By Jason Dixon – What did Wild Card Weekend teach us? Apparently it does not pay to be a perennial power in the National Conference. Here is my review...

New York at Dallas

Dallas played this game as if they were expecting something bad to happen. I just got the feeling that the monkey on the back of the Dallas club was weighing on them the entire game.

The turning point in the game came in the first quarter with the game tied at seven. Dallas QB Clint Dolezel was intercepted by New York’s John Walker at the Dragon’s five yard line. On the return, New York’s Tony Ficklin blocked Dolezel against the wall then picked him up and tossed him into the first row. Ficklin was ejected for his trouble. What happened next is what I believe turned the game in favor of the Dragons.

Dragons Head Coach Weylan Harding could have flown off the handle and let the ejection throw him and his team off his game. Instead, nary a word was said about the ejection. Idris Price was inserted into the lineup and on went the Dragons.  

Price was the second part of the equation. Price is one of the most underrated FB/LB in the league. He is a five year veteran, so he knows what it takes to play on both sides of the ball. On defense Price recorded three tackles and a QB hurry. Those were the official stats, but my eyes told me that Price was around the football all night. On offense he had four carries for 18 yards and two touchdowns to go along with his one catch for six yards. Dallas’ Will Pettis was officially named the Ironman of the Game, but make no mistake, the true Ironman was Idris Price.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Dragons special teams. Stops were hard to come by in this one, but the Dragons were able to get the extra possessions by recovering a pair of onside kicks. Those extra two possessions provided the margin of victory for New York.

It’s on to Philadelphia for the Dragons. For Dallas, it’s a familiar refrain.

More on Dallas’ Early Exit

In my first column of the season, I looked at the Dallas Desperados and said that their season would be judged not by what happens in the regular season, but by what the team would be able to accomplish in the post season. It would be hard to grade out the Despos with anything higher than an F. 

Who knows what the problem is? Is it that Head Coach Will McClay can’t get the team over the hump? Is it that the Clint Dolezel as QB and Offensive Coordinator experiment is a failure? I’m not sure.

One thing that I am pretty sure of is that Jerry Jones does not tolerate losing very well. And while I hate to speculate on someone’s future, especially that of a quality guy like coach McClay, these scenarios usually end with the dismissal of the head coach.

With Danny White resigning as head coach of the Utah Blaze, I can’t help but be drawn to a parallel that happened a few years ago in the National Football League. A well liked coach by the name of Tony Dungy took over as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was able to repeatedly get them to the postseason, making Dungy a fan favorite. But, he could not get the Bucs over the hump. Eventually ownership had enough and made the move to release Dungy.   The Bucs hired a hometown guy in Jon Gruden, who took Dungy’s team to the Super Bowl the following year. Could former Dallas QB/Punter Danny White be Jerry Jones’ Jon Gruden? It would not surprise me to see that situation play out. I also hope the story plays out for McClay in the same way that it did for Dungy, with McClay moving on to a new club and taking that team to the Promised Land.

Orlando at Cleveland

Orlando and Cleveland played a classic game Monday night. The AFL once used “Don’t Blink” as a marketing slogan. The marketing gurus at the league were obviously encouraging fans to keep their collective eyes on the field. In the case of this Wildcard game, the first team to blink was going to lose the game. Orlando blinked...twice.

Blink Number One - Orlando had the ball and a two-point lead with 27 seconds left in the half when Shane Stafford threw a pick right into the chest of Cleveland’s Brandon Hefflin. The Glads kicked a field goal as time expired to take a one-point halftime lead. They took advantage of the first possession of the second half by scoring a TD to go up by eight.

Blink Number Two - Orlando’s fate was sealed late in the fourth quarter. They were poised to score a TD to regain the lead when WR T.T. Tolliver fumbled at the Cleveland four-yard line. The ball was recovered by Cleveland who took the two-score lead and that was all she wrote.

For the Predators, the game was a microcosm of their entire season. At times they looked like a championship caliber team only to be done in by unforced errors. Untimely turnovers and special teams woes have plagued Orlando all season. Those bugaboos reared their ugly heads on Monday.

It’s impossible not to like what the Cleveland Gladiators are doing. Cinderella is fun to watch in any sport, but when you throw in the troubled history of the Gladiators franchise, the Cleveland Gladiators are the feel good story of the summer. The story will continue this weekend in Georgia.

Wins in the Second Season                  

The early playoff exits of Dallas and Orlando confirmed what we already knew. Being a regular season powerhouse does not translate into playoff success. Let’s take a look at each National Conference club’s playoff win total over the past three seasons and see how many regular season victories they collected in the same time period.

The Divisional Round                            

We will start off our look at this weekend’s contest with Philadelphia hosting New York. Things could not have played out any better for the Soul. They sat at home while their divisional nemeses (the Dallas Desperados) and the team with the most playoff experience (the Orlando Predators) both were sent packing.

The Soul and Dragons will meet for the second time in three weeks. Philly has won both previous meetings between the two clubs. In order for New York to have any chance, they are going to have to protect QB Aaron Garcia. Garcia was knocked out of both meetings between the two clubs during the regular season. He was also knocked around pretty good in a winning effort against Dallas. 

If the same Philadelphia club that we’ve seen the last few weeks of the regular season shows up this weekend, it should coast to the conference championship game.

Moving on to Georgia, where the Force will host Cleveland. This game should be known as “The Scrappy Bowl.”  Neither of these clubs has any quit in them. Half of Georgia’s ten wins were by seven points or less. Two of those games were one point affairs. In six of those wins, the Force found themselves tied or behind in the fourth quarter. They have been getting the type of luck that the Columbus Destroyers rode to the ArenaBowl last season

Cleveland is coming off a big high with its first playoff victory in front of a raucous crowd at “The Q.” Now they have to hit the road and avoid the “let down factor.” The Gladiators have not won consecutive games since mid-May. Coincidentally, mid-May is also the last time they won a road game.

When I look at these teams, I see a pretty even match. This isn’t meant to be a slight, but on paper both teams look pretty darn average. They both have had the benefit of the Football Gods seeing to it that the ball bounces the right way for them. However, I think the great story of the Cleveland Gladiators will end this weekend. I think the combination of Chris Greisen, Troy Bergeron and Tiger Jones will be too much for the Cleveland D. 

Jason Dixon is a regular contributor to ArenaFootball.com and TampaBayStorm.com. He has spent the last 10 seasons as the radio color commentator for the Tampa Bay Storm. He is on the Board of the Arena Football League Writers Association.