Saturday, May. 03, 2008

Fever out of options

By Ben Reynolds, Herald staff writer

The Tri-Cities Fever has a new and experienced quarterback. The Fever has shed some of the players who were becoming distractions. The Fever has also upgraded a few other positions.

Now there is only one thing left for Cedric Walker.

"We need to win a football game," said the first-year coach.

The Fever, which is 0-4 and has lost eight straight dating back to last season, try to end that string tonight when it plays host to West Division rival Central Valley at Toyota Center.

The Coyotes (2-2) are coming off a last-second loss to first-place Spokane and have lost two games by a total of 13 points.

On the other side, Tri-Cities has lost its last two games by a combined 90 points, prompting some major roster adjustments.

The major change was the addition of Josh Kellett at quarterback to a fledgling offense that ranks 26th out of 29 teams in scoring offense at 35.8 points per game.

The Fever, one of three winless teams left in the af2, is also 26th in offensive yards per game (224.2) and second-to-last in first downs with 57.

All those offensive numbers were the doing of quarterbacks Jason Campbell and John Pierce -- in the first four games, they combined for 15 touchdown passes to 11 interceptions.

Campbell has parted ways with the team and Pierce was placed on the injured reserve list this week with an injured vertebrae he suffered in last week's 76-32 loss at Peoria. Pierce is expected to miss at least four weeks.

Kellett, who led Rio Grande Valley to a 15-1 regular-season record last season and ranked in the top 10 in several offensive categories, arrived in town late Wednesday night. He has had just Thursday's practice and a walk-through Friday to get his timing down with his receivers.

"For the first little bit we will have to adjust to what he likes to do," said Fever receiver Phil Goodman.

The offense has not been the entire problem for the Fever this season.

Tri-Cities is last in the league in points allowed at 62.8 per game and near the bottom of the league in penalties committed, averaging over 81 yards per game.

Walker said with the addition of veteran lineman John Fields, those numbers should improve. Walker also said that those numbers will also be helped out by Kellett.

"He's a leader and he has brought some of that swagger back," Walker said.

The Fever will need a lot of swagger to come back from the early hole it has dug in the standings. But one of the bright spots for the Fever is that it gets to play each division rival three times.

Six weeks ago, Walker did not like the new way of scheduling. After the kind of start the Fever has had and the additions the team has made in the last week, he has changed his tune.

"It's best right now," Walker said.

-- LB Ron Childs, who injured his hamstring against Boise and did not play last week, will be in uniform tonight. ... FB Michael Hodges was diagnosed with a slight tear in his MCL and is expected to miss four weeks.