Yes, the Power Outage Continues

I only missed one pick this week, and unfortunately, it was not in the Power/Rattlers game.

Things actually started out much better than I could have expected. Less than 30 seconds into the game, Nick Davila connected with his first pass for a touchdown, but the Power answered right away with a score of their own. The first quarter remained low-scoring, and by the beginning of the 2nd, we were tied up again at 14-14 after a rumbling drive to the end zone by Tyree Young.

The Ratts brought it to 21-14 before our troubles began. In the 2nd quarter, we had a disastrous "drive" that left us 4-and-out, turning it over on downs on our own 2 yard line. Obviously, it didn't take the Ratts long to score with field position like that. The Power kept it competitive by scoring again with Hymes and Tyree, holding the Ratts to a touchdown and field goal and leaving us 38-28 at the half. Honestly, against a team like the Rattlers, that's almost as good as a win right there.

It didn't take long in the second half for it to happen. Actually, it only took until the second play of the 2nd have for "it" to happen. What was "it"? The turnover that completely kills us. We have to have one every game, and it happened on a pass intended for Joystick that Marquis Floyd came up with instead. When that happens to the Power, you can feel the wind go out of their sails.

To their credit, they fought all the way. The most infuriating play of the game was when Boyd pulled off an onside kick that took a lucky bounce, allowing Williams to run all the way to the 1-yard line. Why was that bad? Because Tyree Young was offsides and it all got called back and given to AZ - along with a half the distance penalty to go with it. Now, the Ratts were nice enough to fumble and give it back to us, but it still made me want to punch babies.

In the end, we came within seven with two minutes left in the game and "it" happened again, sealing our fate. Rattlers 55, Power 45.

What do we take out of this? Well, yet another loss, that's for sure. However, once again, the Power lost with style. They played hard against a team that we were almost certainly going to lose to anyway. Stingley didn't make any overly stupid calls, Randall threw for over 300 yards and four touchdowns, and no one let themselves get stripped and/or fumble. That's all really good. The line didn't protect Randall very well, and the Rattlers spotted us a lot by being disjointed and "off" for most of the first three quarters - but that is what it is. We played well and can be proud of it.

But it was still a loss.

Elsewhere in the League

Like I said earlier, I was only off by one pick this week. Still wish Keller would sack up and do a pick 'em in this league so I could win some of my money back.

• I really wanted to watch Cleveland at Iowa, but my Power went out Friday night, and this was the one game of the week I couldn't stream to my cell. Regardless, even without my concern rays, the Barnstormers came out on top.
• The stands were fairly empty down at Gwinnett Center Saturday night when the Force hosted the Voodoo, so there weren't a lot of people there to watch them get soundly beaten. When the Voodoo scored early, intercepted and scored again, it was obvious it wouldn't be a pretty night, and it wasn't. 57-35, Voodoo
• Tampa Bay against the Sharks was a lot more fun than I was expecting it to be, and it stayed competitive all the way through. Several times while watching Bernard Morris, I kinda missed having him as our QB (until he fumbled, that is.) The game started out a runaway with the Sharks going up 20-0 pretty quickly. Coach Ewart decided to switch horses and put Nick Hill - recently released from the Packers - into the game. Had he made that choice at the beginning of the game, things might have been much different, but alas, TB remains winless on the road, 71-61.
• Philly was not a very good host to Orlando, embarrassing them in front of all the other guests at the party. Seeing how fast they surpassed the 70 point mark, I thought that they were going to make a run on that elusive 100 point game. However, they held back in the second half and just let the game play out. Final score: 79-48, Soul.
• My one missed pick of the week was because no one in the world saw San Jose losing to Milwaukee. Mark Grieb played like Mark Grieb, throwing for 435 yards, 10 touchdowns and no INTs...unfortunately, fumbles that were allowed to be run in, penalties, poor defense and all-around sloppy play allowed the Mustangs to have this one firmly in hand from the beginning of the game. It ended 81-68, Mustangs
• In the final game of the weekend, it was proven once again that when great QBs match up, it comes down to who blinks first. After a rocky start, Russ Michna went on to be nearly perfect in this game. He ended 32/38, 412 yards, 9 touchdowns and no INTs. Rowley got picked twice (and, to be fair, Chicago is known for take-aways) and this one ended as I figured - the Rush victorious 73-62

We're reaching that time where the playoff picture is starting to come into focus. In our division, it's Philly's to lose, with them being three games ahead of the Gladiators and five games ahead of the Mustangs. They just need to maintain, and the worst that can probably happen is to get a wildcard if they really screw up down the stretch.

The South Division is going to come down to the wire for everyone but the Predators. Right now, the other teams are 6-5, 6-6, 6-6 and 5-6. The top two spots are Jacksonville and Tampa Bay, and they've split their series this year - hell, if Tampa had been successful on their last push and gone for two, they could have made their loss 71-69. This would have been the same as their win over Jax earlier in the season, bringing them to a coin flip if they end with tied records.


In the Central Division, the Talons aren't quite as comfortable as the Soul is in ours, but a two game lead over the Rush has got to be feeling pretty good. The way they stack up against the West, I think it's going to be first-or-nothing in their division. As such, the Rush need to play catchup if they want to make the post season. They've already lost to the Talons once this season, so it will be tough.

Ah, the West division. The "worst" team in this division has almost the same record as the top team in the South. (6-4 vs 6-5.) With the win totals being 9, 8, 7, 6, it's not as tight as the South division, but it is still highly competitive. I wouldn't be surprised to see the top three teams all go to the playoffs this year. This bodes very well for the Cats, as they've swept the Ratts this year, split with the Blaze and won once against the Shock thus far.

AFL Playoffs: First Round Recap

It was a great weekend of playoff action, not that the media really wanted us to know. Being that they are on the NFL Network this year instead of ESPN, only one game was aired - the rest were online. Also, that one that was aired got bumped because of the NFL lockout ending, and it wasn't shown until midnight Saturday.

Even so, the games went on. Half the teams advanced, half the teams went home, and everyone ended up where they should have.

Dallas Vigilantes at Chicago Rush

Just a few weeks ago, these two teams met up to determine who got home field advantage in the first round. Winning this, Chicago got a double bonus: First, they got to play at home, and second, they knew that they'd just beaten this same team two games earlier. Even though Michna was still injured, they knew that they could do it with Raterink anyway.

In the beginning, Dallas was maintaining a slight lead in the give-and-take between the teams, thanks to an early field goal. Starting in the second half, Chicago started to assert their dominance on the field before coming back with 13 unanswered points in the third.

Throughout the game, both quarterbacks retained respectable numbers, getting over 250 yards, 6 touchdowns and completing about 2/3 of their passes. Also, neither QB got picked during the game. Even with a slight edge in rushing for Dallas, the teams were evenly matched.

So who won in the end? For that, I want you to think back to what I said after we played Dallas. I said it then, and I'll say it now: Clint Dolezel is a go big or go home kinda guy. I can respect that, but I don't have to agree with it. At the end of this game, they had a chance to kick a close field goal and tie the game, or they could go for a touchdown on 4th and win. Guess which he did?

Guess who gets to play next week.


Arizona Rattlers vs Spokane Shock

One of this season's dominant teams faced off against the defending Arena Bowl champs in a game that really felt like an, "Alright, let them play to feel good about themselves" game. The Shock barely got into the playoffs in the first place and struggled this season. At 9-9, they ended with the same record the Power did when they didn't get to go to the playoffs in a weak division. Also feeling our pain, they struggled often this year, whereas the Rattlers dominated the National Conference, and it showed on the field.

Having split the series this year against their division rivals, it still wasn't a sure thing for the Rattlers going into this game. At the beginning, it was looking ugly for both teams with a total of 5 turnovers. In many ways, it looked like Spokane had control, as they capitalized on their turnovers and their QB Rowley put up much better numbers than Davila - but the Rattlers came back with a slow and steady attack that has carried them through the season.

The old rule of turnovers losing games reared its head for Spokane, because in the end, Rowley threw 4 picks where Davila only threw two. In the end, it was 62-33 Arizona, completely wiping that struggling first half out of anyone's minds.

Arizona advances to play Chicago next week at home.

Jacksonville Sharks vs the Orlando Predators.

This game was meant to be ugly from the beginning. Both teams hate each other on many levels, and when they met last year - with Jacksonville top-seeded then as well - the Preds sent them packing. However, the outcome wasn't surprising given their series history this year.

The main surprise of this game was how effective the Orlando defense was at keeping Garcia contained. He was held to less than 150 yards and only got off 19 attempts. However, in those 19 attempts, he completed 15 of them and snagged 4 touchdowns. On the other side, however, Hill blasted out over 300 yards and six TDs, four of them going to the unmatchable Quiroga and TT Toliver.

Jacksonville's win came on the backs of their solid, solid defense and their running game. Their D forced a fumble as well as stopping the Preds 5 times on 3rd downs and 2 out of 3 4ths. Their rushing game accounted for 3 touchdowns, which is a rare feat between top-flight teams - and these both are.

In the end, the Sharks win their first playoff game, the Preds lose to them for the third time this season, the rivalry gets really ugly and the Preds wish a (publicly) fond farewell to their Coach O'Hara. This last part is a bit of a bummer for me, as I dug his style. It was ballsy, in your face, it got them to the playoffs and beat the crap out of us.

Regardless - The Sharks stick around for another week.

Georgia Force vs the Cleveland Gladiators.

Oh, balls - who really cares? Both these teams beat us and we didn't get to go to the playoffs because of them.  In a perfect world, they all would have gotten food poisoning before the game and drew straws to see which team got to get beat up by the Sharks next week.

After a promising first half full of scoring and turnovers, the Glads looked to be sitting pretty. However, after that, the Force shut them down. Off-again-on-again Rocco showed his colors by getting just beat all over the place in the second half, and he was kept off the board until the forth when Cleveland mounted a strong, but ultimately unsuccessful comeback. I say "Cleveland" and not "Rocco," because he got some bench time and a fresh Dutton came in.

He lit the field up with the old standbys of Bergeron and Redd, and put up over a hundred yards. Again, it wasn't enough. With the O line letting Rocco get hit so many times that he lost his cool - not to mention a goose egg for a score in the third - this game ended 50-41.

Not a lot more can be said about this game except that the better team won. When we played the Force, they were a solid team that sent us home. When we played Cleveland, it was split 50/50. They only made it into the playoffs because we fell apart at the end of the season. This isn't really a comment on either team - I think we would have lost in this round had we gone. However, it still points up the fact that, when Cleveland is good, they're great. When they're bad, they fall apart. With rare exceptions like the Philly game, it's not the defense that falls apart, though - it's the offense. They slack and let Rocco get hit, and once that pressure comes, he can't function any more.

Good luck in Jacksonville next week, Force.


Next Week:

Arizona vs Chicago: As much as I've always liked Chicago – after all, they're my non-Power team – I don't think they have a chance. They'll have a slight one if Michna makes it back, but it's still slim. I called it a while back that I saw Arizona and Jacksonville playing for the title, and I don't see any reason to change that opinion.

Arizona is a solid, reliable team with a proven track record. Whereas Jacksonville dominated most of the season, then slacked, then came back, Arizona has been sure and steady. This is their time. Chicago handed them one of their few loses this season, but it was only by a point and Arizona is the better team on many fronts. Adding to this, Chicago has a reputation of choking that would make Peyton Manning blush. The fact that they got past week one is a big accomplishment.

Jacksonville vs Georgia: A few weeks ago, I would have given this one to the Sharks, no questions asked. But after losing to the Sabercats, and going one for four in their last games, anything is possible. All through the season, the American South was a tough division, and the Force only finished 3 games behind their rivals.

However, I'm going to go with my old standby of history. Jacksonville swept the series between these two teams, and probably will again. 

To beat the drum some more: Jacksonville will square off against Arizona in two weeks.