Three Little Linemen and the Big Bad Quarterback

Jason Moyer
Sunday March 2, 2008

Once upon a time in Philadelphia, there were three little linemen and a big bad quarterback. 

In their first game of the season against the Orlando Predators their Head Coach Bret Munsey explained to them, ‘don’t let anybody touch our quarterback.’

Now the first little lineman, Mike Mabry, played his college football at the University of Central Florida.  He is 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 302 pounds.

When the big bad quarterback called ‘hut one, hut two’, the lineman blocked his opponent and said ‘you can’t hit my quarterback’s chinny-chin-chin.’

Mabry’s blocking allowed quarterback Tony Graziani to throw four touchdowns to his old friend and newest Philadelphia Soul receiver Chris Jackson.  

“I know exactly where he’s going to be,” commented Graziani about Jackson.  “Not only is he a great receiver, but we think the same.  We’re on the same page and it seems like we have been our whole career together.”

“To come out and be that efficient is a great way to start off,” agreed Jackson.  “A lot of hype was on our offense, but we need to continue to work and produce like this each and every week.”

The second little lineman, Martin Bibla, played his college football at the University of Miami (Florida).  He is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 310 pounds.

When the big bad quarterback called ‘hut one, hut two’, the lineman blocked his opponent and said ‘you can’t hit my quarterback’s chinny-chin-chin.’

With Bibla protecting the quarterback’s front side, the quarterback found passing lanes to throw three more touchdowns to his other big, tall receiver Larry Brackins.

“The thing with Larry is he’s got the most physical ability out there.  He needs to be in the right spot,” observed Graziani.  “Tonight, he didn’t have any mental mistakes and it showed on the field.  If we can get him going, we’re going to be pretty tough to stop.”

As for the third little lineman, Phil Bogle, he was the biggest one of all.  He is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 322 pounds.  Bogle played his college ball at New Haven in Connecticut.

When the big bad quarterback called ‘hut one, hut two’, the lineman blocked his opponent and said ‘you can’t hit my quarterback’s chinny-chin-chin.’

Bogle protected the quarterback’s blind side and provided him the confidence to look down the field.  With all of the linemen’s help, the quarterback tossed two more touchdowns for a Soul record of nine touchdowns in a game.

“Our goal is not about records.  We talk about our offense scoring on every possession,”   remarked the big bad quarterback.  “We did that tonight, we got our goal, and now we have to turn the page on this one and get ready for Chicago.”

Now how did the linemen’s coach feel about their performance?

“What I love is the protection,” reflected Munsey.  “I mean that offensive line, I’m not sure that Tony was threatened too many times.  That’s a nice feature to have.”

“I didn’t even get hit one time,” said Graziani backing up his coach’s assertion.  “I’m not even going to be sore tomorrow.”

With a 77-56 victory over the Predators, the Soul ended Week 1 of the Arena Football League schedule… Happily Ever After.

Inside the numbers

Tony Graziani (PHI) completed 15 of 22 passes for 257 yards and the team record nine touchdowns.

Chris Jackson (PHI) snared six passes for 78 yards with four touchdowns is his Soul debut.

Larry Brackins (PHI) also hauled in six passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns.

Shane Stafford (ORL) finished 31 of 45 for 323 yards and eight touchdowns.

T.T. Toliver (ORL) caught eight passes for 125 yards with four touchdowns and finished the game with 263 all-purpose yards.

Injury update

Soul receiver Kenny Henderson appears to have broken his collar bone and is expected to be out for several weeks according to Head Coach Munsey.

Next week

The Soul will travel to Illinois on Sunday, March 9th to battle the Chicago Rush.  Kickoff is set for 1:00 pm and can be seen on ESPN 2.

Graziani on Chicago: “They have an explosive offense there with Harrell and Bonner.  I saw some prognostications saying that they are one of the favorites in the west.  It’s always fun to play in Chicago, they have great fans.  It will be fun to renew the rivalry with Bonner a little bit.  We had some pretty good clashes when he was in Arizona.”