At Least it Wasn’t Televised

Jason Moyer
Sunday May 6, 2007

The Philadelphia Soul’s losing streak has now reached five games and much like a five car pile up on the expressway you don’t want to look, but for some unexplained reason you slow down to take a peek.  Luckily, the 17,493 people in attendance were the only witnesses.      

If there had been a pile up on the expressway, you could almost guarantee that some Soul players would have been involved as the team has been hit by a plague of injuries this season.

“Well, that’s part of the business,” commented Head Coach Bret Munsey.  “You know you’re going to get injuries in professional football and it’s my job to find twenty men to go out and win games for the Philadelphia Soul.  I’m not doing it right now.  We can’t use that as an excuse.” 

Philadelphia has lost starting quarterback Tony Graziani to a dislocated shoulder, receivers Sean Scott and Larry Brackins to hamstring pulls and two-way player Mike Brown to a knee problem.  This doesn’t count the players who continue to play through nagging injuries.

“These teams in the last five weeks are playing against the Philadelphia So, not the Soul,” stated Majority Owner Jon Bon Jovi.  “We are injury laden.  Until Mike Brown’s back on that field, Tony’s back on that field, Sean Scott’s back on that field they’re playing half a football team.”

As for the game itself, Kansas City Brigade quarterback Raymond Philyaw completed an astounding 36 of 41 passes to lead his team to a 53-41.

“We couldn’t get him out of the three step,” stated Coach Munsey.  “If we get people to take five on us we got a pretty good pass rush.  But he kept three stepping us and completing the short routes and making plays.  We just couldn’t get him out of it.  Hats off to those guys, they played well on offense.”

During the losing streak, the Soul have continually put themselves behind by turning the ball over.  The Soul were first in the league with a (+9) turnover ratio after week 4.  They now have a (-2) ratio after tonight’s game.

“This game's all about stops and turning the ball over,” observed starting quarterback Juston Wood.  “That’s the name of the game.  You go out and get two fumbles and two interceptions, that’s a bad game.”

“You know when you start off the game with an interception it takes a little out of you,” acknowledged a pragmatic Coach Munsey.  “But at the end of the day I think they beat us in all three phases tonight.”

So where do the Soul go from here?

“We got a lot of guys who can pick it up a little bit.  We’re going to pick it up as a staff too and really evaluate what we got and prepare a little better,” answered Munsey.  “We got to work a little harder.  When you got guys down in the dumps or injured that’s when you got to work a little harder and have people step up.”

Hopefully some players can “step up” until the Calvary arrives.

Inside the Numbers

Juston Wood (PHI) completed 19 of 28 passes for 238 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions.  Wood also rushed six times for 24 yards and a touchdown.

Charles Pauley (PHI) caught nine passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns.  Pauley compiled 277 all-purpose yards to be named Ironman of the Game.

Raymond Philyaw (KC) finished 36 of 41 for 364 yards with six touchdowns to be named Offensive Player of the game.

Jerel Myers (KC) led all receivers with 11 catches for 108 yards.

Bon Jovi on team mentality

“They’re miserable.  They’re hurting.  They want to win; they want to win for themselves, for me and for the city.  They got off to such a great start and there’s still such a great attitude in that locker room.  I am not losing faith in the organization.  It’s the best team we’ve ever had, it really is.  This plague of injuries is beyond my comprehension.  That’s all.”

Coach Munsey’s optimism

“We got to get guys to turn this thing around and we’ll be alright.  I firmly believe that once we get rolling; get guys playing a little better that we’re going to get on a roll here.”

Juston Wood on injuries

“There are a lot of people hurt and we know we’re a better team than our record shows right now.  Regardless of all the stuff that goes on with any team on any level you got to come together and find ways to win the games and we haven’t done that the last five weeks.”