Until Next Year

As expected, there were some great games this weekend. First things first, ours:

Dallas is a good team. They’re Final Four for a reason. The final score (56-28, Dallas), is slightly misleading, as it was only 28-22 them at the start of the 4^th. We were right there. Then we went through a period where we couldn’t do anything right on either side of the ball. But that’s it…..there was nothing else to it. They beat us. I can say that every time we’ve played in Texas, we’ve always had a good referee crew. These guys were good too. It was hot, but not so bad that it affected us like it did at Central Cal. The kickoff was at 7:00. So….no excuses at all. They’re a good team, we’re a good team. They beat us, period, end of story.

Chicago went to DC. I really, truly, had zero idea of how it would turn out. I haven’t seen the film yet, but hearing that a RB (Kenyatta Grigsby) had a franchise-record 342 yards against a defense as physical as Chicago’s certainly got my attention. I mean, I know that DC is a big, strong, physical team. But considering that we only got 34 yards on the ground against Chicago in our 2012 win, ten times that amount (by one player) is almost incomprehensible. Chicago also seemed to hang in there, and I’m sure that both coaches pulled out all the stops. I saw in the Twitter feed that Chicago’s QB, Rachel Gore, made a couple of tackles on defense. My immediate thought was, “That can’t be good for the Force, having their QB on defense.” I guess injuries may have caught up with them, although at this time of year, everyone has their share.

Finally, there was the IWFL championship between Utah and Pittsburgh. I wasn’t sure how this was going to go either. On one hand, Utah’s offense can be tough to prepare for in a short period of time. Then again, so can Pittsburgh’s if you haven’t seen any decent passing offenses prior to that, and Utah hadn’t. Utah’s difficulty lies in their scheme, and Pittsburgh’s lies in their execution and different style of offense. I think in the end, it came down to big game experience against better teams. Pittsburgh’s strength of schedule was at 2 and Utah’s was at 11.  Add in the fact that Pittsburgh has played for titles before, and you have an advantage. In any case, it sounded like a hell of a game. That’s a film I’d love to see (hint, hint to whoever may have it).

All right, having said all that, here is my National Top Ten…agree or disagree, it’s all good. Please, if you want to be vocal about your disagreement, just detail why. Tell me your thought process. This is in no way scientific, just coming from someone who has seen and/or coached against almost all of these teams. 

Please keep in mind that there are: 1) multiple levels of talent in the women’s game. There may be a large margin between just a few places in the rankings. Not so much in this top 10 maybe, but if you get out of this list too much, it shows up in a hurry; 2) it is still difficult to rate the IWFL teams in with the WFA. Pittsburgh winning the game pretty much slotted them on a historical basis. Seeing how they played against other teams (New York and Carolina) tended to confirm that. Anyway, here you go:

             

1.  DC Divas - I don’t think there is any doubt about this one. I’ve said it before, that they look like the closest to a “sure thing” as I’ve seen this year. I expect them to win it all in two weeks.
2. Chicago Force – Yes, I know they’re not one of the last teams standing. However, their loss in DC doesn’t diminish their overall talent.
3. Dallas Elite – They have speed to burn, for sure. They were more physical up front on both sides than I thought they would be, but I think both teams above are more so. Both the above teams also have great speed.
4. San Diego Surge – I honestly do believe that we were Top 4 this year. I think that we could/would have beaten Boston. It would’ve been close for sure, but I do believe we would get them this year, especially at the end. 
5. Boston Renegades – see above. Still a very, very good team that ran into a hungry Divas and revenge-minded Force.
6. Cleveland Fusion – very quietly, the Fusion have built an extremely solid team. I hope they stick around in the WFA and keep at it.
7. Central Cal War Angels – easily the toughest defense we faced all year. When they are on and their heads are in the game, they are very good.
8. Pittsburgh Passion – as I mentioned above, the way that Pittsburgh performed against the Sharks and Queens pretty much slotted them here.
9. Utah Falconz – They will probably not agree with this, but as I said, there are still more levels to the women’s game than they’ve been exposed to. They saw some of it against Pittsburgh, but there are probably two more levels above that (#’s 4 through 7, and then 1-3).
10. Seattle Majestics – very well-coached, extremely solid defense. Efficient offense. They tend not to beat themselves, and that in itself is huge at this level.

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OK, so that’s one controversial topic…..let me hit another: Jen Welter’s hiring as a coaching intern for the Arizona Cardinals. Yes, I think that it is good exposure for the women’s game, especially if she comes out and talks about her origins in the sport. I hope that she does well enough that Coach Arians will give her a good recommendation – if she doesn’t, or seems in over her head, then that will make it that much tougher for another female coach to get the same opportunity. Having said that, I think it is a shame that a female coach who has coached guys for much longer than Jen has didn’t get a shot. Her name is Lori “Lo” Locust, and she is flat out one of the best DL coaches I’ve ever seen. Notice that I didn’t add “for a woman”. I would hire her in a flash anywhere I worked.

Lo has coached at both the high school and semi-pro ranks with one of the best men’s teams in the country, the Central Penn Piranhas. They’ve won multiple national championships with her on the staff. She’s coached the DL, OL (at the high school level) and ST. I forget which team she played for (Keystone Assault I think?) but her playing career was pretty much done by the time that Team USA came around. 

Anyway, Lo’s problem (and I’ve told her this repeatedly) is that she is publicity-adverse. She doesn’t have her own website or really try to get her name out there – she just coaches, period. But if another NFL team wants a quality coach, regardless of gender, they’d do well to give her a chance.

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All right….this is getting long. Thanks for hanging in there. Next week I’ll give a men’s team update and talk more about the upcoming camp! See ya!