All season we’ve been waiting for the promise of Rhode Island FC’s attack to realize its potential.

Over the past three games – including Saturday night’s 5-0 shellacking of the Tampa Bay Rowdies – it’s finally appeared, just in time to put the defending Eastern Conference title-holders on the verge of the postseason.

There was JJ Williams, who has bagged four goals and one assist over that span, continuing to be the straw that stirs the drink in the final third for RIFC. He went into Saturday as the highest-rated forward in terms of Goals Added per 96 minutes and only boosted that stock further against his former club.

But there was also Noah Fuson, notching a goal and assist, giving him goal contributions in three consecutive games. For last season’s Golden Playmaker as the league’s assists leader, this year has been a leaner one – as it has for most of RIFC’s lineup until the past three weeks – but now it’s starting to fire again.

“For him, I think one of the biggest things was to see the ball hit the back of the net,” Williams told The Blazing Musket on Fuson. “Once it does, all that happened earlier in the season, all the rough patches that you have, they kind of get forgiven and forgotten.

“I think that that’s kind of the biggest part for him is, how he was going to not just follow up that form, but get into those really good spots that he was finding last year, and doing that consistently and often. I think that where he is right now, especially seeing the ball hit the back of the net last week, he’s back.”

Albert Dikwa also chipped in a goal and assist, while Maxi Rodriguez added the exclamation point late on as RIFC posted its sixth-highest Expected Goals mark in a game in its short history. RIFC has now notched more than one-third of its goals this regular season in the past three games, earning 13 points from a possible 15 to sit as the second-hottest team in the league behind Louisville City, a similar run to the form the side showed in closing out the 2024 regular season.

It's too early for Williams to make that comparison, but RIFC’s run has given fans liberty to dare to dream of another postseason run.

“For me, in the big picture, I don’t think we’ve done anything at all,” he said. “You can say last year, but it doesn’t mean anything until you do it this year. We just had a great performance, but it doesn’t mean anything until we lift some hardware.”

Here are this week’s rankings.