It’s still week seven for the Philadelphia Soul, but Saturday night’s game against the Arizona Rattlers feels like it has much more riding on it than a regular season game in mid-May.
In fact, it feels much heavier than a game with two 5-1 teams facing off in a possible Arena Bowl preview.
When the Soul host the Arizona Rattlers Saturday night, they can show the league and themselves that if they do face the Rattlers in the Arena Bowl for the third time in five seasons, they can actually beat them.
Let’s make one thing clear: The Soul have never, ever, ever, ever, ever beaten the Arizona Rattlers.
Since Arizona entered the league in 1992 and Philadelphia joined in 2004, the teams have met up six times, all between 2011-14. Nick Davila has been Arizona’s leader at quarterback in all six matches, and Dan Raudabaugh’s era has been apart of the last five.
We’ve seen blowouts, and we’ve seen Philadelphia slip leads in games they should have won in this series. There have been four regular season matchups, and we know there have been two Arena Bowl showdowns. But the one consistent trend is Arizona has always walked off the field victorious.
When the Rattlers won their last game against the Soul opening night 2014, Guy told the media “I’m tired of playing them, I’m tired of playing them.”
And it was the last time they played. It’s been two years since the teams have seen each other, and while the rosters have both seen considerable changes since than, it’s still Soul-Rattlers, and Philly still needs to get their first win against them.
Something has to give eventually, right?
Let’s look at the first of two regular season matchups between these teams for this season.
Philadelphia will be welcoming the Rattlers to the city of brotherly for just the second time ever, and both teams are seeking their sixth win while trying to avoid their second loss.
Arizona’s 5-1 record leads the National Conference, despite suffering their first loss of the season last weekend in Orlando when the undefeated Predators dismantled the Rattlers, 77-59.
Arizona will take their second straight trip to the east coast this weekend, but have been forced to make both trips without one of their driving defensive forces in Kerry Reed.
Reed, a linebacker who helped lead Arizona to three-straight Arena Bowl titles from 2012-14, left week five’s game against the Portland Steel with an “upper body injury” that ended his season.
But in their first loss of the season last week, Arizona’s injury woes only got worse, with safety Arkeith Brown, defensive lineman Dimetrio Tyson and kicker Kenny Spencer all leaving due to injuries.
Their defense still has potential threats to Philly’s offense, as Dimetrio Tyson and Luis Vasquez are the league’s leaders in sacks.
Arizona’s offense is just as dangerous as any other year, as Davila is the league’s third leading quarterback with a 71.8 passing completion percentage, 39 touchdowns and three interceptions. Rod Winsor is the league’s second leading receiver with 21 touchdowns and 764 yards.
For Philadelphia, the Soul are coming off a 47-17 win over the Tampa Bay Storm that could have been much more of a blowout had Philadelphia not shown signs of possibly looking forward to this week's matchup. Raudabaugh’s stats took some hits with some early mistakes, with his completion percentage now at 69.1 percent with 36 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Darius Reynolds and Shaun Kauleinamoku are two of the the league’s top receivers, combining for 25 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards.
On the Soul defense, Dwayne Hollis has hauled in five interceptions while his teammate Tracy Belton has grabbed four of his own.
Saturday’s game will be tough for both teams heading in.
Arizona has to fly across the country for the second week, but they had two extra days to prepare than Philly as the Soul are coming off a short week after playing the Monday night game.
Philadelphia has injuries to their roster as well, but Arizona definitely is walking in with more of a limp than the Soul.
This game also means a lot more to the Soul than it does to the Rattlers. The teams will meet up again June 17, but it will be in Arizona. If Philadelphia loses this Saturday’s game, they will have another opportunity to beat the Rattlers before the postseason, but it would be on the road against the team they’ve never beaten, and Arizona could return many of their injured players by than.
A win would keep Philadelphia just a game behind 7-0 Orlando, and would give them a better record and the tiebreaker over Arizona for home field in the Arena Bowl for now.
A win would keep Philadelphia just a game behind 7-0 Orlando, and would give them a better record and the tiebreaker over Arizona for home field in the Arena Bowl for now.
The Rattlers will be favored in almost every single game they play in as long as Davila is their quarterback and Guy is the head coach, but this is a golden opportunity for the Soul to wreak some havoc against a team that’s dashed their hopes and dreams so many times in recent memory. The game could come down to a last-possession match or even a special teams kick, and although Arizona has clinched games against Philadelphia in those fashions, the Soul will have the upper hands in both those departments this time around.
No comments:
Post a Comment