What to watch for around the league, week 6

The Soul have the late-week game for the second week in a row, not kicking off against the Tampa Bay Storm until Monday night, giving Philadelphia fans another week to sit back and observe the rest of the league until Philly battles the AFL’s last winless team.

There are, however, some intriguing matches lined up this weekend that of course impact the Soul’s season that are sure to be entertaining.

The first game of the week will be between the Jacksonville Sharks and their hosts, the Cleveland Gladiators at 7;30 p.m. on Saturday, May 7.

This is a nonconference matchup (with Cleveland leaving to the National Conference this past offseason) that Soul fans should pay close attention to, as Jacksonville (2-3) sits two games behind the Soul (4-1) in third place in the American conference.

Cleveland entered the season with very little expectations placed on them, and they haven’t opened any eyes or proved anyone wrong. They’ve already played four of their home games through the first five weeks, and have only earned one single win over Tampa in week two. Since than, they’ve dropped three straight matches, and have two of their quarterbacks in Chris Dieker and Dennis Havrilla sit on the injury reserve list. Arvell Nelson was under center for Cleveland last weekend in their loss to Orlando, throwing for six touchdowns and two interceptions increasing his season stats to eight touchdowns and four interceptions.

Only Portland and Tampa have put up lower overall stats on offense combined with defense throughout the season, making it seem that this game should be a walk in the park for the Sharks, right?

Well, the Sharks, who entered the season with the highest expectations and all the loudest and proudest self-confidence in the league, and for the second season in a row have been the biggest disappointment to start the year.

The problems don’t necessarily lay with Jacksonville's offensive talent production-Tommy Grady’s 67.4 completion rate with 1,542 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and three interceptions has him among the league’s top three quarterbacks. Joe Hills is the league’s leading receiver with 666 yards and 15 touchdowns, and Derrick Ross is only behind Philadelphia’s Jeramie Richardson as the leading rusher.

Consistency has been a problem with Jacksonville’s offense, as they’ve shown they can put up 68 points on the league leading Arizona Rattlers but followed up their performance with a mere 33 points against the league’s worst Tampa Bay Storm.

The biggest problem has been their defense’s inability to get off the field.

With the exception of the Storm-filled organization in Tampa, the lowest point total Jacksonville has held an opponent to is 41 points, which the Soul put up after the worst start to a game our franchise has seen in years. Arizona reached the 70s and Orlando reached the 60s on the defending conference champions, and while it can be argued those two teams are at the top of their conferences, the LA Kiss offense had no problem dropping 64 on Jacksonville early in the season either.

Jacksonville was in a similar situation last season and rebounded for an Arena Bowl appearance, and all teams in the league will make the playoffs this season, giving Jacksonville hope when no other part of their team is showing any.

As for this week, the game is truly up for grabs for either team. Philly has a strong history of hating both teams, particularly Cleveland, but with recent rivals with Jacksonville and the chance to go three games up on Jacksonville for home field in the playoffs, every Soul fan should be cheering for the Gladiators this week.

The other game on tap for Saturday night will be the Arizona Rattlers visiting the Orlando Predators, also at 7:30 p.m.

Both teams enter the match undefeated, and as we pointed out before they sit atop their respective conferences at 5-0.

Arizona has been typical Arizona, as head coach Kevin Guy has orchestrated a team built around veteran quarterback Nick Davila who’s thrown 32 touchdowns with just two interceptions. His completion rate of 72 percent isn’t the cleanest of his career, but Rod Winsor’s 18 receiving touchdowns leads the league to connect with Davila as possibly the most dangerous duo you’ll find across the board.

Arizona’s defensive line has given their opposing quarterbacks nightmares through their first five matches, as Dimetrio Tyson’s five sacks and Luis Vasquez’s four sacks lead the entire league in their departments.

Down in the jungle, the Predators have also put together a team with hopes no shorter than an Arena Bowl appearance this season. Varhmah Sonie will be Davila’s biggest scare to date on the season, as his five interceptions in Orlando’s secondary leads the league.

Orlando has inched themselves above the rest in their special teams unit, as Brandom Thompkins has brought two returns to the house and has racked up 701 yards.

The Soul sit two games behind the 5-0 Rattlers, and this might be the best chance Philadelphia gets to moving closer to Orlando outside their regular season matchups.

The Soul of course will kick off at 8 p.m. Monday night. If you still need to feed your football hungar after the game, or have trouble falling asleep, the Portland Steel will face the L.A. Kiss Monday night at 10 p.m. after Philadelphia’s game.

Soul defense quiets Kiss in fourth win

The Soul rock’d and roll’d all night in Los Angeles Monday night, and partied every play in their 56-33 win over the Kiss.

Dan Raudabaugh had another spectacular night with 250 passing yards and six touchdowns, three of which went to Darius Reynolds and the other three fell into the hands of Shaun Kauleinamoku.

Jeremy Richardson continued his quest as the league’s leading rusher, adding 20 yards and a touchdown to his season totals.

But the driving force of Monday night’s win was the Philadelphia defense that held L.A. to just five touchdowns in the game, maintaining Kiss quarterback Nathan Stanley to four passing scores and one rushing touchdown with two interceptions.

After trading scores throughout the first quarter, the Soul held a 21-14 lead to open the second frame when Philadelphia’s Tracy Belton generated the game's first turnover with an 18-yard pick six to widen Philly’s lead to 28-14.

On the next kickoff, L.A.’s defensive lineman Jamil Merrell sought revenge on Belton for his interception, delivering a helmet-to-helmet hit tapped off with his shoulder to knock Belton to the ground on a seemingly dirty hit, needing assistance off the field.

The play triggered a physicality element to the game that lasted through the last drive of the match. On the following drive, James Romain would layout L.A.’s DJ Stephens to the gray turf which would also require help to the locker room.

Philadelphia’s lead increased as the game progressed, and so did the number of injuries to each team.

Former Soul great, receiver Donovan Morgan, left the game in the third quarter after a violent head-first hit into the boards of the endzone attempting to block a Dwayne Hollis interception.

Hollis still completed the play, bringing the ball near midfield, while Morgan laid at the goal line with his former assistant coach from his Soul days Clint Dolezel and former teammates surrounding with some brotherly love and support.

A few plays later, other Soul legend Rayshaun Kizer would have to leave the game after a massive hit from Ryan McDaniel in the endzone on a kickoff. The Soul held a 21-point lead at the time, and the play was ruled to be kick-catch interference.

Kizer would not return to the field after his injury, but Morgan would come back from the tunnel to score a pair of touchdowns to complete his three-score night to try and keep his team in contention.

Philadelphia’s turnover problems improved Monday, but were not as clean as the stat sheet showed.

In the final minutes of the first half, Raudbaugh scrambled to avoid a sack just outside of his own endzone and managed to dump the ball out less than a yard outside of the endzone to avoid a safety. The ball bounced in the hands of a lineman and appeared to be ran into the endzone for an easy touchdown, but the officials would rule and confirm on a challenge that Raudbaugh had illegally grounded the ball outside of the endzone to commit one of the prettiest penalties of his career and avoid disaster.

Richardson also gave the Soul a scare in the finals seconds of the third quarter, as Philadelphia was in the redzone pounding on the doorstep of a four-touchdown lead when a handoff from Raudbaugh to Richardson was fumbled by the fullback and scooped up by L.A.’s Merrell and ran 30-yards to Philadelphia’s 10-yard line.

Despite the opportunities L.A. had to get themselves back into the game, the Soul defense did a great job stopping one of the league's best fourth-down offenses repeatedly Monday night.

James Romain had the perfect tip to breakup a key pass all night long, and Hollis stepped up big in the right moments. Hollis was assisted off the field as he limped to the locker room after the Soul’s last stop on downs, but it didn’t appear too severious.

Philadelphia’s win brought them to 4-1 on the season, one game behind the conference's first place and undefeated Orlando Predators, and two games behind the 2-3 Jacksonville Sharks.

The Soul will have six days off before their next match, which falls on Monday Night Football once again hosting the Tampa Bay Storm.

However, after containing a dangerous receiving core in L.A., the Storm will enter Philadelphia as the AFL’s last remaining winless squad.

BEAT LA!

Cue the Boston Celtic ‘BEAT L.A.’ chants for tonight’s Monday Night Football match.

The Philadelphia Soul (3-1) travel to Los Angeles to take on the Kiss (2-2) for a week five match that’s guaranteed to have no California love in the AFL’s land of rock and roll.

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN3.

L.A. is coming off a tough 43-40 road loss to the Orlando Predators last weekend that went down-to-the-wire. The Kiss return to their home confines of the Honda Center where they’ve played 1-1 in their two home games.

The Soul meanwhile are coming off a comeback home win over the Cleveland Gladiators where they trailed by as many as 15 points but rallied for a 67-50 win.

Philadelphia has suffered inconsistent play to start games this season, committing turnovers early while allowing easy scores to Cleveland last week and Jacksonville three weeks ago which have put the Soul in early holes to try and dig themselves out of.

There is no question of the team's capability however, as Dan Raudbaugh has still showed why he’s the reigning MVP with a 28 touchdowns and a completion rate over 70 percent, even with six interceptions.

Philadelphia will face an L.A. team tonight which sits sixth in scoring out of the eight teams in the AFL, averaging just 44.8 points per game compared the Philly’s fourth-place best average of 61.8 points.

The Kiss are led by quarterback Nathan Stanley who has started all four games this season, sitting with an 89 quarterback rating with 17 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 60.9 completion percentage.

Receiver DJ Stephens will be a player for the Soul secondary to try and contain, as he’s been Stanley’s top target with 37 receptions, hauling in 426 yards and five touchdowns.

L.A.’s leading scorer is a familiar name to Soul fans in Donovan “Captain” Morgan, who played with Philadephia from 2011-12 and was a key part in their Arena Bowl XXV run. Morgan has eight receiving touchdowns for the Kiss in his second year in L.A.

Defensive back Rayshaun Kizer, another former Soul great, is the only player on L.A.’s defense making any kind of noise, hauling in two interceptions and one touchdown for his team.

Both guys were with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley’s team when Philadelphia defeated them 56-48 last season. These two will more than likely be motivated to step up against their former team, even if the front office people who made the questionable moves of trading them may or may not still be with the Soul. Philly has a talent edge heading in, while they (and the rest of us) benefit from the league changing the kickoff time from 10 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST.

Philly bitten by turnovers in loss to Sharks

The Philadelphia Soul opened their season play at the Wells Fargo Center the same way they ended it back in August, with a heartbreaking loss to the Jacksonville Sharks.

This time, the desperate Sharks topped the home team Soul 59-41 to earn their first win of the year.

The name of this game was turnovers. After generating 27 points on turnovers last weekend against Cleveland, the Soul could not generate one turnover on defense this week, but gave the Sharks four possession-changing turnovers which Tommy Grady and his Sharks took advantage of to take control of the game.

There were some questionable calls against the Soul in the first half, and there was no doubt about it. From an offensive pass interference on Jacksonville that was called on both offense and defense, which came on fourth down none the less, to early push offs that got the attention of our own Jaws, which got him in the refs ear, there certainly were some questionable moments in the second week of the season for both the players and the officials.

Jacksonville flopped and drew some calls and made the league look bad at times, and their head coach Les Moss had the audacity to call out the refs on national television.

But calls were not the story of the game Monday night.

Raudabaugh didn’t look like his MVP form in the clutch against their conference rival, giving Jacksonville just enough chances to top the Soul in a crucial early season matchup.

Jacksonville capitalized early in the first half with a pair of turnovers. Raudabaugh threw an interception to on his first drive of the game. In the final minutes of the half of a tied match, Raudabaugh missed a wide open Ryan McDaniel in the end zone, forcing a fourth down they could not convert on which turned the ball over on downs.

Later on with 1:32 remaining in the third quarter and trailing 31-34, Raudabaugh threw another heartbreaking interception to Jacksonville's Greg Reid at Philly’s own 12-yard line for Raudabaugh’s second pick of the night.

The turnover would only result in a field goal, which still extended Jacksonville’s lead to 45-34 in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.

The turnovers continued on the next drive with a McDaniel fumble at 13:48 left in the game for their fourth turnover of the match to silent the crowd.

Stevenson had the opportunity to pick off Grady with 12:40 left in the game for Philly’s first turnover, but he couldn’t grasp the ball going through his hands which symbolized the difference between the two teams in the match.

After another Jacksonville touchdown, Jacksonville’s LaRoche Jackson made an interception off a Raudabaugh pass along the boards and returned it to the house for a pick six, but the refs (who struggled with calls all night) blew the ball dead. But the refs made the wrong call again, and gave the Sharks the ball even though it was blown dead before Jacksonville gained possession . With the Soul trailing the game by three scores in the final minutes of the game, it’s hard to make an argument that Philly had a reasonable chance of a comeback, but we will never know after some inexperience shown by the officials.

Grady closed the game out with a touchdown to Roger Jackson which sealed the game.

Darius Reynolds led the Soul in scoring with three touchdowns in the match. Raudabaugh was 24/36 in passing with 306 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.

Grady finished the night with 326 yards and seven touchdowns for the Sharks. Joe Hills finished with 154 yards with four touchdowns. Former Soul Tiger Jones earned 126 yards and two touchdowns on the night.

Also former Soul Derrick Ross had a quiet night with just six touches. He finished the game with four whole yards, and the only time we really heard his name was on a three-yard run which earned him a touchdown.

Jacksonville entered the game 0-1 against a 1-0 team they knew they would be competing with for homefield in the playoffs in four months, and they certainly played like the more desperate team.

At times the Soul looked just as, if not better than the Sharks, but scoring just once in over a 16-minute stretch in the second half is not going to cut it against most opponents in this league.

TAKEAWAYS:

It was the second week of the season for both the players and officials.

The Soul, especially Raudabaugh, have room to clean up their turnovers. The refs clearly didn’t understand the rulebook at times, but hey, they have 16 more weeks to figure them out.

Jacksonville was a desperate, but good team.

It sucks seeing your former players kill you. It sucks even more seeing someone like Derrick Ross have little contribution to the win, but he gets to run his mouth on and off the field in your house once again.
Jacksonville’s offense did not turn the ball over once. They are good at what they do. There’s a reason they were in the Arena Bowl last season. Tommy Grady is a good quarterback, Tiger Jones is still one of the premier receivers in the league, and they have a cast around them that can compete and win them most games they play.

Philly needs a quick turnaround.

This team needs to put this loss behind them. Philly will have another chance to get revenge on their current biggest foes on June 4 in Jacksonville and possibly the playoffs.
Until then, they have a week to think this one over. The Soul will have another late game this week when they host Portland at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 17 on an even bigger stage, ESPN 2. There are 16 more weeks in the Arena Football season, and as much tension might lay between Philly and Jacksonville’s franchises, this matchup is not the entire season.
The offense will work out their problems, and the defense will get their defensive challenges figured out. Just take it one week at a time.

Comeback falls short for the Soul in Conference Championship

All the Soul needed was a touchdown on the final play of the game to punch their ticket to Arena Bowl XXVIII. But they came up short, with their season ending on the last play of the game for the second straight year.

This opportunity presented itself despite a first half which was the worst two-quarter performance we’ve seen from the Soul all season, from a Raudabaugh interception to a costly fumble that put the Soul in a 28-14 hole at the half, and they were lucky it was that close.

Philadelphia attempted to close the gap throughout the entire second half, and could not get closer than a seven-point deficit until the final minute of the game. Trailing 61-56 with 38 seconds remaining in the game, the Soul attempted their third onside kick of the game, which they failed to recover for the third straight time. However, a three-and-out by Jacksonville forced Julian Rouch to attempt a 28-yard field goal which slid wide right.

The official was quick to signal that the attempt was good, but further review showed that it was an incomplete kick, which gave the Soul new life holding the ball at their 13 yard line with 18 seconds remaining.

On the very first play of the drive, Raudabaugh was sacked for a costly four-yard loss that shaved four seconds off the clock.

Philly was able to march the ball down to the Jacksonville 14 yard line with two seconds remaining on the clock, setting up a last-second touchdown attempt. As Raudabaugh dropped back and aired the ball to the left side of the end zone, defensive back Laroche Jackson picked off Raudabaugh’s heroic attempt to dash the hearts of the Soul and send the Sharks to the Arena Bowl.

Although entertaining, the game was not clean by any means for the Soul, who were given plenty of opportunities to get back to their 2015 form and take control of momentum and the game countless times. There were mistakes by the offense, blown coverages by the defense and questionable calls by the officiating, including the field goal call that left fans scratching their heads wondering what the refs were watching.

But in the end, the Soul had the ball on the final drive of the game with the exact amount of time they needed to march down the field to score the game winning drive that would send them to the Arena Bowl.

And with the best quarterback in the league lining up with the opportunity to lead you to victory, you couldn’t ask for anything better than that.

Unfortunately, the offensive line that was stellar all season long let Raudabaugh down when it mattered most, which cost the Soul four yards, four seconds and a play that could have gained a great deal of yardage. Had the defense stood tall and protected their guy as they had done all season, we probably would be sipping champagne and preparing for an Arena Bowl XXII rematch Saturday night.

But the storybook ending was closed before we could reach it. The Jacksonville squad that was put together in the offseason including former Soul greats Tiger Jones and Derrick Ross, who has more than made his opinions on his former team known all season long, have reached the league’s highest game.

The Sharks never were the better team in the American Conference this season until the final day. Jacksonville started off the year 1-5 with a bunch of players who had great individual accomplishments but never earned a ring. Quarterback Tommy Grady only earned his third postseason win Sunday night, despite his stellar performances over the years. Yet he walked off the field with a smirk on his face, knowing he put the struggles of his season and his playoff career behind him, at least for six nights.

It stings to see a former player such as Ross, who meant so much to the franchise and was a fan favorite, taunt the Soul organization on social media after the game as he has done all season long. There was much talk throughout the season on if the locker room was better without the

league’s all-time leading rusher, and Ross seemed content to be out of Philly as well. But he ran his words once again Sunday night, because his team earned it.

The Soul compiled one of the greatest seasons in franchise history, finishing the year 16-4 with an Eastern Division Championship.

There is no doubt that Dan Raudabaugh will receive the league’s MVP award, as he was hands down the best player in the AFL this season and picked up his game and leadership throughout the season. The Soul added a number of great players to their roster in 2015, and the team will now try to regroup, reevaluate themselves and try to figure out what it will take to take the next step and finish a championship season.

Once again, it’s been a great season bringing the greatest fans in the league coverage on the best team to cover in the AFL. We cannot guarantee the future of this league, but if all goes according to plan, we will see you in seven months for the 2016 kickoff.

Let's do it all again next week

It wasn't pretty, and at times was nerve-racking. But in the end, the Soul completed the three-game regular season series sweep over the top rival Cleveland Gladiators.

Now, the series is 0-0 as the only game that matters is the wildcard matchup next week between the same two clubs at 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 15 in South Philadelphia.

The Soul are returning home with great momentum, owning the Gladiators in a 48-33 matchup in which Cleveland never felt competitive in the game.

It was a sweet feeling winning and completing the regular season sweep in the building where the Soul were eliminated in the wildcard round of last year's playoffs on a last-second field goal by the Gladiators. Now it's time to return the favor in seven nights.

Enjoy this night, and next time you see us, we'll be talking about playoffs!

Philadelphia closes the regular season in Cleveland

We still hate the Gladiators.

Will they make it four-straight over the team that knocked us out on a last-second field goal last season?

The Soul have a seemingly meaningless, preseason-feel game in Cleveland to end the 2015 regular season. Seven days later, they'll take on those same Gladiators in a playoff game, worth the season, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, where the Soul have been undefeated the past 13 months.

So what will happen Saturday? How important is beating a team before playing them seven days later? Will we see Bryan Randall play significantly? Will Raudabaugh continue the league's streak for longest starting quarterback? Will the Soul clinch a 15-3 record?

Just don't get hurt.

We'll see you in the playoffs.