I would imagine that most of you haven’t full processed what you witnessed last night. I would think that all your senses haven’t quite returned to a state of normalcy as if you just got off the Great Bear at Hershey Park. Your ears are still ringing, your nose is confused and your eyes are darting all over the place all while your trying to breath like you traditionally breath. Basically, you’re in a state of shock. Me, I’ve never been calmer because there wasn’t one moment, last night, that I thought the Memphis Express were actually going to defeat the Arizona Hot Shots. If you let thoughts of the Hot Shots entering week three with a record of 1-1, I don’t want to say you don’t deserve to ride with Arizona, but I will say that you have some serious soul searching to do this week. Remember, trust is earned and if you lost the faith for even a second, evaluate your allegiance. Here’s what I saw.
~ Oh those tricky Hot Shots. Playing around with their depth chart again. This time, it was there starting offensive tackles, Malcolm Bunche and Brant Weiss, that didn’t suit up, but it wasn’t due to lack of quality of play. It was because they were injured. Extremely tough to play without both of your starting tackles and it showed. The Express d-line consistently made life hard for John Wolford, thus, making life hard for the Hot Shots to sustain or get anything going in the first 3 quarters. Hopefully, Arizona can get Bunche and Weiss back next week and we all can sleep a bit easier.
~Another week, another instance where I’m still not sure if we’re spelling it Hot Shots, HotShots, or Hotshots. People, I need a ruling on this and I need it yesterday.
~John Wolford showed why he’s the leader of the offense. Entering the game as the Awesome As Fuck all time leader in TDs and yards passing is pressure I don’t wish on my worst enemy let alone having to do it without both of your starting tackles. But Wolford hung in there, never doubted the game plan, stood the course and when it was time to strike, he struck with full force. Like when Balboa was fighting right handed against Creed in Rocky 2 and Mick Screamed “NOW!!” telling him it was time to switch back to south paw, this is what happened to Wolford in the 3rd quarter down 12-0. It was time to flip the switch and drop these suckers. Wolford finished with 14-22 for 194 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs. One of the INTs wasn’t his fault due to a receiver running the wrong route, but the Hot Shots would do well to not turn the ball over. The former Wake Forest standout also showed real grit on that 2 PT conversion where he lowered his shoulder as he was running the option. Wolford has had and will have better stat performances, but he probably won’t have a better “professional” looking outing as he did last night. Here’s what a clincher looks like…
~3 turnovers for the Hot Shots. That’s not going to get it done against the good teams in the AAF. Good teams make that hurt. Fortunately, Arizona were playing a non-good team in Memphis and got away with it. Two picks from Wolford, and a fumbe by Josh Huff is what they did. The Hot Shots have a high flying, score at any moment offense, but giving a team an extra 3 possessions, 4 if you count a turnover on downs they had, is going to find you on the wrong side of the wins/loss column. Clean it up this week in practice.
~I feel a little bit of shame that the Hot Shots are the first team the Express ever scored on. Even though it was week 2, it still is a bit embarrassing.
~The 4 headed monster that is the Hot Shots running game is what fueled the Hot Shots comeback. Jhurell the Hound Dog Pressley, Larry Kissed by a Rose lll, Tim to many cooks Cook and Justin I’m a descendant of John Stockton all had a part in hammering away at the Express defense. No bigger run was this elegant scamper…
~Receptions were at a premium in this game, but Rashad Ross didn’t disappoint making good with
his opportunities. he had 4 grabs for 67 yards an TD. Not gaudy numbers by any stretch of the imagination. But, when his number was called he answered. His counterpart, Josh Huff, had his best outing of the season with 2 catches for a whooping 86 yards. Impact plays is what he brought to the table. He did however have that fumble where he took a big hit. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, the only security I care about is ball security.
What makes these guys special is that they can take the ordinary catch, and turn them into mega plays. Case in point…
Excellent execution by the Hot Shots defense by taking what was my game plan and putting it into motion, which was let Christian Hackenberg try and do his job. Hackenberg tried doing his job to the tune of a grand total of 102 yards. The Hot Shots didn’t generate any INTs from Hackenberg because Hackenberg didn’t have the stomach to throw the ball more than 2 yards downfield. He did a poor job of replicating a Chad Pennington type game by looking to throw to his backs every play. When he was able to get loose and do something cool, the Hot Shots let them know where they live…
When you lineup against the Hot Shots, you need to understand that you’re going to feel it for the next couple of days.
~It was hilarious watching Hackenberg, seemingly every single play, losing his mind and screaming at the sideline or his own team when he couldn’t get the play.
I can’t find a video of the second play of the game for the Express where Hackenberg got a low snap and gave attitude to his center for sending it back low, and his center brushing him off not caring that it happened. It was lovely.
You could see it in the face of Mike Singletary that he knew he couldn’t throw the ball downfield because it would be a disaster. What’s worse is that apparently there isn’t anyone else on the Express that is thought of to being better than Christian Hackenberg. Some would call that a problem.
~Gotta tip your cap to Zac Stacy and Terrance McGee for for doing everything they could to win the game for the Express. They tried, got no help from anyone else on the Memphis offense, and in the end, fell short. Sad
The Hot Shots defense needs to watch this tape thoroughly to see what they did wrong in terms of reads. There were a few times where the LBs got stuck inside and ended up chasing. Also, they need to get back to basics and focus on tackling. Way to many missed tackles. I think they would tell you that.
~Can’t say to much about the secondary other than they blanketed the Express receivers, not letting them get remotely open making Hackenberg not test them at all. That’s exactly how you treat the weak; you get up in their face and force your will on them. Keep that kind of pressure up and make these QBs complete passes.
~If memory serves, and if I’m wrong please let me know, Todd, but Nick Folk had a great night not having to do a thing. He just got to stand there and enjoy the game. I envy that.
~Congrats to the Arizona Hot Shots for becoming the first team in the history of the AAF to win a road game. This team just can’t help themselves from setting records.
~I’m sorry that I didn’t include some stats. I can’t find all of them. The AAF box score doesn’t really get added to the internet at the moment, so I do what I can. If something is wrong, let me know and don’t cry about it. Instead, have a beer and relax. Thanks
That was as gritty a win that you’re going to see. It was sloppy at times and down right boring at moments. But the cream rose and when the lights were at their brightest, they performed like they and we know they’re capable of. Like when the Warriors get down and they just decide that enough is enough and end blowing a team out, that’s what the Hot Shots did. They put the league on notice that even when they don’t play their best, that they can put it together in a heart beat and turn the tables in a hurry. The Express did everything they could to win, and it still wasn’t enough. Everyone saw that.
Next week, the Arizona Hot Shots face a familiar foe as they’re on the road again against the Salt Lake Stallions. I have no idea why they’re playing a team twice in the first three weeks, but here we are. We know that they want to run because they can’t pass. The Stallions lost to the Birmingham Iron similar to how the Express did. They couldn’t finish. Tells me everything I have to know about them.
To the Hot Shots faithful, enjoy the victory. If you’re one of the people that lost trust in Arizona at any point in the game, I suggest you figure out if you’re in or out because we don’t need any fringe fans around when we’re holding up hardware at the end of the season. The biggest game of the season is next week and there’s no time to waste in flexing all over the league. Next Saturday at 3pm can’t come soon enough.
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