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EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ (June 25, 1999) -- In his post-game press conference, New Jersey Red Dog Head Coach Frank Mattiace said that one of his goals was for his team to have the best defense in the AFL. The first-year coach said that the Red Dogs will live and die with a physical defensive style. That style was evident during the 34-20 beating that the Dogs gave the visiting Buffalo Destroyers on Friday night at the Meadowlands. Perhaps Mattiace bought into the phrase "offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships" when he played for the Green Bay Packers, where that particular saying was made famous by another member of the Packer family, Vince Lombardi. But whatever the origin of his defensive philosophy, be it Lombardi or Walt Micheals (who Mattiace played for during his New Jersey Generals days), you had to be impressed with the results as the Red Dogs completely shut out the Destroyers in the second half. The Red Dogs did not give up a single point to Buffalo in the second half. In fact, New Jersey held the 0-9 expansion team to only 42 yards over the last 30-minutes of play. Also noteworthy is that the Dogs did not allow any passing touchdowns in the game at all and the Destroyers’ only two scores were both of the rushing variety early on. And that, says Coach Mattiace, is Red Dog football.
It took a drive or two for the New Jersey defense to get on track as Buffalo took the opening kick and marched 34-yards on a nine-play drive that was capped with a 3-yard sneak by Destroyer QB Kevin Mason. There were a smattering of boos made by the fans as New Jersey barely responded with a 28-yard field goal by Steve Videtich. The boos were a result of the Red Dogs inability to score with first down at the Buffalo 12 yard-line and three incomplete passes by Rickey Foggie. On Buffalo’s second drive, a big 11-yard sack by New Jersey’s Wilky Bazile forced Buffalo to settle for a field goal of it’s own. The Red Dogs tied the score at 10-10 on a pass from Foggie to Demitrious Stanley, but the play almost never happened as RB Ron Perry fumbled the ball on the previous down. The Red Dogs seem to be keying on the run more as the season wears on and they are doing well by developing the run as a red zone weapon, but they must protect the ball better. In five straight games, they’ve committed a red zone fumble, three times in this game alone. Fortunately, all three were recovered, but a red zone fumble was a key momentum swing in the loss in Albany. The could use a little improvement here.
Buffalo scored it’s second touchdown when back-to-back one-yard dives by RB David White eventually got the Destroyers into the end zone and gave them a 17-10 lead. New Jersey came right back on a perfectly executed hook pass from Foggie to Marvin Bagley for 28-yards aided by a key downfield block by Alvin Ashley. With the score knotted at 17-17, Mattiace’s defense dug in and held Buffalo to 7-yards on their drive. A sack was the key play again as Robert Stewart barreled in and tossed Mason like a rag doll for a 10-yard loss. New Jersey took the ball and seemed like they’d have a 17-17 tie into the locker room. But referee Bill McCabe’s crew decided to take over with three seconds left in the first half. McCabe & Company have a established history of killing the Red Dogs with poor officiating and Friday night’s game was no exception. You wonder why the league still assigns his crew to a team he clearly has a problem with. But interfere, McCabe’s zebras did as Buffalo’s Bjorn Nittmo had his 46-yard field goal blocked. But McCabe incorrectly calls an illegal defense on New Jersey and Nittmo gets a second try from 41-yards out. That kick is blocked as well and McCabe calls Jason Walters again for coming outside when he clearly shot inside the Buffalo blockers. The crowd goes wild, players and coaches go nuts, tempers flair and the Red Dogs are called for a post-play personal foul moving the ball even closer to the New Jersey 12-yard line. Amidst a chorus a boos, Nittmo finally connects and the half ends with New Jersey trailing the 0-8 Destroyers 20-17.
During the intermission, Mattiace told his team to stay the course and maintain their composure. The Dogs had racked up 11 penalties in the first half and were well on their way of breaking their team record of 18 flags in one game. Whatever he told them, he should tape that speech and play it every week because New Jersey came out fired up and didn’t allow another Destroyer score. They also only had five penalties the rest of the way and they added two more touchdowns, a running play by Stanley and a QB keeper by Charles Puleri who came in for Rickey Foggie who was knocked woozy on the previous play. The defense was outstanding with great plays made by Robert Stewart (two sacks) and Pierre Hixon who had nine tackles, one interception and one diving pass defended to break up a sure touchdown bomb in the end zone.
Buffalo left the Arena with an 0-9 record and will have to wait another week to try for that elusive first win. As for New Jersey, things couldn’t have broken better in the standings. Losses by New England, Albany, Orlando, Nashville and San Jose propelled the 5-4 Red Dogs right back into the play-off mix. New Jersey jumps from ninth to sixth place and are only one game out of fourth place. Up next is a very winnable game in Houston against the 2-7 Thunderbears. With a little more help and a few more weekends like the one we just had, we may still have an outside chance for a four seed and a first-ever home play-off game in the Meadowlands.
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