Steamwheelers Working To Turn Season Around
Gary Stibolt
Wednesday April 26, 2006
The Steamwheelers have failed to win a game in the young 2006 season but what’s worse than that is they all came at home. In football, the ideology is you win all your home games and half your road games and your in great shape come time for the post season tournament. Granted the once dominate powerhouse of the af2 had its’ chances to win each of the three games but inconsistent play in all three phases of the game are keeping this group of talent out of the win column.
"I’m not worried," stated Rick Frazier, head coach for the Steamwheelers. "We’ve got our work cut out for ourselves there’s no doubt about that now, but our guys work hard, our coaches work hard and we’ll get this ship headed in the right direction and we’ll be where we want to be when the season ends and that’s in the playoffs." If anyone can make such a claim, it’s coach Frazier. In 1999, Frazier coached the Milwaukee Mustangs to the playoffs when there was an eight team format after starting the season out with five straight losses. "In my thirty one plus years of coaching, I’ve experienced this once when we were up in Milwaukee and still made the playoffs." Still it’s easier to say than do and the Steamwheelers are fully aware of the work they have ahead of them.
"You know it would be easy if after looking at the film and I could say that it was a single guy not doing his job but it isn’t. It’s everyone taking a play off or having miscues here and there that make it difficult. Just when we get one problem addressed another one crops up." In the first week, it was poor pass protection and special teams. In their second game it was dropped balls and defensive secondary problems. In their third game it was turnovers, defensive secondary, and the kicking game took a step backwards again. So after absorbing their third loss and breaking down game film along with some adjustments, the Steamwheelers finally feel they are in a better position to turn things around.
"It’s not going to be easy, we know that, but I think we have a pretty good handle on the things that have been hampering our efforts to winning these games." One piece of the puzzle is offensive/defensive lineman, David Hurst. Hurst has been the property of the Steamwheelers when he was recruited during the off-season. Hurst has not been able to join the team due to some professional workouts with the CFL and some looks from NFL scouts. "He’s coming," stated an elated Rick Frazier. "If he can get here in time to practice with us on Wednesday and Thursday, then he could play for us at Albany."
Coach Frazier has maintained all along that Hurst was a big piece of his defense when he was mapping out his 2006 squad. Another thing that will help the Steamwheelers turn things around is the return of Shon Bell. Bell suffered a concussion in the April 15 game against Green Bay. Up until that point, his size and speed coming off the end was what the team was missing in their opener against Arkansas. Shon Bell also worked out with the NFL San Francisco 49ers prior to his trip to the Quad Cities.
Pass protection was inconsistent but it has been improving over the past two weeks. Quarterback Tim Hicks has been pretty solid since throwing for 365 yards in the opener as well despite a bump in the Green Bay game. The Steamwheelers are pinning their turnaround on the improvements they are making on defense and a couple of adjustments on special teams. "I think our offensive line has improved in both those last two games. Tim Hicks continues to play good football for us. We just need to stop turning the ball over and clean up our kickoff returns and we’ll be playing the type of football we’re capable of playing," explained coach Frazier.
Steamwheelers fans are hoping so. The team heads to Albany this weekend for a tough two-game road schedule that spans the east coast to the west (Fresno, CA) in eight days. The Conquest (2-2) themselves are coming off a two-game losing streak and with this being an American East divisional game, both teams are in a must win situation.
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.