Coming off their home opener loss to the Cleveland Gladiators, The Philadelphia Soul look to get back on the winning track against another premier defensive squad, the Georgia Force. Both teams are 2-1 on the season and the game should prove to be another close one for the Soul.
The Georgia Force will pose big problems for the Soul based on their body of work so far. The number one scoring offense in the league (69.7) is facing off with the Force who are the AFL's top scoring defense (43.3) and top rushing defense (4 yards per attempt). The Force also rank in the upper half of the league in numerous other defensive categories.
When this type of match-up occurs, usually both teams don't play up to their averages exactly, but the Soul are facing a huge obstacle this week. WR Donovan Morgan is out with a broken wrist leaving WR Larry Brackins to step up into the 3rd wide receiver slot. Morgan is second on the team in receiving yards (213), and first in receptions (23) and TD's (8). Brackins is used more in the red zone and has only caught 5 catches for 30 yards and 2 TD's.
Don't forget that Morgan is also valuable in the running game with him having 6 rushes for 47 yards. Brackins can still play, but losing Morgan takes away one of the team's best play-makers in a game where they will need all the weapons they can get.
The Georgia Force are only ranked 13th in scoring offense (52.3), but the Gladiators are ranked 14th (52.0) and they were able to put up 68 points against the Soul. At this point fans should just expect the worst and hope for the best when it comes down to how the defense will preform. They give up 63 points a game (3rd worst) and do not create many stops for their offense which likes to turn the ball over quite a bit.
This is where the Soul do not match up favorably with the Force again. The Force have the best turnover ratio at +8 while the Soul have the 4th worst at -3. The Force have forced (pun not intended) 14 turnovers (4 fumble recoveries and 10 INT's) compared to the Soul's 7 (3 fumble recoveries and 4 INT's).
The Soul have turned the ball over 10 times (7 fumbles and 3 INT's) while the Force have had only 6 turnovers (2 fumbles and 4 INT's). The Force have created the most turnovers whereas the Soul give the ball away the third most in the league. For a Soul team looking to solve its turnover woes, going up against the league's best defense at creating turnovers probably isn't the most ideal situation.
Luckily for the Soul however, the Force also don't like to hold onto the football for very long. The Soul rank last in the AFL (25:53) and the Force have the fourth worst time of possession (28:15) so maybe the Soul can get some more scoring opportunities throughout the game. This killed the Soul last game and maybe without one of their play-makers the offense will slow down just a tad. Not saying that losing Morgan is a good thing, but it'll be interesting to see how the offense reacts without him.
One area where the Soul usually have an advantage is with kickoff returns, but the Force actually have the league's rest kick return unit at 23.2 yards per return. Because of their great defense the Force have had only 12 returns on the season thus far. To compare, the Soul have the 4th best unit at 22.5 yards per return on 24 returns. The Soul do however have the most kickoff return TD's (3) which plays into their quick possession problem. The Force with one kickoff return TD have shown the ability to break it loose as well in what will be a very interesting match-up.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
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.
American East Division Rundown - Week 4
> Cleveland Gladiators: Sunday, April 1st at Philadelphia Soul
- Won 68-62 -> Gladiators (2-1) Soul (2-1)
- QB John Dutton -> 29-of-39 for 305 yards and 10 total TD's (9 passing 1 rushing) with 1 INT
- WR Dominick Goodman -> 11 receptions for 121 yards and 5 TD's
- DB Derrick Boyd -> 7 UT / 2 AT
See my game report for how the Gladiators performed against the Soul!
Next Game: Sunday, April 8th vs the Orlando Predators (0-3)
> Milwaukee Mustangs: Thursday, March 29th vs the Pittsburgh Power
- Won 63-40 -> Mustangs (2-1) Power (1-2)
- QB Gino Giudugli -> 15-of-21 for 170 yards and 3 TD's
- QB Shane Boyd -> 3-of-4 passing for 20 yards and 2 TD's
- WR Johnathan Wilson -> 8 receptions for 107 yards and 2 TD's
- LB Ryan McFoy -> 9 UT / 2 AT and 1 pass defense
- LB Marcus Everett -> 2 UT / 1 AT and 2 INT's
- DL Dwayne Lefall -> 2 UT / 1 AT and 2 sacks
These two teams entered the game with identical 1-1 records and looking for an all important divisional win to keep pace in a highly competitive Eastern Division. The Power looked to change their fortunes after suffering a bad home opening defeat to the Philadelphia Soul just last week, but the Mustangs again used their efficient defense to stifle the Power offense early and often. The Power again found themselves turning the ball over more than they were creating turnovers by throwing 2 picks and losing a fumble along with turning the ball over on downs once. Mustangs QB Gino Giudugli did enough to put his team in a position to win focusing more on the efficient rather than the flashier side of the QB position.
The Power starting the scoring by kicking a 28-yard field goal on their opening posession, but quickly fell behind the Mustangs just 21 seconds later when QB Giudugli threw a 27-yard TD to WR Johnathan Wilson who would finish the night leading all receivers with 107 yards receiving. Then the Mustangs would capitalize off of 2 Power turnovers to put the score at 20-3 at the end of the 1st quarter.
First LB Marcus Everett intercepted a Bill Stull pass and then he recovered a fumble on the Power's next drive which set up the two scores. The Power would fight back in the 2nd quarter with two TD's, a 1-yard run by Tyre Young and a 44-yard reception by Lonnell DeWalt from QB Bill Stull. The Mustangs would put up a 10 spot with a 28-yard field goal and a 1-yard run by Guidugli to end the scoring in the half.
The Mustangs increased their 30-17 half-time lead by shutting the Power out in the 3rd quarter behind a great defensive effort. The offense struck first with an 8-yard TD pass to OL Nick Torresso and then another Everett INT late in the 3rd was returned 8 yards for a TD and the dominating 44-17 lead going into the final frame.
The Mustangs would allow more points in the 4th (23) than they did in the first three quarters (17), but the offense also scored 3 TD's to negate the Power's efforts. A big hit knocked Power QB Bill Stull out of the game, but his backup, Andrico Hines, performed well throwing 10-of-16 for 124 yards and 1 TD.
The teams finished the game trading TD's with the Power only being able to cut their deficit to 17 points with 31 seconds left to play. Mustangs back-up QB Shane Boyd ended the game's scoring with a 11-yard strike to Wilson to put the Mustangs up 63-40 for good.
Defensive player of the game Marcus Everett would also jump on top of two onside kicks to seal two more possessions for the Mustangs to go along with his 2 INT's.
Next Game: BYE WEEK
> Pittsburgh Power: Thursday, March 29th at Milwaukee Mustangs
- Lost 63-40 -> Power (1-2) Mustangs (2-1)
- QB Bill Stull -> 13-of-31 passing for 186 yards 1 TD with 2 INT's
- QB Andrico Hines -> 10-of-16 passing for 124 yards and 1 TD
- FB Tyre Young -> 6 rushes for 41 yards and 2 TD's
- WR/KR PJ Berry -> 8 receptions for 104 yards
- WR Lonnell DeWalt -> 7 receptions for 97 yards and 2 TD's
SEE ABOVE for game report.
Next Game: Friday, April 6th vs Iowa Barnstormers (1-2)
Division Standings (Team/Record/Points For/Points Against):
Gladiators 2-1 (156/142)
Mustangs 2-1 (193/153)
Soul 2-1 (209/189)
Power 2-1 (139/173)
Recent Roster Moves
Monday, April 2nd
- reassigned K Connor Hughes
Tuesday, April 3rd
- activated LB Jerome Hayes
- placed FB/LB Brandon Perkins on injured reserve
- suspended OL/DL Bryan Robinson
Wednesday, April 4th
- assigned K Connor Hughes
- placed WR Donovan Morgan on injured reserve
From the look of things, it seems as if K Phil Marfuggi still isn't completely healthy after suffering a left hamstring injury last week. K Connor Hughes in an emergency signing kicked well for the Soul against the Gladiators going 8-of-9 on PAT's and only allowing 4 kickoffs to be returned out of the end zone. If Marfuggi still can't go this Saturday, Hughes will do just fine in that role for a second consecutive week.
FB/LB Brandon Perkins after 3 games has only recorded 2 tackles on the season thus far. It's a far cry from his 51.5 total tackles, 5.5 sacks, 1 INT, and 2 FF season last year with the Soul. LB Jerome Hayes preformed modestly last season with the Soul in a limited role; he registered 21 total tackles, 1 sack, 3 pass break-ups and 1 INT. He may provide a nice spark for a linebacker group that really hasn't done much in the play-making department as of yet. Sure LB Joe Goosby has an INT, but that's basically it from a unit that was suppose to cause chaos on a regular basis. LB Dusty Bear has only 7 total tackles (1.5 for a loss) along with no sacks or QB hurries after 3 games. The Soul's linebackers need to produce something significant soon because this defense needs to get going at some level.
What I don't like about these recent transactions involve the suspension of DL Bryan Robinson and the placing of WR Donovan Morgan on injured reserve. Robinson is by far the Soul's most productive defensive lineman with 7.5 total tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass defensed and 3 blocked kicks. Losing him would not be ideal for the Soul, but as you all should know by now, a player can be suspended one day and activated the next. So we'll have to see what materializes from this, but Morgan is an entirely different situation. I'm not sure what's wrong with Morgan, but if the injury is significant enough for him to miss Saturday's game then the Soul will have some problems. The Soul needs Morgan, WR/KR Jeff Hughley and WR Tiger Jones all healthy in order for them to have a chance at winning games based off of what the defense has shown us thus far. Morgan's value to this team should not be understated and hopefully this is just an injury listing that lasts a couple of days.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
WR Tiger Jones earns Cutter's Catch of the Week honors
For the third consecutive week, a member of the Philadelphia Soul was honored by the league. WR Tiger Jones earned Week 4 Cutter's Catch of the Week for his acrobatic catch against the Cleveland Gladiators this past Sunday.
The catch occurred at the beginning of the second half with the scored tied at 34-34. The Soul got the ball to start the half, WR/KR Jeff Hughley returned the Gladiators kickoff 18 yards to the Soul's 11-yard line. QB Dan Raudabaugh connected with Hughley for a 9-yard gain to the Soul 20 where FB Derrick Ross rushed the ball on 2nd-and-1 for 8 yards and the first down.
With the ball at the Gladiators' 22-yard line, Raudabaugh hit WR Tiger Jones for the 22-yard TD reception and the catch of the week. For the catch itself, Jones outstretched his arms to catch the pass, tumbled head first over the back wall of the end zone and had the presence of mind to hold onto the football throughout the process of the catch to complete the catch and the score.
Jones would finish with 141-yards receiving on 8 receptions and 2 TD's. He led all receivers in the game and produced the highest yard output for any Soul receiver thus far this season.
Jones is first on the team in receiving yards (329), second in receptions (21), second in receiving TD's (6) and second in average yards per reception (15.7).
Last year's Cutter's Wide Receiver of the Year has shown his big play-making ability in flashes prior to Week 4's contest, but he really gave the hometown crowd validation for his signing with that performance. With WR Donovan Morgan being defended out of the game basically, Jones displayed his case for why he should be considered the Soul's number one wide-out. He still has some work to do to convince this guy, but a couple more games like Sunday and I'll be more than happy to change my mind.
Hopefully though Jones' next big performance results in a Soul victory rather than a defeat. Regardless look for Jones to win multiple other honors as the season progresses.
The catch occurred at the beginning of the second half with the scored tied at 34-34. The Soul got the ball to start the half, WR/KR Jeff Hughley returned the Gladiators kickoff 18 yards to the Soul's 11-yard line. QB Dan Raudabaugh connected with Hughley for a 9-yard gain to the Soul 20 where FB Derrick Ross rushed the ball on 2nd-and-1 for 8 yards and the first down.
With the ball at the Gladiators' 22-yard line, Raudabaugh hit WR Tiger Jones for the 22-yard TD reception and the catch of the week. For the catch itself, Jones outstretched his arms to catch the pass, tumbled head first over the back wall of the end zone and had the presence of mind to hold onto the football throughout the process of the catch to complete the catch and the score.
Jones would finish with 141-yards receiving on 8 receptions and 2 TD's. He led all receivers in the game and produced the highest yard output for any Soul receiver thus far this season.
Jones is first on the team in receiving yards (329), second in receptions (21), second in receiving TD's (6) and second in average yards per reception (15.7).
Last year's Cutter's Wide Receiver of the Year has shown his big play-making ability in flashes prior to Week 4's contest, but he really gave the hometown crowd validation for his signing with that performance. With WR Donovan Morgan being defended out of the game basically, Jones displayed his case for why he should be considered the Soul's number one wide-out. He still has some work to do to convince this guy, but a couple more games like Sunday and I'll be more than happy to change my mind.
Hopefully though Jones' next big performance results in a Soul victory rather than a defeat. Regardless look for Jones to win multiple other honors as the season progresses.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The Philadelphia Soul's STATS through 3 Weeks
I thought I'd post the Soul's players stats every three weeks so that you all can keep track courtesy of ArenaFan.com and all the great work that they put into their website. Their will be more analysis of Sunday's loss to come followed by the weekly Eastern Division recap and then I'll move onto Saturday night's contest against the Georgia Force. A lot of great content to come so visit back!
After 3 Games (Stats provided by ArenaFan.com) | |||
| Rushing | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rush | Yds | TD | |
| Derrick Ross | 20 | 64 | 5 |
| Donovan Morgan | 6 | 47 | 0 |
| Jeff Hughley | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Dan Raudabaugh | 3 | -6 | 0 |
| Team | 30 | 108 | 5 |
| Passing | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comp | Att | % | Yds | TD | INT | QB Rat. | |
| Dan Raudabaugh | 62 | 88 | 70.5 | 782 | 20 | 3 | 123.2 |
| Team | 62 | 88 | 70.5 | 782 | 20 | 3 | 123.2 |
| Receiving | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Recept | Yds | TD | |
| Donovan Morgan | 23 | 213 | 8 |
| Tiger Jones | 21 | 329 | 6 |
| Jeff Hughley | 12 | 194 | 3 |
| Larry Brackins | 5 | 30 | 2 |
| Derrick Ross | 1 | 16 | 1 |
| Team | 62 | 782 | 20 |
| Kick Returns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Returns | Yds | TD | |
| Jeff Hughley | 22 | 529 | 2 |
| Micheaux Robinson | 1 | 12 | 1 |
| TEAM | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | 24 | 541 | 3 |
| Kicking | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FGM | 4pt | FGA | % | XPM | 2pt | XPA | % | Pts | |
| Phil Marfuggi | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 19 | 0 | 21 | 90.5 | 19 |
| Connor Hughes | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 8 | 0 | 9 | 88.9 | 8 |
| Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 27 | 0 | 30 | 90.0 | 27 |
| Defensive Stats | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tack | Ast | Tot | Sacks | PB | FF | FR | Blk | Int | Yds | TDs | |
| Kent Richardson | 14 | 3 | 15.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 47 | 1 |
| Joe Goosby | 11 | 9 | 15.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Keon Perry | 10 | 4 | 12 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Micheaux Robinson | 10 | 3 | 11.5 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rayshaun Kizer | 7 | 4 | 9 | 0.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 0 |
| Bryan Robinson | 6 | 3 | 7.5 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dusty Bear | 5 | 4 | 7 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dustin Barno | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Melik Brown | 5 | 1 | 5.5 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Brackins | 4 | 1 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeff Hughley | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brandon Perkins | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Derrick Ross | 1 | 1 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Donovan Morgan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tiger Jones | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Connor Hughes | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adam DiMichele | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 1 |
| Phil Marfuggi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | 84 | 38 | 122 | 2.0 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 107 | 2 |
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