PHOTO BY: MATTHEW PAWLOWSKI
BY SHAGGY SHRAGIS
The Philadelphia Phoenix lost their first game of the season Friday, falling 16-17 at the hands of the visiting New York Empire. Philadelphia had big games from Scott Heyman and Brandon Pastor, and both the New York and Philly offenses played well overall. But a two break first quarter was ultimately too much for the Hotbird hopefuls to overcome, as the Empire offense connected on nine of 10 hucks, overwhelming the Phoenix defense.
That deep game from New York wreaked havoc on the Phoenix defense, particularly in the first quarter. New York’s offense scored five times in the first quarter, and all five included completed long balls: four from Calvin Brown and one to Everest Shapiro. The Philly defense was able to adjust, limiting New York to just four of five completed hucks for the rest of the game, but that one incompletion was a buzzer beater to end the half, and a 90% huck rate is going to doom any defensive pressure the Phoenix could come to muster. This was a big problem in 2024, when Philadelphia had the third worst huck defense in the league, but has been a positive trend for the Phoenix so far this season, who had held a talented Rush deep attack to 40% and 46% in two meetings after hindering the DC Breeze, who were 11/18 in their April 26 game. It is a bad time for the Phoenix deep defense to falter, as they are set to host the Carolina Flyers, who are currently third in the UFA in huck completion percentage, and with two games still to go against the Boston Glory, who are the architects of one of the most devastating deep games in the Association and throw the fifth most hucks of any team.
Long balls opened up short field churn, and that was no more evident than in the offensive execution of Ben Jagt, who had 10 of his 25 touches in a 20 yard box near the 50 along the player bench sideline. With Philadelphia shifting resources to take away Calvin Brown's hucks — Brown finished with 620 throwing yards — Jagt feasted on the soft underneath coverage, and was a constant outlet when Philly’s defensive pressure started to wear on the New York handlers. The Phoenix had two poach blocks this game, one from Brandon Pastor to get the disc back on offense, but also a crucial block from Paul Owens that would eventually lead to the game tying break. Given Philly’s personnel, it may be worth disguising downfield coverages to try and generate more underneath pressure from players off-disc.
This was also a game where the Phoenix sorely missed Greg Martin, who was sidelined with injury, as well as the departures of James Pollard and Max Trifillis. Philly lost three of four buzzer beater attempts with two Antoine Davis Blocks and a Ben Jagt goal, to just the one block by Nate Little at the end of the second quarter — coincidentally New York's only huck turnover. Pollard and Trifillis are two elite end of quarter players, and with how close this game finished, winning half the buzzer beaters would have at least brought the game to overtime. Each team had an equal number of breaks, so the point differential came down solely to which team scored more to end the quarter than the other. Both of Philly’s offensive buzzer beater attempts ended with Matt Hanna, who had a good match outside of the expiring seconds, going up for jump balls with Antoine Davis, not a recipe for success. Without Pollard in the lineup, The Hotbirds need to do their work earlier in the quarter, and make sure that buzzer beaters happen on their terms, rather than relying on them to create scores.
Philadelphia has played tight games with New York in the past, even during the Empire’s undefeated seasons. However what made this game so unique was the offensive execution. Typical close contests between the Phoenix and the Empire are sloppy games, where a combination of weather and fatigue wear on the teams giving the defenses opportunities to make plays on otherwise flawless players. Yet even with New York missing Sol Rueschmeyer-Bailey, their primary handler, and Philly without Greg Martin or Will Tober, two of their starting O-line cutters, it was about as pristine an offensive game as there is in the UFA. Both teams held on over 70% of their offensive points, and converted above 55% of their offensive possessions. New York's defense has struggled to start the season, but the Philly defense needs to start creating more opportunities to score. Philadelphia forces 19 opponent turnovers a game, but only seven of those are coming from opposing offenses. The Hotbirds are also towards the bottom of the league in DLC% — how many times the Phoenix defense scores after they get the turnover — converting just 43% of break chances into scores. After so many seasons of the Philadelphia defense carrying a lachrymose offense, it is now that D-unit which finds itself holding back the team’s potential.
Some immediate relief should come in week six, with the lineup returns of Will Tober and potentially Greg Martin, allowing more flexibility in who crosses over to play on defense. Adam Grossberg played mostly offense, but is an elite defender who could help guard deep threats. Scott Heyman, who is third on the team in blocks despite mostly playing offense, would provide help for deep defenders like Ethan Holmgren, Nate Little, Jack Wisner, Eric Witmer and Mike Campanella. The Phoenix point of attack defenders will also need to improve their tenacity. Paul Owens has six blocks, but no other handler defenders, including talented players like Justin Keller and Andres Rodriguez, have more than 1 total block. The Phoenix have to start generating more pressure on handlers if they hope to be contenders.
Any improvement on the defense will be sorely needed as they get set to face a Carolina Flyers team sitting at 0-4, with three losses to the Atlanta Hustle — who look like the best team in the league — and a double overtime thriller against the San Diego Growlers. Carolina, by the numbers, is one of the best teams in the UFA with a good, not great, offense and a defense that is scoring over half of all break opportunities. Their issue has been how many opportunities they’ve generated, with just an 18% break rate they sit second lowest in the league. Does that mean the defense is bad, or that they have played the first and fourth best offense in the league respectively?
Either way, it is a huge test for a Philly offense that is quietly the most efficient scoring unit in Phoenix history. An impressive feat from coach David Brandolph, who is the proud owner of the seventh most throwaways in team history, despite having only played 16 total games with the franchise, giving him the highest turnover per game mark amongst all Phoenix players with just over five per game; and that doesn’t count his 22 with the Spinners! Coaches cannot throw turnovers however, and David Brandolph, Bill Maroon, Adam Callahan and Andrew Haviland have all done a phenomenal job preparing this team for the challenges it has had to face each week. The Philadelphia faithful will hope they can reignite the hot streak against the visiting Carolina Flyers this Saturday at 6 p.m. at Neumann University, grab your ticket and see how it all plays out.
