Richard Obert

azcentral sports

Rattlers missed four point-after kicks in 73-69 win over Power

Rattlers kicker Craig Ratanamorn was solid on extra-point tries, before missing four against the Power.

Conditioning is helping the Rattlers' defense late in games.

The Rattlers will emphasize the kicking game this week after missing four extra points in Saturday's 73-69 victory over the Pittsburgh Power.

Kicker Craig Ratanamorn had been solid, before Saturday's game.

With the four misses, he is now 36-of-43 on points after touchdowns.

The Rattlers (5-0) have a new kicker and long-snapper, center Jeff Maddux, this season. Last year, fullback Odie Armstrong did most of the snapping on extra points. He is with the San Jose SaberCats after he was released during preseason after he was unable to pass his entrance physical.

Garrett Lindholm, who was the Kicker of the Year in the Arena Football League last season with the Rattlers, decided to stay close to home and signed as a free agent with the San Antonio Talons (1-5), who visit the Rattlers on Saturday night.

Lindolm has converted 31 of 33 extra points (93.9 percent) this season for the second-best percentage in the league, behind Spokane's Taylor Rowan (38 of 40, 95 percent).

"We were absolutely terrible," coach Kevin Guy said. "We'll get it fixed either by technique or by personnel. Our offensive left side didn't protect well at all. We've got to address it. We're not going to make excuses."

Defending

The Rattlers had three stops against the best offense they have seen this year. Rookie Nicolas Jean-Baptiste and Cliff Dukes had sacks. Conditioning paid off at the end when the Rattlers kept quarterback Tommy Grady (nine TD passes in the game) and receiver Aaron Lesue (six TD catches) out of the end zone with less than seven minutes to play that led to a Rattlers touchdown and a 10-point lead.

"Offensively, we had 11 possessions," Guy said. "Seven of the 11 we scored in three plays or less. Defense is playing twice as much as the offense. They're getting winded. … We've already as a defense, as far as reps go, played a whole other game than the offense."

Day off

Guy gave his players a day off from practice Tuesday to heal up. Defensive lineman Anttaj Hawthorne needed the extra day. He didn't play in last week's game because of an injury. Guy said Hawthorne is "day to day."

The Rattlers went with Jean-Baptiste in the middle of the defensive line, flanked by Marcus Pittman and Dukes with Tryre Glasper the plug linebacker. Glasper limped off the field in the second half.