While the spotlight, crowds and paychecks might not match those in the NFL, the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League has a quarterback/receiver duo playing well enough to make local football fans say “Rex and Muhsin who?”
QB Matt D’Orazio has connected for touchdowns with Bobby Sippio 35 times in just eight games this season, putting the receiver atop the league’s scoring list and poised to shatter AFL records.
They will likely pad their stats tonight when the team faces the Colorado Crush at the Allstate Arena.
RedEye caught up with the pair during one of their rare moments outside of the end zone.
How are your positions played differently than in traditional football?
Sippio: “The field is not big enough to be rushing the ball much, so this league is all about receivers and quarterbacks. Other than that, we’re running the same routes, catching the same ball. I try to stay away from the walls as best you can.”
D’Orazio: “If a ball bounces off the walls, it’s live, so you want to avoid ricochets. But I can put the ball just high enough over the boards where only my receiver can get to it.”
Do you take fewer hits than an NFL quarterback?
D’Orazio: “I probably do, and that’s fine with me. I hold the ball a little more than I should — take a few more hits than I should. But I don’t mind. That’s part of being a quarterback.”
Is playing in the NFL the goal of every player in the AFL?
D’Orazio: “Obviously the NFL is the highest level of football, but this league has been great for me, and it’s growing. But I’m sure in the back of everyone’s [each player’s] mind they’re thinking about the NFL.”
Some might say you’re a big fish in a small pond.
Sippio: “You can go into any pond and find a lot of big fish. I’ve been [in the NFL, where Sippio was signed by the Miami Dolphins in 2004]. Do I feel like I have the talent to play in the NFL? I shouldn’t even have to answer that.”
Explain your connection on the field.
D’Orazio: “Bobby played quarterback and was player of the year his senior year in high school. He understands the position and that of the defensive back. He gets what everybody is thinking.”
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NEXT UP
Vs. Colorado
7 p.m. Monday, ESPN2
The Rush seeks a franchise-record eighth consecutive win as it shares the national TV spotlight for a second straight week. In 2005, the Crush denied the Rush a trip to the title game with an overtime win. Rush WR Andy McCullough, then playing for the Crush, caught the game-winning TD pass. With two TDs on Monday, Rush WR Bobby Sippio would set an AFL record for most TDs in the season’s first nine games.
