Sharks at Power Preview/Blaze Post Mortem

Okay, last week was painful and ugly.  I'm not going to sugarcoat it, because that's what it was.  The Power got their collective and individual asses handed to them to the tune of 64-33, and it's exactly how we didn't need to start the season.

I say the reason we lost is that this place was allowed to be open during the game.

However, it's pretty much what I expected to happen given who we drew for the first game opponent, and what the Power did during their off-season.  The Blaze was a good team last year, and they're still a good team this year.  Grady's still a giant with a laser arm, and the rest of the team still does what they do.  It's a fact of nature, and there' nothing the Power could do about it.

It was almost a clinic on offensive lines and special teams.  When the Power lined up for the attack, they looked like football players.  When the Blaze lined up, they looked like monsters.  Grady is somewhere around 6'7", and yet, he just looks just a little taller than the guys around him.  His O line protected him beautifully, and the pocket stayed generously open, giving him more time than a player like him needs.  Because of this, he didn't have any trouble connecting with his receivers and scoring.

The Power's line, however, just collapsed on most plays just the way I feared it would.  Honestly, I liked what I saw out of Jefferson - he's mobile, pretty accurate, and - once he got tired of eating turf - isn't afraid to run for it (he rushed for almost 20 yards in the opener.)  However, he got sacked four times.  Grady got hit once, and frankly, that's only because the Blaze were getting cocky at the end.  I've said it before and I'll say it again:  I don't care if we had started Tommy Brady to their Tommy Grady - if our QB keeps getting planted 4 times a game, he's going to have a short, winless career.

The other concern I've had is Special Teams, and those were also mirror images in this game.  PJ Berry's a wild man, and he's our fan favorite star...but the Blaze had his number.  He was getting nailed inside the five yard line most of the game.  Utah, on the other hand, started with prime position on most drives.

Our defense is solid (Jackson is looking like a prime pickup.)  Joystick and Superman can still catch - these areas are not a concern.  However, they also don't matter a lick if the Power doesn't clean up the O Line and Special Teams.  I want a QB to actually stick around a whole season and not go to greener pastures.  Speaking of which...

...The Sharks return to Consol this Friday, bringing back former Power QB Bernard Morris.  Remember him?  He's that guy that everyone said was a bum and couldn't get the job done our Freshman season.  He keeps getting sacked, he can't get the ball off, he's always injured...and then he took the Sharks to the post season last year.  He's a good quarterback, and on the right team, he's done well for himself.

Also, we'll be facing Jeff Hughley, whom you might remember from his scoring drives against us with the Soul last year, and our former DL Justin Parrish.  Hughley is the main concern, as he's their Superman (the technical term is "Ironman.")  He can run, catch, tackle, return - he's the whole package.  If the Power can shut him down - at very least on returns - they'll be getting off on the right foot.  Unfortunately, they also have Jeron Harvey and Markee White to catch.  That's a problem that hopefully Jackson, LeFlore and Wise can keep contained.

Other than that, it's going to be a matter of keeping the pocket clean long enough for Jefferson to make some decisions.  Yep.  That simple.  No problem, right?

I just hope the jackass with a big head isn't sitting in front of me again

Elsewhere in the League
The bright point in our loss is that we weren't alone.  Since both Philly and Cleveland lost, it's a three-way tie in our division.  The downside is that Philly still looks like a contender.  They stumbled a bit in the second half in their rematch against the Rattlers, but it was a much cleaner game than the Arena Bowl.  Arizona is already looking scary good.


Cleveland got throttled by the Shock almost as badly as we did by Utah...so, we should at least be able to match up against the Gladiators.


The Talons kept the game close against the Cats and Garcia (Who now has 1200 career TDs.)  The beginning of the game didn't look like that was going to happen when the Cats jumped out 20-0, but then the Talons came roaring back, only to lose by a hair.

This week:

• Hopefully the Ratts will slap the Blaze down for us Friday.  Judging by the two teams' performances last week, it should be a slugfest.
• Game of the week is NOLA hosting the Barnstormers.  Both teams won their openers and play good, classic football.  They're well matched and not full of showboaters.  It's the kind of game I love to watch.
• Sunday is Spokane and the Rush.  If nothing else, it doesn't feel like Sunday without the Rush.

Restoring the Power

...and just like that, it's Arena season again.

After a long off-season and a fairly disappointing Steeler season, I find myself more than ready to switch gears and go back to the indoor game.  The first post of the year is hard in most sports, because you really don't know what the season is going to bring and how new acquisitions are going to work out.  This is even more true for this league.  It's almost impossible to predict what will shake out in the coming weeks, but I can show you the clues.

A few months ago, I talked about the things the team had and the things that they needed.  Specifically, I mentioned that our defense could take care of itself, kicking is killing us, and QB doesn't matter if we can't get anyone up front to protect him.

Well, the biggest moves they made in the off season were...to shore up the defense and snag a promising QB.  *sigh* It's like no one reads these posts...

Now, I'm not going to complain about us making sure to hold on to Chris "Gingabread" LeFlore to keep snagging picks, and I'm really not going to complain about them also getting Alvin Ray Jackson from the Voodoo, who grabs even more picks than LeFlore...but we had the #1 defense last year, and we still couldn't make the playoffs.  This is an offense-driven league and no matter how awesome the D is, we need something up front.

We still have Mike "Joystick" Washington, PJ "Superman" Berry, and Tyree "is he a FB or DL" Young.  This is good, and was what I really hoped we'd be able to pull off.  Fantastic and bully for us - if they stay healthy, we have some solid, experienced targets for our QB-of-the-week.

Yeah, I still really don't feel good about QB.  Why?  I mean, we have Jordan Jefferson starting at QB - an LSU standout who briefly worked out with the Tampa Bay Bucs and did some time in the CFL.  Backing him up is a fairly competent-looking Shane Austin out of Hawaii.  Well, there are multiple concerns here.  For one - Kurt Warner aside - rookies that were at the NFL level have a lot of trouble adjusting to this league.  It's a huge change.  But, even if it wasn't, they're both still green.

More importantly, we've had good QBs before.  Despite the crap the Facebook and Twitter like to heap on our past signal callers, I maintain that most of them could have done a hell of a job if they weren't thinking about how long it'd be before they got freight-trained into the turf.  The #1, no bullshit, buck-stops-here thing that I said we had to do was to shore up the offensive line, and I really don't know if we did that.  Of those four guys, we have two rookies, a guy who's played five games and returning center Beau Elliott.  Hey, maybe these guys are going to be the real deal - I don't know.   With only two years of history to look back on, and about that much combined AFL experience among them, it's a major wild card that concerns me quite a bit.

One way or another, we're going to find out Saturday night when the season starts.  Once again, Pittsburgh gets the honor of playing the first game (though it's not the nationally televised one) and that worked out wonderfully for us last year.  We're also playing one of the best teams from last year, the Utah Blaze.   They've had some turnover, which is to be expected, but they still have Tommy Grady and - frankly - that's all that really matters.

The Power really needs to start out with a solid win at home this season to get things rolling on the right foot, and Utah will make that hard.  I really wish we could have started out against someone like Orlando again - even if they beat us, we have the seeds of a rivalry there...but we're playing the Blaze and that's the card we've been dealt.  Win or lose, it should be a hell of a game.

Remember, it's a home game and tickets are cheap.  Opening night is generally the most festive game of the year with the highest energy and best attendance, so it's a great time to check the sport out for the first time.  Plus, the team is giving away some pretty slick swag this year and are offering $1 hot dogs and sodas.

Come on down, and here's to a great season of Power football!

Elsewhere in the League
While it's hard to gauge what my team is gonna do for the year, it's almost impossible to call the other teams.  But if I had to pick, these are the games to watch (and this year, they've change the viewing options AGAIN!  Now it's through the AFL site):

• Philly at Arizona:  Arena Bowl rematch is always fun.  These two teams kept most of their respective rosters intact in the off-season, so this Game of the Week (on CBS Sports) should be explosive
• San Jose at San Antonio:  Whoooo boy...first the hated 'Cats steal Garcia from the Talons, and then they get matched up right out of the gate.  Hell, the Talons even got Lil Jon for their half time show.  Seriously.