As the Texas sun sets to the west, painting purple lines on the famous façade of the House That Doak Built, the lonesome howls of dusty-furred coyotes will mix with the rabid yells of frenzied football fans when the San Diego Seduction visit the Cotton Bowl, home of the LFL’s Dallas Desire.
Like two gunslingers facing off in a contest of life and death, their trigger fingers twitching against their worn leather holsters, San Diego quarterback Kindra Myers brings the Seduction to duel against the best quarterback in the Western Conference, All-Fantasy superstar Linda Brenner.
Last season, as the unwelcome visitor in front of an amped-up San Diego crowd, Brenner came out throwing, completing three big passes over 20+ yards – nearly half the length of the field – in the first half alone. That performance stunned the San Diego crowd, and the San Diego secondary. Dallas would go on to roll up 246 total yards against the Seduction on a field that measures only 50, with Brenner’s arm contributing 84 of those yards in the air. She would guide her team to a 40-6 victory and set a pace that would take Dallas into the playoffs.
Now, Brenner has to defend her reputation as a gunfighting quarterback in the Desire’s season opener at home against a San Diego team that has been completely rebuilt. San Diego made tremendous strides to address the team’s shortfalls in the offseason. First, it brought in a new coach – Eddie Chan, former assistant coach for the Los Angeles Temptation – to split calls with the offensive coordinator Patrick Kelly. San Diego then brought in one of the best runners in the LFL; Brittainie DeGarbott. DeGarbott, or “BDG”, racked up 80 yards receiving and 112 yards rushing, with 2 touchdowns in the air and 3 more scores on the ground over the course of 5 games last season. Then, All-Fantasy wide receiver Shannon Peterson moved from Seattle to San Diego, giving the Seduction a quality deep threat.
Next, the Seduction moved one of the tallest women on the team – Kindra Myers – from the offensive line and made her the starting quarterback. Myers, who hails from a competitive softball background and last season proved her toughness against some of the strongest women in the league, can throw a ball hard and accurate and is tall enough to see over any charging defensive tackles to find open receivers – such as Peterson – down field. A proven runner in BDG, a deep-ball catcher in Peterson, and a tough quarterback in Myers give San Diego a formidable offensive capability that many defenses will be hard-pressed to stop. Key on BDG and Myers will option to the keeper. Stack the line and Myers will look over the top for Peterson in one-on-one coverage downfield. Indeed, a very challenging situation for a defensive coordinator to face.
For Dallas, Brenner comes back healthy and with her favorite longball target – Candis Mosley, a leggy receiver who averaged one score in every game she played last season, landing her on the All-Fantasy team with six other Dallas players. Joining Mosley will be Nikki Spinato at runningback, giving Dallas a very capable offensive tandem on the ground and in the air that can exploit gaps in the San Diego front line to rack up big yards in the San Diego secondary. If the connection to Mosley isn’t there, Brenner won’t hesitate to safety-valve the ball out to Spinato in the flats, and when that happens, Spinato has the speed to outrace most corners to the end zone.
Countering the Dallas offensive juggernaut is a San Diego defense that features tough-as-nails Tamika Estrella at corner and Audrey Latsko, a former All-American field hockey goalie from Syracuse who’s used to taking shots, now plugging the gaps at linebacker. Together, Estrella and Latsko present a capable defensive threat outside, but only if they can catch Spinato and Mosley.
When Mosley is on the defensive side of the ball, she’s half of the “Twin Towers of Dallas Desire” defensive tandem with Tonitura Kelly. Last season Kelly racked up 11 tackles (4 of them solo) and got shared credit for a sack. Together, the Twin Towers present a very tall obstacle for Myers to navigate around. Joining the Twin Towers is rookie Jo Brown, an impact player in the Desire defensive scheme that will be shadowing the Seduction ball carriers all night long.
Look for Dallas to come out gunning deep with Brenner to Mosley testing the San Diego secondary early and forcing Latsko to stay honest to the pass, then using Spinato’s speed to keep the San Diego defense off-balance while Brenner sets up for the long ball. For San Diego, look for the Seduction to use an option run with Myers as lead blocker and BDG looking for the pitch. Or, if Dallas is pushing into the San Diego routes consistently, the Seduction may opt for a direct snap to BDG with Myers as the fourth blocker pulling around the end.
But when the final seconds are ticking off the clock, a Dallas victory will depend on whether or not the Desire have fully exploited the talent on their squad, and whether they have fully exploited the weaknesses in the San Diego secondary. Brenner to Mosley and Brenner to Spinato will be the Desire’s recipe for success against a San Diego defense that is capable up front but lacks speed behind the linebackers.
2009 Match-up: Dallas 40, San Diego 6
Arena: The Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX
Playing Surface: Outdoors, Natural Grass
Key Match-ups: San Diego’s secondary against the Mosley deep route;
San Diego pass rush against Brenner
Dallas defensive front three containing Myers and DeGarbott
Injuries: None
Kickoff: 9pm Central
Prediction: Dallas 21 San Diego 14
Dallas -6, Over/Under 35
