A promising roster was undermined by injuries in training camp that led to 2012 MVP Quarterback Tommy Grady missing camp and 2012 AFL First Team WR Aaron LeSué missing the first few games. Training without the starting QB led to timing issues with the new wide receivers during the first three home games. Add a tough home schedule and a slew of bad bounces led the blaze to be 2-3 after 5 games, having no home wins and no wins against teams with winning records.

The Blaze were staying competitive through the first half in each game, but ultimately somehow they’d give up the football repeatedly and that would destroy any forward momentum they had. The Blaze fell apart due to simply not taking care of the football. It’s frustrating that something as simple as that could be such a killer, but that’s honestly what it was. In listening to players and coaches, you can tell that they understand that this was an issue that they’re aware of, but it something that they can really do anything to change. Execute better. Make smart passes. Hold on the football. The bad bounces will eventually start to go your way, and so will the turnovers.

So when the Blaze finally got their first win of the season at home against a very good Spokane Shock team, it would have to be because the Blaze finally fixed their issues and resolved their problems, right? Well, not really. “We're still creating a lot of our misfortune tonight. That's a game we really should have won by a few scores. We made it harder then it needed to be” said Head Coach Ron James after the 52-48 victory over the Spokane Shock. “We really didn't turn around the stupid penalties.”

The Blaze had 11 Penalties for 80 yards and two penalties that came on a touchdown play and a two point conversion meant that the Blaze gave up at least 9 points just due to mistakes.

Meanwhile, Tommy Grady still has yet to play a game to his potential, causing 14 points for the Shock by throwing two interceptions for touchdowns. Grady's 2 interception performance was actually one of the better of the season. Grady has been an interception machine having 15 interceptions over the first 6 games. If this average keeps up, Grady will end the season with 45 interceptions, 4 less then he's had the rest of his career combined. The law of averages says that eventually he'll play a game without any, but so far this season Grady and the Blaze have been gift wrapping stops and extra points to opposing teams.

“When we look at the film we'll be disappointed because we left too many points out there on the field,” said Blaze Wide Receiver Aaron LeSué. “That's a positive thing going forward. We could have done better; the score could have been a lot different. Last year we got to a point where we were just about unstoppable. We need to get back to that. We fix a couple little things and this could have been a four or five possession difference.  As far as talent, potential and ability, it's there.”

But beyond all that, the Blaze still won. How can you win while still having a tough day on penalties and turnovers? You win by having one of the most dominating defensive performances ever witnessed at the Energy Solutions Arena. “We challenge the pass rush for the last couple weeks; we were very disappointed in them. Tonight was not the case, they came out with great energy and played hard.” said Coach James.

The Blaze wrecked havoc on the Spokane Offensive line and Eric Meyer throws were rushed or disrupted, causing a team who went the first 4 games without a stop to have 6 turnovers by fumble or stop or special teams. 

The Blaze pass rush also was the catalyst for the final play of the game. After a short dribbling onside kick, the Shock started with the ball on their 11 with one minute left. Instead of trying to score after the getting the ball, the Shock ran three running plays to bring down the clock. On fourth down, the Blaze pass rush disrupt Meyer enough that he has to slightly adjust a throw to an open Adron Tennell in the middle of the endzone. That minor adjustment was enough to cause Defensive Player of the week David Hyland the chance to swat down the ball and the Blaze were able to hang on for the victory.

“David Hyland has gotten better and better every week and I just can't say enough about what he's done for this ball club for the last two games,” said Coach James. Hyland has slowly become one of the most valuable members of the Blaze secondary. Hyland was invaluable during this game leading all defenders with 6.5 total tackles, four pass breakups, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. This comes a week after Hyland took over kicking duties from Adrian Trevino after he was injured during the Cleveland game.

With Trevino injured, the Blaze have turned back to last year's kicker Kyle Brontzman to return and take over kicking duties. Brontzman was 4-6 on extra points, but was money on kickoffs causing havoc with bar balls and with his onside kicking. Brontzman is one of the premier onside kickers in the AFL. That's sounds like a weird thing to be proud of, but the Blaze do not win in the last minutes if not for that perfectly place onside dribbling kick that gave the Shock their final possession.

“We break the season into 3 six games runs, and the first six games were neutral. That's not good enough by our standards. The next 6 are vital for us as they set the table for the last part of the season. We've got our backs against the wall again this week, as we go down to Arizona and it's not an easy place to play, but our group is energized now.”

It may take more time then the fans would like for the Blaze record to meet their talent level. The schedule gets really tough for the Blaze as they will head down to the Snake Pit in Arizona next week, playing the Rattlers for the second time this season. Winning against the Rattlers would put the Blaze back in the hunt for the West Division championship, but would also be near impossible to do. While the most likely scenario may be that the Blaze find themselves to be 3-4 by the time they come back to Salt Lake City to get ready for the Iowa Barnstormers, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Blaze walk out of Arizona with their third victory in a row. Stranger things have happened.

“In this business you have to have a short memory. We can't focus on what they did here, it's what we have to accomplish when we go down there. We have to regroup and give it our best effort down there. Hopefully, things turn out.”

Tommy Grady had more interceptions after the first 4 games this season then he did over the entire 2011 season. 

The third quarter has been make or break for the Utah Blaze so far this season. In their three wins, the Blaze have outscored their opponents scoreless in the third scoring 35-7. In their three losses, the Blaze have been dismantled 26-56.

Coach James has publically said that Aaron LeSué's tendency to stretch out and leap over defenders and do whatever it takes to get the extra yards spread to other teammates, causing them to give the extra effort as well. Aaron LeSué doesn't quite see it that way. “I'm playing on a team full of leaders and that makes it easy. Everyone steps up when they need to,” said LeSué. Still when you see both LeSué and Fullback Ben Stallings leap over defenders for a few extra yards, it's easy to see LeSué's influence. “We're going to have to go back and check on the tape. I think I had a few more inches on him. The fact that Ben was able to do that was one of the most impressive things I've seen. That's a big guy jumping over another big guy, but Ben's an athlete and he can pull it off.”

Don Eisenbarth has been following the Utah Blaze since 2006, but this is his first year covering for ArenaFan. Born in Provo to a family of BYU fans and having graduated from the University of Utah, Don has enjoyed all sides of the Utah college football landscape for decades and is excited for the return of professional football to the Beehive State. You can follow him on twitter at http://twitter.com/bigdondoo