How do you look at a loss like this? Why didn’t the Dogs crack the 40-point mark against a team that gives away sixty, seventy, hell, up to eighty points per game? Why didn’t the Dogs have one receiver gain over 80 yards against a team that gives up close to 400 yards a game? Why did New Jersey gain only four total yards rushing all night? As Red Dog Radio broadcaster, Joe Nolan said at the conclusion of Friday night’s fiasco, "This team has to now answer questions that go right to the top of the organization". And Joe may be right. With this loss to Houston and the upcoming game against the Iowa ‘Red Dog Alumni’ team, many of those questions will be raised this week by Nolan and his broadcast team when Frank Mattiace meets the press on Tuesday during his weekly radio show. And if you are scratching your head as well after this loss, come on down on Tuesday night and ask the team a few questions of your own. But for now, allow me, Scoop Doggie Dogg, to break down the Houston game for you.
Things started off very promising for New Jersey. The ThunderBears got the ball first and had to settle for a field goal by Houston’s erratic kicker, Justin Skinner. Although the T-Bears moved the chains, it was clear that the Dog Defense was here to add to their league-leading sack total, as they got to QB Clint Dolezel on several occasions. Immediately after Houston had taken the 3-0 lead, Dimitrious Stanley returned their first coast-to-coast kickoff return for a touchdown (as predicted by yours truly in my pre-game report). It was the first kick-off return for a TD by New Jersey this season. The touchdown was slighted marred by the immature act of a Red Dog player spiking the ball in his opponent’s face, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. It is foolishness like this that earns double-digit penalties ever week for New Jersey, and it is the reason that the Red Dogs are by far the most penalized team in the AFL. It’s possible that the spike in the face got Houston fired up as they responded with a TD drive of their own that used over eight minutes of the first quarter. New Jersey managed only one offensive play at the end of the opening quarter as Rickey Foggie threw and completed his first pass for five yards to Dimitrious Stanley. Then came the hideous second quarter...
On the first play of the second period, Rickey Foggie threw a duck right into the hands of Houston’s Bernard Holmes. The T-Bears now had the ball and the lead at the 22-yard line and it only took one play for Bernard Holmes to finish what he started. Clint Dolezel found Holmes in the end zone for a touchdown, and just like that, the 2-7 Houston ThunderBears had a ten-point lead over the Red Dogs.
On the next few drives, the Dogs and Bears exchanged touchdowns to up the score to 24-14, but it was clear that something was not right about Rickey Foggie. Despite the 12 yard score to Alvin Ashley, Foggie was misfiring on too many pass attempts. And when Jersey got the ball back at 24-14, Foggie threw the type of pass that no QB should ever throw. Rolling right, with the Dogs only a few yards from the T-Bears goal line, Foggie heaved a weak floater across the field and right into the waiting hands of Houston’s Larry Jones, who graciously returned Foggie’s gift 37-yards to the Red Dog 15-yard line. New Jersey could have cut the lead to 24-21 had they scored, instead of turning the ball over with only eighteen seconds left in the half. Even if Foggie threw the ball away, a chip-shot field goal would have cut the score to 24-17. But instead, Houston now had a chance to go up by seventeen. Fortunately for the highly touted Red Dog defense, there were only a few ticks remaining on the clock.
On first and second down, the T-Bears gained eight yards and burned off twelve seconds. And just as it looked like the Red Dogs were going to hold Houston to a field goal, Dolezel found Terrence Davis in the back of the end zone. New Jersey did get the ball back with three second remaining, but instead of the obvious Hail Mary pass that usually benefits the offense with a TD or a flag, Dogs decided to send out Steve Videtich for an ill-fated 59-yard field goal try! Videtich has been kicking with much better accuracy lately, but asking him to kick the length of the field when even his kickoffs were hitting below the cross bar was a clear mistake. Of course, Videtich’s kick fell way short and the Bears recovered with yet another chance to score. Thankfully they did not, but why would the Dogs opt for a play that was almost certain to put the ball back into Houston’s hands instead of trying for a Hail Mary that might have produced a touchdown? It was a bad call and the Dogs had to be very concerned about going into the locker room after thirty minutes of play trailing the lowly T-Bears 31-14.
During the half, a perplexed Kennel Club audience was stunned and wondered what was wrong with the Red Dogs. The fans talked about what adjustments had to be made to salvage this game. At that point, a source close to the team informed us that Rickey Foggie’s mother had passed away during the week. We were all very saddened by the news and, and many of us felt that maybe, under the circumstances, Foggie should have been given the night off and back-up QB Charles Puleri should have gotten the start, or at least come in if Foggie looked shaky. There are things that are larger than football and the passing of a family member is one of those things. Now, with the Red Dogs coming out for the second half of play, we all felt for Rickey Foggie and wondered if he continued to struggle, how long the Red Dog coaching staff would leave him in the game.
New Jersey got the ball first and after six consecutive Foggie incomplete passes (the offense got a drive-sustaining first down by the aid of a penalty), the Dogs had to settle for a Videtich field goal, this time from the makeable distance of 29 yards. Houston came right back with another Dolezel TD to pad their lead 37-17. On the next possession, a 38-yard Foggie to Ashley pass, but New Jersey back within 13 points and now it was up to the defense to hold. With 2:22 left in the third quarter, Dolezel had the ball at his own 8-yard line. First down... incomplete. Second down... incomplete. Now came a monumental third down play that would ultimately decide the ball game. As Houston’s Robert Hall went in motion, all eyes were on the ThunderBears star receiver. Well, almost all eyes... someone in the Red Dog secondary fell asleep and let Hall, the obvious go-to guy race untouched down the center of the field. Dolezel saw the wide-opened Hall and connected for a 42-yard touchdown. So with no time left on the third quarter clock and New Jersey knowing they had to make a stop, Dolezel answered the question that was asked all week long: Would the Red Dogs’ top-ranked defense stop the ThunderBears’ top-ranked offense? The answer was clear to see, right up there on the scoreboard... Houston 44, New Jersey 24.
To their credit, the Red Dogs shut out the T-Bears in the fourth quarter and Foggie found Chad Lindsey and Marvin Bagley for a pair of touchdowns. But the late scores couldn’t undo the damage sustained in the first half with the two costly interceptions and Houston was content to run out the game clock. The Red Dogs had one last chance, trailing by six points with just over three minutes left in the game, if they could have held the ThunderBears and got the ball back, they may have had a chance to win the game by a point. But again the Houston offense bested the New Jersey defense with successive first downs to run out the clock preserving the 44-38 final score.
As questionable as it was to ask Videtich to kick a 59-yard field goal, was it more controversial to ask a despondent Rickey Foggie to carry his team back from a twenty point deficit? Perhaps the coaches were hoping for the veteran to come back from his emotional ordeal and help his psyche, or maybe they wanted to spare Foggie the possible embarrassment of being benched after his recent personal loss. It’s possible that this is what they were thinking, but the fans back in New Jersey all wondered aloud if Foggie should have been in there at all, left to suffer through an 18-for-38, two interception night against a team they had no right to lose to.
But lose they did in a game that was not as nearly close as the 44-38 outcome may indicate. And now the Red Dogs slip back into a five-way tie for sixth place with New England, Nashville, Orlando and San Jose. A win over Houston would have given New Jersey some breathing room at 6-4 with Iowa (8-2) and Tampa Bay (7-3) up in the next two weeks. But at 5-5, our Crimson Canines have to win one of the next two (if not both) games to assure themselves of a post-season or a home game in the playoffs. This is no small task considering the fact that both Iowa and Tampa Bay won this week by a combined score of 107-45. And with the way the 1999 season is shaping up, it is likely that a 7-7 team may not make it to the big dance. We need to win three of the last four games and end the regular season with at least an 8-6 record. Should the New Jersey Red Dogs fall short in this year’s playoff race, fans will not have to look much further than this ugly loss to the Houston ThunderBears when they try to figure out why.
-Scoop-