Week 6: Sharks at Power Preview

The preview is a bit short this week, because there's frankly not a lot to say. This week is going to be a “come to Jesus” week for the Power. I could talk about how good the Jacksonville Sharks are, and how they're currently 3-1. I could talk about the fact that their quarterback is already at almost a thousand yards on the season and has a solid receiving corps of three men he is comfortable going to.

I could, but that's not why we're here.

The Power need to focus on the other side of the ball, and focus hard. I'm really hoping that last game was an effect of fatigue and injures and that we can bounce back this week – but there's still a lot to consider.

Morris is still out for at least another week. That's bad. Powertool is off of (mysterious) suspension. That's good. McCabe is sitting on IR with Morris. That's bad. We still have Morrelli to stick behind center. That's...er... Well, let's just call that the cursed frogurt.

Morrelli hasn't had a lot of time in charge yet. Unfortunately, none of our QBs have. McCabe has the most experience, but it's been a mixed bag. Morrelli has had big moments, but no cohesive four quarter stands. He hasn't even had a solid half yet – but he is who we need to rely on this weekend. One way or another, he needs to make it happen.

If Morrelli can get his act together, he has to take advantage of his receiving corps. It's still an offensive advantage that we have a lot of guys to go to, but we're getting to the point where I'd feel a lot more comfortable if there were a few “go-to” guys with the rest being utility players. Now that we have DeWalt back, we've got five candidates for this.

Another factor this week is that the Sharks are Coach Siegfried's old team. This means we're going to have combined factors of them knowing how he thinks, and him having an idea what they're going to do. We can also hope for a bit of him trying to prove something, but that backfires as often as it works in sports.

This week, we also need to see the Power speeding up the game. Both Keller and I have hammered on the point that Siegfried is playing it too safe. Those plodding, meticulous drives are great when we're in the lead – but that hasn't been happening as often as any of us would like. The game needs to speed up, and the Power need to take command of the field.

Here's the brass tacks on this week: It's not as important as it could be. The Soul were nice enough to lose last week and give us that breathing room we were hoping for. They play Tampa this week, and I'm sure they can win. However, even if they win and we lose, that will just tie our standings up. Philly still has the head-to-head, but it could be worse.

As such, I'd say it's time to take some risks. Get Morrelli out there and light a fire under him. Get him to get that ball in the air and move it down field. Winning is great, but changing the team's overall momentum is better.

They just need to protect the hell out of him, because if he goes down, we really don't have any one to put in his shoes against the Voodoo next week...

****UPDATE****

Power have signed QB Xavier Lee. Unclear at this time if he's a backup or is starting.

****************

Elsewhere in the league

• Like I said above, the Soul lost to the Preds last week, but not for lack of trying. Coach Ho made some ballsy moves – including letting the Preds score with 35 seconds left just to make sure they got the ball one more time, and benching Allgood for a QB Orlando had no preparation for – but it wasn't enough. Despite a replacement QB with a lot of hustle and attack, but he was no match for Nick Hill's use of TT Toliver and Robert Quiroga.
  
  
• The Sabercats should more than likely teach the Talons some humility for us this weekend.
  
  
• The Gladiators are playing the pathetic Voodoo and that...that's not gonna be pretty. I'm gonna call it early and say that the Gladiators are going to be 4-0 and the Voodoo will keep a good thing going at 0-5.

Jerseys, Fanhood, Pride and Maturity

The following is presented as the author's opinion only and is intended to be editorial in nature.

The internet can be a cruel, unforgiving place. It does not suffer fools lightly, and will punish any dumb thing you say. The added benefit is that anything you or anyone else puts there is there forever. This is something that Pittsburgh columnist John Steigerwald is being reminded of today.

In his article you can read here, he tries to make a point, but fails at nearly every turn, and the internet is being merciless about it. Yesterday morning, it only had a few thousand page hits – as word spread, that number climbed. At the time of this writing, it has over 130K and can be easily found by Googling “John Steigerwald is an idiot.” (Go ahead and try it – these aren't my words.)

If you haven't read it, he starts his post as a commentary on violence in the stands in sports today. In light of the brutal beating of Bryan Stow out in LA and our local taser-and-club fest down at PNC Park, this is a very worth-while topic to discuss. People are getting carried away and taking things too seriously. Whether or not it is the epidemic that some people think it is or not doesn't matter. It's a valid talking point.

Unfortunately, Steigerwald got the guy's name wrong right at the beginning (it has since been corrected), and he'd already lost his audience by the time his point got lost. Just a few paragraphs in, the argument became about attire, rather than fans. He talks about the victim's poor judgment in wearing Giants gear in Dodger's territory, and how this is a major problem.

Many of the vitriolic comments talk about how this section seemed to blame the victim for his beating. Now, I do not think that this is what Steigerwald was getting at, I really don't – but he sure didn't phrase it well. I think that he was trying to say that the assailants just used his attire as an excuse, and unfortunately, it happens sometimes. Regardless, it was in poor taste.

My stance on that particular issue is that there are bad apples in every bunch. Sure, wearing the Giants jersey probably didn't help – but I'm willing to bet you that there were hundreds of other Giants fans in “uniform” that day that went home to their families that day just fine. Blaming the jersey for his assault is like blaming beer for a drunk-driving accident, or a gun for someone getting shot. They might have been part of the equation, but the blame lies with the person who actually committed the act, and no one or thing else.

Thus far, I think that much of the blame in this article can be left with his editors. I might screw up in this post here and there – but I'm an unpaid blogger with a core readership of my mother-in-law, wife and brother-from-another-mother (fully two-thirds of these I expect to read this post.) Staggy is a paid columnist for a variety of publications. Before this made it onto the net, someone probably should have said, “Uh, Staggy? I think your argument might have gotten away from you here...”

However, after this intro is where we get to the meat of his disconnect.

The rest of the article goes on to propose that only children should wear “replica jerseys” to games, as they don't know any better. It's cute, he says. But not grown men. “Are there really 40-something men who think that wearing the jersey makes them part of the team? ”

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Staggy. Where did that come from? I don't know anyone who thinks that they are part of the team when they put their favorite player's jersey on. Okay, maybe Keller in the parking lot before a Ravens/Steelers home game – but that's only because he's hammered, fired up and having a bit of trouble with reality. It happens.

“If you're one of two or three guys wearing Steelers jerseys sitting in the middle of the Dawg Pound in Cleveland, guess what? The Steelers players can't see you and even if they could, they're not really getting a lot of inspiration from you. ”

Oh, what utter horsesh- Look, that's just wrong on so many levels. How many times have we seen Hines run up to the wall during away game and toss a ball to a fan wearing his jersey? How often do players talk about being on the road, looking up, seeing Black N Gold and getting a little feeling of home? And that, right there, is the point.

No sane, balanced person thinks that their jersey makes them part of the team. They think – and correctly so – that it makes them a fan. It shows their support, their civic pride – their passion. This isn't just Steelers – this isn't even just Pittsburgh. There's the Dawg Pound he talks about. There's the Cheeseheads. There's the Predator masks down in Orlando (see? I still fit Arena Ball in here.) There's baseball fans, hockey fans, and (I can only assume) basketball fans.

Any true sports town shows their support. In the absence of some “theme,” the diehards are left with buying a jersey. Given the brisk business Reebok does – and the cheap Chinese knockoffs – then, by Steigerwald's theory, there are a lot of mentally unbalanced man-children out there. (And women-children in cute, little pink versions.)

As for his comments about sports stars being scared by meeting an adult in their jersey, I have a hard time believing that. Sure, there are some people out there that buy a #7 because they want to fit in with their friends, but most people buy the jersey of their favorite player. Rather than being a way to pretend to be part of the team, it's a way to connect with their heroes, men and women that they look up to and admire.

Look, John – when I slap a political bumper sticker on my car, I don't think that I'm personally running for office. A Megadeth T-shirt doesn't make me think that I'm going to be the next pick on Dave Mustaine's carousel of guitar players. Clicking “Like” on Justified's Facebook page doesn't make me think that I'm going to hang on set with Timothy Olyphant. They – along with my Steelers, Pens and Power jerseys – say that I like, support and enjoy these things and want others to know it.

His closing thought was, “Why not just go to the Browns game in Cleveland dressed as a regular human being? When did it become necessary to wear a uniform to the game? ”

Mr. Stiegerwald, in your disconnection from your audience, I think you missed the point of the matter: It is not necessary to do it. We do it because we love our team and we want to. That's it. We are fans, this is sport and we love this stuff.

There, I've said my piece. Now my adult jersey and I will get off your lawn.

As always, please feel free to leave comments below. Unlike some other sites, these ones aren't moderated before they are posted...

Pens vs. Lightning Playoff Primer

Ever since the Flyers clinched the division and the Pens got locked into a series with the Lightning, I've been trying to figure this series out.  The 4-5 match-up should be tough to handicap, but this one seems to be especially hard to figure out.

The teams split the season series two games apiece.  Tampa won the last meeting, but the Pens blew them out in the two before that.  The Pens have homefield advantage in the series, but Tampa scored 48 of their 103 points on the road and the Pens actually scored more points on the road than at home (fewer wins, but more overtime losses), so they may have been better off as the five seed here, but just for this series.

The Lightning have an explosive offense, led by stars and talented goal scorers and a serviceable defense with solid roleplayers.  The Pens have an excellent, disciplined defense with two good offensive defensemen (Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik) and a defensive forward in Jordan Staal, with a serviceable offense filled with solid roleplayers.  On offense, the Pens certainly have guys that can score, but none of them have scored consistently, which boils down to a lot of one goal wins.

With Staal, Kennedy, Neal, Kovy, Talbot, and DuPuis, the Pens do have a lot of talent and they have a lot of guys with playoff experience that can shoot the puck.  They have four pretty solid lines and don't have a weak link from top-to-bottom, especially when you consider that the defensemen are interchangeable and can support a weaker offensive line by creating opportunities in transition.  The trouble is that, without Crosby and Malkin, they don't have that one line that scares the hell out of everybody.  Tampa's first line scares the hell out of me, makes me think the Pens could lose this series.

Sure, defense wins championships, but goals win games.  Everything gets tighter and defensive teams usually have an edge when playoff time starts, but there's really no substitute for that one Uber-line that keeps the other team awake at night.

The experts on ESPN.com favor the Pens, with six out of eight picking them to advance past the first round.  That's comforting, but they also seemed convinced that the Flyers don't stand a chance against the Sabres, which I find tough to swallow.  I think those two series should be very even, with the team that wants it more and gets the most breaks coming out on top.

At any rate, I think that the Tampa offense -- especially the first line -- should be fairly negated by the Pens defense.  In order to really roll on the Pens defense, you need to go outside-inside by avoiding the middle of the ice in the crease and sweeping in to crash the net when you get in the opposing team's zone.  That's tough to do and I don't think Tampa has the talent to pull it off, but they could wear the Pens down eventually by spending a lot of time in the offensive zone.  Ultimately, this is a wash.

Tampa's defense isn't great, but neither is the Pens offense.  If any combination of the offensive roleplayers gets hot, then the Pens could smoke the Lightning in five games, but I doubt that happens.  It could be that they start to gel together during this series -- remember, there have been a ton of injuries aside from Crosby and Malkin and Kovy and Neal only joined the team in February -- and get hot in Game 6.  That's another longshot, though.  The most likely outcome is that the Pens grind out a lot of close games to advance and will (hopefully) be able to save their "signature" game for the later rounds.

Special teams is very nearly a wash with the Pens holding a slight advantage.  Even without Sid "diving" they still draw a fair number of penalties.  They're 26th in the league on the power play, but with enough chances, they could sneak a few key goals through, even against the 8th-ranked penalty kill.  The big advantage here is the Pens penalty kill, which is the best in the league.  If they can keep that up, they won't get caught with their pants down when they're shorthanded in a close game.

Offense and defense are a wash.  Special teams is basically a wash.  That means it comes down to goaltending.  Marc-Andre Fleury has been spectacular at times this season, especially in the last couple of months.  He's also had some troubling lapses in concentration this season, especially in the last couple of months.  Still, I would take Fleury over 41-year old Dwayne Roloson.  If he has two bad games in this series, the Pens are sunk.  Then again, if he has two bad games in any series, the Pens are sunk.  Roloson can't have a bad game and make it easy for the Pens to score.  That's the one area where they've struggled since their captains went down and any team that gives them hope and confidence is going to be in big trouble.

I'm not saying that Fleury is awesome and Roloson is a bum.  I'm saying that I trust Fleury to not have two bad games in this series more than I trust Roloson to not slip up occasionally (or have even one, entire bad game). 

I think Tampa's a great team and they could certainly win this series.  I just don't think that they will win it.

Prediction: Pens in 6

Bye Week Spotlight: The Orlando Predators @Philly Soul

***Update***

Now sure if the schedule I read had a misprint, or if I'm just an idiot - this game was still a road game for the Soul, and their home opener is this week against the Storm on the NFL network

*************

The Power gets a much needed break to rest and rearm this week after a tough loss to the Talons in week four. It’s a light week for the rest of the league with only four games on the schedule, but there is still football to be played. In the spotlight this week is the Orlando Predators at Philly.

Why am I featuring a game by our division rival this week? Two reasons: 1.) I want to watch a game this weekend and 2.) it’s actually fairly important in regards to league standings.

Right now, we are ahead of the Soul in rankings, but we’ve only got a one game lead on them. If they win this week, our records will be tied, and they have the head-to-head. Given that the Gladiators are so far ahead that they aren’t being caught any time soon even if they go on an epic losing streak, and the Mustangs are so far behind that the reverse is true, Philly is who I’m worried about. As things stand, we might be going neck and neck with them all season, and a loss this week will give us a small amount of breathing room.

To be honest, I haven’t followed the Predators a lot this season. I’ve had a bit of a soft spot for them, as they are one of the first teams that I ever watched back in the day, but with the amount of games that I watch for future Power matchups, they just haven’t fit in my schedule this year. They are a tough team to get a read on based solely on their record – in fact, I feel that their one loss so far this year speaks more than their two wins.

Week one, they beat up on the New Orleans Voodoo, which really doesn’t say much in my opinion. It is well documented that New Orleans is team in need of a lot of help, and remain one of the only winless teams in the league. Week two, the Preds won a good one against the Blaze, which is a team with the same record as them at this point. I’ll call that one a push.

This week, however, they lost to the Arizona Rattlers by one point. One. Remember how relieved we were when the Mustangs fell short by 2 points in week 3? That’s close. When you add to this the fact that the Rattlers have steamrolled everyone else they’ve played this season, I’m impressed. Even a when playing someone due for a loss from general fatigue, hanging with a team as powerful as Arizona right to the very end says a lot. These Predators are a team to watch out for.

On the ground, they’re not much to really be concerned about. Their top rusher is their QB Nick Hill, with only 71 yards and a couple of TDs to his name. He’s certainly no Russ Michna or Bobby Reid. However, in the air, he’s good for an average of 300+ yards a game and has a very solid receiving core lead by the awesomely named TT Toliver.

Toliver is an interesting Ocho Cinco-style character. A few years back, he was playing for the then impressive Tampa Bay Storm. One day, he walked in and told (former) head coach Marcum that he was done; not going to play for the Storm anymore. He was suspended for two games, cut, and signed by Orlando a day later.

I don’t know the details and I’m not sure if many people do. Maybe he’s a show-boatin’ idiot. Maybe he saw early all the crap that came out about Marcum. Maybe it was something else entirely – the fact remains that he found a solid home in Orlando and has over 300 yards and 7 TDs on the season this year. Look out, Philly.

On the other side of the ball, we have the Philadelphia Soul. Now, they’re a division rival, they took our home opener away from us, and they’re our main threat this season. That having been said, my two most loyal readers – my wife and my mother-in-law – are both Philly girls, born and raised, so I can’t make with too much hate-talk. (Besides, hockey playoffs are around the corner, and there will be plenty of smack to be spoken then.) I’ll try to stick with the facts – at least until we get later in the season.

Right now, the Soul are sitting at 1-2, with the Power being their only win. That’s not super fantastic. On the other hand, they’ve lost to the Rush, which there is no shame in, and the Mustangs, which was their third road game in a row. The main concern is how they did in the second half last week. It might have been fatigue, but I think Coach Hohensee put it best when he said, “Everything we did right in the first half fell apart in the second half.” Yep. That’s about the long and short of it.

We’ve seen QB Justin Allgood take the field here at home and, generally, his name is about accurate. He might not have the overall yardage of Hill, but he gets the job done. He throws deep and has Donovan Morgan as a solid answer to TT Toliver. Their only rushing weapon is Ryan Vena, so they’re about even on the ground as well. This matchup is going to be a gunslinger shoot out, pure and simple.

Another factor for this week is a series of improbable flukes. First, a little history lesson: Back in 2008, the then Bon Jovi-owned Soul was on top of the world. They beat the juggernaut San Jose Sabercats in the Arena Bowl* to be crowned champions of the league. The next year, that league folded. When it rebooted the following year, neither of those two teams came back with it. Now, they are both back as expansion teams with news faces, but old traditions.

Saturday is the Soul’s first home game of the season, due to a nasty opening schedule. Because of this, this week will actually be the first time that they get to unfurl that Arena Bowl Champions 2008 banner to their home crowd. That will either fire everyone up, or just leave the team shrugging their shoulders. Not many of these guys were around to win it.

*I still, and for always will, contend that Sambora lost money on that game. He didn’t seem happy shaking Jon’s hand afterwords.

How is this game going to shake out? Frankly, I think that the Predators are the better team here. They have a slight edge at QB, better options at receiver, and they’ve proven that they can hang with the best. Philly has been beaten up for three weeks now, win or lose, and they’re coming off a short week after a Monday night game (remember how that worked out for us?) They are finally playing at home and get to use an Arena Bowl banner as a talisman, and that might make the difference – but I really don’t think so. Coach Ho seems to be having trouble bringing his Rush-style tactics to a new team, and the wins just aren’t materializing. I think it’s going to be close, but I’ll take the Preds by five at least.

Next up for the Power: Jacksonville at home in Week 6.

Power vs. Talons Review: Keller's Take

This was a tough loss that actually wasn't as close as the score indicated.  The Power kept the score close in the first half, but they simply committed too many mistakes to stay in the game.  The Talons pulled away in the fourth quarter and the game was basically out of reach when they went up by two scores.

With the offense struggling, the defense tried to hold the line as well as they could, but it was too much to overcome.  Bottom line, you can't turn the ball over and only score 22 points and expect to win in this league.

Without Jamar Foulks to anchor the offensive line, the running game struggled.  Without Neil Purvis, the Power weren't able to get pressure on the quarterback, which hurts the secondary.  Josh Lay also went down with an injury.  His replacement left a lot to be desired, so hopefully the injury to Lay is not severe.  Terrell Herbert was playing out of position at linebacker and it showed.  He's a tremendous athlete, but he needs to keep his head in the game.  He had a couple of illegal defense penalties and that's inexcusable. 

Then there's the small matter of the Lonnell Dewalt suspension and the fact that Jerome Mathis was not available for this game.  Without his two favorite targets, Kevin McCabe struggled, started to stare down receivers, tried to force the ball to Mike Washington, and his mechanics unraveled.  Local boy Anthony Morelli chased McCabe off the field, but I'm not sure he did much better.

I'll come right out and say that I've never thought Morelli was much of a quarterback.  I never had a high opinion of him when he was at Penn State and I wasn't surprised when he didn't make much of a mark in the NFL.  This version of Morelli is different.  On the hoof, he certainly looks the part.  He's tall enough, he's bulked up and is no longer the scrawny kid that played at Happy Valley, and, at least at first, he carried himself with confidence and determination.  Then he had a couple of procedural penalties -- the receiver in motion crossed the line of scrimmage before he said "hut" -- and his confidence seemed to be eroded.  He started slouching his shoulders and pointing fingers.  It boils down to the fact that he wasn't more productive than McCabe when given his shot under center.

I'm not attached to McCabe by any means.  He showed himself to be just as capable of wilting in pressure situations as Morelli or Bernard Morris.  It's just that I at least have some evidence that McCabe can be productive in this offense when he has all his weapons at his disposal. 

With a bye this week, Mathis, Foulks, and Purvis have time to heal and Dewalt will be back from suspension.  As Weidman pointed out, Coach Siegfried has made it clear that he'll start the guy that gives this team the best chance to win.  Morris might be healthy next week.  Morelli has had some time under center and the procedural issues will work themselves out in practice.

Who gives this team the best chance to win?  With a full complement of receivers, I think it's McCabe.  Am I sure about that?  Not in the least.  I don't think that Siegfried is sure, either.  All the quarterbacks on the roster have upside, but they all have holes in their game as well.  From what I've seen, McCabe has the fewest holes and the most upside in this offense.

Looks like they have a week to figure it out.  Let's hope they make the right decision.  The current quarterback carousel is trying my patience.

Shredded by the Talons, a post-mortem

Well, this weekend sure proved why I don't gamble. Both the Power and the Rush dropped games that they should have won, and pretty much everything I said should – had to – happen, didn't.

The Power got it handed to them at home on Saturday and the Tulsa Talons walked away with a well-deserved win to break their losing streak. It was a tale of missed opportunities, stupid penalties and vacant roster sports. It pains me to have to do it, but let's break it down.

Not to make excuses, but the Power was at a disadvantage from the word go. Only five days from their last game, this injury-plagued team had to take the field down some key players. Morris is still out for at least one more game, Mathis was out with a thigh injury, Purvis with an ankle, and “The Power Tool” DeWalt out for a mysterious, Siegfried-ain't-discussing-it suspension. Add to that the fact that the team – especially McCabe – was tired and it was a mess.

On the other side of the ball, Tulsa was angry, fired up, and anxious to get rid of that “0” on the wrong side of their win/loss column. Just coming off of their worst loss in franchise history at the hands of the Rattlers, they had something to prove. Instead of the Power keeping the pressure on them, Tulsa brought down the hammer on McCabe (and later, Morelli) forcing a brutal five turnovers during the game. A lot of the credit goes to jittery mindset by the home team, but the lion's share goes straight to Tulsa for being wherever the ball was. If they didn't pick it out of the air, they were right there to force a fumble and recover it.

The first half of the game was a total slugfest that looked like both teams were going to be trading a small amount of scores throughout the game to see who gets the last one before the clock runs out. The halftime score was just 14-14, more of an outdoor score than an indoor one. The second half, however, was all Tulsa.

They came back with 24 unanswered points, and you could just feel the air go out of the place. It was over at that point, but there was still game to be played. Somewhere around this point, I began to wonder why sports venues ever give out souvenirs that can be thrown.

Pictured here: A bad idea

In the second half, despite announcer warnings that anyone caught could face prosecution, these mini-footballs rained on the field. The fans should, frankly, be ashamed of themselves. End of digression.

For Tulsa, Bobby Reid was not the passing presence that I expected him to be, leaving the heavy lifting in the passing game to Matt Bassuener with almost 200 yards and three TD's. Copeland was again a favored target, but being held to only 58 yards on 8 receptions. Reid made his presence felt with two rushing touchdowns, however, proving that he is a mobile QB who is not afraid to go for it.

Their defense kept the Power down to only 23 total yards and completely shut Rue down with negative yards and zero touchdowns on the ground (though he did catch one in the air.) Also, there is the matter of those five turnovers that we discussed earlier.

Not everything was bad, however. Morrelli had a beautiful end-zone-to-end-zone pass on one of his early plays (the fact that it was called back on a penalty is just unfortunate.) Thompson took advantage of Tulsa's issues on kick-returns and came all the way back to their 9 yard line early in the game. Finally, Mike “The Joystick” Washington was having a great game, gaining almost 60 yards and two touchdowns. Now, those are just the official stats. There were a few great plays that were called back on penalties, but he was out there hustling the whole time.

Also, attendance of nearly 10,000 in the house at least felt good while they were into it.

What do we take away from this game?

So, we lost, and we're 2-2. Is it the end of the world? No it is not. It's still very early in the season and we have a bye next week to think about what we've done and heal up a bit. Also, one more game and we might see Morris back on the field. Siegfried has made no secret that the QB position is up for grabs to whoever wants it the most.

At the risk of being a bit appley/orangey here, but back at the beginning of last season, the Steelers said that they'd be happy to come out of the first four games 2-2 without Big Ben. Yes, they're a much better and more experienced team than the Power, but the fact remains – it's a long season and we're not in a horrible spot right now.

We have a lot of work to do before our next game against the 3-1 Sharks, though. The Power really need to figure out what they're doing at the quarterback position. For that game in particular, McCabe needs to step up or step aside. Also, they cannot continue with the slow, plodding attack. This is a fast game, and they need start acting like it. Confidence behind center will help with this.

The fact remains that we're an expansion team in a division with two strong teams, and one that we have to keep our eyes on.

Speaking of keeping eyes on stuff, per the request, I am including a picture taken in the Lexus Club before the game:

Elsewhere in the league

• Philly Soul at Milwaukee Mustangs. Full disclosure: I had something else written here when the Mustangs were down by 25 points in the first half. Once again, everyone say it with me: It ain't over until it's over. Mustangs overcame a 25 point deficit to ultimately end up on the 2-yard line, down by five, no time outs, 4^th down, 0:01 on the clock. The pass is good, and the Soul drops a division game, and the 'Stangs end their losing streak. This is great for us, because with a game up on them, it should keep us 2^nd in the division.

• The undefeated Rush were finally defeated by the still undefeated Gladiators. Cleveland is now standing alone at the top of the division.

• It's a very light week coming up, with many teams on bye. Philly is the only game that we need to be concerned with, as the rest of the division will be sitting out.