Arena Football League Week 12 Power Rankings

5. Washington Valor

It’s been almost three months since the Valor have won a game. They have had a stroke of bad luck the entire way in different ways. Over a three-week stretch, they had lost due to failed point after attempts and bad passes from quarterback Sean Brackett.

They have also been plagued by the injury bug. The super team has become the stupor team. Erik Meyer, Mike Washington and have all found themselves on injured reserve. It’s not too late for them to get back in the playoff race, but time is running out.

4. Cleveland Gladiators

Cleveland has not been the same team that played in the National Conference championship game last season. Arvell Nelson has been impressive both in the air and on the ground, but the rest of the team has not helped his cause.

The schedule has also not been good to the Gladiators. They have played the Soul four times in the last six weeks, all of which have been losses.

3. Baltimore Brigade

Baltimore has played amazing football since losing their opening game. Benching Chase Cartwright for Shane Carden was the best thing the team did. Carden has not only led them to a 3-6 record, which is good enough for third place, but he has been the clear cut front-runner for Rookie of the Year.

Even without wide receiver Reggie Gray, Carden has been able to make it work with Julian Talley, Laquan Williams and newly-acquired wide receiver Brandon Thompkins. Now that Gray is back in the lineup, the Brigade have a stacked receiving core with an impressive quarterback.

2. Tampa Bay Storm

Tampa Bay made a complete turnaround since their two-win season in 2016. They have acquired several stars such as quarterback Randy Hippeard and wide receiver Joe Hills, who has recently left, and Kendrick Ings. LaMark Brown has also become a big part of the Storm’s offensive success. He may be the top guy with Hills no longer with the team.

While the Storm has been very impressive all season, and will continue to be, there’s one thing the Storm hasn’t been able to do. That’s beat the top team on our list this week.

1. Philadelphia Soul

The Soul have got it back together. They have improved offensively, as quarterback Dan Raudabaugh has not thrown off-target passes or overthrown passes the last two weeks. He’s also spreading the ball more and more.

Not only that, but the Soul as a whole has shown that the ArenaBowl is their’s to lose at this point. At 10-0, they are heavy favorites in the league to not only host the ArenaBowl on Aug. 26, but also win it, no matter their opponent.

Cleveland Gladiators Beat Baltimore Brigade, 59-48

The Cleveland Gladiators hosted the Baltimore Brigade at the Q Arena in Cleveland, OH Friday night. It was a must-win for Cleveland to catch up to Baltimore for the third seed in the Arena Football League playoffs.

Cleveland got on board first with a deep touchdown pass from Arvell Nelson to Quentin Sims after just two plays. A Shane Carden sack-fumble was recovered by the Gladiators in the end zone for a touchdown to give Cleveland a 14-0 lead.

Following a touchdown pass from Carden to Pablo Gonzalez, Nelson found Sims for his second touchdown to give Cleveland a 20-7 lead. A deep touchdown to Brandon Thompkins for Baltimore made it a 20-14 game at the end of the first quarter.

The two teams went back and forth to start the second quarter. Nelson found Tom Gilson for a touchdown. Baltimore responded with a touchdown from Carden to Julian Talley. Both teams continued to go back and forth, and the Gladiators took a 40-28 lead into halftime.

Cleveland took over midway through the third quarter. Leading 46-35, Kenny Veal picked off a Carden pass at the goal line. The Gladiators would capitalize with Sims’ third touchdown of the night. Following a second consecutive interception, this time by Lonnie Outlaw, another touchdown made the score 59-35. By the end of the third quarter, the score was 59-42.

Baltimore would attempt a comeback in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough as the Gladiators went on to win by a final score of . Cleveland’s defense was key to their victory in this one as they picked off Carden a total of four times in the second half alone.

With the win, the Gladiators also close in on half a game behind the Brigade for the third seed in the Arena Football League playoff picture. They will host the Philadelphia Soul next weekend while the Brigade will host the Washington Valor for the first time ever.