Trap Set for Storm On Super Sunday
Adam J Locascio
Saturday February 5, 2005
The odds makers and the experts are saying that this weekend’s Superbowl appetizer between the Storm and the Austin Wranglers is going to be a blow-out in favor of the Storm. The Storm spent last week taming the San Jose SaberCats 63-33 while the Wranglers dropped their opener 66-35 to the Philadelphia Soul.
At a glance, it would appear that the Storm should handle this home game easily, but looking a little further down the schedule shows where the problem lies.
Actually, you have to look a little further down the interstate.
Waiting in Week 3 for Tampa Bay is their cross-state rival, the Orlando Predators, in what will be Part One of the War on I-4. Emotions will run high in this game, but not just because of geography.
During the January 22nd scrimmage with the Predators, the Storm saw lineman Rasheid Simmons taken off the field on a stretcher, immobilized in a neck brace, strapped to a board. Simmons was knocked to the ground during a scuffle. While he was on the ground, Predator lineman Patrick Scott took advantage of Simmons’ prone position and punched him several times while he lay helmetless on the turf.
Neither Simmons nor Scott is with their respective teams.
The Storm also lost one of their best two-way weapons on the first play of the scrimmage when TT Toliver was tackled during the first kick-off return and tore his MCL. Toliver is out six to eight weeks.
No doubt, the Storm are going to be motivated to steal one on the road from their hated rivals, but that is no reason to overlook Austin as just some Division I-AA patsy.
Compare the stats between the Storm and Wrangler and the similarities are surprising. The Storm only out-passed the Wranglers in Week 1 by 17 yards (269-252). The Wranglers had only six more total yards than the Storm (287-281), and both teams recorded 19 first downs. The only glaring difference between the two came in terms of scoring where the Storm scored eight touchdowns to the Wranglers five.
The Wranglers can move the ball, but they had some problems punching it in the end zone.
The Storm won’t need any motivation to get back at the Predators on the scoreboard for what the Predators did to them in the scrimmage, but if they take the Wranglers lightly, they might end up playing for a share of first place in the Southern division in Week 3, and not sole possession of the top spot. The Storm hardly dominated the Wranglers last year as they split the season series with the Southern division counterpart.
The schedule makers have set the trap. It’s up to Marcum & Co. to dance around it.
Adam J. Locascio is a financial advisor in the Tampa Bay area and a Board Member of the Tampa Bay Storm Surge Fan Club. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Phoenix and is a six-year season ticket holder for the Tampa Bay Storm.
