Voodoo at Power preview

Another tough loss last week.  The Power kept it competitive, but at some point they need to start winning games, even if other teams losing keep us in the playoff hunt.  There are three teams that need to finish with a worse record than the Power, and they had a chance to beat each of them, one right after the other.  So far, that didn't work against the Preds -who were the most important of the three - but we still have NOLA and the Gladiators to go.

This week is the New Orleans Voodoo, a team that the Power successfully beat in their house and is also a team that hasn't won on the road so far this season.  Granted, the Power doesn't have a great record at home, but it's a winnable game.

The big problem Saturday night is going to be Captain Morgan himself.

I can't count the number of times that's been the case

Donovan Morgan is a force of nature on offense.  When he's on his game, no one else on the team seems that scary - and given that this game is just as important to the Voodoo as it is to the Power, expect him to be on his game.

The question mark for both teams is quarterback.  The Power continue their random roll call for QB every week - it looks like Sheffield will be under center this week, but that's never a sure thing.  He might have "family issues" again at the last minute, Austin might be really on it in practice, or Coach Sting might just feel like throwing Cassidy in again.  We don't know.  On the Voodoo side of things, Kurt Rocco is their starter.  He let the team to a strong showing last year, but he's been struggling this season.  After a pretty bad showing last week, Chris Dixon might be in.  I'd rather that - replacement QBs on the road are generally less dangerous than a troubled starting QB.

Wrapping up the season:

Down the stretch here, the Power is 2 games back from the Preds, and some wins need to stack up.  The Preds will face Sharks, Rattlers, 'Stormers, Gladiators and Voodoo.  Sharks are a rival, so it's tough to call.  Ratts will be a loss.  Iowa, Cleveland and NOLA should all be wins, but they'll probably drop one of them.  So, optimistically, the Preds will go 2-3 in their last five.  Optimistically.

What does that mean for the Power?  Nothing good.  That would mean that the Power needs to win out.  Our final opponents are Voodoo, Gladiators, 'Cats, Storm and Shock.  Voodoo and Gladiators are the best bets.  Cats are a strong maybe, Storm's unlikely and the Shock ain't happening.  Best - absolute best - case, the power goes 4-1, though I'd expecct 2-3, and that won't be enough.

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer about the situation, but that's really what it comes down to - and it's not taking into consideration the Voodoo and Gladiators going on a tear...I mean, the Preds could just as easily fall apart.  I'm not putting money on either.  The simple fact is, the Power probably won't make the playoffs, but still have a chance of ending the year with a better record than last year.

Baby steps.

Elsewhere in the League

• Orlando at Jacksonville - as I said above, it's a rivalry game and it was a three-point game last time they met up.  I need to think positive and say that the Sharks will pull it off again.
• Philly at Cleveland - Philly's better on the road, and Cleveland's not good.
• Another division match-up, and it's between the Talons and Barnstormers.  The Barnstormers took the Talons at home last time, and they should be able to do it on their home turf as well.
• As far as I'm concerned, the GotW is once again featuring the Cats, even if it's not the TV game.  Last time the Cats and Blaze met up, San Jose won by a point.  Utah needs this win hard, but I'm still betting the Cats win the rematch.

Bye Week Spotlight: The Soul at Voodoo

I wanted to address this week's final game, as we will be playing both teams in the coming weeks and there was a lot to see in this match-up. Sunday afternoon, the Soul traveled to the Graveyard - the AFL's best-named arena, followed by the Rattlers' Snakepit and the Preds' Jungle - to start their season. Coming in, I was expecting a fairly lopsided game given the Soul's roster and the Voodoo's lack of one - but it came right down to the wire.

The Soul absorbed a fair amount of talent from the now defunct Dallas Vigilantes, including QB "Dirty" Dan Raudabaugh (yes, I'm still pushing that moniker), RB Derrick Ross and former head coach (now offensive coordinator) Clint Dozel. Returning this year is deep threat Donovan Morgan (who was gone, then back, then maybe gone, then re-signed last season) and new acquisition, Jeff Hughley from the Sharks (Note: I am so glad he's not a lineman, because I'm already mentally calling him D.L. Hughley, which is a whole other Hughley.) Also, they're rolling with some brutal defense that doesn't seem to care about such niceties as not roughing the passer or kicker.

On the other side of the field, the Voodoo were returning from a pretty crappy season, with a new head coach and mostly new players. That's "new to Arena Football" not just new to the team. There's only about 5 veterans on the team, including former Cleveland Gladiator rival, Kurt Rocco and Josh Bush (whom you might remember from my past Predator coverage.) Their strength is really in their coaching, with former Preds coach Pat O'Hara and AFL legend Tim Marcum as his assistant. With these two at the head and the performance I saw today, I expect some impressive stuff out of New Orleans this year.

Philly started the game looking like they were just going to crush the Voodoo after putting up two rather quick scores, but the Voodoo got in it and they went back and forth the rest of the game. The Voodoo missed a key PAT, and they spent most of the game staying one point behind. Even though they capitalized on a turnover in the second, the Soul were able to make up the ground and finish it out one point ahead at the end (63 - 62) due to a missed field goal by New Orleans.

When we face the Voodoo in a few weeks, they're going to be a tougher than we've dealt with in the past, despite their lack of experience. Kurt Rocco was fairly solid in Cleveland, and he has matured a lot. With the help of some top-flight coaching and some solid, solid receivers in Josh Bush and Quorey Payne, they have a lot of potential. When Bush had less on the day of these two and still got almost 100 yards in the indoor game, we're seeing solid performance.

Rocco is strong in the passing game and this week went 25/29 for 314 yards 6 TDs. On the other hand, they are not afraid of the rushing game, putting up almost 50 yards on the ground and three TDs. Were it not for their kicking woes and some standout performances from Philly, this game is a win in most situations.

Next week, we face the Philly Soul once again in our home opener and. they. scare me. Seriously. Dirty Dan is a great QB who took the Vigilantes to the postseason last year. Today, he went 23 for 30, 310 yards, 7 TDs and no interceptions. He also has some phenomenal targets in Tiger Jones, Donovan Morgan and Jeff Hughley. All three of them are good at getting open down field and making catches. Both Hughley and Jones had receptions of 29 yards or more in this game and it only took three receivers for Dirty Dan to break the 300 yard barrier.

Morgan was viewed to be good enough to get picked up by the UFL last season, but it only took about a week for him to make it back to this league, whether he didn't like it or didn't work out, and that's the AFL's gain. He "only" had 86 yards receiving today, caught 2 touchdowns and also rushed for another 24 yards. He's highly mobile and can move in the open field.

Hughley is the big threat. As a receiver, he's deadly. Last year under the great Aaron Garcia, he had almost 1200 yards and 22 touchdowns. Today, he already tacked up almost 100 yards and two TDs as a receiver. He was also the only kick returner for Philly, and he averaged 26.5 yards on 10 returns and ran one aaaaaaall the way back for a score. Seriously, I don't want him coming into the Consol next week.

Finally - and this is is just based on their first game of the season - the Soul has got some brutal defensive players. There were several unsportsmanlike calls for Philly today, include a late, hard hit on Rocco, and hard hit to the kicker's leg. I hope they get that under control before they risk our players next week.

So, two weeks in, and we already have a good idea what we're going to be facing in three out of our next five games.

Elsewhere in the league

• Right now, Philly is at the top of the division with 1 win and more points than us. Next week will show only one of the four of us with 2 wins.
• Milwaukee put up a good fight against Arizona, but lost by a touchdown
• The Kansas City Command started out strong against the Garcia-less Sharks Friday night, but just got throttled in the second half. Looks like the Sharks might still be a tough contender.
• Utah lost this week, leaving both them and the Blaze 1-1.
• Speaking of Garcia, the Talons lost a close one to the Shock 63-60.
• The Game of the Week on the NFL network wasn't boring, but it wasn't that exciting either. Tampa Bay started out strong, and the Force did their best to catch up. 50-47 Tampa.
  

Cleveland vs Power Review

*sigh*

Well, that's it. Our season ended in Cleveland this week in a hard-fought game against our now-hated rivals, the Cleveland Gladiators. We entered with the question of what kind of quarterback Kurt Rocco really is, and now we know: A good one. Although we brought some pressure on him early, he was largely unflappable the whole game, where-as Morris proved to be very flappable indeed.

It can't be said that the Power played a bad game - they were just out played. We trailed almost the entire first half, and we down almost 20 points at one juncture - but the Power managed an impressive comeback in the third to briefly take the lead. Morris was firing on all cylinders, Willis, Campbell and DeWalt were on fire, and even Paul Edinger was nearly perfect on the night.

It all when wrong when Morris had two huge fumbles in the fourth. Granted, one of those was a lousy snap, but he still lost two of them that led to scores. It's a problem Morris has had all season: When he unexpectedly goes down, he's terrible at protecting the ball. After that, he panics, beats himself up and everything goes downhill from there. This, unfortunately tends to overshadow the fact that he's accurate, mobile and long-range. It certainly did in this game.

To the Power's credit, they never gave up - until the end, they were still playing hard and trying to pull this one around...but once they were down by three scores, it was all over but the crying.

Again, by the numbers, it was an incredibly close game. Should these two teams remain more or less intact next year (always a big "if") then this is going to shape up to be a great rivalry. Morris was 28 for 41, Rocco was 25 for 35, and neither of them threw a pick the whole game. Rocco threw for 297 yards and 8 touchdowns, where-as Morris had 318 for 7. Tipping the balance was Morris scrambling for 28 yards - more than all of the Gladiators together.

On the receiving side, our players were equally as matched. Where Goodman was deadly all game for Cleveland, we answered just as well with Willis. Future NFLer Troy Bergeron was simply an Irv Campbell in a Gladiator uniform. Redd and DeWalt rounded out the matchup. Once again, they mostly shut down Washington, but that doesn't mean he wasn't out there hustling.

On special teams, it looked again like they were going to fall to poor kicking. They missed two PATs and failed to convert on a 2pt attempt. Edinger was a brilliant 7-8 on the night. Both teams were near equal on kickoff averages (55.9 for PIT and 57.0 yds for CLE.)

The fact of the matter is, that age-old mantra: Turnovers. Lose. Ballgames.

Without those three fumbles in this game, we would most likely have won - but those fumbles happened, and we lost. What's more, we deserved to. The better team is going to the playoffs, but they aren't that much better. We need to retain that knowledge going into a long off season after next week.

Next up, Philly, in a game that is only about bragging rights, such as they are.

If the Playoffs were today

Well, they might as well be. Not a single game matters next week, and the brackets are set.

The National Conference will see Arizona matched up with - and likely beating - Spokane in one match, and Dallas traveling to Chicago for the other. Chicago secured home-field advantage this week in the preview game against Dallas. This is a huge advantage for them on several levels. Not only did they already beat this team and not only will they have home-field advantage, but they secured this with their backup QB. Michna should be back for the playoffs, and aside from some rust, this will be bad, bad news for Dallas.

In the American conference, those lousy, stupid, no good, sons of syphilitic camels, the Cleveland Gladiators will be meeting up with the Georgia Force. It's going to be a very close game, as the Force has struggled at times this season, and Cleveland has already beaten them once this season. On the other hand, the lockout looks like it will be over by playoff time, which means that they will not have Bergeron.

The Sharks will be playing the Predators at home in probably the most exciting game of the first round. Sure the Sharks were the biggest force in AFL most of the season, but they've dropped three in a row, and the Predators hate them with the burning passion of a thousand dying suns. Were as I would have said - and did  say a few weeks ago - that they would win the Arena Bowl this year, the Sharks are starting to look rather mortal.

So, just because the Power doesn't have anything left to play for, doesn't mean that there's not still football to watch.

Two Will Enter, One Will Leave - Power vs Gladiators Preview

Here we go again - Once more, we meet up with the Gladiators in a game that will help decide the division. This time, once and for all.

Friday night, the Power travels to Cleveland for our second match-up with our division rivals, and everything is at stake. Fittingly, it's a featured Friday-night game on the NFL Network. Neither team has won an NFL-broadcast game yet, although, for the Power this our third try. Needless to say, I'm a bit concerned that this will get in their collective heads.

Writing columns for a second match-up is somewhat easier with the Power, because they haven't changed a lot since the last one. For better or worse, things are going to play out much the same as they did last time.

Cleveland has had a quarterback's carousel this season like many other teams, but Kurt Rocco has been their Bernard Morris and stuck around the most. Last time we played him, our defense was able to hold him down to just 32 points as well as force several turnovers on downs. Granted, they did nearly the same thing to us, but the point remains that they were one of the teams, and he was one of the quarterbacks, that we had an answer for.

Last week in Philly, he was beat senseless. Sacked seven times and held to but 2 touchdowns and 200 yards, it was a shameful performance. Now, there is an outside chance Ryan Vena is going to pull an O'Hara and sub in at backup quarterback at the last second, but I doubt it - Rocco is their QB, and this game has a lot more riding on it than Orlando did. Therefore, we're going to play a QB who is bruised and humiliated on national television having to face it again.

Honestly, we're going to find out a lot about Rocco this week, and what kind of man he is. IS he the type that won't accept defeat and will come out aiming to banish recent ghosts and win one for the gipper? Or is he the type that's going to come out Friday night so scared silly that it's going to happen again? It's tough to say, but we're going to find out.

His receiver corps are still tough, and ready for action - even if they were shut down last week. Bergeron, Redd and Monk are all dangerous, but the good news is that we've played them before and have film to review. As long as the defense does what they did last time, we should be able to contain them. Also, if the NFL lockout ends tomorrow, Bergeron is a Dallas Cowboy. At long last, we have a reason for wanting the lockout to end!

On our side of the ball, everything I just said about us is true for them. They controlled us last time just as much as we controlled them. Also, the Gladiators - last week not withstanding - have the best pass blocking offensive line in the league.

Last time, we commented that Cleveland was running the anit-DeWalt defense. There is no reason that should change. More frighteningly, they shut down Mike Washington. We have other options, but he has been our prime, go-to guy this season and that is scary. Thankfully, last time, Morris adjusted and went with Willis. Now, we've also got both Mathis and Hall. If anything, we're stronger at receiver than we were last time. This is going to be the deciding factor - if the Power steps up and embraces its options, we'll have this one.

Sadly, last time we were hampered on defense by - everybody together now - stupid procedural penalties. We're just going to have to accept that they're going to happen again and move past it. At this point in the season, nothing's going to change there, so instead, we'll have to make up for it on offense.

Lastly, the game came down to kickers last time, and we came out on the right side of it. Surprisingly, Edinger has been fairly good and consistent recently. If he can hold it together, then I have the sneaking sense that we can hope to not worry about him.


So there it is. Two very equal teams, both playing for their season on national television. The Power office set up a field trip to bus fans out to Cleveland, vuvuzelas in hand. If we're lucky, a lot of people signed up and Power nation will start to represent like Steeler nation. Go Power!

Elsewhere in the league

• One of the few games with any meaning this week is Chicago vs Dallas in a first-round playoff preview. Both teams are in, and this game will probably tell us a lot about the first round.
• The Talons are still in the hunt, and meet the Preds on Saturday. I don't see that one going their way, but they have a lot on the line.
• The Shock tentatively have a spot right now, but they are meeting up against the desperate Sabercats this weekend, where anything can happen.
  

Gladiators vs Power review - a rivalry is born

Well, Keller has already put up his review, so you already know the good news: The Power is number one in the division. This is huge. Granted, it is only by one game, and everything can change next week – but for right now, we're #1.

The match when down Saturday night on Vuvuzela Night, and the house was packed, amped and loud. I now finally understand fully why those stupid horns are so annoying – but fortunately, they were mainly employed when Cleveland was on offense. Unfortunately, I have this sinking feeling that they will now become traditional whenever Cleveland is in town.

This game came down to a kicker who couldn't get it done, and for once, I don't have to say that it's Edinger. If you will permit me, I will digress for a second.

Some years ago, I bought a Jeff Reed jersey. Everyone asked why I would do such a thing, and understandably so. I explained that I felt kickers needed more support. PATs are automatic for the most part, so about the only time anyone cares about the kickers is for field goals. Thing is, FG's only happen when the offense can't get in the end zone. If the kicker misses and they lose the game, somehow it's suddenly his fault. Not the offense's, not the defense's – the kicker. Yet, I've seen games where the only points the winning team scored were field goals – but you never see the hero kickers interviewed on the sports shows or newspaper columns.

Now, this theory is very accurate for the NFL, but not so much for the AFL. PATs are not automatic, and field goals rarely happen. In this league, there are a lot of games that a loss can be laid squarely at the feet of the kicker, and this is one of them.

In this low-scoring affair, Cleveland matched us touchdown for touchdown, but they lost by three points – all of them PATs. Matt Denny had a terrible night, and his team paid the price for it.

Morris had a hell of a night, fully winning his title of Offensive Player of the Game. He was 17-23 with 210 yards, and made something out of nothing several times – including that 40-yard dash that Keller mentioned.

On Cleveland's side of the ball, there was something Keller mentioned after the game that I think was a very good point: Cleveland seemed to be running the anti-DeWalt offense, as nearly every play seemed to be designed to make sure that it didn't go anywhere near him.

Further proving that they watched some film in Cleveland recently was the fact that Mike Washington was all but shut down this game. Only 45 yards and no touchdowns, but this gave a Willis a chance to step back into the spotlight this week. That's the key to having a go-to guy: Make sure you have a back-up go-to guy.

Another highlight was the return of Jerome Mathis. He might have only had about 30 yards as a receiver, but he accomplished more than a hundred yards on kick-returns, which was a sight to see. We've known that there was a hole in our special teams, but it was even more obvious in its absence. Special teams just clicked so much more with him back in the lineup.

Now, the defense.

Ugh...the defense was so frustrating this week. On one hand, yes, they held Cleveland to 32 points. They also forced three turnovers on downs, and had some insane hits. Furthermore, Carlos Campbell must read this blog, because he seemed shamed by Keller's comments about him. He brought it this game and showed us what he can do. During this game, I saw the defense that we have come to demand from our football teams in this town, both indoors and out.

Unfortunately, on the other hand, I also saw a lot of the defense we've been complaining about in this column. More than once during this game, great plays were called back – or not even given the chance to happen – because of stupid, stupid procedural penalties. Illegal defense and off-sides were called numerous times, and this is, frankly, too late in the season for this kind of stuff to happen. Now that we're in first place, we need to hold on to it. To do so, the Power needs to knuckle down, focus and show that they're a mature, well-rounded team.

Finally, I would like to take a chance to mention something else: Saturday night, with a crowd of over 9,000, was military appreciation night at Consol Energy Arena. On behalf of myself and Power fans everywhere, thank you to all military personnel – past, present and future.

Elsewhere in the league

• In the other divisional match-up this week, Philly pulled out a last-second win, returning the favor to Milwaukee from earlier this season and continuing to strive for a wild-card slot (no matter how unlikely it might be.)
• Tampa Bay was slammed by the Force, all but ending their season. This makes them a cornered animal next week with not much to lose when we face them.
• Friday night's featured game between Jacksonville and New Orleans was way more exciting than it should have been, with NOLA losing by only a touchdown. However, close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and dancing. The Sharks extend their streak to ten games.
• When the Chicago Rush went up against the KC Command, they absolutely crushed them. This was in no small part due to Vic Hall tying and then exceeding the league's single-season interception record by two.

If the playoffs were today

This is a new section that I will be adding each week with my review, now that we've hit that point of the season.

• National Conference first round would be Arizona vs Utah, and Chicago vs Dallas. My bet in these two games would be Arizona and Chicago winning, but the latter is a close call as Chicago is known for choking in the playoffs.
• American Conference first round would be Jacksonville vs Georgia and Pittsburgh vs Orlando. I'd really like to pick the Power in the first round, but the Preds are really tough. We'll know more after we play them. In the other game, Sharks. Hands down. They're going to win the championship this year.

What better way to end than seeing the Sparks appreciating the
military?

Power vs. Gladiators Review: Keller's Take

First place was up for grabs and the Power seized it by the throat and didn't let go.

Now, the only reason the final score was 35-32 was that Cleveland missed three extra point attempts and Paul Edinger didn't miss any, but this is not a team that counts style points; they only count victories. 

Once again, the team fed off the energy and determination of Coach Siegfried and made the necessary plays to close out the game.  Siegfried even got a little aggressive towards the end of the first half and tried on onside kick.  He took a risk.  If it had worked out, he'd be a genius.  I'm not going to call him an idiot just because it didn't work out.  The Power were starting to gain some momentum, it was close to the end of the first half, and the Gladiators were getting the ball in the second half.  If they recover the onside kick, maybe they really take over that game and blow Cleveland out.  If they don't, the Gladiators weren't necessarily lighting up the scoreboard, so it was a low risk/high reward situation.  But, it still took some stones to make that call and I'm happy that Siegfried went for the jugular.

Jerome Mathis came back for this game and made a huge impact on offense and special teams.  With the entire Cleveland defense focusing on stopping Mike Washington, there were some very good opportunities for Mathis, Jason Willis, and Lonnell Dewalt.  Joshua Rue even scored on the ground after a long drought.  Once Eddie Thompson comes back, this is going to be a pretty explosive offense.

The more I see of Bernard Morris, the more I like him.  He put the game away with a 40-yard scramble with under a minute to play.  He then showed fantastic body control when he took a "forward knee," gaining 1 1/2 yards on two carries and keeping the clock running after Cleveland used their last timeout.  The Gladiators were in full-on Holmgren mode on Morris' second carry.  They were trying to let him score so they could get the ball back and the defensive line basically sprinted backwards when the ball was snapped.  Morris was able to gain at least some yardage to keep the clock running, but stopped just short of the end zone, effectively tackling himself and twisting his body so that the ball didn't cross the plane.  He threw some downright crappy passes and fumbled another snap, but he also ripped a great deep pass to Willis in the first half, showing off the arm strength I didn't think he had.  Anthony Morelli and Kevin McCabe couldn't have made that throw and neither of could have taken that forward knee at the end of the game.  This team is in good hands with Morris and their turnaround has a lot to do with the progress he's made in the last three games.

Carlos Campbell and the defense stepped up in a big way, with Campbell closing out the game by intercepting a Kurt Rocco pass in the end zone.  The Gladiators aren't really an offensive juggernaut and they've been winning some ugly games themselves this season, but any time you can hold an opponent to 32 points, you have an excellent chance of winning that game.

The only issue is that the league is so up-and-down each week and it's very difficult to tell whether the defense that let up 75 points against the Vigilantes is going to rear its ugly head again.  It's also difficult to tell when (and if) the offense that put up 50+ points against the SaberCats and Shock, then put up 70+ points against Dallas will be back.  It's possible that the Power could continue grinding out games like the one on Saturday, especially if the defense keeps playing this well.  But, it's possible that they could have another meltdown on defense.

But, it's an up-and-down league.  The good news is that Siegfried has enhanced this team's mental toughness and they're extremely composed (and dangerous) in close games.  I like their chances in any close game, so it could be that the rest of the season will feature a lot of nail biters, which is just fine with me. Although, really, I could use a nice blowout at this point.

Power vs Gladiators Preview - The Division is up for Grabs

I hate writing previews for big games. I find it nearly impossible to remain journalistically detached from the situation and be cut and dry about it. I just want to write, “ZOMG IT’S GONNA BE AWESOME, I CAN’T WAIT” and hit “post.” However, I really can’t do that – especially for a game this big.

It’s week 13, and we’re just now meeting our division rivals, the Cleveland Gladiators, for the first time. All season, we’ve seen them be a strong team, lead our division and wonder, “can we beat them?” This week, we get to find out, and the situation could not be more picture-perfect.

It doesn’t take much looking online to see the buzz around the league about this game. After a shaky start to the season, the Power now find themselves #8 in the Coaches’ Poll, #5 in Big Ant’s power rankings, and meeting up against Cleveland for the division. As Keller said in his review of last week, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be typing those words during the 2011 season.

Last week, we maintained our momentum after the bye week, which was a relief. Now, we’re sitting at three in a row and Cleveland is coming off of a loss. Also, Cleveland is slightly weaker on the road, and we’re strengthening up at home. It’s going to be a tight match all around, but we have a slim psychological edge coming into this one.

What is it going to take to win this game?

With the way he’s been playing, I think that we have the better quarterback in Bernard Morris. He’s getting more consistent with each week, and his interception percentage is low. When he’s not rattled, he’s good, albeit unimaginative. Kurt Rocco is average at best. He’s not bad, but he’s not really that great, either. Much like Pittsburgh, he is the product of a three-man quarterback roulette situation, and is the best option that they have available. That having been said, his numbers are still better than Morris’ on the season.

So why do I say we have the edge? Morris is on a roll, and Rocco is coming off a tough loss. Last week revealed a lot of character about both of them. When Dallas started applying the pressure and pulling ahead, Morris put his head down and charged. He didn’t get rattled; he kept his focus and ground out a hard-fought win. Rocco, on the other hand, let Arizona get to him and started making a lot of mistakes late in the game. Where Morris dug deep, Rocco fell apart. Couple that with a road game and a lot of pressure from a high-stakes game, and I think he’ll lose a step.

Is that going to be enough? Hell no. Football is a team sport, and no matter what the media tries to convince us, the quarterback isn’t the only factor in a game. The two guys behind center are going to be important, but they’ll be worthless if their team doesn’t pull their part.

On offense, I’m still strangely comfortable with Morris going to the shortest freakin’ receiver ever on most of his plays. I’m comfortable because it has been working. If Joystick can put another 5 TDs on the board this week, I’m A-OK with that. Since everyone’s going to be watching him, though, I’d feel a lot more confident if Morris would remember that Willis is out there. Cleveland’s defense is solid, and we’re going to need options for when they figure us out (assuming that the plan isn’t already, “murder the wee little man.”)

For Cleveland, the story is going to be all Robert Redd and Troy Bergeron (sorry, I read that and see “Robert Redford and Tom Bergeron,” and expect it to be a new reality show hosting duo.) These two are responsible for the majority of Cleveland’s scores this season, so it’s not going to be any surprise when the ball goes to them.

Which brings us to our main key to victory this week: Our defense getting it together.

They came up big when it mattered last week, and they were huge against the Cats…but they still leave a lot to be desired. As Keller said, Campbell stunk the place up last week. Also, Butler got booted for fighting, and DeWalt was actually kind of quiet. The tactic against Dallas seemed to be “Let them wear themselves out scoring so that we can win when they get tired.” Winning a game like we did last week is like letting a prize-fighter punch you in the face until his hand gets tired – and is about as effective in the long-term. Had Dallas not gotten a bit cocky at the end of the game, we probably wouldn’t have won it.

We know where the ball is going, so we know who to cover. It’s not an automatic “cover and they shall not receive” situation, but the pressure needs to be on. Last week, every Dallas receiver was wide open with no coverage. It reminded me all too much of the game against the Shock when Greg Orton had time to fix a sandwich after catching the ball before anyone was in the same time zone as him.

And really, this has been a problem much of the season. Our D is very streaky. There are some games where they could join hands, dig in their heels and stop the Coors Light train if it came roaring out of the tunnel onto the field. Then, the very next week, they’d be running around the field, confused by the bright lights and loud noises. Hopefully, last week got it out of their system and this week they’ll come up huge.

Bottom line: First place in the division is within our grasp if we build on our strengths, learn from our mistakes, and take it one down at a time. The offense can keep doing what it’s doing if the defense can keep Cleveland off the board (and strip the ball a few times, please.) I know that Keller would like Siegfried to open the playbook and reenact the last 15 minutes of The Longest Yard, but I’d rather he not get too risky this week. There’s too much on the line, and the Power need to go out there and win. Doesn’t need to be fancy, doesn’t need to be pretty – it just needs to be done.

ZOMG IT’S GONNA BE AWESOME, I CAN’T WAIT

Elsewhere in the league

• The NFL Game of the Week is Jacksonville versus New Orleans. Expect to see the Sharks extend their streak to 10, unless the Voodoo pulls another baffling upset like they did against Cleveland earlier this year.
• Whereas we’re squaring off against Cleveland this week, the other half of our division is meeting up Friday night. While still a few games behind Pittsburgh and Cleveland, a win for Philly this week will bring them closer to whoever loses our game. This could make for a tight race in a weak division as the season wears on.
• The Rush is playing an afternoon game this week, making it a lot easier to catch two games Saturday.
• In the West, Saturday will be a group-therapy session as the last two teams that we beat – Dallas and San Jose – will meet up and see which one can end their 3+ game losing streak.