Coaches love to use the phrase “leave it all on the field” when talking about effort for a team. Unfortunately for the Pittsburgh Power (3-7), Julian Talley left it on the field a little too often as his two fumbles helped derail a solid effort by the Power in a 70-48 loss to the Jacksonville Sharks (8-3).
Looking at the final stat line on GameTracker shows Julian Talley finished the night with 12 receptions for 117 yards and four receiving touchdowns but it was the two fumbles that don’t show up in the stat line which cost the Power some much needed possessions and the Sharks made them pay.
Mike Washington added three more touchdowns for the Power and continued a strong 2013 campaign as the leading receiver on the team. Oderick Turnerhad 6 catches for 76 yards in his first game back with the Power.
Steven Sheffield was a perfect 9 for 9 in the first half with a pair of touchdowns as the Power hung right with the Sharks and trailed only 28-20 going into the half. It could have been even closer had the Power not been called for an illegal defense which negated a fourth down stop. Jacksonville would capitalize on the miscue and score a touchdown.
Speaking of leaving it all on the field, the referees definitely made it National Laundry Day, calling a combined 21 penalties on the squads and basically disrupting the total flow of that game at times.
Talley wasn’t the only one with turnover problems. Terrance Smith intercepted Steven Sheffield twice in the second half to effectively ice the game. Brandon Freeman had his second interception for Pittsburgh in as many games.
Chris LeFlore continued his recent strong play in the return game consistently setting up the Power with great field position. If not for two fan interference situations on the first two kicks he could have had a lot more yards.
Am I happy with the final score? Of course not, but I’m still seeing some progress out of the Power even if some of the execution was lacking in this one. They hung in there on the road against a tough Shark team and really shot themselves in the foot a few too many times. Once they fell behind and entered desperation mode though that’s when the feeding frenzy began for the Sharks hence the wide final margin.
It’s real easy for a veteran team like Jacksonville to take advantage of a team playing from three scores down. Easy pickings as they might say. Pittsburgh still fought hard and scored 48 points despite four turnovers. Without those fumbles this might have been a different story. Alas it’s still the story.
The Power will look to rebound next week on the road against the San Jose SaberCats.
Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Power Facebook page.
