They Are Hoping to Shake the Rattlers and Roll

The resistible force takes aim at the movable object this week. The deciding factor as to who wins the Avengers’ game against Arizona on Sunday probably will be which team has best dealt with last week’s glaring weakness.

The Avengers had a “Where’s Waldo?” afternoon in a 58-40 loss to Colorado, unsuccessfully trying to locate Crush receivers, particularly Damian Harrell, who had five touchdown receptions.

Meanwhile, Rattler quarterback Sherdrick Bonner was completing 58% of his passes, but only if you count the six that were caught by New York players in a 61-37 Dragon victory. Bonner’s six interceptions set the Arena Football League single-game record.

Bonner, though, makes the Avengers nervous.

“He’s as good a quarterback as there is in the league,” said Avenger defensive specialist Damen Wheeler, who played his first game last week. “Our defense has to do better because what happened last week can’t happen against him.”

Besides Harrell having a big day, Crush receivers were left uncovered on three touchdown receptions.

“I think guys were just trying too hard to make big plays,” Coach Ed Hodgkiss said. “They got caught looking into the backfield a couple times and were flat-footed.”

The Avengers have used four defensive specialists in three secondary combinations through five games and hope that Wheeler’s return from a hamstring injury last week will stabilize that position. He intercepted one pass against Colorado.

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Bonner’s bad day could be put down to rust. He had not played in the season-opening victory because of a bruised bone in his knee. He has led Arizona into the last three ArenaBowls, but his return hardly bolstered a Rattler team that has now lost four consecutive games. The latest defeat had first-year Coach Todd Shell in hiding, as he refused to talk with reporters after the game.

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Being a running back certainly must have looked a lot more glamorous to Lonnie Ford when he was a defensive lineman at USC. But he has the necessary requirements to run the ball in the AFL.

“It’s a collision position in this league,” Hodgkiss said. “You need someone with size at running back to handle defensive linemen.”

Ford, 6 feet 2 and 260 pounds, is third in the league in rushing with 68 yards -- 35 of them in one run against San Jose two weeks ago.

“The fullback is really just another lineman,” Ford said. “I might get to carry the ball four times a game. My job is to block.”