Clouds of 2005 Plague Storm in Opener
Adam J Locascio
Monday January 30, 2006
The year changed. The roster changed. The line got bigger. The receivers got bigger. There was even a major coup in the free agent market.
But the same things that plagued the Storm in 2005 returned to haunt them in their season opener against the Philadelphia Soul as the Storm dropped their season opener 52-34.
The Storm lost on the road…again. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the Storm were 2-7 on the road last year, including a playoff loss to the Georgia Force. The Storm, again, failed to protect Stafford, who is the quintessential pocket-passer. He was hit, hurried, and sacked. Stafford, who was visibly upset walking back to the sidelines, spent most of the day on the run.
This coming despite the fact that the Storm boasted that the size of their line had increased by an average of 20 pounds, but the Storm line was constantly thrown into Stafford’s lap.
Receiver Bobby Sippio who was basically stolen from the grasp of the Orlando Predators in free agency was nowhere to be seen, but if we throw the blame at his feet, it would be the first thing thrown at him this season. Sippio was largely ignored in the first half and didn’t get on the stats board until the game was pretty much out of reach.
The score was not a true indication of the outcome, as the Soul were spotted a touchdown courtesy of Bill LeMonnier and crew. On a play that would have been overturned in the NFL in a split-second, Soul quarterback Tony Graziani threw a low pass to receiver Mike Brown near the front corner of the endzone. The ball bounces off the turf and up into the arms of Brown who knew he did not have a touchdown grab and only celebrated after the ref signaled an errant touchdown.
You could almost hear Storm head coach Tim Marcum screaming from his home in Apollo Beach.
Marcum, who is suspended for the first two games of this season for salary cap violations, did not travel with the team and cannot have contact with the Storm until Saturday, February 4, the day after the Storm play Grand Rapids (0-1).
And the news gets worse for Storm fans, as the kicking woes that plagued the squad in previous years have resurfaced. Kicker Bill Gramatica did not have a good first game in the AFL as he missed three field goals, including a 58-yarder, and 1 of 3 extra points.
The Storm have a short week leading up to the Grand Rapids game this week and again will be without Marcum. Assistant Coach Dave Ewart will have the opportunity to break even as a head coach (he was 1-1 last season filling in for Marcum during the first part of his suspension) as he will attempt to right the ship. After losing on the road to Los Angeles last season, Ewart was able to score a win over Georgia, the eventual National Conference champions.
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.
