New Orleans @ Austin Notes

[olddog]

From 4/1 editon of Austin newspaper: "John Fitzgerald, who led Austin to three victories in the seven Arena Football League games he played in Pesavento's absence, regained the starting job. Scott Dreisbach will back up Fitzgerald, who sat out a 51-21 loss at Orlando last week because he was hurt.

"We sat down and decided it was the best thing for John Fitzgerald to be our starter," Wranglers Coach Skip Foster said. "When we've had quarterback changes, we've struggled."

"Foster believed the quarterback (i.e. Fitzgerald) would be better served resting against Orlando."

Despite what is said in AFL Guru thread it sounds like Fitz's kneee isn't that bad, that he could have played lsat week. Fitz was awesome vs NY is a 57-47 home win two weeks ago. He was crappy vs Dallas the week before that.

This is a no-bet game for me, but Id'lean to Austin +9 (@Pinny) as others seem to be doing, as it was as high as -11-12. Loss of OS-Fontaine is big loss for Austin.

 

[AFLGuru]

Yeah, I guess I look pretty dumb today if Austin comes out and plays a good game against the Voodoo. I thought it was a solid play, and if it comes back to bite me in the a$$, so be it. I still think Fitzgerald is overrated as all hell and his former team will exploit that better than anyone. But I guess we'll see in a couple hours. Thanks for the updates Olddog.

--AFLGuru

 

[been_there]

Nice play OldDog, now you have some of my money...
I fell for it, too many variables not to, ...
only 1 I didn'tlike was I was on a road fav
I saw most of the game, in case others didn't..

Here's what I saw...

If you had NO ( as I did,minus a good #,6 ),going into
halftime,with about 15 seconds left, NO up 7,Aus with ball from within 10 about 4 times,didn't score...
NO up 7 and getting the ball 2nd H..

NO comes out and scores 1st,putting them up 14
Next Possesion,Austin with a 4th down,even though they only needed
1 yd, ( never know,missed snap,etc )
gets it,brings game back to 7
Next possesion, Kelly threw Int from 3 yd line on 3rd down...
I have NO, so I think its Int since my receiver was tripped,
kicked,tackeld before having a chance

NO just couldn't put them away,had em on the ropes,
couldn't finish....mostly defensively in my mind
Gooch had a great game,so did Chiaverini...really thought
Austin would quit minus players..

So I knew it was inevitable,never thought it would be because
a missed Extra pt by schmidt...

NO missed a bundle of chances,twice when Aus had ball 3rd
and whatever,now going to be 4th and whatever,
LB out of box...kills you,wasn't the refs as Aus had more
penalties,was just bad timing for the fouls

What I didn't see and was expecting to see is what Guru
stated, ( he wasn't wrong, they just never sent the pressure )
they would put more pressure on Fitzgerald...
They never rushed him,except once,and when they brought
the LB,was Off Holding,and they never sent him again...

Game loss goes to Coach Mike Nue,needed more pressure on JF

BT

if you see him, bring PP back,all positive here,good cappers

 

[AFLGuru]

Cover goes on Neu. Win goes on Schmitz. Back to back weeks they lost important games because of him. I'm not blaming Neu for his line not getting pressure. I'm blaming the line for that. Also, from the sounds of it, 3 step drops worked well for Fitzy, taking the little 7-10 yard outs to the sidelines that New Orleans never jumped. Disappointed in that. THAT'S Neu's fault. But his team got outplayed in the 4th when it mattered and they got what they deserved for not coming through when they needed to. It happens.

 

[been_there]

Agree..

What I can't figure out is....when you finally decide to blitz
or put pressure on a QB , and it works, why wouldn't you do it again,
and again, and again...it was the only thing that worked,in the meantime,all 6-8 yd passes to WR,easy completions

Fitzy didn't look as good,as NO D ( which is usually dominant ) looked BAD

Right before the H, Fitzy was limping,knee,thought he was coming
out of game...just 1 of those games where you
shoulda,woulda,coulda,but didn't

 

[AFLGuru]

Dude, you can't "blitz" in the AFL. Do you understand the rules of the game? You have to send your 3 down linemen and you have the option of sending the mack linebacker, usually the guy used as your fullback. On about 80% of plays, maybe a bit more, the mack linebacker blitzes. But there is no such thing as a "blitz" per se in the AFL.