Soul fail to sweep the Predators, lose 45-42

Harrison Brown
Sunday June 14, 2015

The Philadelphia Soul couldn’t recover from a sloppy first three quarters, and lost to the Orlando Predators 45-42. For a fourth consecutive week the Soul started out very slow in the first half, trailing 35-27. Prior to the loss against the Jacksonville Sharks in week eight, the Soul had been solid in all stages of the game and not just the second half. In the past two weeks, the Soul recovered from their early struggles to beat two lesser teams in Las Vegas and New Orleans, but never seemed to fully recover from the problems they had in the first half in Orlando.

With 14:14 left in the fourth quarter, the lights in the Amway Center weren’t bright enough to see on the field. The game was delayed a significant amount of time because of this. The Soul did seem to come out more energized after this and played their best quarter of football.

The Soul took to a slower approach on offense, relying more on short passes and the run game. Hitches and Screens were a majority of the play call from Head Coach Clint Dolezel, but the plays never seemed to truly work as planned.

Fullback Tommy Taggart returned from an injury in week eight, replacing Daverin Geralds in the backfield. Taggart had five carries and 19 yards on the night more than Geralds ever had in a game. Gerald’s did do a great job in pass protection at fullback, and the Soul offensive line struggled tonight.

Quarterback Dan Raudabaugh faced more pressure against Orlando than he may have ever faced since joining the Soul in 2012. The Soul line still played decent, but didn’t live up to their usual standards. Raudabaugh has had very consistent protection throughout the year, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see the Soul line go back to its normal gameplay next week. They certainly will be pushed in practice by one of the best line coaches in the AFL, Phil Bogle who has had an All-Arena offensive lineman each year he has coached.

Marco Thomas continued his dominating the league with his high motion corner routes to the end zone. Thomas added three touchdown, putting him at 27 for the season. Thomas has dominated whenever a corner route has been called, and has certainly looked like a clear choice to repeat as receiver of the year this year.

The Soul defense had problems containing dual threat quarterback Bernard Morris, who rushed for three touchdowns. If the four pass rushers don’t fill the lanes correctly when pass rushing, Morris can be the deadliest player on the field. Morris showed that tonight, when he rushed for a 32 yard touchdown. The defense contained Morris overall, but were taken advantage off when they made mistakes.

The Soul will travel back to Philadelphia and prepare for their upcoming game against the struggling LA KISS. The Soul will likely see Danny Southwick at quarterback, after Adrian McPherson signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Soul defensive back Kent Richardson, as well as defensive lineman Padric Scott were with the Argonauts last season in training camp.