Power Recap and AFL State of the Union

I'm going to get to a recap of the game, I promise, but there are unfortunately much bigger issues that need to be addressed before I do.

Okay, first off, remember all that awesome stuff I said about Kyle Rowley and the future of the Pittsburgh Power? Yeah, forget about that. Not happening. For those of you that didn't tune into the game Friday night, a whole can of worms was opened. Depending on who you listen to, the players were planning to strike at kickoff (Rowley says it was an empty threat) and the league preemptively fired everyone at the pre-game dinner. Then, they planned to play the game with scrubs and replacements.

Eventually, everyone except Rowley and our kicker were re-signed, with some even making it onto the field during the game. The team seems to be holding Rowley responsible, and there have been some pretty harsh things said about him. Rowley got the chance to tell his side of the story in an interview, but of course, that's not getting nearly the exposure.

The center of the issue is one of pay. Everyone who follows the league knows - and I mentioned last week - that the pay is rather pathetic in this league. The players union wants substantially better benefits and pay, and I understand that. On KDKA the other night, Lynn Swann himself even voiced his understanding of the issue. On the other side of the coin, I also know that the pay scale is a by-product of what the powers-that-be had to do to bring the league back after it took a season off. I've often heard that they fully intended to pay more as the league became more viable. I also understand that. Both are good points, and unfortunately, both are mainly mutually exclusive.

What I don't understand is how this whole situation has been handled. Whether or not Rowley was the ringleader, he was hung out to dry over this. In his words, he was trying to stand with the players, and one way or another, they abandoned him and left him holding the bag. They had their reasons - mainly that they didn't want to lose their jobs - but it still sucks for him.

Also, the league did as much as they could to quash the news rather than deal with it head-on. There are accusations on Facebook that they deleted posts about it on their page, they didn't really release anything official about it until yesterday, and their whole comment on it after the game Friday was "After a long, tumultuous day of roster transactions..." (The Power also released a level-headed statement of their own.) On top of all that, most accounts say that players were only rehired if they renounced their unions - which defeats the whole purpose of them having one.

I hear sports guys all the time complaining about the "Twittersphere" and "Facebook journalism" that allows misinformation to spread at the speed of light while they have to take their time checking facts. It's not a great situation for them, but it is the situation that they have. With a league that has such minimal coverage as this, it's even worse. In the absence of anything official, all we had to go on for a few days was rumor. The league should have gotten out in front of this right from the beginning to get their side out. Now they look like bad guys and the sport itself is a punchline.

They say that any coverage is good coverage, but the last few days have tested that. For the first time since their season opener last year, the Power is actually being talked about during the TV sports report and by radio personalities. Unfortunately, they're only talking about the mass firing, and not about the rehires. Randy Baumann of the DVE Morning Show in particular has latched onto this like a popular kid mercilessly mocking the kid who accidentally burped in a quiet classroom and never letting it go. I've talked to several people who seem to think that either A.) the league itself is now defunct or at least B.) the Power is all over but the crying.

Arena Football is still alive and more-or-less well. The Power is still around, and has only lost a quarterback and a kicker. After last season, is that really that different than business as usual when it comes right down to it? No. So, buck up, put on your big boy pants and cheer on a local sports team that's really getting the short end of the stick here. It's only our poor luck that this happened - whichever two teams played that first game were going to be made an example of, and we just happened to draw that schedule.



Now, the game. Remember that? We played a game Friday night and we won the damn thing decisively with replacements, a rattled QB and no kicker! I don't know about you, but that makes me pretty happy over here.

I'm going to ignore the sour grapes the Predators have been putting out there about a gentleman's agreement about the number of starters each team was going to use instead of replacements. It was a chaotic scene, and not only did the right hand not know what the left was doing, it didn't seem to even know the left was there.

The first quarter was an anomaly in the Arena League in that there wasn't a point scored. This was mainly because no one knew what was going on, and no one had played with each other before. Hell, Kyle Israel started the game in the Preds locker room and finished the evening wearing black and gold!

In the second quarter, original starters began to return to the field and things got a bit more normal. (Plus, I started to breathe again and stopped thinking the sky was falling.) Overall, it was tough to judge the team as a whole based on this game, but there were a number of things about players that I can.

First off, the King is dead, long live the King: Andrico Hines looks to be the heir-apparent now that Kyle has left the building never to return. He looked shaky as all get-out during the game, but the end result looked a lot better in retrospect. The game book isn't out there yet, so I unfortunately can't break down too many specifics, but his overall stats were nice. Averaging almost 15 yards a completion, he threw for a total of 266 yards and 6 touchdowns and no interceptions. When you take into account the fact that he was dealing with unfamiliar receivers and the additional fact that games like this favor the defense, it's downright impressive.

Although DeWalt didn't get his hands on the ball, our other Iron Man, PJ Berry really showed his stuff Friday. He had 52 yards plus a TD on offense, broke up a few plays on defense and averaged 12 yards a return on special teams. Is it any wonder he won Iron Man of the Year last season with the Voodoo?

Mike Washington. Mike "the Joystick" Washington.

Man, it is so good to have him still on the team. 166 yards and 4 TDs, he returned to the field in explosive fashion. The fact that the only Orlando receiver to see the end zone was also named Washington just made it seem like Joystick was everywhere at once. A few replays even looked like they sped up the film when he turned on the jets.

Two other players to take note of are Bryan Williams and Chris "Dodgeball" LeFlore (I'm gonna make that one stick if it kills me.) Both of these defensive players made a splash Friday night, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do against a team of starters. Leflore was in on a lot of plays and also managed a turnover in there. Williams was dominating. Several of his hits were both vicious and completely legal - the sweet spot for the position. By the end of the game, you could tell the Preds were designing plays to avoid him (which left them with LeFlore...)

Finally, I'm not too worried about the kicker situation right now. Without one Friday, both teams just went for 2, and the Power had pretty good luck with that. Maybe we should make that "our thing."

We have a bye next week, which means that we can get everything evened out before our home opener against the Soul.

Elsewhere in the league

Verdict on Ustream: it has potential, but everyone seemed to be having issues this weekend, so I didn't get to watch as much as I wanted to. The Talons game was stuttering too much to attempt to watch, the Rush game had no sound, and the Rattlers game just completely cut out. Everyone is promising to do better next week, so we shall see.

• The Talons hosted the Blaze at their new San Antonio location, and proved that Garcia is still the man. 350ish yards and 8 TDs sealed the deal for his new team.
• Although there was no sound, Russ Michna sure looked great in the Rush's opener against the Storm. Hooking back up with veteran Reggie Grey, he destroyed Tampa 70-48
• If there was a game that had me weeping because of technical issues with ustream, it was this one. Watching the live scoring back-and-forth between these two bitter rivals told me that it must have been GREAT to watch. The Ratts lost a nail-biter, 71-70 in OT
• Good news! Philly and the Mustangs haven't played yet and the Gladiators lost. We're #1 in the division!
• Finally, Coach Ho got the job done with his new team in Iowa. Barnstormers win in OT.
  

The Power Returns! Season Intro and Opening Night Preview

It's that time again, folks: Arena Football season is once again upon us.

After a long winter full of nothing much exciting (aside from the Steelers, Pens, player news/fears for both, and some very bad predictions on my part) it is time once again to get some use out of the Consol Energy Center and see some football!

For those of you new to Arena Football in general and my posts in particular, let me lay things out in a nutshell: Arena Football is similar to the outdoor game we all know and love in that there are two teams in helmets and pads where one is offense and one is defense at any given time. The offense moves the ball down field by throwing or carrying it, and then scores by crossing a line or kicking it through the uprights. The other team attempts to stop them through subtle and nuanced measures that amount to running into each other as hard as they can. The two teams then change sides and continue for 60 minutes with a break in the middle so that the spectators can get beer.

The difference with the indoor game is that it is played on a field half the size with no sidelines and smaller uprights. The clock rarely stops and the emphasis is on scoring. Offense is king, the ball is rarely carried and the players are barely paid. In this form, you have a game played by a combination people who are either just playing for the love of the game, or are desperate as all hell to get into the NFL. The result is a fast-paced, high-scoring game that requires a different strategy than the outdoor one, full of a different kind of excitement and passion on the field.

There - now you know more than 90% of the people out there when asked, "explain the Arena Football League to me." For a more detailed breakdown, see the Pittsburgh Power's page.

Now back to the topic at hand which is - YEAH, BUDDY! IT'S TIME FOR ARENA FOOTBALL AGAIN!

Once again, the Power get the honor of opening the season for the whole league on a Friday night NFL Network broadcast. This year, it's a road game, but it's still awesome that we're first out of the gate. We must have picked up a decent following last year, because between the NFL Network and the CW, all but two games will be broadcast on TV this year. Four of them will be seen nationally on the NFL Network. Although it's handy that every game in the league last year was broadcast online through NiftyTV, I'm glad that I won't have to monkey around with that as much for the home team.

The first post of the season is always difficult, because it's hard to make predictions. The way the AFL works is that players are only under one year contracts, and most are paid a couple of hundred bucks a game. Because of this, there is massive turnover each season, and a team can be a completely different group of guys each season. As such, you can really only go on what you know about veterans, what the local support for a team is, and the coaches. Don't get me wrong, that can mean a lot - but just look at the Sabercats last year. Historically great team, total crap most of 2011.

That being said, we have an exciting game lined up this week. Once again, we travel to Orlando to play the Predators in the Friday night spotlight. This did not work out well for us late last season, but honestly, it was one of the best-played games the Power had all season. The Preds have insane fans and always have, their arena is generally packed, and national games are always more intense. I expect this outing to be no different.

Like I said, it's tough to say what will happen the first outing with a team each year. We have some old faces returning and some new ones we can only guess about. Here's what I can say based on our game last year:

On the Power side, Josh Lay was clutch on defense, LaRico Stevenson was big in pass coverage, Total Chaos showed some stuff, DeWalt, Joystick, and Campbell were key on offense, but were outshone by DJ Hall and, last but not least, even Edinger went 6-8 on PATs. It was a standout game, but we ran out of gas in the second half and we continued to be plagued by our QB woes.

On the Preds side, the show was run by TT Toliver, Josh Bush and Robert Quiroga on offense with Bobby Sippio putting up yards. Coach O'Hara continued his history of risky calls by putting in Collin Drafts at QB instead of his starter, and Chris Dubalt teamed up with kicker Mark Lewis twice in a frickin' row to recover off the uprights for a score on a kickoff.

How does that stack up this year? Well, Coach O'Hara is gone, as is Bush, Quiroga and Dubalt. On our side, we've lost Hall, Campbell and Total Chaos - the latter of these to none other than the Orlando Predators!

Our core is still there. DeWalt returns as our Iron Man, playing both offense and defense. Unless he somehow lost his magic in the last few months, he's still going to be a play-maker. Tall, accurate and quick, he's a sure target in the end zone and never afraid to flip backwards over the boards to make a catch. Also, he's tall enough to smack down passes and a receiver so he knows what to do if he intercepts it.

Mike "Joystick" Washington is also back. The pint-sized terror is primed to get back out there and do what he does best - namely, squeak through holes and run 15 yards in the blink of an eye. From what I understand, Mike still has NFL aspirations and plays like he's trying to prove it.

Finally, Josh Lay and LaRico Stevenson are still listed on our roster to cause trouble on defense and, for better or worse, I don't have Edinger to kick around any more.

We have two big unknowns going into this game: Kyle Rowley and the Power's ability to protect the QB. Last year, we had a constant carousel of quarterbacks the whole season. We had at least 4 men fill that role, and I'm having trouble remembering if any of them played 4 games in a row. Part of this was because we had guys without much Arena experience who weren't prepared for how fast the game moves and held the ball too long. They also weren't ready for short passes and quicker defenders. The other problem was that there was seemingly no one blocking for them. They all spent more time on their backs and on IR than they did on the field.

This year, the Power needs to cut that shit out, because we have a QB worth protecting. Kyle Rowley joins us, and his resume (or at least his Wiki entry) reads like a "Here I am, try to stop me" statement. He's the only QB to win the championship in both arena leagues, has been voted MVP, and just all around knows how to win.

Come at me, bro!

Now, I'm not saying that he's suddenly going to solve all our problems, but he's a big key to it. Our weak spot all of last season was mainly at QB, be it consistency, skill, or just coverage. The first two, Rowley's got. He's also played all over the place for a number of years, so he's use to adapting to new teams, coaches and players. As long as the rest of the Power can keep him from getting broken, we're in good gosh-darned shape.

Now for the Predators. One of the only constants generally in this league is coaching. Whole rosters can change, but the same decision makers are up front. Last season, O'Hara lost some key games and for one reason or another, he and the Predators decided to part ways. It's okay, he landed on his feet with the Voodoo, and it should be interesting. So, what can we expect from new head coach Bret Munsey? Tough to say. He's been out of this league for a few years, but when he last coached, it was for the Arena Bowl champion 2008 Soul. That bodes well for Orlando.

Also, although they've lost some key receivers, but retained the total threat of fan-favorite TT Toliver. They picked up former Pittsburgh favorite Terrance "Total Chaos" Carter on defense. Furthermore, Collin Drafts is still backing up the starting QB. This QB is Trevor Harris, who used to back up none other than 2011 Arena Bowl runner-up Nick Devila. He's also worked out with both the J'Ville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills. That's a good resume.

Finally, we gotta worry about that damn Mark Lewis on kickoffs.

So, where does that leave us? Several of the key ingredients of last season for both teams are in the game along with some very powerful wildcards. If both teams play like they did last year, and the Power can protect Rowley and Rowley gels with the team, I think they can win. We have more team veterans in key offensive positions. As this is an offense-driven game, that means a lot. However, if the Power gets up to old tricks of not protecting the QB and running out of gas in the second half, they're sunk.

The game airs at 8:30 on the NFL Network.

Elsewhere in the league

The Power isn't the only game in town this weekend. There's a lot more football to watch. This season, it looks like Nifty is out, and ustream is in. I haven't used it yet, but it advertises in-browser viewing as well as iPhone/Android apps. Sounds fantastic, and a huge improvement over Nifty.

• Saturday @4, the Blaze visits the recently moved San Antonio Talons. The Blaze is generally entertaining, but I'm more interested in the Talons. They are the new home for Arena Bowl Champ Aaron Garcia, the Pred's Robert Quiroga, and our own Jason "Watchu Talkin' Bout" Willis. They're going to be dangerous.
• Obviously I'm all about the Storm/Rush game at 8:00. Nick Hill, formerly of the Preds, is heading up the Storm, while my boy Russ Michna returns to the field with receivers Gray and Hall.
• The Rattlers and Sabercats meet up at 10:30. Even when the Cats stunk last year, these teams meeting up was still something to behold. They're one of the biggest rivalries of the league, and the games are always brutal, showcasing what AFL is all about.
• Monday night is mainly interesting to see how our rivals the Gladiators do in one game, and how former Soul coach Hohensee and former Rush QB JJ Raterink do in the other.

Enjoy the season, everyone! I'll be back next week with the recap.


Also, don't forget that there's a comments section right down there. Let me know you're out there

Pittsburgh Power 2012 Update

Hey, it's never too early to be thinking about the Power's next season. Well, for me anyway. Either way, I wanted to give a bit of a State of the Arena Union update now that the 2012 schedule has been announced. That, coupled with some big changes around the league, make for some exciting news.

Here's the schedule, according to the Power website:

3/9 @Orlando Predators (NFL Network)

3/23 Philadelphia Soul (NFL Network)

3/29 @Milwaukee Mustangs

4/6 Iowa Barnstormers

4/14 Orlando Predators

4/20 @New Orleans VooDoo

4/28 Cleveland Gladiators

5/5 Georgia Force

5/12 @San Antonio Talons

5/19 Kansas City Command

6/3 @Arizona Rattlers

6/8 @Cleveland Gladiators (NFL Network)

6/16 Milwaukee Mustangs

6/24 @Philadelphia Soul

6/30 @Iowa Barnstormers

7/7 Tampa Bay Storm

7/14 @Georgia Force

7/20 Jacksonville Sharks (NFL Network)

Oooooookay! There's a lot to cover here, but I'll get to the schedule in a moment. First, I'd like to talk about the team itself. The Power is shaping up in exciting ways already, and they're still recruiting for the season. As things stand right now, QB Morris is out, whereas "Joystick" Washington, "Powertool" Dewalt, Anthony DeGrate and back-up QB Bill Stull have all been resigned. Washington and DeWalt are both key, as they were our star play-makers last year, and I was very concerned that we were going to lose one or both of them to other teams - or leagues.

What about the quarterback situation? That's the big question. Last season, we had four players fill that position, and Morris was the best of them - and that's not saying much. Coach Siegfried has stressed that consistency at this position is a major goal for this season, and he's committed to that in a big way. First off, as mentioned above, Bill Stull is back. He looked good in the one game he played for us last year, and I think that he'll make a solid backup. The big news is our starter.

The Power has stolen big shot Kyle Rowley away from the Spokane Shock, and I couldn't be more excited. In 2008, he was the offensive player of the year, and in 2010, he lead the Shock to an Arena Bowl win and took home the MVP title. This is huge. He's a great player, has a lot of experience and already has an Arena Bowl victory under his belt. Morris was never an Arena QB by the shear fact that he lacked experience. Games were lost because of this inexperience and lack of confidence. Having a true veteran behind center could be that one drop that makes the whole solution gel.

My concerns right now are people who haven't been confirmed for next season. No word yet on defensive stand-outs Josh Lay, Terrance "Total Chaos" Carter or Gary "Da Bully" Butler. It's no secret that our defense struggled at times last year, but these guys are all dynamic players with a lot to offer, and I think that they'd come back with a renewed focus and united force. Now, if we can't get them all, then I'd hope they get prioritized in the order I put them here.

So, how about the season? There are some theories that I can put forth, but a lot is still up in the air. Keller commented to me the other day that he doesn't like the year-to-year contracts in the league, as it makes it hard to hate on the same people long-term. Now, he has a point, but I like the fact that anything can happen any season. This year will be no exception.

It's obvious that Pittsburgh already has a following that the league recognizes as they have a whopping four games on the NFL Network this year - with two of them being in the first three weeks. I talked at length last season of the home team embracing that we've given them, and it seems that others are noticing.

Last year, the league took it easy on this expansion team's early season, but that is not the case this year. First of all, we need to face the Preds twice in the first five games, and that's not good at all. After parting ways with Coach O'Hara at the end of the season, they've aggressively started pursuing top talent. Given that they have the consistently largest fanbase in the league, that shouldn't be difficult. Also, they resigned TT Toliver. Nuff Said.

Things are going to be turned on their head in our division as well. The only good news is that Kurt Rocco has left the hated Gladiators to see if he can help turn the Voodoo around - under Coach O'Hara down in New Orleans, where the Arena Bowl will be played this year. We still have to play them, but only once - and that's good, because they might actually be something to watch this year...from a distance.

While we picked up Rowley, Philly answered with "Dirty" Dan Raudabaugh (Yes, I'm gonna push the nickname 'til it sticks) from the Dallas Vigilantes. If you remember, we only beat Dallas by one point last year, and they went to the playoffs. Now we have to play him twice this season, and that's not good.

The Milwaukee and Cleveland camps have been comparatively quiet thus far, but it's still early. The Mustangs aren't historically great, so until something changes, I'm not going to worry too much. Right now, Cleveland is less scary than Philly, but they're officially a bitter rival and both teams are always going to get it up for each other.

Other things of note are the Barnstormers, Rattlers and Sharks. The Ratts went to the Arena Bowl last year, have won several before and will always be dangerous. I'm not looking forward to getting whooped on by them again. The Barnstormers were middling last year, but now they have Coach Ho, formerly of Philly and Chicago. He's a better coach than Philly showed last year, and I think he can make a dangerous team out of Iowa - and we have to play them twice.

Finally, we end the season against the defending champs, the Jacksonville Sharks. On the up side, they won't have Garcia anymore. He's decided to play one more season, but not with the Sharks. He wants to coach, so he'd like to play somewhere he can hope to lead in future years. (He will be offered a chance at a one-day contract to retire a Shark.) I think that this is a great move for him. Few can challenge his experience, and he'll be a great asset. Unlike the Favres of the world, he's coming back for "just one more" for the right reasons that shouldn't tarnish his legacy if it goes sideways.

****Update****

It looks like the San Antonio Talons picked up Garcia and Robert Quiroga (formerly of the Predators.) This, coupled with a flurry of other signings they've made this month means that we're going to have a really tough game in May.

*****

On the down side with the Sharks, they've signed Florida State star Chris Leak to augment former Steeler hopeful, Omar Jacobs (remember him?) Whether either one of them will measure up to Garcia is yet to be seen, but it's a scary combo.

So, that's the run-down. A lot of news about the upcoming season has already come out, but there's still a lot more to come. There's still a long time (and a lot of NFL action) to go before March, and a lot can still happen. More details to come when I have them.

Go Power, Go Pens and Go Steelers!