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Murray: Play for it all or go home

May 26, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Central Valley Coyotes News Release


Editor's Note: One of the most significant moves the Coyotes made during the 2004 off-season was acquiring Doug Murray as defensive coordinator. Murray spent the pas two seasons at UC Davis as the secondary coach.

In Central Valley, Murray inherits a defense that finished 3rd in the af2 last season. The team also acquired talented players in the off-season, including linebacker Kevin Nelson, defensive specialists Halakilangi Muagututia, and Jermaine Smith to add to the veteran leadership of defensive end Ricky Leung-Wai, defensive specialist VonKeith Spencer and linebacker Howard Maxwell.

Murray’s comments will appear regularly on Centralvalleycoyotes.com throughout the 2004 season.

What went wrong in Hawaii?

“We didn’t win the game. The reason we didn’t win was because we made a lot of mental mistakes that cost us plays that we didn’t make. Again there was a lack of continuity, consistency and discipline. We have to evaluate tape and make adjustments based on the film. We have to come back this week and play sound.”

Is it kind of ironic that last season the Coyotes franchise (formerly Bakersfield Blitz) had the same exact record at this point in time and still made the playoffs. And now you face the expansion Bakersfield Blitz?

“It was ironic for them last year, but it isn’t ironic for us yet we haven’t gone ahead and won the game that would allow you to make the playoffs, so we are far from what the franchise did last year. This is not to say that we don’t have the potential to still make it to the playoffs, we obviously aren’t out of the running mathematically.”

Talk about facing the Bakersfield Blitz this week.

“Bakersfield is a good team right now. If we are to get into the mix of this divisional race then we are going to have to beat a good team. The Blitz are playing as good as any team right now so in order to establish ourselves as a good team in this division we have to get a win. We have to play for it all or go home.”

Will it help to get Vonkeith Spencer back in the lineup?

“Absolutely. He is one of our best players and certainly losing a player of that caliber affected us, but not to the point where I felt it was the reason we lost the game. He adds a lot of emotion to the team. He’s a born leader and just having his presence on the field gives our secondary a huge lift. We still have enough talent to win a game if he is not ready to go this week.”

Talk about the play of JaJuan Huddleston in recent weeks.

“JaJuan has obviously played well on defense statistically and on offense I believe that if he continues to improve he’ll be a major factor on how the rest of the season manifests itself. He is a smart kid who flies to the football on defense. He seems to always be around the football and can definitely come up and hit someone.”

Talk about a Bakersfield offense and their ability to move the football.

“They’re excellent offensively. If they play the same way they played us in Week 2 then we’re going to be in a whole lot of trouble. Obviously we’ve improved and hopefully we can work hard this week to be a little more patient and disciplined. Our secondary has to be in the right positions and our line must get pressure on Elliott.”

Blitz QB Chad Elliot is a third year veteran quarterback. If you get pressure on him do you think he will get rattled?

“No, I don’t think he’ll get rattled but obviously we have to put pressure on him or we’ll get picked apart in the secondary, so certainly we want to put pressure on him but no he won’t get shaken up just because we get pressure. We need to apply pressure to force him to make a bad throw so our secondary can make a play on the ball.”

Eric Mahanke is Bakersfield’s leading receiver. In the previous meeting he had 5 receptions for 76 yards and 3 TD’s. Will you scheme against him any differently?

“No, I think we have to play him honest because they have other great players as well. Obviously he hurt us. In some cases we were right there and he just made great plays. Hopefully we can finish a little stronger on those individual plays and not try to necessarily scheme to defend him.”

Can the Coyotes duplicate last years run into the playoffs?

“I don’t know. I think we have the capacity to be good whether or not that equates into enough wins to get into the playoffs is yet to be known.”

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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