The Orlando Predators’ postseason might as well may have started Monday. Or, since Playoffs are single elimination affairs, after Monday’s loss.
As the fates would have it, the Orlando Predators were given a playoff decision at the end of their 17-point loss to the Arizona Rattlers at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix on Monday.
The Rattlers had won the game it was only the final margin that mattered. And it did matter. After record and head-to-head matchups, the next tiebreaker is the scoring margin between the tied teams. Orlando had defeated Arizona by 18 points early in the season in Orlando. The Predators now faced a 20-point deficit with the ball on the road.
Orlando worked its way down the field as both teams used its timeouts to make sure it had the last possession. Mark Lewis kicked a field goal as time expired, giving the Predators some reason to celebrate. They had won the tiebreaker with the Rattlers by a single point. They had lost the battle but won the war.
With the Predators now having only one game remaining — a winner-take-all match for the American Conference with the Philadelphia Soul — the Playoffs are in clear focus.
The team is off this week — and so are the Soul. The Predators and Soul are both 12-3. Philadelphia handed Orlando its first loss of the season. Home field in the conference championship game is on the line.
And the Arena Football League threw a bit of a curveball in announcing the league would go to a conference-based seeding for the Playoffs after originally planning to seed all eight teams in the league based on record regardless of conference seeding. The way the seedings worked out, the original plan would play out virtually the same (the only difference depends on who the top seed is that would play the 1-13 Tampa Bay Storm).
The Predators and Soul’s game determines who plays the Storm and who plays the 5-9 Jacksonville Sharks. Not to mention which teams gets home field for the conference playoffs and either home field in the Arena Bowl for Arizona (should Orlando lose) or for Orlando (should Orlando win).
The playoff scenarios are very clear for the Predators. The pressure is on as they enter this bye week for next week’s big game — July 30 at the Amway Center. The Playoffs have already begun for the Predators.
