Swagger Suggests Super Showdown Between Soul and Preds
Adam Markowitz
Friday August 2, 2013
One team started off at 0-5 and rallied into the playoffs. The other started off the season as such big favorites in their division that I deemed them the first 0-1 team to ever win a division title. Since that point though, both the Orlando Predators and the Philadelphia Soul have turned things around, and they are both playing some of their best football of the season coming into Saturday night's American Conference Semifinal tie in the City of Brotherly Love.
There is quite a bit of familiarity between these two teams. Preds Head Coach Doug Plank of course, coached the Soul last season, and his offensive coordinator and play caller that season was Philly's now head coach, Clint Dolezel. If Plank was to win this game, he would become the first man in the history of the AFL to take a team to the ArenaBowl one season and beat that team in the playoffs the next season.
Plank is going through a tremendous amount of frustration this season. He started off the year at 0-5 for the first time in his career, and he posted a losing record in a regular season for the first time in his six seasons at the helm of AFL teams.
Even after beating the New Orleans VooDoo in a de facto playoff game last week, Plank admitted that he hadn't done a remarkable job this season. It's the 51 players that have had to take the field this year dressed in black and red that have made all the difference.
The Predators are still dealing with their fair share of injuries. WR Jason Geathers was put on injured reserve this week, while OL Julius Wilson suffered a leg injury last week that will keep him out for the rest of the season. WR/LB Marcus Everett, DB Travis Coleman, DL Drew Berube, DB Wondell Rutledge, and DE Jermaine Smith are all on the IR as well.
The Soul have their own issues to contend with, namely with C Brennen Carvalho. Carvalho missed chunks of last week's game against the San Antonio Talons, and when he wasn't out there, the offensive line had some tremendous problems trying to contain Tim McGill and Joe Sykes. It is unknown whether Carvalho will play or not, and if he does, whether he will be completely effective or not.
On the plus side for Philly, the Predators only amassed 20 sacks for the season, ranking 11th of the 14 teams in the league. The Soul had the best offensive line in the league in terms of sacks against, allowing QB Dan Raudabaugh to get sacked just seven times.
Back in May, the Soul got the best of Orlando with a 61-51 triumph. The Preds were up 19-7 before allowing Philly to go on a 28-0 run to take control of the game.
QB Aaron Garcia was only playing in his third game with the Predators at that point, and he had a suspect game, going 23-of-43 for 292 yards with six scores and two picks. WR Prechae Rodriguez didn't play in that game though, and he is going to be back in the fold this week. Rodriguez set a franchise record for touchdown receptions in a season with 41, and he and WR TT Toliver both had over 1,600 receiving yards for the campaign.
The Preds might have gone just 7-11, but don't confuse them for a team that doesn't have confidence. When asked whether the team really felt as if it is was its ArenaBowl to lose this year, DB Dominic Jones stated, "Honestly, that's how we feel."
Of course, the task is going to be very tough against a Philadelphia team that won the American Conference title last year without any incident. The last time the Soul played a playoff game at home, they beat up the Jacksonville Sharks 89-34 in the biggest blowout in a postseason game in AFL history.
It was a season of milestones for the Soul offensively. WR Tiger Jones became the first receiver to log at least 2,000 yards in three successive seasons in league history, while FB Derrick Ross rushed for over 500 yards for the third time in his career. Ross also became the first fullback in league history to amass 100+ rushing touchdowns.
Ross found the end zone three times when these two teams met in May, while Jones had five catches for 114 yards and three TDs.
Raudabaugh had nearly a flawless game, going 21-of-27 for 251 yards with six TDs and no picks.
Orlando certainly isn't the only team that has some swagger to it going into Saturday's showdown. The Soul might have lost their last game of the year to San Antonio, costing them the No. 1 seed in the conference, but they had won seven straight games prior to that, averaging beating those foes by a final score of 62-39.
"If you ask any team around the league, I'm sure none of them are going to be taking the Philadelphia Soul lightly," said Raudabaugh.
Philadelphia leads the all-time series between these two teams 8-3. Both teams have a playoff win against the other, with Orlando winning in 2006 and Philadelphia winning in 2007. The Predators have never won a game in Philadelphia in franchise history, going 0-6. Only one of those six games have been decided by single digits.
The Predators and the Soul kick things off at 7:05 p.m. ET on Saturday night in the CBS Sports Network Game of the Week. The winner will either be traveling next week to Jacksonville or hosting the Tampa Bay Storm.