Soul can't handle the Storm

Harrison Brown
Saturday April 5, 2014

 TAMPA BAY- In 2012 the Philadelphia Soul went 15-3 in the regular season. This year the Soul are 0-3 just three games in to the 2014 season and are raising questions around the league. “We have to play consistent football and we have failed to do that across the board,” said Soul head coach Clint Dolezel. “We need players to step up and perform the way we are used to. We will review the game and address the areas we need to in order to get this pointed in the right direction.” The Soul fell to the Storm 63-49

The Soul played poor defense all night, with just one highlight as jack linebacker Joe Goosby had returned an interception for a touchdown. The team missed a lot of tackles throughout the game and were called on just about every penalty in the Arena Football rule book. All Star defensive back Larico Stevenson was inactive for tonight's game increasing Kyle Whitehurst's role in the game. Whitehurst played up to standard with four tackles along with all the other defensive backs (Rayshaun Kizer, James Romain, Joe Goosby.)

The defensive line had All-Arena lineman Bryan Robinson return to action for the first time since last year's Arena Bowl. His stats haven't changed. Robinson along with Jason Holman, Morkeith Brown and TJ Langley ended the game with zero tackles and sacks. It was a disappointing return for Robinson and a disappointing third game for the other three.

Offensively we saw Derrick Ross's performance plummeted with only one rush for five yards and fumbling on the play. The likelihood is that Ross's limited rushes was due to his injured hamstring. Ross rushed for six touchdowns in week one and has fallen to just one over the past two weeks. Ross' injury hampered the team's rushing more obviously in this weeks game.

While Ross struggled we saw the Dan Raudabugh we've been hoping for (32-47, 335 yards 6 touchdowns.) Raudabugh connected with Tiger Jones and Ryan McDaniel each three times in the end zone. Robert Redd saw an increased role while V'Keon Lacy missed the game due to injury. Redd was originally signed just for kick returns and depth at wide receiver. He has proved to be a valuable weapon on offense with 77 yards on six receptions.

The Arizona and San Jose games were expected to be close games (The San Jose game was not close at all.) Actually I had the Soul walking away 2-1 after week three just losing to Arizona. But the Soul made Nathan Stanley look like Aaron Garcia in his prime and made Tampa's offensive line look like one we'd see watching a 1990's Dallas Cowboys game.

The Soul will stay in Florida to avoid jet-lag and will take on Orlando in week five. Orlando has played good football of late starting the year off at 3-1. The Predators fell to New Orleans this week but still seem to be one of the teams to beat in the American Conference.