April 16, 2009 - 8:49 PM
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The Monitor
After a suffering their first loss of the season in a 77-64 road setback to the Arkansas Twisters last week, the Rio Grande Valley Dorados are looking forward to a little home cookin'.
The Dorados (1-1) will face the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings (1-2) in their 2009 home opener on Saturday at Dodge Arena in Hidalgo. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.
"You always want to play at home and sleep in your own bed," Dorados coach Marty Hammond said. "I think that's going to help us and playing in front of our crowd is always going to help us. And I think they're excited to play at home, just from being on the road. The last road trip was a pretty long one, so it is good to be home."
Hammond is 2-1 in home openers as RGV's head coach with the one loss being a 50-40 shortcoming against Bossier-Shreveport last season. The Dorados will look to improve on a 4-4 record at Dodge Arena in 2008.
"We've been stressing to the guys about establishing how we're going to play at home this year," Hammond said. "So we want to get out of the gate fast, as far as the home schedule goes."
MISLEADING NUMBERS
RGV's defensive yards-allowed numbers from the team's loss to Arkansas look better than those from the win over Corpus three weeks ago.
The Dorados defense gave up just 229 yards to the Twisters after holding the Sharks to 273 yards earlier this month.
So how did RGV give up 44 more points despite holding its opponent to 44 fewer yards? The answer lies in special teams.
After six of the Dorados' 11 kickoffs, the Twisters started at the RGV 21 or better.
"Our kickoff team gave up too much and they were starting on a shortened field for most of the night," Hammond said. "Then we had an onside kick problem, so that was a shortened field. I think that hurt us the most."
SACK SHORTAGE
The Dorados and the Manchester Wolves are the only arenafootball2 teams that have yet to record a sack this season.
Hammond said that pressuring the opposing quarterback has become a priority this week and his team may try a few different looks on the defensive line.
"We may put some smaller guys off the edge and use our speed and mix up (nose guard) Walter (Thomas) playing inside and out," he said. "So we may do just different combinations of personnel."
JERSEY NIGHT
Though most Dorados fans still haven't even seen quarterback Nick Hill, replicas of the rookie's jersey will be the opening night giveaways.
The first 1000 kids to enter Dodge Arena on Saturday will receive a #17 Nick Hill Dorados jersey courtesy of Anzaldua Bail Bonds.
Hill has completed 43 of his 74 passes this season (63.5 completion percentage) for 640 yards with 13 touchdowns and three interceptions. He leads the league in passing yards per game with 315.0 and ranks 12th in pass efficiency with a 113.2 grade.
Stephen K. Lee covers the Rio Grande Valley Dorados for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4442.
