Tampa at Miami: Breeze Across The Everglades
Written by twhigham, Thursday January 21 2010
by Troy Whigham
This Friday the Tampa Breeze face the Miami Caliente in what could be the biggest game of the season in the Eastern Conference. But the drama was set up by a series of false start penalties against the Tampa offensive line in Trenton, New Jersey back in December.
In that game, Tampa had driven the ball down the field convincingly and looked to be in a certain scoring position. Tiffani Powers was in the backfield, Carie Small was at center, and Shannon Bennett was at strongside end. A simple snap, a simple hand-off, and a simple 10 yard run and Tampa would be in the driver's seat for a victory against the Philadelphia Passion, taking the Breeze to a 1-1 record before facing a transitional New York team and another certain victory.
Except it didn't work out that way.
Either Small was slow with the snap or Bennett was too quick to get off the line. Either way, the outcome was the same. A series of false start penalties backed the Tampa team up until suddenly that goal line looked awfully far away. And it was. Tiffani Powers was stopped short of the goal by a Passion defense that played, well, passionately.
Tampa lost in a shocking upset, falling to 0-2.
Last Friday they redeemed themselves with a convincing victory against New York to bring their record to 1-2, setting up the drama for this week's game.
Miami is currently 2-1 and in second place in the conference. If the Caliente win, they go to the playoffs. If they lose, it comes down to points with a three-way tie shared with Tampa and Philadelphia. Even if Tampa wins the game, they still lose the race to the Conference championships if they come up short on points.
For Miami, watch for Anonka "Android" Dixon to throw long early to establish the deep threat and keep the Tampa safeties honest. The Breeze are moving players around this week, looking to match up against the taller Caliente receivers, particularly Tina Caccavale (who, at one point, led the league in three different categories) and Taira Turley, who traditionally plays center and noseguard but can be a hot receiver if need be.
Dixon can also scramble. She is one of the league's leading rushers, most of those yards coming when linebackers backpedal deep to cover offensive ends overloading the safeties. The challenge for Tampa will be controlling Dixon's movements; keeping her from beating them to the corners for long gains while at the same time denying her the open receivers downfield.
Caccavale is always a threat, no matter where she is. She's tall, she's quick, and she has good hands. She's the primary receiver on the Miami offense. Tampa's challenge will be to shut her down and force Miami to run the ball.
With Jenn Myers still nursing an injured ankle suffered against Philadelphia when her foot caught an uneven spot on the artificial turf, look for Denisha Crawford, the MVP for the game against New York, to start at quarterback instead. Even though Crawford was the back-up, she has the tools to win. She looked impressive last week, using footspeed to score when her receivers could keep their blocks against the smaller New York corners on the extra points, and showing that she can throw accurately out to about 35 yards or so. If she can get a couple of gaps at the line on an offensive drive for big running yardage, she could upset the Miami apple cart defensively and force them to make some adjustments that might open up throwing opportunities.
But, Crawford will definitely have to keep her eye on Caccavale prowling from the safety position. At 5'9", Caccavale can match up well against all but three of the Tampa receivers, and has the vertical leap to make up for any height differential. Caccavale should get at least one interception this week, and will probably get two. How Tampa responds defensively to the turnovers will be critical, because on a field that's only 50 yards long, every yard counts.
Tiffani Powers will need to have a good game running the ball for Tampa in order for Miami to back off their smothering secondary coverage. Her biggest challenge will be getting around Miami's Taira Turley, who has a talent for clogging up running lanes at the line. If Small, at center, or Bennett, at end, can keep Turley at bay, then that will shift the pressure to Miami's Morgan McGrath to come off her coverage to slow down Powers' running. That, in turn, will open up opportunities for Tampa's Brandyce Lee to find a seam in the coverage and slip between defenders. Once the ball is in her hands, Lee has a gift for grabbing YACs that turn into scores pretty quickly.
Offensively, Tampa is going to miss the services of "Crazy Jenn" Langston, who played a majority of the New York game with two fractures in her arm and has been one of Tampa's favorite targets for scoring all season long. Don't be surprised if you see both Crawford and Myers in the offensive huddle, with one or the other sliding out to the edge of the formation as a receiver in place of Langston on the weakside. Also expect Bennett to return to the line-up, probably on the strongside end position, as a possible receiver and a probable blocker.
Because of the Dixon-to-Caccavale threat, coupled with Dixon's speed on the ground, Miami has the better offense. However, in a recent poll, Tampa put three linebackers on the charts, one of whom is the heretofore unheralded Elizabeth Grace Gorman (now ranked #2 at her position) and plays some of the best team run-stop defense in the league. You can't run on Tampa. Period.
However, New York showed that you can throw on them, and Miami has one of the best passing attacks in the conference, if not the entire league. Look for Miami to score in the air quickly, while Tampa grinds it out with their infantry on the ground. The LFL game favors quick scores, which gives Miami an edge offensively. Tampa's biggest threat could be the game clock if they're down by more than a touchdown at the half.
Players to watch
Tampa: Denisha Crawford at quarterback; Tiffani Powers at runningback; Brandyce Lee at wide receiver.
Miami: Anonka Dixon at quarterback, Tina Caccavale at reciever, Taira Turley on the line.
Worth a mention
Tampa: Elizabeth Grace Gorman on defense; Emanda Doscher on defense; Carie Small on offense.
Miami: Morgan McGrath on defense; Annette Mascaro on defense.
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