Playoff Madness

OK, once again I should probably mention that the opinions expressed here are mine alone, and do not represent the San Diego Surge, the WFA or anyone else I may know….they’re just mine.

*********

We’ve been getting questions about the camp, as far as if it is full gear or not. Yes, it is, but realize that there are going to be equal parts of field work and classroom/film time. So the drills, techniques and schemes (at least for me) are going to be explained and demo’d in class or on film first, then when we get out on the field it’ll be all about reps with increasing intensity. So we’re not going to show you something once, then let you go at it full speed. This camp isn’t about toughness or will power – it is about learning. We don’t need to prepare you for a game in two days, we need to get you better at what you’re doing or maybe show you a different way to do what you do, or offer a solution to a problem that you’ve been having. So the emphasis is on techniques & schemes that you can use as soon as you get back to your team.

*********

We had a playoff game against our old friends, the Las Vegas Showgirlz the other night. As I mentioned in my pre-week one post (see it here), we’ve been playing the Showgirlz since 2006. I’ll tell ya, one thing Coach Lee can do is convince his players that they can win. He really gets them on board more than almost any coach I’ve ever seen. We seem to alternate between beating them soundly and then sweating the next one out until the end. Last year, they were up on us at half time, and we managed to pull it out by 12 I think. Then in the playoffs, it was a blow out. This year, in Week 1, it was surprisingly easy for us, but last week it was too close for comfort at half, us being up only 20-16. Fortunately for us, our players responded well to our challenge at halftime and we went on to score four more touchdowns while shutting Las Vegas out in the second half.

One thing that cracks me up, I gotta say, is when people say you’re predictable like it’s an insult, and then they still can’t stop what they think they know is coming. We are well aware of one tendency that we have, of running a certain play out of a certain formation. So we took pains to break that tendency last week. Both times we lined up in the formation, the defense started calling out the play. They were wrong. Finally, we lined up in the same formation, they started calling out the play, and they were right – here it comes. The result? A 12 yard gain…then they say, “You’re so predictable.” My answer? “OK, you were finally right, but you still didn’t stop it.” It’s sorta like playing Central Cal – here comes the off-tackle lead! Just try and stop it. Last year for us it was the Fly Sweep…..here it comes, 20 times a game. Being able to run something well even when the other team knows it is coming makes a coach feel good.

Oh well, moving forward….next week (July 5 – who did the schedule???), we’re up in Seattle to battle the Majestics. I don’t know a whole lot of players on their team, only meeting their QB and one of their WR’s at last year’s all star game. I don’t know any of their coaches either, but have a friendly relationship with their owner, Scott, who I also met last year.

I do know that they are pretty athletic; seem to be well-coached and are flat-out good. I’m excited to play someone we haven’t faced before in a city I’ve never been to before.

I’m not a fan of the travel rule, but I understand why it is in place. Having to travel on back-to-back weeks on relatively short notice can be a definite budget-buster for almost every team out there. And I suppose it could be worse….we could be Miami, being the sacrificial lamb out of the South to go all the way up to Chicago. At least our game should be a good one. Until a Southern team beats someone from north of the Mason-Dixon Line or west of Louisiana I can’t give them much credit or much chance. But really, why does Miami have to travel all the way to Chicago? DC would make much more sense. It always seems as if the Southern winner is paired with the Mid West winner.

Boston and DC will be an epic battle once again I’m sure….it was 29-28 last time, in Boston’s favor, in DC. This game will be in Boston. I think Boston will sweep the series this year.

Chicago and Miami will be ugly, no matter whether Chicago’s QB, Sami Grisafe is back or not. I doubt that even if she is able to play that she would this game. Why tip off Boston or DC that she’s back? (I have no idea whether she can play or not, I’ve just heard others wondering if she could. I hope she can come back, she’s one of the great ones in the league.)

Kansas City and Austin……hmmmm….I tend to favor KC by a wide margin in this one. Unless Austin can find a way to get ahead early and then milk the clock while also slowing down the Tribe offense some, it’ll be a long day for the Outlaws.

No predictions for our game…..I may look stupid, but I try not to be.  :-) I do think it’ll be entertaining and worth coming out to see.

See you all next week!