Record or not, Kelly and the Kats Lose to Tampa
Dan Ryan
Sunday April 22, 2001
So the Nashville Kats QB is now the Arena Football League`s career leader in touchdown passes. That’s akin to Crash Davis, the baseball sage Kevin Costner portrayed in Bull Durham, having the distinction of being the minor league`s all-time home run leader.
Too bad this isn’t the movies. Susan Sarandon is nowhere to be found, and the Kats didn’t pull a miracle play at the end to win Saturday night.
 Andy Kelly wins passing record, but couldn`t pull of a win against Tampa. Image courtesy of Joe Kauffman |
So? Can`t cash a record book. A record doesn`t give your team home-field advantage in the playoffs. All the clichés Kelly spouted leading up to the game proved to be true.
Kelly`s third touchdown of the night, a six-yarder to Darryl Hammond on a crossing pattern with 3:24 left put the former UT starter ahead of Perez on the AFL`s all-time touchdown pass list with 342.
More importantly, it gave the Kats a 33-31 lead…for a time…a short time.
Tampa Bay answered with a six-play, 41-yard drive that culminated in John Kaleo`s 14-yarder to James Bowden with 39 seconds left.
Nashville had one last possession, but on the second play, Storm OL/DL Pig Goff hit Kelly, and Mel Agee scooped up the fumble for an easy touchdown.
"It`s disappointing,” Kelly said. "Not much else you can say. We`re in a position to win at the end, and they come up with a defensive play?”
Was Kelly`s arm in motion?
“Obviously, I`m going to say yes,” Kelly said. “There`s a saying that you don`t let the officials have a chance to determine the outcome. But you have to give Tampa credit for making the plays.”
Kelly finished 19 of 32 for 225 yards and four touchdowns, including a meaningless score to Hammond at the buzzer.
Dan Ryan has been involved with all forms of arena football since 1988, including writing for ArenaFan when Joe Kauffman and Tim Capper aren’t killing his columns because they don’t get his jokes or perspective. His day job is at Bethune-Cookman University, which has produced both an NFL Hall of Famer (Larry Little) and an Arena Football Hall of Famer (Stevie Thomas) and his hobby is tracking how many f-bombs Adam Markowitz drops in the chat room on game nights.
