Pirates Suffer From Venomous Snake Bite (Opinion Editorial)

Photo courtesy of Massachusetts Pirates Facebook Page

​The big news out of Greensboro, North Carolina this Saturday was the no-show of Massachusetts Pirates star quarterback Sean Brackett and wide receiver Orlandus Harris. Of course, you wouldn’t know this watching the Cobra commentator who repeatedly referred to Southwick and Kent as “Bracket under center.” Give me a break. If these guys followed Arena Football Talk on Facebook or read our blog they wouldn’t sound so misinformed. But I digress.

The loss of Pirate offense superpowers, Brackett and Harris made the face off between Massachusetts and Carolina a competitive fair fight. Fill-in QB’s Danny Southwick and Robert Kent were as last minute as ever which created fury of confusion for my swashbucklers. Understandably, Pirate frustration was apparent from the field as well as the sidelines. The yellow laundry flew more often in the second half of Saturday’s match-up then at both preceding Pirate games combined! In almost ironic fashion, the captain of the pirate ship, Coach Ameer Ismail, drew his own laundry twice and then ejected from the game. No comment from Camp Pirates but we fans assume Coach Ameer was upset at the uneven penalty calling by the National Arena League (NAL) zebra’s. 

So, how did our last minute ball throwers preform? Danny Southwick started the night with several long bombs, driving the Pirates down field and sealing the opening drive with a Robert Kent to Lamont Bryant 5 yard touchdown pass. In the first half, however Southwick seemed to struggle making simple throws and dealing with Cobra pressure. Carolina’s coverage was loose and their pass rush was spotty at best. This was a defense Brackett would have taken to the cleaners. 

Nevertheless, Robert Kent seemed to have won the QB job for the Pirates, starting and finishing the second half. Kent was able to scramble from the closing pocket and complete several impressive passes like a 35 yard blamo! touchdown to Levon Pearson and another 40 yard slammer! to Devonn Brown in the third quarter: A moment Pirate Nation breathed a temporary sigh of relief because Brackett’s replacement had arrived. But, it was not to be. 

Thus, the unfortunate conclusion commenced with a Kent backwards pass fumble disaster recovered by Carolina. Ugh. Without Bracket, Pirates need to get back to work, catch Kent up on operational plays because Lehigh Valley is coming to play.  

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