regulation and a 51-48 lead on Friday night, Carey had his charmed third try.
Though he didn`t win it in the last minute, he fired a 33-yard bomb to Kerry Brown to set up a 19-yard, overtime-forcing field goal by Matt George. Then, in overtime, he won it by connecting a strike to Charlie Davidson to give his team the lead for good in a 64-51 win.
That late-game success, after two weeks of disappointment, was one piece of tangible evidence of Carey`s rapid growth as an Arena Football quarterback. The other was his gaudy yardage total against the Cobras — 392 yards, the highest in Sea Wolves history and the 11th-best in AFL history.
"The kid`s going to get better and better," Sea Wolves head coach Mike Hohensee said. "He didn`t really get too many reps when Big Country (Salisbury) was here because Big Country was a rookie. He needed the reps. Every snap for him was a learning experience. Tim is getting better and better and the guys around him are getting better, as well."
Carey`s adjustment curve wasn`t quite as steep as other Arena rookie quarterbacks, mainly because of his experience with a 50-yard field in the IPFL last season. Even though both the AFL and the IPFL play eight-on-eight with similar fields, the games are, in fact, almost as different as Arenaball is from the NFL.
"The rules were so different in that league, because you could drop so many guys in coverage," Carey said. "It`s a completely different game. But the level of competition is so much better here, too."
In spite of the differences between the two leagues, two things showed through the videotapes Hohensee scoured to find out more about Carey: his intangibles and his foot speed.
"First of all, he`s a winner," Hohensee said. "The kid`s a great competitor, and he`s mobile. Right now our linemen are hurt; we`ve got a lot of defensive linemen in there blocking for him. And his mobility helped us tonight, no doubt about it."
Carey also proved efficient, completing 12 of 13 first-half tosses, including eight in a row. His slow start in the second half had some in the stands frustrated. By the end of the game, the crowd was on his side, cheering at least as loud as Martin will hear in this building on Saturday night.
It`s a long trip from the IPFL to the AFL. For Carey, it’s truly living la vida loca.
Inside the Walls
For New England’s Anthony Derricks, open spaces came in bunches seven nights earlier in San Jose. The fleet defensive specialist burned through the SaberCats for a league-record four kickoff returns. Against the Cobras, however, the open spaces just weren`t there..
 One of Derricks` four kickoff returns for TDs in San Jose Image courtesy of Robert Babcock |
Derricks will probably have to get used to this kind of attention, especially after he still managed two big plays: scoring on both interception and kickoff returns. The third-quarter kickoff return, however, was called back because of a penalty.
"I don`t like it," he said. "I got beat up tonight."
Andrew Mason was at the Tampa Bay Storm`s first home game on June 1, 1991 and has followed the game ever since. While in college, he served as content editor and co-founder of The Storm Shelter, a Web site which covered the Tampa Bay Storm on the Internet from 1996-99. He also volunteered with the team`s media relations department in 1998 and currently contributes to ColoradoCrush.com. He's covered the NFL for various on-line outlets since 1999.
