[null, {"document_url": "http://steelersnat.blogspot.com/2012/04/another-loss-but-hope-is-building.html", "unformatted_src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4YYNb9Oi1as/T4It7XTQjdI/AAAAAAAAAFo/Sc0XcjsmhRw/s400/rallybunny.png", "src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4YYNb9Oi1as/T4It7XTQjdI/AAAAAAAAAFo/Sc0XcjsmhRw/s400/rallybunny.png", "formatted_filename": "rallybunny"}, null, null, null, null, null, null, null]

Another Loss, But Hope is Building

Even though the Power registered their third loss of the season Friday night, I don't need to dig as deeply for a silver lining. This week, we actually saw some of what I had hoped to see when the season started. The fact is, we lost 55-42, but we played three solid quarters, and that's something to be proud of. Al lot of what we did right was overshadowed by the strong defense that Iowa employed throughout the game.

Andrico Hines looked confident behind center, and had a very good game, most things considered. He threw for just a hair under 300 yards, had five TDs and never got sacked. Unfortunately, he got picked four times. One thing that I really feel that I need to point out, however, is that not all of those were really his fault. The ball might not have been thrown perfectly, but they were intercepted because the receiver went for it when they shouldn't have and tipped it right to a defender. I'm not going to say based on one game that Hines is the guy - but I feel more comfortable with him taking snaps, and look forward to seeing what the next 3 weeks bring with him as QB.

DeWalt was missing in action again this week, but in his place, we've had Randy Hymes, and boy does he look good. He's got comparable height to DeWalt, some good speed and very good hands. He was good for 84 yards and a touchdown this week. Sharing receiving duties with him was, of course, "Joystick" Washington for only 69 yards but two touchdowns.

Rounding out the receiving corps was P.J. Berry, finally showing everyone why he was such a talked about pickup for the team this year. He had 110 yards, two touchdowns in the air and one kickoff return to paydirt. Overall on returns, he had nearly 25 yards an attempt. Furthermore, he was making plays that just should not have worked. One of his receptions, he took a step to run, saw a wall of hate wearing Iowa colors, turned around to run 10-15 yards in the wrong direction, pivoted 180 degrees and blew past a bunch of confused defenders to run all the way down to the end zone. That's the kind of crazy shit that made him earn the rep that he has.

Another offensive note: Last season, I spent so much time bitching about Paul Edinger's kicking that it feels great to be able to gush about our current kicker. Colin "Money" Wagner is just....well - money. Yes, that's my nickname for him, but he's earned it. PATs are pretty much automatic for him.

The final highlight of the game was the defense, which stepped up huge. It was a hard hitting, play-breaking, good coverage affair. The Power defense was able to hold the Barnstormers to 3-8 on 3rd downs and 1-4 on 4ths. Although they didn't manage to pick J.J. Raterink at all, they kept the pressure on him and got in the way all night. Bryan Williams was especially standout all night.

So, with all of this glowing praise, why did we lose? Well, first off, as I said up at the top of this column, we only played 3 solid quarters. I've oft said that the Power runs out of gas late in the game, and that seems to be continuing. Once our opponents get out to a two-score lead, the wind goes out of our sails. Also, we only manage a third of our 3rd down conversions and half of our 4ths. That had a lot to do with Iowa's solid defensive efforts, but it's a soft area. Finally, there were those 4 pesky interceptions. Both Stull and Hines are having a problem with this. I'm not sure if it's in the play calling, accuracy, or receiver ability, but it's there and a problem. Thankfully, because of our defense, there were four picks but we only lost by two touchdowns.

Next up - rematch against a team we might actually beat.
 Posted by Weidman at 4:19 PM Labels: andrico hines, Bryan Williams, Colin Wagner, Consol Energy, iowa barnstormers, J.J. Raterink, Pittsburgh Power, Randy Hymes

