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Dispatch

3/30/06

ARENA FOOTBALL

‘D’ is driving force behind Destroyers’ recent winning ways

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>MIKE MUNDEN | DISPATCH </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Brandon Hefflin of the Destroyers is AFL defensive player of the week. He had two fumble recoveries, an interception and 13.5 tackles in a 65-21 win over Colorado. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


In the Arena Football League, offenses get the glory. Quarterbacks get the money. Receivers get to showboat after scoring touchdowns.
Defenses exist as fodder, or at least that’s how it sometimes seems. Most of the time, they survive by having short memories as they hope to make the occasional play to stop a drive.
For a defense to dominate bucks the nature of the AFL. Yet that’s what the Columbus Destroyers have done this season, particularly lately.
The resurgent Destroyers (or maybe it should just be "surgent," given their sorry history) have ridden their defense to a 5-4 record heading into Saturday’s game at Dallas.
Last week, Columbus stunned defending AFL champion Colorado by holding the Crush to three touchdowns in a 65-21 win. The week before, the Destroyers beat Philadelphia 53-20. For the season, Columbus is yielding only 41 points per game, best in the league.
"Hard work. That’s basically the key," defensive specialist Jerald Brown said. "And believing. If you don’t believe you can stop people in arena football, you won’t. We believe we can."
Against the Crush, Columbus held Colorado scoreless on 11 of 14 possessions. In the AFL, defenses are considered to have had a successful game if they have three stops. The Destroyers are averaging 4.3.
"Every game we’ve had except the Georgia game (68-50 loss March 10), we’ve had at least five stops, which is really unheard of in arena football," Brown said.
The Destroyers have flourished with a formula common to successful defenses in any type of football — a strong pass rush, solid tackling and a knack for turnovers. Columbus has forced a league-high 28 turnovers.
"The rules only let you do so much," defensive assistant coach Ian Cooper said. "We try not to make huge adjustments and let our guys play and be athletes."
Cooper praised the play of the Destroyers’ defensive line, particularly Ken Jones, Mike Sutton and Kelvin Kinney. Columbus has only five sacks, but opposing quarterbacks often are harassed.
"When you have a tremendous defensive line like we do, there’s not too much you have to do other than do your job," Brown said.
The secondary has overcome injury problems to intercept 15 passes, eight by Brown. Brandon Hefflin had two fumble recoveries, an interception and 13.5 tackles last week to earn AFL defensive player of the week honors.
Hefflin was one of the few players asked back from a team that went 2-14 last year.
"I think we’re doing a better job of preparing and doing a better job of understanding what we have to do," Hefflin said.
The Desperados should provide a stern test this week. Dallas (7-2) scored 87 points two weeks ago against Orlando.
Destroyers coach Doug Kay praised his team’s defensive play but added a cautionary note.
"They need to understand this is the same football team that three weeks ago against Georgia had no stops," he said. "This game is humbling."
brabinowitz@dispatch.com