One thing consistent about af2 is change
Little by little, this arena football stuff grows on you. Two more reasons surfaced Saturday while the Spokane Shock extinguished the Boise Burn 62-42 at the Spokane Arena.
“Kickers shmickers. For extra points and kickoffs, the Burn trotted out linebacker Levi Madarieta, the ex-Shockster from the championship inaugural season in 2006. Madarieta obviously has some experience at this – he was a national Punt, Pass and Kick winner – but he was 6 for 6 on PATs and opens up another roster spot for, you know, a real player. Which brings up the question – if former Shock coach Chris Siegfried was such a genius that first year, how did he miss this trick?
“Quarterbacks are as disposable as sporks.
The Shock and Burn entered the game a collective 9-2 on the season, and yet both have moved on to Plan B at quarterback. Boise’s Royal Gill had replaced B.J. Rhode in Week 2, while Shock coach Adam Shackleford sent in Nick Davila to relieve Jason Murrietta and jump-start Spokane to another victory last week – and then gave Davila the starting nod on Saturday.
“We just needed something last week,” Shackleford said. “And what happened wasn’t all on Jason’s shoulders.”
Still, the change had to be to the great delight of the announced audience of 10,573, because even more than seeing his team win, the football fan loves to holler for a new guy at quarterback, even if it’s the right guard getting continually bowled over and giving his man zero time to throw.
It’s a reason to live.
And the Shock deliver. We have yet to get through a season of arena ball here in Spokane without a churn at quarterback. It was Kyle Rowley for Alex Neist in Year 1, and of course last year the chants – and curses – to replace Andrico Hines with Justin Rummell could be heard even over the numbing clap of Thunderstix.
Change isn’t inevitably good. But the willingness to change is.
In this case, it led to a seven-touchdown performance by Davila, which was not necessarily a revelation or even the game’s tipping point – that being a fumbled snap by the Burn early in the fourth quarter.
Davila had a bad case of the underthrows in the third quarter – when he completed just 3 of 9 passes – but he also made a crucial fourth-and-7 connection that led to a touchdown and was the maestro on a smart drive to open the fourth period after the Shock had relinquished the lead for the first, and only, time.
“Getting the ball out a little quicker and getting more zip on it,” said Davila, outlining his to-do list. “I had some butterflies in the beginning, but my team really helped me out.”
Plus, there’s always that great af2 motivator: the other guy.
Fifteen of the league’s 29 teams have made changes at quarterback already this season, which is barely a third over – and 10 of those have done it more than once. Two quarterbacks – Shane Adler and Matt Bohnet – have started for two different teams.
Hines, reviled here a year ago, is now the flavor of the month for South Georgia, where he’s the third quarterback to start. And Spokane’s old fave Rummell, traded before the season, started two games for Manchester before bailing when the club brought in his replacement.
In Austin, four different quarterbacks have thrown 14 or more passes. Ashlee Simpson doesn’t change her hair color that often.
Why the itch?
“I don’t know,” shrugged Davila. “This is only my sixth game in the league.”
Well, precisely.
“Arena ball is totally different,” insisted Raul Vijil, who caught three of Davila’s scoring passes Saturday. “You have a lot of young guys in arena2 and to find that fit is difficult. Plus, it’s early in the season so you can make those changes. You’ve got 10 games left and that gives you time to find some rhythm.”
Let this be a toast to flexibility. In traditional football, the sanctity of the No. 1 quarterback has grown into a maddening gospel, the notion that a starter’s confidence will be irreparably shattered if he’s replaced – even if he starts again the following week. Every other position is performance-based – multiple screwups on successive plays earn the player a view from the sideline. But not the quarterback, so delicate is his psyche – and that of the offense he leads.
This may be more of a college thing. More NFL teams made quarterback changes last year than not, but most of those were injury driven.
And then there’s the more practical reason.
“A lot of that has to do with the dollars,” Shackleford acknowledged. “Everybody gets paid the same in this league. You’re not dealing with millionaires. We’ve got two very good quarterbacks. I expect Jason to come back next week and battle for a spot, and I know he will. But we’re not dealing with the dollar amounts the NFL is.”
True enough. Although anybody who doubles as a kicker deserves a couple extra bucks on the side.