Over the hump and back to football

Greetings, all. Due to some circumstances beyond my control, I was unavailable for any football viewing this past weekend, as well as being unable to write a column. It worked out that it was a bye-week, then.

We now find ourselves at the half-way point of the season, with the Power in a surprisingly respectable position for an expansion team. While some teams like the Rush and the Sharks are already talking playoff locks, other teams like the Gladiators actually have to say, “...but Pittsburgh is in a position to screw that up.” This is because we are second in the division, and we still have two games to play against them. If we somehow manage to take the pair, things will be solidly shaken up.

If the playoffs were held today, assuming the same 8-team system the AFL did last year (4 divisional leaders, 4 wild cards), we'd see Cleveland and Jacksonville heading up our conference with Pittsburgh and Orlando making up the wildcards. In the National, it would be the Rattlers, Rush, Dallas and Utah. I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but in this case we'd be saying, “Well, it's an honor just to be nominated...”

However, 5-4 is a good place to be at this point, and not one I'd expect. Only 8 teams have a winning record right now, and we're one of them. We haven't gotten here easily, of course, because we've had a lot of growing pains along the way. Procedural errors still plague us, and our quarterback situation is still anything but stable. Now, we enter the hardest chunk of the season.

From here on out, we only have 3 home games left, with the Gladiators and Rattlers making up two of them. Other than that, it's all road, and all really tough teams. Dallas, twice against Cleveland, the Preds, the Rattlers and a rematch against a crappy team who already beat us.

If I had to pick, though, I'm glad it's the second half of the season that this happened. This way, we had time at home and weaker opponents to work the kinks out – and we needed it. We're in a good place right now. A winning record, a team that's gelling and a huge win over San Jose. I'm a little concerned about the fact that we went into the bye right after it, as I would have preferred to keep the momentum, but you can't have everything.

The Power can't even pretend to be a lock for anything right now, but we can dream. If we take the lessons learned the first half of the season and apply it to the big boys – coupled with the fact that we're pretty good on the road – we might pull it off.

The first step is Dallas this Saturday at 8:30, on the road.

Right now, they're only one game better than us, but are undefeated on their home turf. They're also really, really good. Unlike us, they are set at quarterback with “Dirty” Dan Raudabaugh (My nickname. Western history. Google it, or watch Young Guns II) who is the only recorded QB for them this season. This right here tells us that he is tough, resilient and isn't going to give up. Pressuring him will be difficult at best.

On the ground, it's all behind Derrick Ross, who has averaged more than 2 touchdowns a game thus far this season. We didn't do that well against the run last game against the Cats, so this is something that we're going to have to watch for.

Finally, Dallas is one of those teams with defined receivers that they don't stray from often. Jones, Rubin and Fields are the go-to guys for the Vigilantes, they all average at least 12 yards a catch and have 48 touchdowns among them.

By the numbers, they're pretty even between what they score each game and what they allow, with the edge towards scoring. Much like with the Cats, the Power is going to need to get the attack on early and get a lead as fast as they can if they want to get out of this while avoiding a slugfest. Before the last game, I wouldn't have had great faith in this, but now I'm thinking that this is something that we can do.

Rushing, they run the board. Generally, they out-rush their opponents 2-1, so I'm not thinking that this is going to be a game for Rue. That's okay, because we're getting our passing game into solid gear. Another 2-1 stat is their sacking ability, which is really scary, given that I don't want to see Morris broken again.

Bottom line is that we need to keep on keepin' on. This is a tough team without a lot of easy-to-exploit weaknesses. They also haven't lost at home yet. Now is not the time to get fancy – the Power needs to stick with what has been working the last few games and just try to bring the hammer down fast and hard on Dallas.

After all – this is the first game of the rest of their season.

Elsewhere in the league

• The NFL Game of the Week is the Blaze vs Barnstormers. Iowa has pretty much nothing to play for at this point, being nearly dead-last in the league, and the Blaze is looking for a playoff berth. However, I generally find the 'Stormers fun to watch.
• Barnstormers aren't last in the league, but the Voodoo is, and this Friday, they meet the Soul, who are only a game ahead of them. Given the option, the NFL game is the much better option.
• After the Power finishes up, switch your NiFTy feed over to the Rattlers channel to catch what I'd say is the best game of the week: Cleveland travels to the Snake Pit for a brawl that should be lots of fun to watch.
• Because you were all so patient with me not posting last week, here's a blurry picture the Sparks were nice enough to pose for:

Power vs Barnstormers Review

To quote an old DVE Morning Show sketch:

“My Lord.”

“My Liege.”

“My god, what an ass-whooping!”

The Power more than made up for their painful loss to the Soul in their home opener last week. Before the game, I said to Keller that, after last week, I really needed a runaway victory like the Rush were nice enough to hand the Soul Friday night (62-28 final.) Well, I almost got it. Last night's score was a lopsided 58-28, courtesy of a smoothed out Power offense.

As I predicted last week, the second game of the season saw a lot of adjustments in style and strategy throughout. This was obvious right from the beginning. when the Power managed to burn 7:07 off the clock on one drive. That's a ridiculously long time in this league.

This week, QB duties were split between Morris and Kevin McCabe, with each taking a half. I'm not sure if an injury benched Morris, or if Siegfried just felt that 114 yards and 2 touchdowns were enough out of him for one week. It's tough to say, but the fact is #14 got sacked three times and we didn't see him again after the half.

Far and away, Morris' prime target this week was Willis for picking up critical yardage throughout the first half, although he didn't get any TDs to his name. Both Morris and McCabe chose instead to spread the passing TD's out among five other targets. Interestingly, week one favorite Washington was not the presence that he was in the opener, picking up only 24 yards and a touchdown.

Continuing to be a Bus-like figure, Joshua Rue was utilized in short yardage situations. He had six carries, averaging about a yard apiece, but this still resulted in two touchdowns. He was also able to pick up 21 additional yards and a touchdown in the air. In just two games this season, he has been so potent on offense that there were two plays in which we needed a critical yard and the crowd started bellowing “RUUUUUUUUEE!” Despite everyone in the building calling out where the ball was going, the Barnstormers were still unable to stop him.

When McCabe took the field in the second half, his performance by the numbers were very similar to Morris' accomplishments in the first, however he seemed a lot more confident and composed on the field. Granted, the Barnstormers had begun to fall apart at that point and the Power had a comfortable 28-14 lead, but I really felt he was the more stable figure behind center. He changed up his targets, not really preferring one receiver over another, adapting to the situation on the field as he went. He also didn't seem to get happy feet and managed to not end up lying on the field looking up at the lights much. Again, it might just have been that the other team wasn't pressing as hard. As such, I'm hoping that he starts next week in Milwaukee so that I can get a better sense of it.

As cohesive as the Power looked this week, they had a lot of help on the other side of the line. As there is really no preseason to speak of and Iowa had a week 1 bye, this was the first chance the Barnstormers had to take the field together – and it showed. Their offense was confused and all over the place. Interceptions were common and end zone discoveries rare. More often, their O-line ran into their own players more than the Power defense.

Even worse was that their defense didn't show much sign of knowing what they were doing – particularly linebacker Sam Smith getting gigged for two illegal formations and a holding. Things weren't all bad for the defense, however. Defensive back Patrick Stoudamire was all over the field, breaking up passes wherever he went. If there is a standout weapon on Iowa's team, it's him.

A few thoughts on adjustments and changes off the field from week one: As predicted, attendance dropped substantially this week, but not as much as I'd feared – especially considering that Pitt was busy slugging it out in a doomed March Madness outing. The 9100+ in the house were louder than their numbers, and brought the enthusiasm. (Note: the consensus seems to be “Let's go Pow-er ” rather than the modified, “Here we go Pow-er, here we go!”, though both were used.)

The announcer was a lot more subdued this week, keeping the monster-truck-rally style color commentary to a minimum. At first, I thought that he might have gotten a memo after the opener, but in the second half, his nicknames returned. Jason “Watchu Talking About” Willis, Mike “the Joystick” Washington and Lonnell “the Power Tool” DeWalt all put in appearances. God help me, I actually realized the first half was lacking them.

Finally, the grounds management decided to take down the glass around the team benches. I am particularly pleased with this, as my lower-level seats had a very disrupted line of sight to the far end zone because of them. It's selfish, but I give it two thumbs up.

Conclusion and closing thoughts:

So, where do the Power stand? This week's performance was vastly improved over the home opener between two expansion teams finding their footing. On one hand, the Soul had it handed to them Friday, and the Power came out swinging in their second game. On the other, the Soul went on to play a hard-hitting, established franchise on their home turf, whereas the Power stayed at home and beat up on a shaky team still trying to work out the kinks.

With McCabe backing up Morris and getting an expanding role, I think we've got a potent one-two punch that can surprise the opponent. I hope we see McCabe starting next week, rather than being a relief for Morris after he gets laid out too many times. In that regard, I hope the line can get better at keeping the defense from reaching Morris and give him time to gain some confidence in getting rid of the ball before he gets slammed.

The strengths this week were the D making some great goal-line stands and taking the ball away from the Barnstormers. Also, McCabe's style of spreading the ball around (rather than watching Morris for a few plays and figuring out which guy he's tapped for the game) is an effective strategy. I have high hopes for the season if these things continue.

Let me take a moment to apologize: I missed the memo that I was supposed to get a pic of the Sparks for yinz this week. Below is the best I have from the game. Yes - I took one for...my...own, personal portfolio. Don't judge me.



Next up: The Milwaukee Mustangs Monday night, giving the Power a long rest before heading on the road.