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This was by far our best performance of the season, and while Grieb's first start at QB probably grabbed most of the attention, I felt the change was far more pervasive. I can't put my finger on exactly what was different, the whole team just played a tighter, more controlled and aggressive game, and reaped the benefits. Before the game, there had been some comments in the newspapers to the effect of "We haven't had the breaks we deserve", which made me somewhat apprehensive that the players were going to go out and wait for something to happen. I shouldn't have worried. They went out and looked like a team of winners, for the first time this year.
We started well with a 10-0 lead, Brantley's catch putting us in Double-O heaven. In the past four weeks, we've surrendered early leads and ended up on the losing side as a result, but this week a combination of sharp defense and consistent offense saw the Claymores in the locker room with their noses 10-3 in front.
I've always felt that the third quarter has traditionally been the quietest time in the stands, but the beautiful weather combined with the good show on the field to keep the noise level up and boost the players even further. Barcelona could still have claimed to be in the game at half-time, but by the end of the third it was Claymores all the way. The blocked punt was a really big play, and Miller's TD catch silenced a lot of his critics (me included).
We were pretty much coasting by the time the fourth quarter came round, but the defense kept on playing hard and didn't give Barcelona much of a chance to realistically get back into it. It was down to Philyaw and J.J. Smith to run out the remaining time on the ground, which they did adequately. If we had needed to score again near the end, I think we could have.
Grieb really impressed me. Other than the two (or was it three?) interceptions he threw (and one of them was on a Hail Mary), he played safely and with a good measure of calmness. If a receiver was open, he threw the pass; if not, he dumped it off to the half-back or threw it away. That's the kind of quarterback performance we needed today, ably assisted by a strong and cohesive offensive line. Keep up the good work!
The thing I was happiest about (game-wise, anyway!) was the way the defense performed. There were far fewer missed tackles, the Barcelona running game was shut down and the secondary looked like a different unit to the one I saw at Murrayfield a fortnight previously. Whereas they were previously either playing too deep or being caught flat-footed on a long passing play, they got themselves into the right place at the just right time. Eddie Cade must have pushed Grieb hard for the MVP award, just going to show that although Siran's gone, it doesn't mean we're not going to have stand-out performances from a number 27 jersey any more.
The only player who really stood out for Barcelona was Mustafa. As a team, they looked very out-of-sorts. Nuff said.
And so, having stepped out of the Raleigh-Durham shadow for this year, it's all about getting as far up the league as possible. Duesseldorf is probably the toughest place to have to continue our ascent, but if the team go into the game with their heads up and play like they did against the Dragons - well, there were only ten points between us and the Fire last time ...
Alan Gibson