Rebound game features Meyer-less Valore, clinching scenario in place

Even the best fall down sometimes.

Saturday’s loss to Baltimore hurt us all, but as we sit three games away from the 2017 Arena Football playoffs, all Soul fans should be feeling more than good.

Why? Well, after careful research, we have come to the conclusion that each of the last 29 Arena Bowl champions suffered at least one loss that season prior to lifting the trophy.

No one is perfect, but some teams are closer to that plateau than others.

Saturday was the imperfect game for the Soul, starting with one of the most outrageous ejections you will see in professional sports, and on the national stage no less.

But the Soul struggled out the gate from the bye week, and after putting forth their lowest performance of the season, Baltimore was able to just edge the Soul at the end of the game to stay in the midst of the Brigade’s own playoff race.

Thoughts of a perfect season are over, but as we’ve stated from day one, the goal was never to become the first team to finish undefeated. The goal has always been to keep the trophy in our backyard and repeat as world champions.

And honestly, it's better the loss came in early July rather than late August.

Fortunately while the Soul were struggling Saturday, their biggest competition the Tampa Bay Storm were suffering even bigger problems in their loss to Cleveland. The Storm benefited from the (controversial) return of Joe Hills, but the team looked human even with their biggest weapon back on the field.

That means the Soul still came out of the weekend with positives, as their magic number for homefield throughout August has dwindled down to just one game thanks to Cleveland. That means a Philadelphia win over Washington Saturday, or a Tampa Bay loss to that hot Baltimore team will put the Arena Bowl at the Wells Fargo Center if the Soul reach the title game.

Now Philly is hosting a Washington team that had much promise at the beginning of the season and were picked by many to reach the Arena Bowl in their first season, but after a series of injuries that led to elite quarterback Erik Meyer announcing his retirement last week, the 1-9 Valore are all but eliminated from the playoffs in the five team league.

Philly’s going to be looking for a strong rebound from last week’s loss, and with their final bye week coming next week, the Soul won’t want to go into that week off thinking about a two game losing streak.

This game will show the true character of the Soul, and could define their season more than any other match this season.

Back in action after the bye

With their bye week behind them, the Soul begin the homestretch of the season tonight when they face Baltimore at 7 p.m. on the road.

Philly has already met Baltimore twice throughout their undefeated season to date, looking dominant through most of the matches but had to edge out the second game after letting a lead slip.

Baltimore is in the midst of a fight to make the playoffs with four games remaining, currently sitting two games ahead of Washington.

Two of Baltimore's three games have come at home this season, and they'll certainly be fired up to try and knock off the undefeated defending world champions.

For the Soul, the focus should not be on all the chatter from around the league discussing if Philly will have the first undefeated season in AFL history.

That's a debate for another time. Tonight, the Soul have the opportunity to inch closer to clinching home field throughout the Arena Bowl, with their magic number currently at two.

The Storm are in action tonight against Washington, and a Philly win plus a Tampa loss would clinch home field for the Soul with three weeks remaining in the regular season.

The name of the game is to stay focused, keep momentum rolling and most of all, avoid injuries.

It'll be an interesting match to see how Philly does tonight right out the bye week. It'll also be interesting if Baltimore sports legend Joe Flacco wears another Soul jersey to this match up.