Playoffs Round One Recap

Well, if there's anything this weekend's games taught us, it's that A.) anything can happen in the playoffs, and B.) I can't pick playoff games worth a damn. I went 1-3 in these games, and almost went 0-4.

Utah vs Talons
In one of the later games, the announcer pointed out that the Blaze "dismantled" the Talons. At 35-34, this is a bit unfair to Garcia and the Talons. It would be much better said that the Blaze "survived" the Talons. This season, the Talons have averaged 57 pts a game, and the Blaze 63ish, and neither got close to that.

This game was supposed to be a match up between two of the greatest QBs ever to play, but it ended up being all about the defense. The fact that the total score only slightly surpassed these individual averages shows how much of a defensive battle this game was. Both QBs got sacked, both got picked (twice for Grady) and the pressure was on. Also, the Blaze only converted 4 of 10 3rd downs and 1 of 5 4ths. Garcia was comparable. So, again, the defense came up strong.

In the end, it came down to one point. One point between victory and the (likely) end to Garcia's career as a player.

On a side note, as a Power fan, there was one player that had a great night and was fun to watch. The crowd thought so, too:


Voodoo at Soul
Sure, Philly was supposed to win this one, and sure, they did - but they should be ashamed of their play in this one. Down to the end, it was anyone's game, and that should not have been the case between the #1 team in the league and a 4-seed that got into the playoffs by attrition. It was a sloppy game all around, with both teams giving up around 50 yards in penalties. One drive in particular kinda sums this up:

Pictured here: Not how the play was drawn up.

That's a little blurry, but the important part is that, due to penalties, it took seven plays and three negated turnovers to accomplish 10 yards to a touchdown. This was just the most blatant example of a problem that was systemic to the entire game. It got even uglier at the end of the game when two Voodoo players got themselves ejected (I wish I could say it was the first time this season.)

Yes, the blame and sloppy play goes both ways, but the Soul are the much better team. They're better than this, and they can't play that sloppy next week if they want to go to the big game. Another concern is that they lost their kicker to a groin pull late in the game. If they don't get that sorted out before next weekend, there's going to be trouble.

Fun fact: All season, I've been noticing these two nuns that sit in the front row of the endzone section at Wells Fargo. Besides the fact that there is something inherently awesome about a couple of nuns being die-hard Arena fans, these two have caught more balls than have ever even come into my section at Consol. So, either the Lord likes souvenirs, or Dirty Dan is trying to earn points Upstairs. (Except that he pegged one in the face this week.)


Georgia at Jacksonville
So, just like another team farther down this list, the Force learned how hard it is to beat a team three times in a season.

For most of this game, it looked like the Sharks were firmly in the driver's seat. They went into half up, then recovered a botched Force onside kick and stormed into the lead. The Force made a hell of a comeback and closed in on - and then surpassed - the Shark's lead in the fourth. Down to the end, the Sharks had the ball and not much time left and then it happened.

All season, I've found myself missing Bernard Morris here in Pittsburgh until It happens. Regular readers may know that It is a fumble. Either he holds on too long, or just doesn't cover the ball and he gets stripped/drops it. Well, this week was no exception. With seconds left, Bernie Mo got tackled and the ball got away. Luckily, Jacksonville fell on it and kept it, but at a significant loss of yards. Morris's next pass went incomplete, bringing up forth and forever with 6 seconds left.

Remember when we played the Sharks last week and I said that their kicker was frickin' killing us with his distance and accuracy? Well, with the score at 56-55 Force, Capozzoli took the field, looking at 51 yards.

51.

NFL kickers have trouble with that, and their uprights are twice as far apart. Well, I can't adequately describe what happened, so:

From the Arena Football page.

Cats at Ratts
Funny thing is, although this was a hard-fought, entertaining game, there isn't a lot to say about it. Both teams played the game they were supposed to play, and the energy level was what you would expect from from a heated rivalry like this. The Cat's defense intercepted Davila, the Ratts intercepted Greib. Explosive plays happened. Big stops were achieved. It was a great game. In the end, the Cats discovered how hard it is to beat a team three times in one season.

The score was close at 51-48, but it easily could have been a wider gap - and reversed. The Cats managed to pick Davila 4 times to the Rattlers 2. Who says turovers win games? Much like the other games in this review, it was a "survival" game, but it wasn't one were either team failed to play up to their potential. Much like the first game of the weekend, this might have been the end of the road for an aging quarterback. If it is, Greib can know that he went out on a game to be proud of.

Playoff Preview, Round One

To close out the season, we've got a few weeks of playoffs that the Power will, sadly, not be participating in. It was a rough season, but they salvaged more than I would have thought they would. Even so, the team set several new franchise records:

From arenafootball.com:

• MIKE "Joystick" WASHINGTON set single-season franchise records for receptions (115), receiving yards (2,142), receiving touchdowns (39) and points (206).
• PJ "Superman" BERRY set single-season franchise records for kickoff return yards (2,024), kickoff return touchdowns (2) and combined kick return yards (2,040).
• DOMINIE "Sack Attack" PITTMAN set the single-season franchise record for sacks (5.5).
• CHRIS "Gingabread" LeFLORE set single-season franchise records for interceptions (9) and missed field goal return yards (25).
• BRYAN "Wasn't that a Beach Boy?" WILLIAMS set the single-season franchise record for tackles (66).
• GEOFF "Our Best Kicker" BOYER set the single-season franchise record for field goals made (4). (This record is sad for so many reasons, I don't know where to start, so I'll move on.)
  

So, yeah. I mean, it might feel like polishing a turd, but records are records. Our record doesn't fairly reflect how hard these guys played their asses off this year. These might not be league records, but they're Power records and they earned them. Besides, the franchise is two seasons old, and we need to start somewhere.

Now, on to the playoffs.

Utah vs Talons
To start the ball rolling, the NFL Network is starting out with one of the best games of the first round - The Blaze trying to finally beat the Talons. They've met up twice so far, and they've been very close games both times. Over the course of two meetings, the Blaze has lost by a total of 9 points. The Talons have won 11 of their last 12 games (and one can hardly blame them for taking it easy last week) and the Blaze have had a late-season surge of their own.

Normally, a 1-4 match-up is kind of a reward to the 1st seed - almost a pass in the first round. Not so here. Arron Garcia is one of the best QBs to ever play the game, and looking to repeat. Tommy Grady is the best of the younger crowd, and the Blaze travels well.

So, how do I call this? Can't just go with the home team, because the Blaze does so well on the road. Can't go with the quarterback, because we have old, tested and experienced. I can't even go with the QB who makes gutsy plays. I'm going to have to have to go with turnovers. The Talons are +5 and the Blaze are -6 on the season, and turnovers were the deciding factor in the last two meetings between them. Based on that, I have to take the Talons - but if I'm down to the turnover battle, it's iffy.


Georgia at Jacksonville
I have not been impressed with the Force all season. They've been streaky at best, losing games they should win (Yay, Power!) and winning games they should lose (Chicago?) However, I think I need to pick them in this game based solely on how they match up with the Sharks.

Jacksonville is defending the title this year, but that means nothing. Even on the NFL level, there's not a lot of back-to-back wins. In the Arena League, every team starts 0-0 on week one, and that's that. I'm not going to deny that they've played hard and earned their place in the post season.

However, the simple fact is that they've gotten crushed in both meetings with the Force this season. If it were close, I'd say there's always the chance of them getting revenge, but they've been outscored by the Force to the tune of 45 points. Georgia might not be the better team, but they've had Jacksonville's number. The only hiccup is that Jacksonville has not yet faced Bryant Moniz at QB yet, and he hasn't seen the post season. Jitters could change things, but I'll still take Georgia.

Voodoo at Soul
New Orleans made a very loud statement this year, coming back from a season like we just lived through to go to the post season. They even beat the Soul week one by a point. However, I just don't see them winning this one. The Soul has set countless records this year and have been nigh unstoppable. They've beaten some of the best teams in the league, and they're going all the way to the big game in my opinion.

The Voodoo, on the other hand, still needs to mature. They've had big games, but also big losses. They made it to the post season in a weak division with a losing record. Finally, Rocco has too much of a habit of blowing games with silly mistakes.

Philly wins, or it's the biggest upset of the season.

Cats at Ratts
This one is just as hard to call as the Talons/Blaze game and for almost the same reasons. Nick Davila is trying to get his team back to the Arena Bowl, whereas Mark Grieb is trying to pull a Garcia and win the big one before he retires - a scene Davila is familiar with.

Both times they met this season - and these teams hate each other - the Cats won, but only by a total of 8 points. The Ratts are perfectly capable of beating them, they just haven't this year. Same thing with what I said about the Sharks - the Sabercats just have their number....barely. This is the pick that I'm most unsure of, but I'm going to go with my gut feeling a few months ago and take the Cats.

Now, I was all ready to put a bracket picture here. I'm sure about my picks in the American Conference -Georgia and Philly will advance, Philly will rout Georgia and it's on to New Orleans. The National Conference, however, is just too hard to call. I'm confident on my calls, but even then, next week would be just as hard to tell between the Talons and the Cats. Talons and Ratts (which the odds are probably on) is equally hard. Blaze and Ratts...eeeeh. The only way to be sure is the Blaze and Sabercats - I'd call the Blaze in that, but it's the least likely outcome.

So, we'll see come Monday.

The Force Was Weak in this One

That's how it's done!

As one friend of Keller's and mine made sure to point out, this game was meaningless. Well, that might have been true for us, but not so much for the Force. The South division loves three-way ties, and this loss bounced the Force down to 3rd place, tied with NOLA and Tampa Bay. One more slip down, and they don't go to the playoffs - and they have to play NOLA next week.

So, what I'm getting at is, even Debbie Downer above can't take this victory away from us by saying it was meaningless for both teams and Georgia just laid down. They needed this win, and they dropped the ball - literally and figuratively.

I'm not 100% sure if Georgia played really sloppy, or if the Power just made them look that way, because this game was pretty firmly in Pittsburgh's hands the whole game.

Hines came out and showed fully what he's capable of - finally. He was 21 for 30, threw for 266 yards, 6 touchdowns and - yes - zero interceptions. That's as close to perfect as we're likely to see. He was confident, took his time (without over doing it) and made the connections. This includes making a perfect pass after a touchdown up to the luxury boxes to none other than Hines Ward. Hines to Hines reception. Love it.

Receiving was mainly the Joystick and Superman show. Both of them counted for 4 touchdowns - Washington straight up and Berry got two in the air and two on the ground. Joystick was textbook all night, fielding them cleanly, whereas Berry pulled them off with style. On one of his touchdowns, the crowd all turned against him and started booing. Berry flashed that grin of his and lifted his jersey, showing the Superman logo beneath.

The big stars of the evening, however, were on defense. This is what won us the game, even more than the near-flawless performances on offense. Georgia only converted 5 of 9 3rd downs, and we fully stopped them on all 3 4ths. Christian Wise continued to make himself my favorite member of the defense (sorry, Gingabread. You still rock.) He hauled in two big interceptions that the offense was able to convert into points (one TD and one FG) and would have had another, had it not been called back.

The only downsides on the evening were familiar - albeit, watered down - ones: Kicking and stupid mistakes. The latter came during the longest, most annoying series of downs in the game. Coverage was blown, and Georgia returned a kickoff to the 2. What should have been a quick score after that dragged on forever. First, they completed the pass for the TD...but got called for offensive pass interference. Then they threw for the TD and...got called for offensive pass interference. They completed a pass (finally), almost got there and then blew the next three tries. So where was the mistake for us? Well, after that first pass, Williams got way too chippy, threw a punch and got ejected from the game. In most games, a defensive loss like that coulda killed us, but thankfully the team picked up the slack.

Kicking. Well, what can I say? It's not a Power review if I don't bitch about kicking. Boyer got the boot, and a new booter was called in. His name is...screw it, who cares? As the announcers said, he probably won't be here next week (and then they gave out the coach's email address.) Sure, he made all but one PAT and converted a FG...but his kickoffs were weak as hell. To put it in perspective, Berry was averaging about 15 yards a return. CJ Johnson, on the other hand, averaged over 30. This was because Nobody-Ass McKickypants never even made the net in this game and dropped all his kicks right in Johnson's hands.

Oh well - we beat the tar out of them (58-41.) At one point, we hit exactly a 31 point lead, and it was nice to know that only one team had ever come back from that.

Us.

Elsewhere in the league

• For some reason, still unknown, the league decided to show Cleveland/Utah as the featured game this week, and as I suspected, it wasn't really exciting at all. Utah completely stomped the Gladiators, and ended their hopes of the playoffs. 83-63 Blaze
• The game they didn't show - and the Ustream feed cut out on - was the Rattlers at the Talons, both looking for first place. These teams are super well matched, and now stand at a win a piece - and as mentioned, will likely meet in the playoffs at some point. The final, that I would have loved to have watched, was 62-61 Talons.
• The game of Orlando at Jacksonville was never in question, despite the possibility of the Preds pulling an upset against one of their hated rivals. In the end, the Sharks pulled off the win 48-30 and secured a place in the post season again.
• The Voodoo should have won in Tampa Bay, and they didn't give up without a fight. This battle went to OT, where the excitement didn't stop. NOLA won the toss and quickly went 0-3 on their attempts. Rocco made one last all-or-nothing Hail Mary to Bush for the TD. Tampa Bay responded by quickly moving back down the field themselves. The gutsy call was to go for 2. Complete it, they win. Miss, they lose. They made it, and the game ended 78-77 TB.
• The less said about the Shock at Command, the better. The Shock were a team hoping for the playoffs, and would have made it in nearly any other division and in any other year with their record. This week, they won by one point (49-48) to the worst team in the league because of a missed FG. Pathetic.
• Chicago pulled off a win for their morale against the Mustangs, 57-54.
• Finally, the Sabercats hosted the Barnstormers. There is a lot of speculation that aging great Mark Greib might retire after this season (though, he's kinda the Favre of the AFL), and if so, this might have been his last home game with the Cats. Well, good for him, they pulled it off 57-48.

Power Hopes to Play Spoiler

Well, we're deep into garbage time at this point, and the main thing we have left going for us is to play spoiler for the Georgia Force. There are a number of different scenarios for them in various playoff spots - but they mainly hinge on them winning this week. So, let's beat them, why not?

Last time we played, it was really close. The downsides of the last match-up were as follows:

They contained Berry really well: A lot of teams have done that this year, but his yards-per-return have improved since that game. He's a lot more comfortable in his role and is a cornerstone of our offense and special teams. Hopefully, it won't be as much of an issue.

Fumbles and interceptions: Randall threw a few picks in the game and that hurt us a lot. Unfortunately, he hasn't gotten a lot better at that, and Hines has the same problem. There's not a lot we can do about that - it's going to be what it's going to be. On the other hand, Joystick was having a lot of trouble hanging onto the ball at that point - thankfully that has gotten better.

Kicking: We lost by a field goal and had some lousy kicking. I mean, Boyer had a bad week last week, but he still kicks better than the Vampire did - and he tackles pretty well, too. As I stated in my review, we statistically outplayed the hell out of them. Kicking and turnovers killed us. Also, the QB they had last time - RJ Archer - is a much better QB than their current one (probably why Archer got signed by the Detroit Lions.) Their current guy was delivering pizzas until recently. (Glad it wasn't bagging groceries.)

Even though we're on the road, I think we have a shot - or at least as much of a shot as we've had in a few of our recent match-ups.

Elsewhere in the league

• For some unknown reason, the NFL Network thinks that the Utah/Cleveland matchup is the more stimulating game this week and are airing that instead of the INSANE matchup of the Rats and Talons. Utah has no excuse to not win this one given the way Cleveland has been playing.
• Not airing on the NFL Network is the powerhouse combo of Arizona and the Talons. Last time they played each other on the Rattlers home turf, the Talons got decisively beat. Now, they clinch the #1 spot with a win over the Rattlers and they're at home. The Ratts need the win to have any shot at that spot. So, aside from all that, these two teams are more than likely going to meet up again in the playoffs, so this is not only a preview, but it's probably going to determine who gets home field in that. This is a coin flip. I want to say the Rattlers, but logic tells me to take the Talons at home.
• On Saturday, Orlando has another shot at the upset and spoiler role as they travel to Jacksonville. A chance, but not a likelihood. I'm taking the Sharks.
• Next up is the Voodoo traveling to Tampa Bay in a big division game. Oh, I really don't know what to say on this one, besides the fact that I hate picks this time of year. I'm saying to pick NOLA - and I really believe that - but it's tough. They're the better team, the more consistent team and they've beaten TB already. However, TB is fighting for their lives and rarely loses at home.
• Spokane beats KC.
• The Chicago/Milwaukee game means nothing to anyone. So...I'd like to pick Chicago, but they struggle on the road, and the Mustangs are stronger than their record. Mustangs.
• Big game for the Sabercats in the late slot. They thwumped the Barnstormers on the road last time and should be able to handle them at home - and they need the win.

For a more in depth view of the seeding possibilities, go to the source. I'm not going to recap it all here - basically it boils down to a mess in the South and seeding in the National. Things will hopefully clear up a bit after this week.

The Force was too strong (Again)

Man, this season has just been brutal. For a while now, I’ve sat down to write my pre/review and started to say, “Well, we’re halfway through the season, and…” Then I realize that we’re not there yet…and we’re still not. This was only our eighth game. So, I guess the good news is that there’s still a lot of football left this season, and hopefully I’ll be able to write another column or two about our awesome win the preceding weekend.

Not this week, though.

Once again, the Force beat us, but at least it was competitive this time. We started strong by actually causing them to go 4-and-out on their first possession. On our possession, Berry put us on the board right away, and we were off to the races. We ended the first half down only a point and came out swinging in the second. We scored on our first drive, and then got a pick that went all the way back.

Our lead was blown late in the game on a couple of very well-played drives by the Force and some perfectly thrown interceptions by Randall. Final was 55-52.

It was another (mostly) well-played game by the Power, but we unfortunately came up short. Randall was looking pretty good, and despite having the same number of picks as last week, he threw a lot fewer straight to the opposing team. Our new addition Oderick Turner had a standout performance in this one, and he has some great hands. With him and “Hands” Hymes on the same line, the team was pulling off some fantastic snags.

So, where did it go wrong? Well, for one thing, Joystick is still having some issues holding onto the ball. I really, really don’t know what’s going on there. These last few weeks, he’s had a costly fumble that boned us. This week, no one was even touching him when he lost it – he just dropped it.

Also, the Force had Berry’s number on kickoff returns. He was only getting 10 yards on average, which started us with crappy field position on most drives. Now, we were able to do as well with our crap position as they were with their much better position (Johnson was averaging more than 25 yards) but we had to work a lot harder. It doesn’t take an expert on the sport to understand that spending less time marching down the field leaves more time on the clock to get an extra possession or two.

The other thing this week was the universe continuing to conspire against me and my feelings on kickers. Wagner is out, being listed on recallable reassignment. I haven’t been able to find out any information about this, but given that he only had one bad game, I think Keller’s theory of him working out for an NFL team might have some legs.

This week, we had Trey “The Vampire” Kramer starting for us, and damn, is he ever a big ball of WTF. To say that he has a background in football is technically accurate (unlike his kicking), but in the “everywhere else in the world” sense. He was a soccer player in college and semi-pro – a goaltender, no less – before just deciding one day that he wanted to kick field goals. Apparently the Blue Racers of the similar-to-but-different-than-the-Arena-League, Indoor Football League shrugged and said, “what the hell?” By all accounts, in that league he was fairly good, being about 80% on PATs and about 50% on field goals. In the NFL that would suck, but indoors, that’s commendable. This did not materialize for us this week in his first AFL game.

His kickoffs had serious power, but the accuracy was all over the place. Some boomed down the field, some dropped right into CJ Johnson’s hands and one went wide left of the rebound nets. When it came to PATs, he missed three and had one blocked. Recheck the score of this game and understand the frustration.

Strangely, the area he shined was tackling. Seriously. He had three on the night. I don’t mean he threw himself at the legs of a returner as a last-ditch attempt to trip him up like any self-respecting kicker – I mean full-on, slam-them-into-the-boards tackles. His third one, he did something I’ve never seen a kicker do: He sized up the returner, looked left, looked right…then lowered his shoulders and charged forward to get him. It was beautiful. I mean, a couple-three PATs would have been better, but it was still a sight to behold.

Bottom line in this game was that, statistically, we out-played Georgia. Picks, fumbles and terrible kicking lost this for us – again. I could bitch about the officiating, which in the fourth was worse than the Vampire’s kicking, but when it came right down to it, didn’t really screw us the way it felt down at the arena. We have one more game in the first half of our season, and we still can’t get all the ingredients, and I wonder if the Power is going to get it figured out in time to have a winning record, much less a slot in the playoffs.

Elsewhere in the League

Upsets….oh, the upsets. Glad I didn’t make many grand, sweeping declarations in my predictions this week.

• In the NFL Game of the Week, NOLA owned Jacksonville…for the first three quarters. Some determination by the Sharks and some costly mistakes by the Voodoo (Most notably a stupid, stupid drop by Kurt Rocco in the end zone) flipped this game around. Voodoo drop all the way to 4^th in their divison.

• Spokane and Utah was not nearly as close as I was expecting. On the first drive of the game, Rowley got sacked for a safety and kinda set the tone for the whole game. Tommy Grady has got some unbelievable moves in the pocket, and his arm and patience lead the Blaze to an 84-63 victory.

• In our division, what did I say needed to happen to make the world a brighter, happier place? We needed to win, and Philly and Milwaukee just needed to keep doing what they do. Instead, we lost and Philly ended up dropping this game 64-63 to the Mustangs. Going into this week, Philly was the only team ever to go 60+ points in seven consecutive games and the Mustangs had only 10 total points making the difference between a 2-5 season and a 5-2 season. Philly keeps their streak, but vindicates the Mustangs’ abilities.

• Predators continue to struggle, dropping the latest installment of the War on I-4 to Tampa Bay, 55-31.

• Talons break their “win every other game” pattern by (understandably) thwumping the hapless Command 47-31. No matter how bad things are for the Power, it’s comforting to look at KC and Orlando, at least.

• As predicted, the Sabercats/Rattlers matchup was a prize fight that went all the rounds. Both teams said screw defense and just decided to see who could score last. Showing their skill, both of them pulled off an onside kick during the game (though Arizona failed on a second one) and ran the score over 140 total points. In the end, San Jose was able to put that last score up and end the night victors, 77-70.

• In the Sunday afternoon game, Chicago (again, understandably) had Coach Ho and JJ Ratterink’s numbers. Sacking him three times and hurrying the Barnstormer offense, they were able to pull off another win and the season sweep of their rivals. However, sloppy play abounded. Barnstomers showed me that a safety can happen on a kickoff return, and later, the Rush returned the favor by running a play while inside their own end zone – and losing yardage. Both teams also held up proceedings while trying to challenge without any timeouts left, and Chicago continued to show poor clock management.

Feel the Force

Oooooooookay...so...here we go. Took me a while to get around to writing this. There really isn't a lot to say until the Power turns things around. While I toyed around with various ways of saying, "We need to win, or else," I took a look at what happened last time we played the Georgia Force. It was almost exactly one year ago today that we played them, and lost.

Now there are some interesting things that we can take from this game. When we lost to them last year, that put us at 3-4, which is actually only one game ahead of where we are right now. After that, we were still able to go on a serious roll and end up in playoff contention. That possibility still exists for us this year with some lucky breaks - it really does. Cleveland isn't playing this weekend, but Milwaukee is playing Philly. So long as Philly doesn't screw us, that will drop the Mustangs down to a tie with us (if we win.)

Now, last year we were on a run for first place and that's not going to be an option this year. However, the South division is a lot weaker this season, and that's our hope.

We know what to expect from the Power. Aside from mentioning that Randall is getting the start, not much to say. How about the Force?

Well, at quarterback, they have RJ Archer, who is someone we prepared to face in Milwaukee, but didn't because Guidugli got the start. Hopefully we still have the tape on Archer, but it is what it is. On the receiving side, they still have CJ Johnson and Larry Shipp and they're still favorite targets. They're good, but it's a bonus that we've played them before. They're a known quantity. Last time, they were able to put a combined total of 170 yards and 4 touchdowns on us, and I hope that we can keep them down.

Last week when they were playing the Rattlers, every. single. time. the announcers talked about their schedule, they repeated,

"Next week they travel to Pittsburgh."
"Beatable team."
"Yep. Beatable team."

That stung, but we can't deny that it's true. Thankfully, they eventually admitted that the Force has been streaky as hell this year. They hosted the undefeated Rush and beat them. Soundly. Yet, the very next week, they rolled into Orlando, all full of swagger...and handed them their first win of the season. They've also beaten Cleveland yet lost to Tampa - my point is, when they play a tough team, they can knuckle down and beat them. When they play a weak team, they get cocky and lose. That is our chance.

The main thing that we have to watch out for is their defense. Even if they have a losing schedule right now, they've made big stops in their games. They put up some huge stops against even Arizona, and we haven't performed well in those situations this year.

We lost the "easy" road to a playoff berth last week, but if we roll like last year and start putting up some wins, and the rest of the division helps us out by losing some important ones, we have a chance. At this point, I hope Philly wins everything except our next match. Any time Philly loses now, it dilutes and averages out the rest of our division. The division title is theirs, and we need them to win it as decisively as possible. So...root for Philly, is what I'm saying.

Ouch. I don't like saying that.

Elsewhere in the league

Okay...no pressure after my perfect run last week. I'm not even going to try this week, because there's too many games that could go either way. In other words, there are a lot of games worth watching this week.

• NFL Game this week is the Voodoo visiting Jacksonville. Voodoo needs the win to stay at the top of their division. The Sharks have put some serious points up and lost some close games. Basically, they're the Florida version of us. Smart money is on NOLA, but Jax is hungry enough to pull it off.
• At 9, Spokane squares off against rival Utah. Both teams are on a winning streak, and Spokane sits at the bottom of their division. The Shock lost their first game with Rowley by 4 points, and have won since. On the other hand, Tommy Grady is still one of the best quarterbacks in the league. This one is just too damn close to call. I'll give the home team (who also has the better record) the edge here, but not by much. If I'm home, I'll be watching this one, and you should, too.
• Saturday night, Milwaukee plays Philly at home. As stated above, it's better all around if Philly wins, and they should win without a problem, but I've got a very bad feeling about this one. Still taking Philly, though.
• Predators at the Storm. The Storm should have this one because, well, the Predators...however, they've been playing pretty weak recently, even when they've won. Last week against the KC Command, they had a score like the outdoor league most of the way through the second quarter. They should have steamrolled that team, and it took way too long to get going. Take Tampa, but don't be shocked with an upset.
• Talons at Command. Okay, Talon should win this one. Why? Because its the Command. Also, because the Talons have literally been winning every other game this season, and this week is supposed to be a win. Now, we better hope that they break said pattern - because we play them next.
  
• San Jose at Arizona. Oh boy, this one better get rebroadcast. I'll be dahn at Consol, of course and will miss the first half of this....but, as always, Cats vs Rats is fun to watch. These two teams are tied for first in the West, and last time they met, the Cats won by a single point. I'll give the Rats a 1-point edge at home. That's it.
• Final game for the week is Iowa at the Rush. Please re-read the above and change Cats to Barnstormers and Rats to Rush. Seriously. Every single thing I said in the last post holds true for this game.
  

Conference Game Reviews and Arena Bowl XXIV Preview

Another week is in the books, and the Arena Bowl teams are set. This week gave us odd times, but good football. Both games in the Conference Finals were very entertaining and prove that Friday night is going to be fun as hell.

National Conference Final

Arizona hosted the Chicago rush Friday night at way-too-damn-late o'clock. The game had a rocky start for both teams, so much so that I actually wondered if there was something wrong with the balls. Both teams fumbled the ball on their first drive, and even my wife said, “Really? These are the good teams?” However, both teams redeemed themselves by scoring in short order – Chicago in impressive fashion when Jason Simpson returned a kickoff 56 yards.
 

Things were relatively even the rest of the first half with Arizona going into the locker-room with a 9-point lead. The 3^rd quarter is where everything changed when the Rattlers put up 13 and shut the Rush out.

However, this is where Arizona showed their weakness of overconfidence. You could tell by the end of the third that they were starting to lay back and take it easy. Problem is, Chicago didn't feel the same way.

The forth quarter saw the Rush put up 29 points to Arizona's 13 – the highest scoring quarter for either team. At the end of the half, Chicago was only down 6 points and had the ball with seconds left on the clock. Everyone in the world – including those not even interested in this sport – could see the on-side kick coming. 

Thing is, Chicago didn't. Surprising everyone, including the return team, Chicago kicked it deep. With no one there, the Rush charged down the field and attempted to recover in the end zone. A player from both teams fell on it, and the call was so close that it had to be reviewed – Rattlers ball. Game over.

Both teams gave it their best, and the score was close, but the fact of the matter is that Arizona played a much better game. The only reason things ended up as close as they did was because the Rattlers slacked off in the third. 

For one thing, their defense was incredible this game and mostly shut Raterink down. I realize that “shut down” is operative here, as he had 187 yards and three touchdowns. But, considering Chicago turned the ball over five times during the game and didn't score for a whole quarter, they were well shut down.

The pairing of Nick Davila and Jason Geathers was the true story on the field. Davila put up huge numbers with a 50% completion ratio, over 280 yards and a whopping 7 touchdowns. Geathers caught the ball 10 times for 150 yards and 4 TD's. They were just an unholy force and proved that Rats were the team that deserves to play Friday night.

American Conference Final

Monday night in prime-time, the Jacksonville Sharks hosted the Georgia Force in a game that was more competitive than I'd expected it to be. Where-as the National game had less than 7,000 people in attendance and seemed like less, Jacksonville had over 10K and seemed like more. The crowd was fired up, and it showed. At least two plays went against the Sharks because of fan interference – including one where a guy in the front row of the end zone assaulted the returner from Georgia.
 

Look, I'm all about fanhood, and I'm all about getting into it – but some things go too far. Had this guy been wearing a Sharks jersey, he would have gotten called for a personal foul, holding and a facemask. Leave the rough-housing to the guys making $400 a game, mkay? End of digression.

Early on, the Sharks lost their center – who has started every game in the two years the Jacksonville has had a team – and you could see that it threw Garcia off, but they recovered well. Unlike in the National game, there was no clear-cut dominating team in this game. Offense ruled the night, and the score climbed steadily. It took until the third quarter before either team managed a stop when Jacksonville got a turnover on downs to take the ball away from Georgia. The closest that Georgia came to a stop was when they forced a 36 yard field goal attempt late in the 4^th. The kick was about as perfect as possible.

As this was a story of offense, the main characters were the quarterbacks, which were about as even as possible. Both men put up 313 yards and 8 touchdowns and got sacked once. Darnel Kennedy of Georgia was the only one to fire an interception (which actually lost the game for him) and had slightly more attempts with less completions. However, this is fairly elementary, as the numbers were otherwise too close to call.

The stud receivers in this game were Maurice Purify (GA) and Jeff Hugely (JAX). Both had over 150 yards and 3 touchdowns. In this game, both QB's were more likely to spread it around than to have one “go-to” guy, so their receivers were both three deep and gave flexibility.

Neither team in this game slacked off, and both played a full four. Honestly, whichever team won would have equally deserved to represent their conference in the Arena Bowl. In the end, however, the Jacksonville Sharks pulled it out with an interception with only 14 seconds left on the clock. Final score, 64-55 Sharks.

Arena Bowl XXIV

So, there it is: As I called weeks ago, the Arena Bowl this year will see Jacksonville facing off against Arizona. This is going to be a story of age and experience, with different versions going to each team.

Jacksonville is reaching the big game in only their second season in existence. This is an impressive feat, and one that was well-earned with their early-to-mid season records. However, before this, the farthest they'd made it was the divisional round last year where they lost. Arizona, on the other hand, has been to six Arena Bowls and won two of them in their storied career.

In a sport where year-to-year a team can change 100%, does this really matter? Yes it does. Having been there puts a different mindset in a team, even if the players themselves haven't been. Having gone several times and won a few increases this. Think about it this way: The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost two out of their last four Super Bowls, however, the money is generally on them, either in Vegas or simply in popular opinion. Why? Because they'd already won four. Guys that were in grade school or not even born during those games were being given the benefit of the doubt because of the careers of guys that would be comfortably watching their games from ESPN's studio. It might not make a lot of sense, but the psychological edge goes to the team with the history.

Age is a bit more murky. Nick Davila is 26 and in his third year in the league. Aaron Garcia is 40 and has been in the league a staggering 17 years. Experience is without a doubt in his favor, that can't be argued – but age isn't. This season, Jacksonville, in stunning fashion, went on a 13-game winning streak, just owning the league...but as the season went on, the strain became evident. Although they've been doing very well in the playoffs, the Sharks dropped 3 out of their last 5 games. Monday night, Garcia was just looking tired during the game and I wonder how much is left in the tank. Davila, on the other hand, has lead the Rattlers on a steady, win-more-than-you-lose season that was nothing if not consistent. This consistency speaks to an endurance that is going to be critical when they play the 21^st game of the season this week.

Everything else is a catchall kind of category that doesn't favor the Sharks. For one thing, Arizona is at home, which is an obvious advantage. Jacksonville will be facing a multi-hour time change, many miles from home in unfamiliar territory. Add to that the fact that the Rattlers will have had two extra days of rest, and there is an unfair lopsidedness to this. Furthermore, in addition to the things stated above, the QB/Receiver combo of Davila/Geathers is much, much more dominating than Garcia/best man open. Granted, Garcia shows a flexibility that will be very important when his team only really needs to target one guy – but AZ just has a powerhouse there. 

Finally, Arizona is a much more complete team. Their defense is as solid as their offense, and Jacksonville just doesn't play a lot of defense.

Look, I'm rooting for the Sharks. I love a story, and this one is all about an aging gunslinger coming back for “just one more season” who wants a ring to cap off an unbelievable, record-setting, hall-of-fame-earning season. The problem is, Arizona is a more complete, longer-running team with the better all around package. If Garcia and crew wants to pull this off, he's going to have to dig deep-down inside and find his “have-to.”

Gary Busey frowns on my obscure reference

Tune in Friday for one last game of Arena Ball for the season to see who takes it all home. This bad boy will be nationally broadcast on the NFL network and should be a lot of fun.

The Force was too strong

As it is one of the unofficial "Star Wars Days" today, I might as well stick with the punny headline - and May the fourth be with you

The worst part of being out of town, missing a game live, having to wait until Tuesday to catch the rerun online only to be greeted with a tough loss. So, grab a drink, take a deep breath and sit back while I launch into my normal “it's not as bad as it seems” speech - but first:

It's kind of as bad as it seems.

On the obvious front, we dropped another one, putting us below .500 again. Even if there are a lot of teams in this position, it's not ever a good spot to be in. With that tough second half of the season rapidly approaching, we need every single win that we can get. This was a winnable game that we just weren't able to put to bed.

Things started out pretty strong in the first quarter, but, as per usual, once the opposing team started putting up points on them, the Power panicked and fell apart. In a little bit, I'll talk about what they did right, but as is always the case, everything you do right can be washed away by turnovers, and those happened too much in this game.

Morelli came into this game perfect as a starter with no interceptions, but he made up for lost time. He totaled three interceptions and a lost fumble in this game, which absolutely sunk us. These came off of panicked throws that resulted in blown routes and ended in tears. Worst of these was in the second half and the Power was attempting to stage a comeback with an onside kick. Power recovered it cleanly, only to have Morelli give it back on the first play of the drive.

Edinger continued to be a mediocre-at-best kicker who cost us some key points, which included two missed extra points and a shanked 38-yard-fieldgoal. Missing at that distance is almost excusable, but when the points matter as much as they did here, he should be able to come through. At two-for-six on the season in field goal attempts, he's proving to be a big hole in our attack.

Finally, we allowed three of their players to rack up more than 260 yards. The Power had 6 receivers on the books in this game and didn't manage to reach that. Also, those three guys put up 8 TD's. There was just no stopping them in the air.

Now that you're all on the ledge:

Well, it's not as bad as it seems.

Sure, we dropped one, but our division didn't change at all this week. Everyone else won, but Philly and Milwaukee are far enough behind that their wins didn't help them. Cleveland is still far enough ahead of us that one game isn't going to make a difference.

For another thing, the rushing game took advantage of the weaknesses I pointed out in the Force. The Power racked up an impressive 101 yards to the Force's 2. I would like to repeat that: 101yards to 2. That is a great game on the ground for any team.

Branching from that are two other great things about this game, and those are Morelli and Rue. Morelli was still confident in his own mobility this game – but really needs to learn to slide – earning to the top rushing spot with 42 yards. Rue returned to the scene in this game, averaging 3.8 yards on 9 carries with a touchdown. As I was hoping, they saw the weakness on the run and decided to give the Rue-train another trip down the tracks - and to great effect.

In the air, Willis continued to be Morelli's favorite target this week, with a respectable 79 yards and a touchdown. These two continue to gel and should continue to be a tandem to watch out for in the league.

A new face this week was Craig Fulton on special teams. He amassed 131 return yards, as well as showing up for offense to run a fairly successful reverse and a touchdown. He was all over the place on a lot of plays, and I hope to see him utilized more.

A final highlight note for the offense was Xavier Lee. Officially listed as the backup quarterback (Morris didn't even make the trip, which might be telling us something), Lee was a very effective “where the hell did that come from” weapon. He was on the board with a receiving TD, a couple of rushing TD's and even a few passes late in the game. While he's the third stringer at QB and can't expect to be kept in that capacity, it is an almost foregone conclusion that he will be kept for utility purposes.

Another so-so showing was that, even though we couldn't stop their passing game, we at least made an attempt to contain it. Before things fell apart, the Power did a fairly good job of getting in Purify's way on the field, keeping him to second place on their team in yards. It's not anything to write home about, but it should be commended.

The bottom line:

We can't rely on Philly and Milwaukee to keep screwing up to get us into the playoffs. I will take it any way we can get it, but being in second place because the rest of our division sucks is not good. Also, with us having an evil schedule coming up, who knows what's going to happen. If we start tanking and Coach Ho gets his act together out in Philly, we could be screwed.

In the meantime, we're continuing to grow as a team and learning what works. Morelli and Willis are syncing their moves, Lee is a surprise gadget guy, and Rue might still have a few tricks up his sleeve. Time will tell, and we have the right to be hopeful.

Elsewhere in the league

• The formerly unstoppable Rattlers were finally stopped by the Shock, who gave them their first loss by one point.
• Every other team in our division won this week, but again, it didn’t change the standings at all.
• Aaron Garcia had his game jersey and ball sent to Canton after Saturday’s win over the Predators. This honor was bestowed because of his god-like achievement of making his 1000^th touchdown pass – a feat not matched by any other professional football-player in the AFL or NFL.

The Force is strong

Another week is upon us, and the Arena League waits for no man. Next up is the formidable Georgia Force, and one thing is certain: They're no New Orleans Voodoo.

The Power took the win last week, and were the only team in our division to do so. Another week like that, and they'd actually take the top slot...but that ain't gonna happen. It's tough to say, but there it is. Cleveland would have to drop a third one in a row – which is not likely to begin with – and they're playing Tulsa. Sure, Tulsa beat us and Cleveland was beaten by the Voodoo – but both of those are kind of flukes.

The other thing that would need to happen is that we would need to beat the Force, and that will take some doing. On one hand, the Force is tied for second place in a rather tough division with one of the only two teams to beat them. Their other loss was to the top team in this same division, the Sharks.

On the other hand, of their four wins, only one came against a team with a winning record, the Dallas Vigilantes. Their others came against the Voodoo, the Mustangs and the Talons, which have a total of 4 wins among them in 8 weeks of football. Now, this is not to say that these Force wins are meaningless – they're not. After all, one of those teams beat us. However, they go to show that they might not be all that.

So how do we go about this? Well, we've got to keep on keepin' on. We have good momentum going into this game with a win over New Orleans last week (a victory I will hoist a glass to in the Quarter this week when I make my way down there for vacation) as well as a nice long rest between games. Assuming that they didn't spend a week resting on their laurels and forgetting everything they progressed on, this should put the Power in good fighting form.

On defense, there's no easy strategy to employ against the Force’s passing game. Brett Elliot has a lot of yards on the season and 4 receivers that he regularly goes to in Purify, Shipp and the Johnsons, CJ and Mike. (I really wonder how often someone comes up to them and cracks Die Hard jokes. “Johnson. No...the other one.” End of Digression.) So, there's no real openings there. Best idea is to put pressure on Elliot and see that he doesn't have time to get the ball off.

On the ground, they have no running game to speak of. None. When you account for lost yardage, they actually have less than 10 yards on the season. Therefore, I don't think it's something that the Power are going to be stressing much about.

However, on our side of the ball, most teams that have played them this season has been able to put up yards against them. Dallas and Tulsa both only lost by a touchdown, and were each able to put up nearly a hundred yards on them. Tulsa's quarterback, Bobby Reid, put up 96 by himself. Even when Jacksonville put less than twenty rushing yards up, Georgia has negative yardage.

The point here is that – even for the Arena League – the Force has a blind spot for the ground game. If ever there was a week to try out that whole Josh Rue thing again, this is it.

Another factor to watch is that the Force seems to have a have a habit of slacking off late in the game. Fully half of their games saw the opposing team make a major rally in the second-half and close the gap. Now, the Power haven't been that fantastic at the long game this season, but if they can keep the faith and not panic when and if they're down, they have a chance to catch the Force by surprise late in the game.

One has to realize, however, that state, predictions, offensive habits and the like only matter if the Power holds up its side of the bargain. This, again, means not back-sliding into old habits and learning from past mistakes. They need to keep their head in the game and make the good plays that they made last week. I hope to see Morelli behind center again this week – see my review comments about horses and streams – but Morris has been activated from IR, so I don't know who they are going to go with.

Furthermore, these penalties need to stop. I hope that they took this long break to drill every major play they have and that whoever is at QB is getting flashcard quizzes throughout the day. Most of our penalties have involved confusion before the snap and jumping the gun, so that is our major concern. Penalty yards kill games as much as bad defense.

The bottom line is that this is going to be our toughest game so far this season short of the Sharks. It is winnable, but it won't be easy. If we can find some way to neutralize them in the air, this will be our game to lose. Their ground attack and defense is weak, they get soft in the second half, and a lot of their wins have come against cream-puffs. However, the Power are often guilty of making stupid mistakes and losing to cream-puffs.

Game starts at 7:30 Saturday night, streaming online.

Elsewhere in the league:

• In divisional action, the Barnstormers host Philly in what is a pretty “meh” game. At least the Barnstormers have a good Internet feed and make for entertaining football.
• In an almost identical situation, the Tampa Bay Storm will be hosting the Mustangs.
• The Game of the Week is the Orlando Predators at the Jacksonville Sharks in a game that (along with ours) has the potential to completely shake up the American Division South. This will air on the NFL network Sunday at three, on delay do to the draft.
  
• All the powerhouses in the National Conference either have a bye or are playing teams that might as well be a bye.