Sunday, April 6, 2008

Tulsa Talons 69 : 13 Amarillo Dusters: The Rout By Champions

(OK - this one's about a week late, but Sarah insisted I post more. ;) ... RW)

The defending af2 Arena Cup Champions returned the core of the team with 12 returning players from 2007 on the opening night roster. They also added some big additions like Jon Holland, Aaron Chavers and Barrett Allen from their divisional rivals Oklahoma City, and Kellen Allen - key receiver from the Green Bay Blizzard last year. There's also some more players waiting to get their shot like WR's Prentiss Elliott (on IR), Jarrail Jackson (currently coaching spring practice w/ Dartmouth) and Rush End C.J. McLain (his signing was announced late this week - he's waiting to come back next week, presumably because of league signing rules.) The players were raring to go according to this morning's Tulsa World article.

In short - the Talons showed up ready for a battle.

The problem is, Amarillo didn't bother to show up. OK, the team physically showed up, but they were a ghost of a team.

Tulsa had their way with the Dusters. Justin Allgood was just that for the most part: ALL GOOD. He only made one real mistake forcing a ball into Kellen Allen in the second quarter, but he had a stellar night. Kellen Allen: a great pick-up by the Talons - he had 4 TD's. Hughley looked like the same guy who was Arena Cup VII MVP scoring 2 TD's. Michael Shack (1 Rushing TD), Jermaine Landrum (1 TD Catch - from rookie Derek Rasmussen), Jermaine Hope (short KO Return for TD) and Delenell Reid (45 yard INT return for TD) also scored for Tulsa.

The Talons' defense was simply incredible. At least 4 sacks by Terrence Carter and newcomer combo Barrett Allen and Aaron Chavers. They applied constant pressure on the Dusters all night. Delenell Reid picked off two passes (taking one back 45 yards for a score just before halftime) and broke up several more passes.

Special teams were a little porous on the return coverage - a missed FG for a TD (late in the game... more on that later) and Brett Rayl's snaps were erratic (one rolled to Allgood, two others were wide, leading to missed kicks.) Luke Phillips had a solid night - 9/10 PAT's (the one miss was the result of a bad snap) and his one of his two FG misses nearly resulted in a Talons TD. I call this particular "miss" intentional because of two things: he drove the ball into the side net, and two - the first man down to the end zone for the Talons? The kicker himself. I feel that on the missed FG return for the 4th qtr. TD by Amarillo the Tulsa defenders were not giving a full effort to get down and cover the kick leading to the big return. My philosophy is to play every down like the other guys are nipping at you heels -- finish the play.

Amarillo didn't help themselves out at all. This team was - to put it mildly - an embarrassment. There was no cohesiveness to this unit at all. The play calling was average at best. And when they did get the plays right they moved the ball - but not very far. But when they didn't - it was a disaster. Fumbles. Penalties. Drops. Misteaks. Miss-takes. Mistakes all around.

Physically, Amarillo is woeful. And I don't think it's because they spend too much time at the "Big Texan" steakhouse. Their offensive linemen were small and out of shape. Several had spare tires that make me look like I'm in shape. When you looked at the two teams as they lined up across form each other, you could easily tell who was going to dominate the game.

They were fundamentally unprepared for the af2 game too. Their eligible lineman rarely, if ever reported as the eligible one before he reached the line and got set. At least once, that caused a delay of game penalty, and another time caused Amarillo to burn a timeout. You never see this in the AFL, and hardly ever in the af2 - even with the expansion teams. The coaching staff at one point was on the field before a kickoff telling a player where to line up like you would see a parent do for his kid in Pop Warner ball.

If things don't turn around quickly for the Dusters, it will be a long, long summer for their fans.

I only noticed one Talon who was dinged up - Rod Green. Looked like he got the brunt of being on the bottom of a pile after a fumble. A Duster player #30 (can't find a name from the Duster roster on their official website - no numbers listed yet) looked like he tweaked a knee or hamstring in the 4th quarter and didn't return.

Officiating - you know what? No much to complain about here. They got the illegal kick by Phillips correct - but only after a lengthy discussion tho... but they did get it correct. They did miss several obvious holds, and a shirt grab on each team although whomever from Tulsa grabbed #56's shirt for Amarillo got their money's worth.

On April 5th, Tulsa stays home to play the Boise Burn who was idle this week. Amarillo returns home to play the Central Valley Coyotes - a 55-54 winner at Bossier-Shreveport on Saturday.

Cheers!

Williesan

Line score (from www.af2.com)

SCORE BY QUARTERS: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 = FINAL
TULSA TALONS 21 -21 - 7 -20 = 69
Amarillo Dusters 0 - 0 - 6 - 7 = 13

Leaders:

Passing: Allgood (TUL) 18-27-216-6, Steele (AMR) 18-43-167-1
Receiving: Hughley (TUL) 7-115-2, K. Allen (TUL) 6-60-4; Fulton (AMR) 8-60

ADT Defensive Player of the Game: Terrance Carter (TUL)
Schutt Offensive Player of the Game: Justin Allgood (TUL)
U.S. Army Ironman: Delenell Reid (TUL)
Cutters Catch of the Game: Delenell Reid (Int. return)
Attendance: 4,502

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