Oregon Lightning Playbook: Locked In
May 8, 2025 - Arena Football One (AF1)
Oregon Lightning News Release
The Oregon Lightning are coming off back-to-back wins against the Washington Wolfpack. This was a huge first step in turning the season around. Corpus Christi heads to the Pacific Northwest on Monday to give the Lightning their next test. Very clearly, this team has changed some of the things that have caused them to lose games, limiting mistakes and creating opportunities for the opponents to hang around in games.
The Difference
Beating any team, regardless of their record, builds confidence, and that's exactly what the Lightning needed. The team needed to see what they were working so hard on in practice finally play out on game day. Chuck Jones, week over week, has said that the team needs to stop causing penalties and beating themselves, and that is exactly the result fans are now seeing.
"The boys are realizing they have to stop making mistakes. We really dialed that in. If we made a mistake, we would stop practicing and run. We put a big emphasis on guys doing things well, but also when they are doing something wrong. When we stop making mistakes, we are a solid ball club. We got Dalton setting his feet and no longer throwing off his back foot. The new offensive line is helping a ton. We went back to the Pop Warner basics."
When it clicked
When watching this team earlier in the season, fans would see Oregon being two very different teams. When they were flowing, the team was dominating the opponents. But throughout the games, fans would see an entirely different team, from penalty after penalty, turnovers, missed assignments, as if the team were two-faced. Last week, Coach Jones finally saw his team click all at once.
"When that defense stepped up and the boys kept coming. They would not stop. I was like a proud dad. With Mike Fields, he was destroying that team up front and setting up the expectations for the team. It gave the entire team confidence. At half time, I told them they came back last time, you could tell the boys were locked in, not a sound, just focus. It was different this time. The big thing is we need to beat another team other than Washington. This week against Corpus Christi is a huge focus, and seeing how we stack at the halfway point in the league."
The Oregon Lightning will host the Tritons on Monday at 9:30 PM EST on EVERGREENNOW.
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