Before we begin, a little bit of history for you all. Way back in the day, Pittsburgh had an arena team called the Gladiators (I know, right?) It was not to be, and the team left for greener pastures. The name went out to Vegas and then eventually to Cleveland, where a prophesy spoke of the day when they would return to Pittsburgh and fall in battle amid the blare of annoying plastic horns. The original Pittsburgh team itself, went down to Tampa and became the Storm.
So, last week, we played and beat the team that holds our old name. This week, we play the evolved team itself. I do so love symmetry.
Now, we've had a week to talk about how awesome the Power is right now, what with being #1 in the division and all. Well, I'm afraid that I'm here to say that this is bullcrap. We're anything but safe, and still have an uphill battle. We're #1 in a weak division by a single game, and have 7 games left to fight through. As things stand, out of the next three weeks, two of them are the weakest teams we're facing from here on out (three, if you count Philly, but they're picking up and already beat us once.) We cannot take a soft week here. These two are games that we have to win to get some padding, because there are at least two teams that I'd bet cash money we're going to lose to before the end. Furthermore, Cleveland's schedule is much weaker the rest of the way.
First that we face is the Tampa Bay Storm. If you recall, I had nothing but glowing things to say about them at the beginning of the season. This is, mainly, because you'd have to go back to 1990 to find a year they finished lower than 3rd in the league. In that time, they've gone to the Arena Bowl 7 times and won 5 of them. This year, on the other hand, most people are counting them out of the playoffs. It's not a sure thing, but they'd pretty much have to win out to get there.
Why the change? Up until last year, they were coached by Tim Marcum, the winningest coach in AFL history. However, he resigned this year amid a porn-and-racism-fueled scandal in disgrace. His assistant took over as head coach, and his inexperience seems to have shown through.
This season, the Storm has had a rough time of it. They've beaten some good teams – but also lost to teams like the Mustangs. Heading up the offense is Quarterback Brian Zbydniewski, who – although an impressive presence on the Scrabble board – is not a great quarterback. Last week against the Force, he struggled start to finish and although his numbers were pretty good, overall, he seemed to panic quite a bit – a trait we should be able to exploit.
Huey Whitaker and Hank Edwards were his main targets, but he also has two very capable second-tier receivers in Micheal Lindsey and Amarri Jackson. All four of them put up at least a touchdown during the game last week, and are a threat to consider. This means that the ball could be going everywhere and anywhere, so the defense really needs to be on its toes (I'm looking at you, Campbell.)
The other main problem is that their defense is pretty sack-happy. (Note: That didn't come out the way I would have liked...) This is a problem for most teams, but the Power in particular have not been particularly fantastic at protecting the QB. The last thing we need is a team playing for the slim chance at the playoffs coming and breaking Morris.
Conversely, the Storm offensive line has a few key injuries and new faces filling in for them. This is something else that we can, and should, exploit as much as we can. Gary Butler and “Total Chaos” Carter need to get in there and make some plays. At the same time, Campbell and DeWalt need to do what they're getting known for and snag anything that comes anywhere near them.
I think that we can expect to see Morris targeting Washington as much as he can, as this has been working out well for him. Having Willis and DeWalt backing him up as second-tier like last week should be just fine. The final piece is to see Mathis back at it again after knocking any rust off that he might have had last week, and put up some big numbers on Special Teams. (I'm not going to talk about Edinger, 'cause I don't want to jinx anything.)
Bottom line is that Tampa Bay normally great team who just happens to have a losing record right now. There are a number of weeks this season where they've looked like just another bad team – but we cannot be lulled into complacency by this. They are in “All or nothing” mode here. They're either going to be going balls-out to uphold their legacy, or are just going to be seeing who they can screw the season up for.
Again, the Power needs this win. There are no two-ways about it.
Elsewhere in the league
- This is another week where a lot of teams are on bye, and there isn't a lot going on that's exciting this weekend. Friday night's spotlight game is the Soul vs the defending champs, the Shock. The Soul are still in position to mount a come-back this season, so we're hoping for a loss there.
- While we're playing the Storm, the Gladiators are playing the other half of last-week's game, the Georgia Force. Us winning and Cleveland losing this week would be very beneficial to us.
- The must watch (non-Power) game is Jacksonville versus division-rivals, the Predators. These two teams hate each other, and should be a very entertaining game.
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