Rattlers playoff bound despite having to use three quarterbacks

The last thing the Rattlers needed this season was an unsettled quarterback spot. A repeat of the recent past, when the team’s iconic signal-caller Sherdrick Bonner shuttled in and out with injuries, figured to spell doom.

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Yet, here they are, working on their season’s third quarterback as they attempt to close out a winning regular season and get ready to host a playoff game.

A brief recap: Lang Campbell, who won the starter’s job at the season’s start, suffered major ankle and knee injuries and is out for the season.

His replacement, Jeff Smoker, got banged up and was replaced by Matt Sauk, who was brought out of retirement by coach Kevin Guy.

Sauk played well enough to earn the starting job even though Smoker is healthy enough to play.

“Ideally, you wouldn’t want to make the changes we have,” Guy said. “Unfortunately we had some injuries, and we had to make some moves.”

Sauk said he got Guy’s call at about 8:30 a.m. on Mother’s Day.

“I had just woken up ... It was kind of a weird call from him,” said Sauk, who asked Guy: “Why are you calling me on Mother’s Day?

“He asked me if I wanted to come and play. I didn’t really believe him. I think I asked him two or three times if he was serious.”

A few hours later, Sauk drove from Spokane, Wash., to his home in Utah and flew to Arizona the next day.

It helped that Sauk took over during a hot streak in which the Rattlers won four straight.

“To me, I’m still the backup. ... I was lucky to be here during that time when these guys are starting to come together and play well,” he said.

Sauk didn’t have a great game Monday in a disappointing home loss to Colorado. He turned the ball over three times. Guy, however, said receivers’ route running factored into Sauk’s two interceptions (he also fumbled the ball away once).

“He’s still our guy,” the coach said, pointing out that Sauk still threw for 364 yards. “He still brings a veteran presence to the team.”

So Sauk will be under center again tonight when the Rattlers (8-7) host Danny White’s Utah Blaze.

The Blaze (5-10) started the season as the Arena league’s worst team at 0-9. But they have caught fire as the season has wound down and are trying to assure themselves of a playoff spot.

“Danny is a good coach,” Guy said of the longtime Rattlers coach.

“Everybody here knows who Danny is. I have a great deal of respect for him. He does a great job of calling the offense.”

Though the game isn’t, strictly speaking, a “must” for the playoff-bound Rattlers, Guy is approaching it that way. “We need to win this game,” he said, pointing out a victory translates to a winning season, which would be the franchise’s first since 2004. “We want some momentum going into the playoffs. We didn’t work our butts off all year long to get this home playoff game and not be ready.”

Who’s the right man?
Rattlers’ record in which their three quarterbacks started:
Lang Campbell: 3-4 (including two games in which he was knocked out early)
Jeff Smoker: 3-2
Matt Sauk: 2-1

Blaze at Rattlers
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: US Airways Center
Live audio: www.azrattlers.com