Talons Still Trying to Solve Road Mystery

Originally Published: May 26, 2010 7:54 PM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports Mobile Journalist

TULSA, Oklahoma – After seven games in the Arena Football League, the Tulsa Talons sit atop the American Conference’s Southwest division at 4-3. They’ve proven to have one of the best offenses in the league and have played well in spurts on defense.

“If you want to try to take a guy out, we’ve got two other guys that will make plays,” said Talons’ head coach Mitch Allner. “Having three threats across the board (to throw to) is a lot of fun to call plays.”

The good news is, the Talons are undefeated at home. The bad news, they’re winless on the road. In order to make the playoffs and make a push towards an AFL title, that formula won’t cut it.

“Sometimes it just takes some time to get some things down,” said Allner. “There’s a big difference between 4-3 and 3-4.”

The Talons have won 14 straight games at home dating back to the 2008 af2 playoffs at the Tulsa Convention Center. The Talons have never lost at the BOK Center, where they win by an average of 12.75 points per game.

The home numbers are similar to the road numbers on offense. The Talons are scoring just over 2.5 points per game more at the BOK Center. The sizeable spread comes on the defensive side of the ball, where the Talons allow 15.5 fewer points per game at home than on the road.

“At home, we feed off the energy,” said linebacker Steve Watson. “In the AFL, there really is a home field advantage, and we have great fans. When they’re loud, we feed off of them, and it showed tonight.”

The Talons scored a season-high 76 points against Arizona on the road in Week 4. They also scored a season-low on the road, 55 points against Cleveland two weeks ago.

The team’s best defensive outing of the year came against the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz last Saturday. Tulsa allowed just 41 points against their in-state rivals. Compare that to 77 they gave up to the Rattlers in a last-second loss, and it’s enough to drive a head coach crazy.

“Yeah, I like playing in this building,” Allner joked after the Talons beat Oklahoma City in Week 8. “There’s no question. We have a great crowd. You can’t beat our crowd.”

The Talons will try to steady the stats this weekend when they jet off to the Louisiana bayou. The Talons will face the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings (2-5) in a divisional game on Saturday at 7: 05 p.m.

TALONS SEASON STATISTICS

Home scoring: 265 total points/ 66.25 per game
Home defense: 214 total allowed/ 53.5 per game

Road scoring: 265 total points/ 66.25 per game
Road defense: 214 total allowed/ 53.5 per game