VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 23:38:19 03/29/03 Sat
Author: Mike Banghart
Author Host/IP: 148.78.243.51
Subject: Mobile loses the battle, not the war

Louisiana-Flashback to last season. Heading into week 12 new GM Mike Banghart had his team poised for a late season rn. After winning three straight games the Gulls came into Louisiana with their slim playoff hopes alive. A poor performance marked by a few mental errors by star quarterback Johnny Johnson doomed the Gulls to a narrow defeat. After the game GM Mike Banghart vowed that wouldn't be the case next season.

Fast forward to week 5 of this season. The Seagulls were tied for first place after winning three straight. The Gulls had to again face Louisiana in Louisiana. The result was for the fourth straight season the Seagulls failed to defeat the Bayou Beast at home.

What made this game extra special was not only that two first place teams squared off against each other, but the blockbuster deal made before the game. Longtime Gulls Anothny Payton and Tony Altman were moved along with S Eric Wilcher for CB Reggie Smith and Louisiana's entire draft. GM Mike Banghart believed that this deal would make Mobile better in the long run, and that the team had enough depth at the positions to sustain the loss. "Clearly there is going to be an impact when you lose three players of that ability. However, Jimmy came to me with a proposal I couldn't turn down, " commented GM Mike Banghart.

Anothny Payton on hearing the news was not surprised. "To be honest I saw the trade coming. A team doesn't acquire a wide receiver of Sareni's capabilty to be a part time WR/kick returner. I was a little surprised that I was the one to go, but I was pretty sure that one of myself, Kurt (Barth), or Frank (Napier) were going to be traded. I'm just glad that I am going to a team contending for the division. My goal is to help Louisiana get to the next level." That next level would be winning in the playoffs, something no Bayou Beast team has managed.

Mobile was largely out played in the game. Louisiana outgained through the air and on the ground. A big factor in that though was star runningback Marquette Smith was injuried during the first drive. Bradford had some decent runs, but the Gulls coaching staff never gained confidence fully in his ability. As a result Johnson threw 45 passes.

Johnson was sharp but one serious mental error really hurt the team. Johnson threw two picks, but one lead directly to a Louisiana field goal. The other costly mistakes was two Mike Moser missed field goals from 41 and 43 yards out. Moser's inaccuracy has baffled Mobile coaches who say, "he has both the strength and disclipine to be a premier kicker." The results have not always been there, though.

GM Mike Banghart was naturally defensive after the dishearten loss. The first question was about his comments from last season. His response was simply, "that Louisiana was the better team out there today. You can't make the mistakes we made out there and expect to beat a quality team like Louisiana on the road. We've got Steel Valley next week and we've got to try to regroup against a team that has been struggling lately." Questions then turned to the status of star runningback Smith. "We are going to play it safe with Marquette. He is going to rest next week, and Bradford will get the bulk of the carries next week. He did an admirable job filling in. Bottomline is that this is just precautionary. This early in the season we don't want to do anything that would jeopardize Marquette's health since he is an important cog in this team." Questions again swirled back to the rivalary which was sprouted in large part to Banghart's comments following the week 12 game last season. "Look today's game was a battle. We lost it, but don't think for a moment the war is over. There are 9 weeks left. Louisiana still has to come back to our home, and attempt to win where they have never won before. None of us are panicing. It is early in the season. Would it have been nice to win today? Sure, but we didn't. So you move on. We lost the battle, but not the war, today."

Mobile did lose a battle today, and a key one at that. One can't help, but think of last season when watching this game. There is a lot of football left in the 2002 season. Anothny Payton comments though soften the blow for die-hard Gulls fans, some of whom are still fuming over him being dealt, "I believe in Mike. He has really turned around that franchise, and I can tell you one thing. That is up until I left, every guy on that team believes that they are a playoff team. I can't comment on that now, but believe that hasn't always been the case."

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.