Storm Reverse Fortunes At Pred's Expense
Adam J Locascio
Thursday June 12, 2008
A funny thing happened at the St. Pete Times Forum on Saturday.
It seems that the Tampa Bay Storm were somehow able to deflect some of the problems that have plagued them since their last Arena Bowl championship onto another team…and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Storm (7-7) closed out this 2008 chapter of the War on I-4 with a 71-61 win over the Orlando Predators (8-7) completing a sweep of the season series on the heels of their own sweep in 2007. The Storm never trailed as they kept their playoff hopes alive with a victory in front of a near-capacity Forum crowd.
What made the win all the more satisfying was the fact that many of the problems that seemed to do in the Storm this season (and in many of the losses the team experienced since 2002) seemed to leap across the bench and land squarely on the Predators.
For example, the problems that the Storm have had finding a kicker are well documented, so well documented that Storm coach Tim Marcum has even adopted a little superstition vowing never, ever to “brag on his kicker.” Ironically, the Predators matched the Storm score for score but ended up missing precious extra points and allowed the score to continue to widen. Preds kicker Dan Frantz missed his first three extra points as Orlando went touchdown for touchdown with the Storm through the first six possessions of the game. They never recovered from that three point deficit.
Frantz’s non-performance brought back memories of the Storm’s first game last season against the Predators where Storm kicker Bill Gramatica missed his first four extra points in a 52-27 loss that almost led to a fight between former Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ kicker Martin Gramatica and some fans who heckled him in his suite.
The Storm also got some benefits from refs, for the first time in a long time. After a heartbreaking loss to the Georgia Force in the previous week where the referees missed a dual blitz from two Force linebackers that lead to a Brett Dietz interception, the Storm got a call that went their way. Late in the third quarter, WR Tyrone Timmons running across the back of the end zone with a Predator defender on his heels reeled in a pass from Dietz after a short jump. Timmons came down with the ball with minimal contact but both feet out of bounds. Two referees signal touchdown, much to the chagrin of Predators’ head coach Jay Gruden who ran out to mid-field to protest after the extra point. Gruden clearly screams, “He was OUT OF BOUNDS,” with such emphasis that anyone not in the parking lot could read his lips.
It also seemed that the Storm had the tendency to go to the locker room a little early in the first half and come out a little flat in the second half, but they would have none of that this time around. After giving up a 4-yard touchdown to Kevin Nickerson with :05 remaining in the half, Storm KR Sedrick Robinson took the ensuing kickoff 58 yards for a touchdown, preserving a 10-point Storm lead going into the half, and most importantly, avoiding a Predator double-possession. The Storm also forced a fumble on the Preds first drive of the second half and turned that turnover into another touchdown, stretching their lead to 17.
Finally, unlike the Arizona Rattlers game in Week 6, the Storm staved off a comeback attempt by the Preds by forcing more turnovers late in the game.
Storm fans can document multiple times during Shane Stafford’s tenure in Tampa Bay where dropped snaps, horrible throws, and late interceptions doomed a comeback for the home team. To see it happen to Stafford wearing the opposition’s jersey just went to validate Marcum’s decision not to bring Stafford back when he became a free agent two years ago. Early in the third quarter a face-high snap out of the shotgun formation went right through Stafford’s hands and out of the back of the end zone for a safety. Again, when the Preds were able to keep the deficit at 10, Stafford again picked the wrong jersey to throw to as DB Traco Rachal picked off a pass at the Storm 3-yard line to secure the victory for Tampa Bay.
In the Bizarro World that was the St. Pete Times Forum, the Storm took all that had plagued them for a season and used it to fuel a victory to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Storm travel to San Jose this week to take on the SaberCats in a pivotal game with serious playoff implications. Historically, the Storm have not played well in San Jose, but as the Predators’ game indicated, sometimes luck reverses itself.
