The team played very well Saturday night, and continued to look like a team that was on the rise and continuing to gel. As Keller and I were discussing after the game, we scored just as many touchdowns as TB, we just got beat in a few key areas.
The Good:
Aside from two picks - which we've kind of come to expect with this team - Andrico Hines had a great night, throwing for over 300 yards and 7 TDs. Protection on him was adequate, and he had time to think things through and make precision throws. The two picks in question both came in the second half after the battle of attrition had started to take its toll on both teams. Also, those two plays, I feel, were more great defensive plays by TB than they were screw-ups by Hines.
With good QBing comes good receiving. Joystick was the man of the night for the Power with 126 yards and three clutch touchdowns. Superman put up almost a hundred yards himself, along with three touchdowns of his own - two in the air and one on the ground. Finally, there was Oderick Turner, continuing to carve out a place for himself on our team with 81 yards and a touchdown.
Defense was coming up very strong in this game, especially with Christian Wise's contributions. Fairly early in the game, QB Nick Hill was taken out after a defensive collision (though, he did lower his head into the hit all by himself) but not before throwing a pick to Wise. He was also there on pass coverage and a number of good hits throughout the game. LeFlore and DeGrate also made key contributions.
Finally, there was the fact that we played 4 solid quarters again this week, the importance of which cannot be understated.
The Bad:
Kicking, kicking, kicking. I just don't know what it is, but we cannot seem to get this kicking thing down for more than a week or two at a time. Missed PATs are a fact of life in the AFL, but they shouldn't be the norm. Also, our snap timing always seems to be off, which leads to stuffed PAT attempts - one of which was recovered by TB and run back for two.
Penalties - granted, TB had almost twice as many yards as we did on penalties, but ours came in key areas that lost us more than yards. Two separate times, picks were called back because of procedural penalties - one of which Wise had run all the way back to the house. Had either one of those stood, we would have at least tied the turnover battle, and in one case, been ahead another TD.
I'm slotting this in the bad, 'cause it just really sucked, but Steve Wasil of Tampa Bay came up big. The Storm had not won yet on the road this year, and that's due in large part to him. For some reason, the road just seems to get in his head and he falls apart. When Hill got helped off the field, I was glad to see Wasil come in. Unfortunately, he played like he does at home.
Last, there was a failure to capitalize on opportunities. In the second half, the defense came up strong and forced a big 4th down stop on Tampa Bay, but it was squandered a few plays later when Hines was picked off. It's things like that that win and lose games, especially a game where the score just goes back and forth like this one did. A big stop has to lead to a score, or else you've done nothing.
The Ugly:
The Ugly can really be summed up by the last minute of the game. TB had scored, on-side kicked it, recovered and ran it back almost to paydirt. Okay, this is bad, but it's not the end of the world when there's still a full minute left. If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'm going to Monday morning quarterback this. (Normal disclaimer - I'm not a coach, never will be a coach and don't know as much as the coach.)
There are two schools of thought here in Arena Football in this situation, the first of which is to trust your defense to hold the line on the one and either stop them completely or at least hold them to a FG. That one yard is often the hardest, and with certain teams - the Georgia Force does this well - this is the right call, and is what Coach Stingley (a defense man by trade, so it's not surprising) did.
The other school of thought is to just let them score, and then give yourself most of a minute and any remaining timeouts to burn as much clock (or save it if you need it) as possible before scoring and hopefully leave the opponent with nothing left. Even with as well as our defense has been playing recently, I still think this would have been the better call.
The Power just is not a goal-line stand kind of team. We don't have that kind of defense, and it's a pretty forgone conclusion that the other team is going to score eventually. Well...they did. But not until almost 30 seconds and both of our remaining timeouts were burned. The Power did all it could to score in those last 30 seconds - including one mad dash to spike the ball after Hines scrambled on a play and left the clock running - but it just didn't happen. They were rushed, they were flustered and they were staring defeat in the eye again. Three shots at the end zone - the last as time expired - failed to connect, and the Power lost, 65-61.
Elsewhere in the league
- The Mustangs had a good shot at an upset, but as I suspected, they couldn't pull it off. The Sharks really had no problem defeating them, and Bernard Morris was looking perfect at QB. Almost 200 yards in the air (for 6 TDs), 26 on the ground (including a TD) and no picks made him the man of the night. More importantly, he didn't fumble - which some of you might remember was his problem here last year. He's going to be tough when we close our home season against the Sharks in a few weeks.
- WHAT? The Predators beat Cleveland? Well, that's that Spoiler stuff I was talking about. the Preds came up big and really put a hurting on the Gladiator's playoff hopes. Preds 55, Glads 34.
- All week, the late game between Utah and Arizona was being touted as an Old West showdown between gunslingers Davila and Grady. Strange, then, that the first half was a defensive exhibition that set the tone for the whole game. The Rattlers were pounding on Grady, whereas the Blaze was picking Davila and recovering on-side kicks. The unfortunate part for the Ratts was that their defensive plays cost Grady yards and downs, whereas it cost Utah possessions. It was a battle that Arizona beat themselves in. The team is good at on-side kicks, but it just wasn't working for them Friday - but they kept trying it. In the end, those lost plays and Davila's picks cost them the game, 62-49
- Not surprisingly, the Barnstormers were able to decisively defeat the Command.
- As expected, the Voodoo lost on the road to San Jose, 55-31. However, as I had also pointed out, the loss didn't really cost them anything more than breathing room. They still hold the top spot in their division with a couple of key tie-breakers, so they just need to hang in there and end strong.
- Chicago needed the win, and they didn't get it. Garcia and his Talons are just too strong, and they were able to hand the Rush a close defeat, 61-54
- Okay, I get it - my crazy picks don't pan out...and picks didn't pan out for Rowley, either. Dirty Dan only threw for 179 yards this week, but that's more than enough when your defense picks up 4 interceptions for you. With that, the Soul set a franchise record of 14 wins in a season, and they still have a game to go.
Playoff Picture
In the National Conference, it's all over but the crying. The playoff berths are all reserved, it's just a matter of which cabin each team is getting. The Talons have clinched their division with two games remaining. They have a head-to-head with the Rattlers that might decide the 1 seed, but that's about the only concern they still have. The Ratts, Cats and Blaze have all locked up spots, and just need to figure out who's going where.
Right now, round one would be the Cats at Talons, and Blaze at Ratts. I know I picked a Cats/Soul Arena Bowl a few months ago, but if these are the match-ups, I don't see it. I see the Talons coming out of the first round with the Rattlers - but as this weekend proved, the latter isn't a done deal. In the second round, if the Ratts play the Talons, it'll be almost a rematch of the Arena Bowl last year, and that makes it too close to call. If the Talons play the Blaze, I see see San Antonio advancing to the big show.
In the American conference, it's still a mess. Philly's still in the top spot and - barring a major upset - the favorite to go to the final. Below them is a three-way tie between NOLA, Jacksonville and Georgia, with a few other teams on the outside looking in. There's no real point in rehashing the "what-ifs' for the other teams and the "who-knows" of the teams that are currently in. There's still a few weeks left in the season and about 5 teams within a game of each other.
If the brackets today stand, then Jax will get stomped by Philly for the third time this year in the first round, while the Voodoo will probably beat the Georgia Force for the third time this year (they end the season against each other, and I will reassess then.) In the second round, the Voodoo will put up a good fight, but ultimately be eliminated by the Soul.
Whether it's a Talons/Soul Arena Bowl or a Ratts/Soul one, there's no way to call it from here. Philly is the favorite over everyone in the league, but both of those other teams can pull off strong wins. If I had to pick, I'd say the Soul over the Rattlers, but possibly losing to the Talons. However, neither team has matched up against Philly this year, so there's not much to go on. It'll come down to how they play through the first two rounds, and what kinds of injuries happen. We'll just have to wait and see.
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