Well, the final week of the season is upon us, and Your Beloved Toros are battling Boise for the top seed in the playoffs. With a win today we can lock it up; with a loss, we need to hope for Boise to lose to Anchorage (which is not likely to happen). So, we decide to go for broke in this final week to gain the ever-important homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. We face an Arizona Outlaw squad that will also be going all-out, as their playoff hopes rest on getting a win here and some help elsewhere.
On to the action!
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Box Score: Arizona at Tucson
Tucson, AZ.
Week 17, 2009
Attendance: 67,000 (69,800).
Weather: 62 degrees, fair.
1Q: 04:31 TUC - Drew Holliday 4 pass from Daryl Cassidy.
1Q: 04:31 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
2Q: 14:50 ARI - Artie Sonntag 5 run.
2Q: 14:50 ARI - Paul Stephan extra point.
2Q: 11:05 ARI - Artie Sonntag 2 run.
2Q: 11:05 ARI - Paul Stephan extra point.
2Q: 00:26 ARI - Artie Sonntag 4 run.
2Q: 00:26 ARI - Paul Stephan extra point.
3Q: 04:02 TUC - Rubin Castorena 41 field goal.
3Q: 00:17 ARI - Erich Frazee 10 pass from Freddie Mathias.
3Q: 00:17 ARI - Paul Stephan extra point.
4Q: 01:08 ARI - Paul Stephan 20 field goal.
Game MVP: ARI 3 Freddie Mathias
Arizona 0 21 7 3 - 31
Tucson 7 0 3 0 - 10
Team Statistics ARI TUC
First Downs 22 22
Total Rushes 38 28
Rushing Yards 142 154
Yards Per Carry 3.7 5.5
Pass Attempts 21 41
Completions 17 16
Passing Yards 223 225
Yards Per Attempt 10.6 5.4
Sacked 0 3
Yards Lost 0 20
Interceptions 0 1
Fumbles/Lost 2/0 2/0
Total Plays 59 72
Total Yards 365 359
Yards Per Play 6.1 4.9
3rd Down Plays 3/9 10/17
Avg. YTG on 3rd 5.0 10.1
4th Down Plays 0/0 0/1
Penalties 4 9
Penalty Yards 21 75
Avg. Drive Start OWN 35 OWN 22
Time Of Possession 29:02 30:58
Arizona Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
28 Sonntag 23 101 4.3 42 3
39 Zimmerman 12 20 1.6 8 0
24 Stovall 2 8 4.0 6 0
3 Mathias 1 13 13.0 13 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
3 Mathias 21 17 223 10.6 51 1 0 0
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
85 Frazee 5 49 9.8 19 14 1
81 Latour 5 97 19.4 5 51 0
28 Sonntag 3 21 7.0 4 13 0
86 McKoy 2 36 18.0 7 18 0
80 Connors 1 7 7.0 0 7 0
12 Khan 1 13 13.0 5 13 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
32 Chandler 1 19 19.0 0
80 Connors 1 22 22.0 0
12 Khan 1 24 24.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
17 Shields 4 179 44.7 54 3
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
14 Stephan 1 2 20 4 4
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
52 Pittman 6 3 0.0 0 0 0
49 Breckinridge 6 0 0.0 0 0 0
22 Dao 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
99 James 4 0 1.5 0 0 0
98 Burke 4 1 0.0 0 0 0
91 Crowther 3 0 1.0 0 0 0
53 Farley 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
57 Buenaluz 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
41 Clancy 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
32 Chandler 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
29 Bottoms 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
12 Khan 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
94 Dunmore 1 1 0.5 0 0 0
90 Stiles 1 3 0.0 0 0 0
34 Fisher 1 2 0.0 0 0 0
48 Ibanez 1 0 0.0 1 1 0
50 Caines 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
84 Austin 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
95 Nichols 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
56 Wiggs 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
50 Caines 0 0 0 0 3 0
63 Banks 0 0 0 0 3 0
91 Crowther 0 1 0 0 0 0
32 Chandler 0 1 0 0 0 0
85 Frazee 0 0 0 0 1 0
28 Sonntag 1 0 0 0 0 0
84 Austin 0 0 0 0 1 0
86 McKoy 0 0 1 0 0 0
65 McIntyre 0 0 0 0 1 0
79 Compton 0 0 0 0 1 0
87 Legan 0 0 0 0 1 0
24 Stovall 0 0 1 0 0 0
39 Zimmerman 1 0 0 0 0 0
59 Keillor 0 0 0 0 1 0
Tucson Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
42 Holliday 19 102 5.3 17 0
8 Cassidy 4 29 7.2 11 0
22 Bradley 3 16 5.3 8 0
26 Jeffries 2 7 3.5 4 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
8 Cassidy 38 14 208 5.4 34 1 1 3
4 Hogan 3 2 17 5.6 9 0 0 0
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
89 Armitage 3 37 12.3 4 14 0
42 Holliday 3 16 5.3 3 8 1
80 Higginbotham 2 54 27.0 3 32 0
26 Jeffries 2 23 11.5 7 14 0
11 Housley 2 50 25.0 3 34 0
82 Torres 2 25 12.5 19 14 0
22 Bradley 1 10 10.0 0 10 0
88 Ramirez 1 10 10.0 0 10 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
22 Bradley 1 9 9.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
88 Ramirez 2 29 14.5 0
85 Garcia 2 28 14.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
15 Winters 4 151 37.7 45 1
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
13 Castorena 1 2 41 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
58 Watford 10 2 0.0 0 0 0
31 Enoch 8 3 0.0 0 0 0
75 Grier 4 3 0.0 0 0 0
40 Biggs 4 1 0.0 0 0 0
55 Trujillo 4 1 0.0 0 0 0
32 Hartung 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
95 Stoltzfus 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
90 Jarrard 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
73 Smith 2 2 0.0 0 0 0
72 Bernard 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
74 Cochrane 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
80 Higginbotham 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
46 Bloch 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
25 Minahan 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
42 Holliday 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
26 Jeffries 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
29 McCloskey 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
30 Robbins 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
45 Bennett 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
33 Mirer 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
64 Connell 0 0 0 0 2 1
63 Pitman 0 0 1 0 4 1
71 Franck 0 0 0 0 3 1
61 Eaddy 0 0 0 0 4 0
8 Cassidy 2 0 0 0 0 0
87 Sheehy 0 0 0 0 1 0
55 Trujillo 0 1 0 0 0 0
88 Ramirez 0 0 1 0 0 0
59 Buckley 0 0 0 0 1 0
74 Cochrane 0 1 0 0 0 0
Arizona Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 15:00 3:18 OWN 34 5 17 Punt
1 4:31 2:21 OWN 34 3 9 Punt
1 1:22 1:32 OPP 20 3 20 Touchdown
2 13:13 2:08 OWN 36 5 64 Touchdown
2 9:17 5:15 OWN 25 9 41 Missed FG
2 2:21 1:55 OWN 13 9 87 Touchdown
3 10:20 2:38 OWN 21 4 17 Punt
3 4:02 3:45 OWN 37 10 63 Touchdown
4 8:49 1:27 OWN 33 3 9 Punt
4 5:32 4:24 OWN 40 10 57 Field Goal
Tucson Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 11:42 7:11 OWN 17 14 83 Touchdown
1 2:10 0:48 OWN 9 2 4 Interception
2 14:50 1:37 OWN 32 3 4 Punt
2 11:05 1:48 OWN 24 3 6 Punt
2 4:02 1:41 OWN 41 3 4 Punt
2 0:26 0:26 OWN 21 1 -4 Half
3 15:00 4:40 OWN 30 12 49 Downs
3 7:42 3:40 OWN 26 8 50 Field Goal
3 0:17 6:28 OWN 20 14 54 Missed FG
4 7:22 1:50 OWN 4 4 20 Punt
4 1:08 1:08 OWN 20 8 54 Game
Arizona Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
5 4 1
Tucson Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
4 1 1
Oh dear. That really couldn't have gone much worse.
On our very first defensive series we lost starting LB Jerry King to a hyperextended knee, and then our worst fears were realized. During our very first offensive series, after a very nice march down the field, "Colonel" Hogan somehow suffers a separated shoulder on a handoff to Drew Holliday. He's out for the next seven weeks, and just like that our hopes of finally making some noise in the playoffs are shattered. Both the offense and defense unravel from that point on, and it really doesn't matter what happened in the game. Our season is effectively over.
I took a risk in starting our big guns today, and it blew up in my face. There were maybe three players for whom an injury would be devastating, and we just so happened to suffer an injury to the least replaceable of those three. Hogan had heretofore suffered only one injury in his career that forced him to miss playing time, so I figured the probability of that happening in this game was slim-to-none. Apparently that probability was more on the slim side.
Our backup QB, Daryl Cassidy, is still very green and hasn't developed like we thought he would when we brought him over from Tampa Bay. He did a decent job in relief of Hogan today, but 14 of 38 will not win many games. He filled in for Hogan last year during the only other significant injury Hogan has suffered and went 2-1. Will he be able to work some playoff magic? We have to hope so. Our only other alternative at QB is Artie Weinke, who might hold more long-term promise for us, but he's even greener than Cassidy. Alas.
A barely perceptible silver lining in this game is that we got our run game back on track, which will be very important with Hogan out. We also got our starting center back from injury, and might get our starting MLB Grant Wash and our key backup DT Henry Stansell back in time for our first (and probably only) playoff game. On a related note, I have calculated that our defensive starters have missed a total of 48 games started this season. I'm amazed at how strong our defense has been given that I've been MacGyvering the defensive lineup all season long.
Ken Wickes Deathwatch Update: Take a gander at this playcall, occuring in the 3rd quarter with the score AZ 21, TUC 7:
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4-15-ARI21 (10:25) TUC 8 Cassidy pass fell incomplete, intended for 11 Housley.
ARI 75 Isola hurried the quarterback into a bad throw.
The ball goes over on downs.
Huh? 4th and 15, a shitty backup QB in the game, in a situation where a FG puts us within 2 scores of a tie, and we
go for it?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? I have a hard time believing that any head coach in the history of professional football would have made that call. That's at least six different kinds of stupid, and I blame this call not on Ken Wickes, but on Jim Gindin. That kind of thing just shouldn't happen in this game. Sheesh.
All in all this was a bitterly disappointing week, and it probably shows in my writing. I'm genuinely pissed that the improbable has happened and all of the magic of that 10-game winning streak has evaporated into nothingness. Damn, what a waste. But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself - we've still got a playoff game in two weeks. Maybe we'll get lucky.
And maybe I will start pooping out rolls of $100 bills.
You never know.