The team traded a pair of touchdowns in a lazy second quarter, until a barrage of scoring in the last minute closed out the first half. Rattler QB Davis ran in for a two yard score with 58 seconds before the half but NJ answered right back with Ashley’s third TD 19 seconds later to cut the Arizona lead to seven. There were only 27 seconds left and with the prospect of New Jersey getting the ball to start the third quarter, we looked like we had a game... that was until Hunkie Cooper took the kickoff 57 yards to put the Rattlers back up by fourteen.
Last year under Head Coach John Hufnagel the Red Dogs shot themselves in the foot several times by getting complacent like when they blew a 19-point lead to Milwaukee and lost to bad teams. It seems that under new Head Coach Frank Mattiace, things might not change in 1999. Hopefully, Coach Mattiace can get this team to learn how to capitalize after gaining momentum in the game. Steve Videtich salvaged a bit of the "Big Mo" back by nailing a 51-yard FG on the last play of the half, but New Jersey still trailed 35-24.
The Red Dogs were able to trim the Arizona lead to four points by the end of the third quarter, but the porous New Jersey defense was not having much success stopping the Rattlers Donnie Davis. One would think that an Arizona team without QB Shedrick Bonner (now with the Atlanta Falcons) and start WR Calvin Schexnayder, the Dogs would have a decent shot at stopping an Arizona team that they beat last year. But game MVP Donnie Davis did basically what ever he wanted with a Red Dog defense that produced no turnovers and didn’t sack Davis once. Without a defense, the New Jersey offense did what it could by trading three touchdowns with Arizona, which was no easy feat in front of a wild capacity crowd. But with no defense to speak of, the result of a Red Dog loss was inevitable.
Rickey Foggie finished the game 29-41 with seven touchdown passes and two critical interceptions. The Red Dog rushing game was about as effective as it defense, rushing three times for zero yards. The special teams averaged a meager 13 yards per kick-off return while allowing Arizona and average of 25 yards. That is just flat-out bad. Another disturbing statistic was that New Jersey was penalized nine times in the game. This type of effort with no defense, no rushing, lame special teams and a plethora of penalties is no way for the New Jersey Red Dogs to make a run at the play-offs, let alone the Arena Bowl. Counting this game, the embarrassing loss in Tampa Bay that ended last season run and the 0-2 mark in this year’s pre-season, the Red Dogs have lost four straight games since the amazing play-off win in Albany last year. To be fair, all four of these losses were on the road, and hopefully Coach Mattiace can whip these guys into shape because the face an Albany team that beat Tampa Bay this week. And you can bet the house that the Albany Firebirds will have severe payback in store for New Jersey because of that play-off upset last season.
Two bright spots for New Jersey were Alvin Ashley and Steve Videtich. Despite being the known go-to guy (with the departure of Larry Ray Willis in the off-season), Ashley finished the night with 11 receptions for 158 yard (48% of the NJ offense) and five touchdowns. Videtich hit seven of eight extra points and the one miss wasn’t his fault. He also boomed his only field goal of the night from 51 yards out! Ironically, Videtich and Ashley were the only two players to visit with the Kennel Club these past two Tuesday night’s at Charlie Brown’s and they both had good games in Arizona. Maybe the entire Red Dog defense should get down to meet the fans next Tuesday and hope a little Kennel Club luck rubs off on them as well.