Final Thoughts on Last Sunday's Game

Here's just some final thoughts I had that I didn't really touch upon in my earlier posts:

• After WR Donovan Morgan's first TD reception of the game a scuffle ensued resulting in C Brennen Carvalho being ejected for throwing a punch at LB Denayne Dixon towards the end of it all. Carvalho's hot headed act may have costed the Soul a possession later in the game. On QB Dan Raudabaugh's first fumble of the game, he fumbled the snap from OL Christian Johnson who had to move to center after Carvalho's ejection. Back-up OL Melik Brown played mainly at the LG position after replacing Carvalho. Who knows if Raudabaugh would've fumbled if Carvalho had been where he started the game, but that's one question that will never get answered because of his emotional decision to throw a punch during a game knowing that doing so would result in an ejection. He deserved to be ejected and hopefully will learn from his mistake for future contests.
• I'm not sure what to make of the Gladiators only turnover of the game. In the 2nd quarter with less than six minutes to play in the half, Gladiators QB John Dutton attempted a pass that was way off target from his intended receiver, WR Robert Redd, and DB Kent Richardson snatched it from the air and returned it 47 yards for the TD. LB Dusty Bear was a step away from sacking Dutton, but I'm not sure after watching the tape if he hit Dutton's arm while in motion or not. Bear's pressure could have forced an ill-advised throw by Dutton which also explains why he missed a wide-open Redd in the middle of the end zone. Maybe Redd ran the wrong route, but from how far away and wide-open he was from Dutton's pass I don't think that's what happened. I'll give Bear credit for the INT, but I expect him to produce like that way more often than he's showed these past three games.
• I watched WR Tiger Jones' Cutter's Catch of the Week TD reception again and it is really quite spectacular. I didn't realize how much Raudabaugh actually overthrew Jones, but his speed and acrobatic display really came up huge for the Soul as they took their first lead of the game with that catch at 41-34 in the beginning of the 3rd quarter. Goodman's one-handed TD reception where he tumbled over the wall as well was pretty spectacular also, but I have my doubts whether or not he actually held onto the football throughout the entire catch.
• Raudabaugh's second fumble was just a result of poor technique. His chest pass the WR Donovan Morgan never reached him and the Gladiators were able to take advantage of the backward pass folly to give them an extra possession and another TD early in the 4th quarter. The Gladiators had just taken a 54-48 lead when Raudabaugh fumbled again just a couple plays later. Dutton threw a 16-yard TD to WR Thyron Lewis on the very next play to put the Gladiators up two scores.
• I've already written about how I feel that the Soul score way too quickly leaving their opponents with the opportunity to control the clock for the game's entirety. This is why the Soul is ranked last in time of possession currently, but when they finally put together a long drive it's at the worst possible time. The Gladiators scored a TD with 6:26 left in the game which gave them a 68-55 lead over the Soul at that point. The Soul then proceeded to take one of the game's most important possessions and turn it into a less than spectacular six minute drive resulting in a 1 yard WR Larry Brackins TD reception with 1:16 left to play. They were lucky to get that after DB Levy Brown had his own boneheaded moment and drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after throwing the football across field after breaking up a pass. That penalty gave the Soul a 1st down and four more chances to punch the ball into the end zone, which they did. That drive's length really hurt the Soul's chances of making a comeback, but from how the Gladiators played keep away with the Soul in the game's final minute, I doubt that the Soul would've been able to create a stop.
• Many fans have been clamoring about the referees and how bad they were in Sunday's game highlighted by the penalty against DB Keon Perry. The clock had wrongfully kept running and stopped at the 5 second mark when it should have stopped at the 8 second mark in the game's final moments. Perry saw this and left the bench running to around the mid-field point to inform the referee's of this mistake, but his "Good Samaritan" act backfired as the referees hit Perry with a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty giving the Gladiators a first down and the game basically. To top that off, the referees pushed the game clock back to 8 seconds after penalizing Perry for trying to tell them of their mistake. Was the penalty ridiculous? Absolutely. If you're going to penalize Perry then at least stick to your flawed logic and keep the game clock at 5 seconds. Changing it after Perry's attempt was just rubbing salt into the wound for all I'm concerned. Did the referee's cost the Soul the game though? Well that's a definitive no as the ending of each half (2) forced more Gladiator stops than the Soul did (1). The penalty was outlandish in my opinion, but that game was already long over in my eyes.