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FRANK PASTORThe Storm struggles without Kelvin Kinney's pass protection and disruptive defense.
TAMPA - His torn groin won't heal until the season is over. His dislocated left ring finger prevents him from grabbing anything with that hand. A pinched pectoral muscle sometimes limits him to the use of one arm.
Doctors tell Kelvin Kinney he shouldn't be playing.
But for the Storm to have any chance of making the playoffs, he knows he must.
"It makes it tough when you're out there and you're on half a leg or whatever. Your groin's hurting. Your shoulder's hurting. You're trying to block that out, and then you go up to the line and get ready for a play," Kinney said. "But that's all in the game. You don't play a long time on any level professionally unless you can play with injuries."
Kinney, one of the league's top pass rushers the past two seasons, is the linchpin of the Storm's offensive and defensive lines. Of the four games he missed due to injuries, Tampa Bay lost three.
Though his mobility is 70 to 75 percent, he said, entering today's game at Orlando (6-5), the Storm (5-7) knows it needs every bit of it.
"I felt like he was one of the most dominant players in the league as a lineman," Storm coach Tim Marcum said. "He's been hurt, and hopefully, he's steadily coming out of it. And hopefully, he can do what he's got to do.
"We've got to have a pass rush going into this pretty (darn) strong four games left: Orlando, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Dallas. If it ain't murderers row, I don't know what is."
The Storm likely needs to win each game to extend its league record 13-season playoff streak. But then, it has approached every game as a must-win since a 51-36 loss April 11 at Chicago dropped it to 3-7.
What might seem an impossible task to some is a reason for Kinney to keep battling.
"It just feels good to be out there knowing we've got a chance to come back and turn this whole thing around," he said. "I think we already turned it around (with consecutive wins over Austin and Columbus). We've just got to keep the ball rolling. We've got a great opportunity here to come back."
Kinney, 31, would know. In addition to last season's ArenaBowl, in which he returned a Sherdrick Bonner fumble 26 yards for a touchdown, he won a Grey Cup with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League, making a fourth-down sack to help seal the win.
At 6 feet 7, 280 pounds, Kinney has the size, strength and motor to alter a game single-handedly. Though he has no sacks this season after making six a year ago, his five quarterback hurries lead the team.
Pressure from Kinney led to interceptions against Chicago and Georgia, including one linebacker Basil Proctor returned for a touchdown. Last week, Kinney intercepted a pass in the Columbus end zone to give the Storm a two-possession lead.
"Any time you can get a quarterback off his rhythm or a quarterback can't step into his throw because you're down around his legs or hitting him in his mouth, then you're making things happen," Kinney said. "If he can't get into his throws, sometimes there's interceptions or an underthrown ball. That takes away a down."
Acquired from Detroit primarily for his pass-rushing ability in a trade for quarterback Scott Milanovich before the 2003 season, Kinney had to learn to play offense. In only his second season as a two-way lineman, he has developed into one of the Storm's most dependable pass protectors.
"I don't give up too many hits on the quarterback," Kinney said. "I'm working every day myself to get better, and this is something in this league you have to do. If you want to be on the field, you've got to play offense, and I think I'm playing okay because I'm playing a lot of offense and the team's winning. So I must be playing okay."
Even if he's not completely healthy.