Soul Lose Game and Quarterback
Craig T. Mackey
Tuesday March 23, 2004
This was the first of two meetings for what was billed as Rock meets Jock. John Elway watched the first half from the seats while Jon Bon Jovi spent the game entertaining his guests. Bon Jovi’s guests included former Vice-President and Presidential candidate Al Gore, his wife Tipper and “The Boss”, Bruce Springsteen.
They all witnessed a close game that by AFL standards was low scoring. This is something that the Soul are starting to get accustomed. They lead the league in scoring defense and their offense usually does not get it started until the second half.
“When your defense only lets up 40 points, that should be enough to win the game in this league,” head coach Michael Trigg said after the game. “Your offense needs to score in the 50s; even scoring in the 40s only makes it a toss-up. You cannot score 30 points and expect to win. It is my responsibility to get this going and get this team to start off better.”
That sounds awfully familiar for football fans in this area, as Andy Reid is constantly taking the responsibility for his offensive failures. I don’t know if it’s Trigg, but it’s something. Nick Browder fumbled on the second play of the game. That was the fifth time in seven games that the Soul have fumbled on their opening series.
The offense not only looked flat in the first half, but they never seemed to get it going all day and losing Browder did not help things. Back-up Todd Hammel came in and immediately led the Soul on a scoring drive. Hammel connected with Tryonne Jones for a 9-yard touchdown that gave the Soul a 27-24 lead at that point, but it was an interception early in the fourth that was the turning point of the game.
On first down from their own 18-yard line, Hammel and Ricky Ross seemed to have their signals mixed up. Ross ran a corner route and Hammel threw it to the post where Crush DB Rashad Floyd was waiting for the pick. The Crush went right down and scored to take the lead 34-27, a lead that they would never give up.
“I thought Ricky was going to the post, but he ran to the corner,” Hammel said. “It is an unfortunate thing, but we just have to get on the same page. I have to get on the same page with all the receivers and we will work on that in practice this week.”
The Soul had a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, but the drive stalled on a failed fourth down attempt. Trigg decided to go for the end zone twice instead of going for the two yards needed for a first down. Trigg is an aggressive coach and we should not expect that to change.
The Soul still had an opportunity to win the game, but Hammel’s Hail Mary went unanswered as time expired. The Soul have now lost four games by a combined total of 22 points and they have had the ball with a chance to win in all of them. That’s not a bad statistic for any team, let alone an expansion team, especially when you see proven teams like the Orlando Predators getting beat by 50.
The Soul played well on occasions yesterday, but they still lack the consistency that is needed to make a serious playoff push. They put pressure on Crush QB John Dutton all game, but he continued burn them with the long ball. Crush OS Damian Harrell lit up Soul DB Joseph Todd all game. Harrell finished with nine catches for 160 yards and three touchdowns, all game highs.
If Browder, who separated his shoulder on his 1-yard touchdown run right before the half, misses any time, the Soul know that they should be in good shape. Hammel is a 13-year veteran of this league and he did throw 60 touchdowns in one season. The Soul now needs to just turn their focus on the Austin Wranglers and getting back to .500.
“We need to just fight the battle and try to get back to the .500 mark,” Trigg said. “We have to get it done on the Road against a team in Austin that is pretty good on the road.”
Extra Soul
Browder finished the game 7 of 15 for 90 yards and a touchdown. He also had a rushing touchdown…Hammel was 9 of 17 for 106 and a touchdown…Jones led the receivers with eight catches for 78 yards and a touchdown… Chris “Soul Train” Ryan was named Army Ironman of the game with two rushing touchdowns and two tackles. He also blocked a Crush field goal attempt right before the half that set up a Soul touchdown.
Next Game
Next Sunday, the Soul travel to Austin to take on the Wranglers. The Wranglers, who are also an expansion team, are 4-2 after beating Detroit 70-58 on Thursday. A win by the Soul would even their record and give them another chance to get over .500 when they return home in two weeks to take on Dallas.
Craig T Mackey is a an engineer in Philadelphia. He is a huge philadelphia sports fan. He has worked for NFL Films in the past and is a 1999 graduate of Penn State University with a bachelors degree in journalism.
