Week 6 - Grand Rapids

This game was the most dominant overall performance I have seen from this Dragons team in a LONG TIME. Talk about giving another team a taste of their own medicine! Grand Rapids' record scoring run stopped here.

Honestly, how much is there is to say? The offense and the defense was about as good as it could have possibly been (in the first half at least). The Dragons took their shutout (and 49 point lead) into the third quarter when they gave up their first TD, and the team got a bit lazy from there. New York scored 35 points in the first half, and allowed that much in the second. It ended up not mattering, though, as the Dragons capitalized on the defensive dominance - scoring 63 points in the entire game.

Defense was once again extremely impressive. The d-player of the game was John Walker with his three interceptions and a touchdown. Parker played well with his three pass breakups, Brown with his interception, and Estrada did not make much noise through out this one (but apparently did alright). The defensive line also was extremely impressive once again. Farouk Adelekan, Henry Taylor, and Jason Hardee all put LOADS of pressure on James MACpherson - forcing fumbles - rushed passes - and all of the stuff we love to see out of a d-line. The common saying every year is that if your team sucks, but may squeak into the playoffs luckily - fans will state, "You don't want to take this team in the playoffs." This saying may apply to this season as the Dragons attempt to slither into the playoffs - but I disagree with the cliche here. I would LOVE to take this team into the playoffs - even if we are this inconsistent. Why? On any given day this defense could COMPLETELY shut down the opposition. With a healthy Garcia the O is not too bad either.

On another note - last night was suppose to be Latin Night. I do not know the relevance of this day or who put it together, but you would not know it was Latin Night by anything through out the entire game. Weylan Harding promised that if they won, he would do a salsa dance after the game on the field - did not happen. The program said that the halftime band would play latin music - they played American Punk such as "All the Small Things" by Blink 182. They said that the cheerleaders would be dancing to latin music - they danced to Soulja Boy. So....that failed.
Back to the game, the offense: Kevin Swayne was OUT today - and a we won! Are you seeing a pattern? Hm, he was out in week 2 as well, huh, we won that game too. Maybe, just maybe - throwing it out there - when Swayne plays Garcia (and Davey at the time) looked to him as the #1 receiver. While trying to force the ball to him, they missed our wide open receivers. With him out - virtually all receivers on the field are equal and the field becomes easier to read in a less forced nature. Think about it. Anyways, Terry Moss took Swaynes spot - this was Moss' first game after being on the practice squad since the initial signings: He was pretty good. He only got 2 passes, but they were pretty big catches and he got his first touchdown in the AFL. Chris Anthony proved to be the best of the group with 4 touchdowns. Basically he seems to be the go to receiver on the goal line - with less yards than Willis, but four times the amount of touchdowns.
The offensive line.........was awesome. Garcia only got sacked once and it was because of a bad decision of his part (surprised?) and he had loads of time back their in the pocket. Tuck, Laud, and Big Randall played their best games of the season by far - it showed on the scoreboard. Garcia was much better than last week, doing exactly what I said he should have done. On the goal line we saw him run it in! Bravo! Also some nice passes from him - a definite improvement. With the rout locked up at the end of the game, Juston Wood came in and was pretty good himself. In my opinion we should really have Vena as the backup, why you ask...well, imagine it this way: Vena is a bit stocky with good running ability. Garcia is slim with next to no running ability. On fourth and short or goal line situations we could have a pounder out there at QB in Vena. He could do sneaks or roll out screens - it could work.

So don't forget - my youtube show is now on Wednesdays. My youtube profile is at: http://youtube.com/user/SchwartzVideo. Check there every Wednesday night for a new program! See you next week at Nassau!

One last thing, a friend of mine: Madhatterl7. made this graphic that you guys should check out - very cool.