Missed Opportunities Leave The Power With No Margin For Error

This season may likely be remembered for the many missed opportunities the Power have had to grab the Eastern Division.
The season opener saw the Power blow leads of 21-7, and 27-14 before losing in overtime to a Philadelphia Soul team that sits at 6-11 on the season. 

Against a then-winless Tulsa Talons team, the Power fell behind 14-0, tied it up, then went scoreless in the third quarter to let Tulsa steal a game at home.  Pittsburgh's offense only managed 22 points in that contest, going scoreless in two of the four quarters.

Pittsburgh lost two crucial fumbles and Bernard Morris threw a bad interception on the road to allow a sub .500 Tampa Bay Storm team to defeat the Power.  Pittsburgh actually had a 48-46 lead going into the fourth quarter of that game before only scoring once in the final frame.

Against the Orlando Predators, Pittsburgh jumped out to a 14-0 lead, then gave up a kickoff return touchdown by Josh Bell.  They recovered enough to rebuild a 40-20 lead before giving up four unanswered scores, the final two being net recovery touchdowns and the Power fell on the road against the Orlando Predators.

Flash forward to this past weekend.  With the Cleveland Gladiators loss on Friday night, the Power had a chance to regain first place by defeating the Arizona Rattlers.  Unfortunately, four turnovers by the Power offense, (five if you include the one on downs), doomed any chance the Power had of pulling off the upset.

Even winning ONE of those games would have all but locked up the division title for the Power but the margin of error for that quest is now down to zero. 

The playoff scenario is simple for Pittsburgh.  Win this week or a once promising season with playoff dreams will be over.  Even then, the Power will have to win the season finale against division rival Philadelphia or leave it to chance that an injury depleted Utah Blaze squad will be able to take out the Cleveland Gladiators.

I guess the most frustrating part about all of this was seeing some Power players flat out calling out some of their teammates following the 68-34 beatdown at the hands of the Arizona Rattlers.  Gary Butler said he wanted to look at game film to be sure, but that it felt like not everyone was out fighting.  Butler felt some players were just collecting a paycheck.

Early in the season, you couldn't fault the Power for lack of effort as they fought through injuries to so many key parts of this team, but still were in position to make the playoffs.  This past week though, with just about everyone active and starting, the difference in talent and possibly desire was quite apparent.

Let's start with the mental toughness of the Power.  I've never played the game on a professional level, and I don't pretend to possess anything remotely resembling athletic talent, but I do know it takes focus to play this game.  Bernard Morris' second pass of the game was a woefully under thrown pass that was picked off by Virgil Gray.  It kind of set the tone early for what was to come.

Second drive of the game saw Jason Willis fail to secure the ball after a catch and Virgil Gray gladly relieved Willis of his duties as ball carrier on the play, and Arizona quickly scored again.

Morris would come under pressure and basically just tossed the ball forward for the third turnover of the game, and a fumbled snap rounded out the turnover parade.

The mistakes didn't stop there.   Neil Purvis and Terrance Carter were jumping offsides on defense the entire game, and overall the Power gave 10 first downs to Arizona off of penalties. 

Paul Edinger continued his inaccurate kicking, missing a field goal and officially missed two extra points in the game.  He actually got a second chance to convert one of them and missed anyways. 

Not only did Willis fumble the ball on the second drive, he also was very slow to react to a ball on the ground on a kickoff, reminiscent of last week when he failed to play two kicks both of which resulted in Orlando touchdowns.  His head is clearly not in the game right now, and it may be time for Coach Siegfried to sit him down for a while.  There's too much on the line this week in Cleveland.

The fact remains that in spite of all of these problems and mistakes, the Power still control their destiny for a playoff spot, and all that matters is winning the last two games and securing a home playoff game.  Do that, and most of what I've said will be forgotten.

It's going to be interesting to see if the Power can do it.