Tampa Bay Bandits Win Their Second Title With Offensive Explosion Against St. Louis
It’s all fun and games on the mountain until the avalanche comes. That must be what this year’s Summer Bowl felt like for the St. Louis Knights as Tampa Bay, trailing by 18, went on a 42-9 scoring binge to not only come back against the Western Conference champs, but to blow them out, winning their first title since 1983 and by the second largest margin in league history.
St. Louis succeeded in their strategy to contain rookie wideout Randy Moss, limiting the receiver to 108 yards and no scores on the day. But, in doing so, the Knights left other options available to QB Troy Aikman and the Bandits. And yet, early on things seemed to be headed St. Louis’s way. Tampa Bay went 3-and-out on their first drive, while St. Louis had a quick drive that ended in a Darrell Thompson TD. Tampa responded with a short John Kasay field goal, but when St. Louis finished out the first quarter by scoring on the ground for the second time, things were going about as well as they could for the defensive-minded Knights.
They got even better at the beginning of the 2nd quarter, when Aikman tried to fit the ball in to wideout Robert Brooks, but found Knights’ CB Troy Vincent instead. Rather against expectations, Jim Johnson opted to put Vincent on Brooks in single coverage and use his second CB against Randy Moss, but always in double coverage. The move paid off as Vincent set up St. Louis for a third score, again from HB Ahman Green, and the Bandit fans seeing the score balloon to 21-3 had to be concerned.
It seems Coach Seifert and the Bandit offense were not. They followed the Green touchdown with two quick and decisive drives, the first ending with a Ben Coates TD reception, and the second, only 5 minutes later with Errict Rhett rushing for the score, one of 3 rushing touchdowns the Bandits would get on the day. Seemingly in an instant the momentum had shifted and a 18 point deficit was now down to 4. St. Louis would tack on a field goal to make it a 7-point lead at the half, but it seemed clear that Tampa Bay was beginning to figure out ways to work around the defensive strategy. How would both teams make adjustments at the half. They would each have 20 minutes to figure out how best to alter their plans as the rest of the stadium and the country enjoyed a performance by the Bee Gees, joined on stage by fellow 1997 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Parliament Funkadelic and two members of the Jackson 5 (Yes, one was Tito).
The show at the half was fun, if not quite as “rock and roll” as many in the crowd would like, but the best was yet to come as the Bandits and Knights returned to the field. St. Louis received the ball first, but could do nothing and were quickly punting back to Tampa Bay. The Bandits, having figured out a few options if Moss would continue to face double coverage. They used Rhett and Stewart on the ground, and went to secondary receivers, with Brooks, Coates, Troy Drayton and Chris Doering also getting targets in the passing game. It was Doering who would even the score at 24 when he broke the coverage on a slant and go and Aikman hit him for a 41-yard touchdown.
Knotted up, it would be up to St. Louis’s offense to help them gain some momentum back, but that simply was not in the cards. After gaining an initial first down on a penalty against Tampa DT Roland Putzier, the drive stalled and an aprehensive Knights defense came back on the field. Tampa wasted no time taking the first lead of the game, in 5 plays they marched into St. Louis territory, aided by a defensive pass interferance call against CB Steve Israel covering Moss. 1 play later it was James Stewart taking the ball on a draw and with St. Louis’s defense thinking pass, the big back had no trouble shrugging off the first hit and plunging into the endzone to give Tampa a 31-24 advantage.
The Knights fared a bit better on their next drive, holding the ball for nearly 5 minutes before settling for a field goal to pull back to 31-27. This gave their defenders a needed rest, but it did not help them with the conundrum of how to cover such a diversified offense. Tampa stayed hot into the final period, and with their first possession of the quarter stretched their advantage to 11 points when Errict Rhett got his 2nd of 3 TDs on the day, this time a reception from Aikman on a simple swing route.
Down 11, St. Louis needed a touchdown, and they started their drive well, gaining 11 and 14 yards on their first two plays, but the combination of a false start on their right tackle and then a negative running play, put them in a difficult 3rd and 16 situation. They went short, throwing to Ahman Green, and got within a very deep range for kicker Ryan Longwell, but unwilling to come away without anything, they let Longwell take the kick from 58 yards out. The ball barely dribbled over the crossbar, but this brought St. Louis within 1 score, down 38-30 with half of a quarter left to play.
They would have a chance to get back to a tie after a sack of Aikman by Vonnie Holliday, his only of the day, forced Tampa into a 3-and-out and gave St. Louis the ball back with over 5 minutes left. But, for as overshadowed as the Bandits defense has been all year, they were solid when holding a lead, and St. Louis soon found themselves with a 4th and 4 on their own side of the field. Coach Johnson opted to punt, hoping another quick defensive stop would give the Knights one more chance for an equalizing score.
That chance would never come. Tampa Bay took the punt, and, eschewing standard logic to slow the game down and run to kill clock, they continued to attack through the air. Drayton for 7, then Moss for 14, Coates for 9, and Drayton again for 5. Within 7 plays they were deep into St. Louis territory with only a field goal needed to almost certainly assure victory, but on 3rd and 2 rather than call a dive over the middle to place the ball, Aikman tossed the ball wide, finding Errict Rhett, who found few defenders follwed him to the wide side of the field. A nice juke on FS Greg Jeffries and Rhett was in the endzone with a score that put Tampa Bay up by 15 and all but guaranteed them their first league title since the very first season of the USFL in 1983.
The Knights would try to move the ball to get a quick score, but the deep ball is not Todd Collins’s strength, and both a 3rd and 3 and 4th and 3 pass went awry, leading to Tampa gaining possession and taking a knee to end the game and pop the champagne on their title. Troy Aikman, with 493 yards passing, much of it after trailing 21-3, and 3 passing touchdowns, was named the game’s MVP. Coach Seifert was carried in the air by his club, and Errict Rhett got to give the traditional “I’m going to Disneyworld” line to the cameras. St. Louis played a solid game, but Tampa Bay was just too much to handle, having now scored over 40 points in each of their 3 playoff games as they ran roughshod through the best the league had to offer as competition.
Once the confetti in Ohio Stadium is cleaned up, the champagne flat, and the ear to ear smiles off the faces of the 53 Bandit players and the entire coaching staff, we can talk about the offseason ahead and some of the tough decisions Tampa Bay and other clubs will have to make, but for now it is all cheers and jubilation by the Bay. Congratulations to Tampa Bay and the Bandit Nation!
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