Both teams entered the game 2-0 and anytime quarterbacks Dan Raudabaugh and Tommy Grady meet offensive fireworks ensue, most memorably Grady’s days in Jacksonville when the two quarterbacks met in back to back conference championships. The coaching staffs are very familiar as well having faced each other and worked side by side with each other throughout their time in the AFL.

 

“We really believe in what we do in Albany and Philadelphia believes in what they’re doing,” Empire head coach Rob Keefe said. “When you have two well coached teams and a lot of guys who are great at what they do it’s always going to be a hard-fought battle. Coach Beau Bell coached with us last year and there’s like three guys on each team that’re now on the different team this year, we swapped kickers,”

 

“There are a lot of in game kind of rivalries there, so I think it’s going to be a great battle for a long time. We’re going to play them two more times and might see them in the Arena Bowl, I’m sure that’s how it’s going to pan out. We really do appreciate what they do and that’s why we prepare so hard to play against them,” Keefe said.

 

The Albany offense was firing on all cylinders playing as close to a perfect game in arena football as humanly possible. Tommy Grady went 14-17 for 256 yards and 7 touchdowns. When half of your quarterbacks’ completions go for touchdowns there’s a pretty good shot you’ll come out on top, and that was the case for Grady and the Empire.

 

“We knew we had to come here and score points because they have a great offense,” Empire quarterback Tommy Grady said. “I love playing against Philadelphia because I know I’ve got to bring my A game each time I play them. They’re always going to score a lot of points, they’re always competitive and it’s always going to be a good game,” Grady said.

 

The Soul offense had their best night of the early season with Dan Raudabaugh completing 21-34 passes, throwing for 309 yards and 6 touchdowns. He spread the ball around, but Lonnie Outlaw had a standout performance at wide receiver, posting career highs with 9 catches 191 yards and 3 touchdowns.

 

“When a guy’s 6’8 out there he gives you a good target,” Soul quarterback Dan Raudabaugh said. “Lonnie’s been with us for years and his role has been different almost every year he comes in here. This year he earned some playing time in the field and he’s really responded well for us,”  

 

“We’re going to keep getting better we’re doing different stuff with our receivers, we’re messing with our motions, we’re trying some different routes, we’re trying to mix it up and get better anyway we can. I thought Lonnie played well and he always brings a physical presence to the game,” Raudabaugh said.

 

Outlaw first signed with the Soul in 2015 and was immediately loved by the coaching staff for his size and athleticism. Since then he’s had stints in the CFL and workouts with NFL teams, and went to training camp with the Birmingham Iron of the ill-fated AAF this winter.  

 

“I was just running my routes and Dan finding me when I’m open and doing what coach was asking me to do,” Lonnie Outlaw said. “At first in the red zone they tried to start pressing but once we got that over with, they started softening up the coverages and we started hitting the underneath, coach always says take what they give us,” Outlaw said.

 

“We expect that out of Lonnie,” Soul head coach Clint Dolezel said. “Lonnie’s a veteran it was his turn tonight. When Aaron was in motion, they played more zone so you’re not going to have a big game every week when they’re zoning you. They played Lonnie man and Lonnie made them pay for it,” Dolezel said.

 

Outlaws breakout performance was well deserved, and it’ll be fun to see how the 6’8 receiver continues to progress. On the other side of the field last year’s rookie of the year and breakout star receiver Malachi Jones caught 6 passes for 137 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jones hasn’t missed a beat in his return to Albany after training camp with the Chicago Bears and starting for the Atlanta Legends of the AAF.

 

“Malachi’s fast I’ve just got to put it out there for him,” Tommy Grady said. “I’m starting to feel better the first couple of games I was feeling myself out a little bit but starting to throw the ball better this week and the receivers helped me out. The receivers created a lot of space and the offensive line played great I didn’t get touched all night so that helps a lot too. Everyone on offense was clicking tonight and everything was working,” Grady said.

 

Everything really was working, that’s not an exaggeration. Completing 14-17 passes is a feat as is but having half of those completions be touchdowns is a different level of execution. Not to mention that this was against arguably the best secondary in the league and certainly the most cohesive and tenured secondary.

 

The Soul secondary is made up of the last two seasons AFL Defensive Backs of the Year award winners James Romain and Dwayne Hollis. Torez Jones is also a very well-respected field corner who has great size and ability. With the talent they have in their group it’s unusual for an offense to have that great of a night, but this is arena football and offenses were made to score.

 

“It wasn’t good, I mean bottom line we didn’t play very well,” Clint Dolezel said. “Defensively we couldn’t get a stop when we needed one, early on we were playing well getting a little bit of a pass rush and pretty close coverage. Grady played well for them tonight threw some great balls, good coverage is beat by good throws and we were beat by a lot of good throws tonight,”

 

“You just can’t show up and just because we’re the Philadelphia Soul guys are going to roll over for you, you’ve got to go out and play. Evidently, we forgot to tell our guys that and we didn’t show up tonight in the defensive area, that’s unusual for our guys. Defense is pretty darn good, and we just didn’t get it done tonight,” Dolezel said.

 

“Tommy Grady is a Hall of Famer in this game and coach Les he’s also going to be a Hall of Famer soon,” Soul middle-man James Romain said. “Those guys do their homework pretty well and they feel comfortable going five-step versus the Philadelphia Soul, so we’ve just got to do something to change that. Hopefully within the next few weeks we can rebound and catch those guys the last game of the season,” Romain said.

 

Albany offensive coordinator Les Moss and Tommy Grady has really turned into a great duo for the Empires offensive play calling. In contrast to the Soul’s quick three step approach, the Empire are much more likely to let 6’7 Tommy Grady take a full 5-Step drop and take a longer shot down the field. Both teams mix in a variation of the quick and long game, but the offensive philosophies are significantly different.  

 

“Comradery, continuity, cohesiveness, all these cliché words that coaches use,” Rob Keefe said. “Philadelphia does a great job of, 13-16 starters we’re here last year or have played in Philadelphia before. We don’t have that luxury, a lot of teams don’t have that luxury when it’s a one-year contract league, so we have to get guys on the same page very quickly,”

 

“When you have a quarterback and offensive coordinator that’ve been together for a long time you can do that a lot quicker so that was something I really wanted to keep. Keep these guys in house and do everything I can to make them stay in Albany and they’ve done a great job they really embrace the community. Tommy lives in Albany, which is awesome. Hopefully we have this for a very long time,” Keefe said.

 

Dan Raudabaugh and Clint Dolezel are the dictionary definition for a quarterback and offensive coordinator who’ve been together for a long time, currently the longest tenured in the league dating back to Raudabaugh’s rookie season in 2010. That leads to high expectations from their offensive group and despite posting solid numbers there will be no moral victories in the Soul’s offensive meetings this week.

 

“At times I thought we looked pretty good and other times I thought we looked like maybe it’d been our first or second practice together,” Dan Raudabaugh said. “Struggles in the red zone again, that’s kind of how Keefe coaches his teams to they let you work the ball down the field and then they play physical in the red zone. We were in it there until that last bad throw, had what we liked but kind of let it go a little early. Wasn’t my best throw but we’ll get better,”

 

“Tommy Grady and I have been playing against each other since 2010 so we knew what was in store. Our defense I don’t think they played their best game tonight but that’s okay when they’re struggling on D we’ve got to play better on offense,”

 

“Special teams weren’t as special as they have been either, so you’ve got to put all three phases together to make a complete game. We still haven’t played a game of Soul football yet so I’m excited for that in the future and we’ve got the defending Arena Bowl champions next week, can’t wait to see them,” Raudabaugh said.

 

As Raudabaugh mentioned the Soul will move on from this game to the (1-2) Washington Valor who picked up their first win of the season against Atlantic City this week. For the undefeated Empire they’ll look to continue their strong start to the season versus the Columbus Destroyers in the team's first game in Nationwide Arena since 2008. The energy in Columbus should be high despite their slow start, but Albany will certainly be the favorite to win.  

 

“I really believe in servant leadership, we’re here to serve these guys,” Rob Keefe said. “It’s a recruiting business I can’t draft you, so it’s an honor that you chose to play for the Albany Empire. I take that very seriously and we just want to teach and coach as much as we can, get a lot of repetition in and hopefully we’re teaching them the right things for them to gain that experience,” Keefe said. 

Harrison Brown is a college student who has been covering Arena Football since he was 12 years old and has been with ArenaFan since 2014. Harrison was a captain of the varsity football team during his senior year of high school and went on to play one season of Division III football in Massachusetts. Harrison has worked for two indoor football teams, in 2018 he was the Director of Player Personnel for the Jersey Flight and in 2016 he was the Color Commentator for the Philadelphia Yellow Jackets. You can follow Harrison on twitter @HarryBrownRusso.