Getting thrown off is disorienting, but not so disorienting that Sam misses the sight of Dowling moving towards Bruce.

"Oh, crap."

He catches himself without stopping and launches back towards Rich. "Hey, we're not close to done yet, dude!" If he can keep Rich busy enough for Gwen to get an opening to deal with Dowling - well, it's a tall order, but what hasn't been in his life?

Good thing about sharing a powerset with Rich: he knows the tricks, even if he hasn't mastered as many of them. Other good thing: for raw speed, Sam's got something of an edge. (Bad thing: Rich definitely has the edge in raw power, and if Sam gets tagged, it's gonna hurt.)