Underachievers
Gary Stibolt
Wednesday May 25, 2005
Starting back with the loss at Amarillo, the Steamwheelers had the game won on an interception off the net by Matt Forbes whom returned it for a touchdown only to have the head referee call it an illegal play. The league has since acknowledged the many errors by that officiating crew and has suspended them as a result.
Then the following week the Steamwheelers faced Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at home and despite being down by as many as two touchdowns, the Steamwheelers stayed their course and even pulled ahead in the game only to have some key mistakes again cost them the game as time ran out.
Then last weekend they faced Green Bay on the road. You turn the ball over five times in a football game, especially Arena Football, you will lose the game. The odd thing is, despite three goal line fumbles and two interceptions, the Steamwheelers still had the game tied and despite the poor pass interference calls at the end of the game, they still had a shot to at least tie the game again and send it into over time. Take away the three fumbles and put 21-points on the board and the Blizzard were clearly dominated by the Steamwheelers.
But this is all would’ve, should’ve, could’ve and the point is the Steamwheelers have a very good football team that is simply underachieving. It is frustrating for the fans to see the team lose like this when they know the team is better than what the record shows.
Many fans scream about the play calling and frankly I don’t think the play calling is all that bad. We are effective at moving the ball and we have been making a lot of progress offensively. Sure we need to open it up a little more but when you do, everyone needs to know the assignment so we don’t run a post and then have the ball sail behind and outside of the receiver. This relates to the little mistakes that we’ve seen take place over the last three weeks that have put the Steamwheelers in a nip and tuck battle. If they eliminated the mistakes against the Pioneers, Quad City wins by 14 points. If they eliminated the mistakes against the Blizzard, Quad City wins by 28 points. These are just offensive mistakes.
Mistakes are being made on defense too. Mainly there is one of two things: Guessing wrong or miscommunication. Guessing ‘hitch’ on a ‘hitch-n-go’ makes it look like an easy touchdown for the opponents. We’ve seen it at least twice in each of the last three games. The miscommunication between the cover guys has improved. We mainly see it in the first half but it is corrected for the second half of play.
The Steamwheelers are stacked with better talent and the fact they are 3-4 instead of 6-1 indicates how bad they are underachieving. The core group of linemen are doing a very good job. On offense, they do give Sam time to throw the ball. On defense, they are getting to the other quarterback. The drawback there is the Steamwheelers do not play a weak opponent throughout the entire year. So the line group is going to have to continue to stay healthy and to keep fighting it out up front. This is the best line group collectively we’ve had in the Quad Cities and they are the ones that are giving us a chance to win every game. Once the Steamwheelers eliminate the costly fundamental mistakes on offense and in the defensive secondary, will we then see how good they really are?
This week represents the midpoint of the season and this weekend is a division battle with Oklahoma City. This is the weekend that the Steamwheelers need to start achieving. This is the weekend that the past few weeks need to be put to rest. This is the weekend that all Steamwheeler fans need to get out to the game and make a difference in the stands. Giving the Steamwheelers the 9th-man advantage might very well be enough to give them the confidence and motivation to start winning and fulfilling that promise we had entering into the 2005 season.
Gary Stibolt has covered the Quad City Steamwheelers since their 2000 inaugural season. He also owns, operates and is the Chief Editor/Publisher of SteamwheelerFans.com, a website dedicated to the Steamwheelers and their fans. He coresponds for other media outlets covering arenafootball2. In addition to leading the Steamwheelers Fan Club, Gary serves as Coordinator of the National af2 Fan Club. He is married with two sons and works as an Infrastructure Analyst for Deere & Company in their Corporate Computer Center in Moline, Illinois.