Storm Lose Ground in Race for the South
Adam J Locascio
Monday April 25, 2005
However, blinked is a euphemism. Slipped into a vise-like coma is a more appropriate term.
Once again, the Storm exhibited their knack for playing down to their competition and allowed another winnable road game to slip from their grasp. The Storm offense wasted a fine defensive effort which yielded the Nashville Kats only 37 points, but the Storm turned to a drizzle and was only able to hang 21 on the scoreboard. The most embarrassing part is this once-potent offense was held scoreless for three quarters (the first, the third, and the fourth).
For the past three weeks, the Storm have been in a unique position where they were able to watch the rest of their division foes beat each other up before their game. The Storm have been able to answer the call and keep pace winning three in a row, their longest streak of the season.
But when faced with arguably their easiest hurdle, the Storm offense misfired and let a chance to gain a full game on the Southern leading Georgia Force slip away.
There were obvious center/quarterback exchange problems between quarterback Shane Stafford and center Rod Williams. Stafford had little protection when trying to set up to throw and was constantly shaking defenders (both his own and Nashville’s) from his jersey. And when Stafford did have time to find his receivers, they either dropped the ball or had their completions nullified by penalties.
And even when the Storm did catch a break, mental errors put the resurgent Kats back in business. An apparent stop that ended with a missed field goal was nullified by a roughing the kicker penalty. The Kats turned that stop into a touchdown. A fingertip grab by OS Freddie Solomon was taken off the scoreboard by a holding penalty. The result of this series was a missed field goal.
It’s hard to believe this is the team that dismantled San Jose in Week 1. If the Storm continues to play flat like they did against the Kats and previously in games against the Philadelphia Soul and the Los Angeles Avengers, a trip to the playoffs will be nothing but a season-lengthening tease for the Storm-faithful.
With road games against the Force and the Columbus Destroyers looming, the Storm better shake their road jitters and fast. The Southern Division title is not out of reach, but they are going to need a loss by the Predators to slink their way up to the top of the standings.
With only four weeks to go, the Storm have four games against National Conference teams; they now sit one and a half games behind both the Orlando Predators and the Force (both 9-4) and one game behind the New Orleans VooDoo (8-4) who come to the St. Pete Times Forum this coming weekend. The Storm are undefeated at home this season (6-0) and came one horrible referee’s call from beating the VooDoo on the road in Week 5.
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.
