The current state of the Soul during the bye week

Philadelphia.CBSlocal.com

As we sit in the midst of Philadelphia’s second bye week, things have changed significantly after their important weekend we just came off.

The Soul are back in first place of the American Conference at 12-3 after their win, and Orlando’s loss.

Things are great, right? Well, they could have turned out better. And they could have turned out worse.

Let’s take a look at the Soul’s game first.

Philadelphia edged out a close match in Tampa over the 1-14 Storm with a 56-51 win that got dicey in the fourth quarter. The Soul found themselves trailing by one score heading into the final frame, but a quick score from Dan Raudabaugh to Darius Reynolds put the Soul up by five. On the very next drive, Dwayne Hollis brought in his eighth interception of the season, bringing it to the house to put the Soul up by two scores with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

The teams traded scores in the final minutes, and a crucial onside kick recovery for Philadelphia with 50 seconds left in the game sealed the win.

It wasn’t the prettiest win, as the worst team in the AFL had an opportunities late in the game to steal a victory over the Soul who are in the hunt for the best record in the league. Tampa’s lone win this season did come over the first place Arizona Rattlers, so they have proven to get up and play well against great competition at times this season.

Philadelphia fought through the adversity and got the win, which hasn’t been as common in the past and is a very encouraging sign as playoffs approach.

The Soul community’s attention than shifted to Arizona on Monday night, as the two teams ahead of the Soul clashed with one another to see if Orlando could extend their lead over the teams trailing them, or if the Rattlers would inch closer to the first place title.

The Predators fought hard through much of the game, but Orlando quarterback Bernard Morris and his team did not play the flawless game you need to put forth to earn a rare win in Arizona. Morris’ mistake of bouncing a pass of the net in the end zone resulted in the game's first turnover in the second quarter, putting the Predators behind the eight ball heading into the second half.

Orlando earned an opportunity to take a one-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, forcing a Maurice Purify fumble and earning their first turnover of the game. They could not take advantage of their fortune however, turning the ball over on downs on the same drive and giving Arizona control of the game and win.

Orlando did earn a moral victory in the loss, as they covered the 17-point spread to keep the tiebreaker over the Rattlers, after their massive win over Arizona earlier in the season. The loss pushed the Predators into second place in the American conference behind Philadelphia, who currently holds the season tiebreaker in the match. If Orlando wins their final game in two weeks, they will not only earn the top seed in the American conference but also hold the top league seed to host the Arena Bowl if they reach the championship game.

That puts all the pressure on Philadelphia from here on out. The likelihood of them hosting the Arena Bowl is on life support, as they would need to win in their final week and pray that the Cleveland Gladiators can pull off an amazing upset over the Rattlers, who hold the tiebreaker over the Soul.

It's not impossible, but they certainly need help from their other rival.

But Philadelphia has a very good chance of capturing the top seed in the American Conference, as their final opponent after the bye week is who? The Orlando Predators.

It will be an American Conference regular season championship at the Amway Center in Orlando on Saturday, July 30. The Soul handled the Predators easily back in May, as they looked to be the better of the two teams. Philadelphia will have to play better during this trip to Florida than they did last visit last week, but Orlando will give them opportunities to take over the game.

Most importantly, they to focus in on the only game in front of them and they cannot be looking at Arizona, like the rest of us are.