Well that felt good. The Talons, much like the Chicago game at home a few weeks ago, dominated for pretty much the entire game. Fueled by outstanding defensive play, the Talons took three turnovers to the house and helped the Offense, which played pretty flawlessly, maintain control of an 81-51 win to get into a four way tie for the fourth playoff spot in the National Conference.
The game started off shaky as Blaze WR Chris Bocage took the opening kickoff back for a TD after Kicker Juan Bongarra barely missed nocking him out of bounds. However, the Talons answered with a methodical drive to answer with a TD of their own. The Blaze and Talons then traded scores again until Defensive Back J.C. Neal picked off Utah QB Tommy Grady and returned it 52 yards for TD, which may be a Talons record for longest INT return (we are still checking on that), to give the Talons their first lead of the game.
At halftime the Talons lead 41-33 and would not lose that lead for the remainder of the game. The Third quarter was highlighted by a great forced fumble sack on Grady by Defensive End Victor Degrate that popped the ball up to a waiting Jack LB Jamar Ransom who scoped and scored. The Talons got to their final total 81 points off another J.C. Neal pick six, this time for 43 yards (giving him 95 yards off INTs).
J.C. Neal's two INT touchdowns leads the league for a single game high (along with his 95 yards). As one Talons player put it after the game, "if he doesn't get Defensive Player of the Week something is wrong." I can't disagree with that, he may even be a MVP of the week candidate. The Talons 81 points are also a league high for single game scoring.
The win brings the Talons into a four way tie for the fourth National Conference playoff spot along with San Jose, Utah, and Spokane. The Talons also remain 2 games behind the Dallas Vigilantes with six games to go (one of which against Dallas in two weeks) for the three seed.
The Talons travel to Philadelphia next Friday to take on the Soul at 6:05 PM. The game should be especially important to several Talons players. I'm sure Jamar Ransom wants a shot at former Talons WR Donovan Morgan and Justin Allgood will want to show the team that traded him away what they are missing.
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