Summer Bowl 2022: Four of a Kind beats 3 Kings

Summer Bowl 2022 was billed as a battle of dynasties, a clash of titans, and a game that would make history. It lived up to all three hype lines as the Arizona Wranglers a 17-point deficit in the first half, and did the unthinkable, shutting out the high-powered Tampa Bay Bandits in the second half, adding 2 scores, one defensive, to take a late lead, holding on to win their 4^th title in the past decade and laying full claim to their dynasty and Coach Jim Tomsula’s legend. It was a game that turned late in the 2^nd quarter and demonstrated the value of 2^nd half adjustments as a Bandit squad that put up a huge play for 6 in the 1^st quarter and at one point held a 17-point lead was unable to find the plays or release their playmakers in the second half as Arizona held them down and finally passed them on the way to the finish. Not exactly the tortoise and the hare, but certainly a prime example of how pro football is a game that requires all 60 minutes to determine a winner. 

Audi Field in Washington, D.C.,. home to the 40th USFL Championship Game

With fans suffering through hot and muggy 90-degree heat for most of the afternoon as they tailgated and bar-hopped around Audi Field in D.C.’s Buzzard Point neighborhood, the stadium stayed uncomfortably hot through the first half, but started to cool as halftime approached, much like the Bandit attack. And maybe it was that the hot humid air slowed down Arizona in the first half, because the break seemed to bring with it not only a cooling of the air, but a heating up of the Arizona Wrangler defense. But we get ahead of ourselves.

Vice President Harris cheering the pre-game flyover.

The game began with all the pomp and circumstance you would expect from a major sporting event in the nation’s capital. While President Biden did not attend, VP Kamala Harris was in attendance, along with a range of D.C. big wigs from government and industry. The United States Marne Corps Band was on hand to lead the National Anthem, along with Pharrell Williams performing America the Beautiful. We also had perhaps the most complex flyover in USFL history as the league celebrated 40 seasons with 4 different flyovers, including aircraft from Joint Base Andrews, the Marine Corps Base at Quantico, Fort Belvoir and nearby Annapolis. It was a red, white, and blue celebration not only of D.C. but of the USFL as a part of the American identity.

The ceremonial coin toss saw Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley throw heads, giving Arizona the call, and, as has become almost inevitable, they chose to defer, giving Tampa Bay the ball first. From then on, all the ceremony, celebratory rites, and big name guests took a back seat to the action on the field, as it should be. Both teams started off slowly, not uncommon for an inter-conference matchup, especially one with so much on the line. The first successful third down conversion and the first new set of downs occurred on Tampa Bay’s second possession, when Dalvin Cook converted on a 3^rd and 1 run from the Bandit 29. The Bandits would start to show some real threat on the 2^nd drive, with Dak Prescott finding TE Jeff Heuerman for a 35-yard connection that took the ball to the Arizona 22. But Arizona would not wilt under the late afternoon heat. With a first and 10 just outside the 10-yard line, Wrangler DE made a huge play, swinging outside the block of the tackle and clipping Dak Prescott around the hip. It looked initially like Prescott would spin out of the tackle, but he misstepped and fell to the ground for a 5-yard loss. The Bandits would get those 5 yards back on 2^nd and 15 with a short pass to Deebo Samuel, but a shot into the endzone on 3^rd and 10 did not find Dez Bryant, and the Bandits had to settle for 3. They did not know it yet, but the difference between putting up 7 and putting up 3 on this drive would end up being huge in the final outcome.

The Bandit drive was followed by Arizona’s first successful foray into Bandit territory, a 9-play drive that saw Ka’Deem Carey break off a 10-yard run and Ryan Nassib connect with DeMarcus Robinson for the first of what would be 6 receptions for 139 yards on the day. The drive fizzled inside the Bandit 20 as Nassib suffered a sack on third and 5, with LB Preston Smith getting his 1^st of 2 on the day. That play put the ball at the 21 and set up Arizona’s Elliott Parson for a 38-yard equalizer.

The Bandits came out after a nice return, intent on cracking the Wrangler D, and they would, snagging the biggest individual play of the game on what would be a 1-play drive. With the ball on the Bandit 35, Dak Prescott faked the handoff to Dalvin Cook, drawing in the Arizona linebackers as well as safety Budda Baker. That move freed up Dez Bryant, pushing CB Joe Haden down the field. Prescott laid up a perfect deep ball and while Haden had good position, he lost the battle of height with Bryant and fell short of deflecting the ball away. Bryant glided down the sideline to complete the 65-yard play and give Tampa Bay the first touchdown of the game, just 6 seconds after Arizona’s score.

That play stung the Wranglers, who had set as a goal to keep the Bandits in front of their secondary. It also seemed to stymie any offensive confidence gained by the field goal only seconds earlier. Arizona would go 3-and-out on their next possession and a backwards bounce on the ensuing punt gave Tampa Bay possession on their own 38, another good field position start for Tampa Bay. There would be no huge individual gainer on this next Bandit drive, but over the remaining 3 minutes and 45 seconds of the first quarter, the Bandits succeeded in picking up 61 yards, placing the ball on the Arizona 1, first and goal, as the quarter changed.

There would be no goal line stand from the Wranglers as the 2^nd quarter began. Tampa Bay lined up on the 1 in their heavy personnel set and Dalvin Cook would burrow behind the left guard to score the Bandit’s 2^nd touchdown of the half, giving them a 17-3 lead just as the 2^nd quarter began. Arizona would need to dig in or the game could get out of hand quickly.

Arizona QB Ryan Nassib in pregame warmups.

The Wranglers needed to avoid another 3-and-out, and they did just that by leaning on the run game. A pair of runs from Tyler Allgeier got them their first new set of downs. They would get 2 more on the drive, one thanks to TE Robert Tonyan, the star of the Conference Final, and one from Ka’Deem Carey on a short swing pass. But, while the Wrangler drive ate up a solid 5 minutes, it ended with a punt from the Bandit 48. Tampa Bay took the touchback and started another offensive drive with just under 10 minutes to play in the half.

The Bandit’s again moved the ball well, at least at first. A pair of runs from Cook, a nice Bryant reception along the sideline and a rare catch from FB Roger Gregory helped the Bandits work their way into Arizona territory, where Harrison Butker would put up another 3 on a 45-yard kick that gave the Bandits a 17-point margin with just under 8 minutes left in the half. It was do or die time for the Wranglers. A quick turnaround could spell disaster for the Western Conference Champions.

The Wranglers responded well to the pressure of the moment, and finally broke a big play of their own, with Ryan Nassib escaping what would be the 3^rd sack of the game and finding DeMarcus Robinson open behind the defense. The play would cover 59 yards, the longest completion of the day for the Arizona quarterback. Robinson’s catch put the ball just outside the Bandit 20. From there the Wranglers pushed the ball down to the 3, but on 3^rd and goal from the 3, a well-timed all-out blitz caught Nassib by surprise, forcing him backwards before getting wrapped up by LB DeMeco Ryans. The Wranglers would have to settle for a 23-yard field goal from Parson, which still left a 14-point deficit on the board.

A frustrated Dak Prescott after a 1st half interception.

But, football is a game of opportunities and Arizona got theirs only 6 plays later, when, on a 3^rd and 8 form their own 31, the Bandits made the first major error of the game. Prescott was flushed from the pocket by LB Malik Jefferson, tried to find Deebo Samuel backtracking, but did not account for Joe Haden, who had been covering Dez Bryant until the play broke down. Haden closed on the ball and on Samuel, popping the ball into the air and then coming down with it in perfect tip drill form. The first turnover of the game would prove to be a turning point as it gave Arizona possession with 1:51 left to play and only 39 yards to the Bandit endzone.

Arizona was patient with their newfound possession. It would take them 7 plays to move the 39-yards, short, safe tosses to Tonyan and Aiyuk underneath along with inside runs from Allgeier. On 1^st and goal from the 1, following an Allgeier run that fell just short of a touchdown, Nassib faked the ball to Allgeier and found Brandon Aiyuk on an inside-out route. The speedy receiver was hit immediately by Asante Samuel, but held on, falling into the endzone for Arizona’s first touchdown and a score that made the halftime margin only 7.

As the two teams headed into the locker rooms for the half, all thoughts were on how to alter the trajectory of the 2^nd half. For the Bandits, it was about avoiding mistakes, turning those 3-point plays into 7-pointers, and finding more opportunities to break down the Wrangler defense. But, at the same time, over in Arizona’s locker room, Coach Tomsula was changing the plan. He would shift away from his single-safety deep strategy, challenge Tampa Bay to run the ball with Cook by keeping the safeties back, but also putting more pressure on the inside of the line by sliding both Bud DuPree and Carlos Dunlap inside of the tackles. That would take away the inside run, forcing his linebackers to maintain containment, but also forcing more plays to start off laterally rather than forward-facing. 

Halftime headliner Post Malone goes old school with a red solo cup.

The extended halftime gave Tomsula and his staff time to emphasize discipline to his defense and patience to his offense. They would need both in the second half. And as a halftime show headlined by Post Malone, with a surprise appearance by Dua Lipa, wrapped up, the Bandits and Wranglers took to the field with very different points of emphasis, Tampa Bay wanting to turn up their big play potential, and Arizona focused on steadiness and disciplined play. The Wranglers would almost lose that discipline on the very first play of the half.

Harrison Butker’s second half kickoff hit that awkward spot at the 5 where a returner has to decide if he will take it on the fly and seek a return or let it bounce into the endzone for a touchback. Brandon Johnson, the Wrangler return man on the right side of the field took too long to decide, with the ball bouncing up towards him at a bad angle. It glanced off his shoulder and into the endzone, but, fortunately for Johnson, the play had pushed Tyler Allgeier his direction and the rookie back was able to fall on the ball before a Bandit could get to it. Disaster avoided, but a rough start for the Wranglers.

Arizona would produce only a single first down on the drive, but that helped them flip the field, punting from their own 33, and with a booming 61-yard punt from Corey Bojorquez, Tampa Bay found themselves pushed back to their own red zone. From here certainly they would start their drive cautiously. At least that is what most imagined, but not Coach Mark Trestman, who used the 1^st and 10 from their own 12 as the perfect prelude for a deep ball attempt. Expecting single safety deep coverage, Budda Baker’s drop back just before the snap threw a wrench in the planned deep ball to Grant. Prescott looked his way, but he was in double coverage and the Bandit QB could only try to loft the ball outside of the coverage. It sailed out of bounds just out of reach for Grant, but the failed play gave Coach Tomsula the chance to reinforce his halftime message of discipline and focus on every play.

The Bandits would not gain a first down in the entire third quarter. Dak Prescott would be sacked twice, despite the lack of blitzes from the Wranglers. He would also nearly suffer a second interception, saved only by a bobble from LB A. J. Klien that kept the ball from being caught. Arizona did not fair much better, though they at least produced a pair of first downs on one drive before punting the ball back to the Bandits. What had begun as a game with big play potential had now morphed into a defensive struggle.

That shift would benefit the Wranglers, who were more than happy with their newfound defensive success. The scoreless period produced 4 total punts, and would end with Arizona backed up to their own 7 after a good punt by Matt Araiza of the Bandits. The Wranglers would get out of the shadow of their own endzone with a nicely-timed screen to Ka’Deem Carey, gaining 12 yards and helping the Wranglers move the ball out to the 41 before having to punt once again. For the 2^nd time in a row, Corey Bojorquez would uncork a beauty, this one traveling nearly 60 yards again but bouncing out of bounds at the Bandit 4, setting up the Bandits with a first and 10 from their own goalline early in the 4^th.

Predictably, Tampa Bay tried an inside run on 1^st and 10, but Dalvin Cook was stuffed by LB Scooby Wright, forcing a 2^nd and 11 from the 3. Arizona had not blitzed once in the third quarter, but with the ball inside the 3, they took a chance, expecting Tampa Bay to try to pass their way out of the endzone. The guess was a good one, the blitz a perfect call, and immediately effective as Carlos Dunlap found Dak Prescott just as the Bandit QB tried to dump the ball off to Cook in the flat. Prescott was forced to eat the ball and that produced a safety that moved the Wranglers to only 5 points down with 11:16 to play.

The ensuing free kick pushed Arizona back to their own 43, and they could not advance the ball, so the Bandits took over again just 3 minutes later, but the safety had impacted both Prescott’s confidence in the pocket and Coach Trestman’s insistence on big play dynamics. Tampa would move the ball down the field, eventually getting in range for a Butker kick from 48 yards out, but the ball slipped to the left and outside the uprights, keeping the score an awkward 20-15 with just under 6 minutes to play. 

Could you have picked Arizona TE Robert Tonyan out of a lineup 2 weeks ago?

Arizona was down 5, and with time slipping away, the odds of getting two field goal tries seemed less than favorable. They needed a touchdown. And to get that, they needed to do something Tampa Bay did not expect. The Wranglers turned to one of the unsung heroes of their team, a player who came up big only a week ago in their hard-fought victory over Seattle, tight end Robert Tonyan. Coach OC Nick Jones called a play designed to match up Tonyan with Bandit LB Preston Brown. The play would force the safeties and corners deep to deal with Aiyuk, Robinson and Lockett, allowing Tonyan open space underneath. The play worked perfectly, with Tonyan finding room underneath, catching the 9-yard pass, and finding open space ahead of him. He would get a brilliant block from Tyler Lockett, who, amazingly, would finish the game without a catch, but who did his part on this play, blocking Derwin James away from Tonyan, a move that allowed the big man to shrug off a cornerback on his way to a 52-yard gain, placing the ball on the Tampa Bay 12. From there it would be a 4-yard run by Carey, followed by another big play to the TE, this time blocking end Maxx Williams, who took on an initial rusher before rolling out to the flat, catching the ball from Nassib and rumbling into the endzone for the go-ahead score.

Arizona had turned the script inside out, using a big play to break down the Bandit defense and then finishing the drive efficiently to take their first lead of the game. With 4:11 left to play, they would go for 2 to try to build a 3-point lead, one they would need to defend against what would certainly be a blistering Bandit attack. The PAT attempt, a roll-out pass intended for Aiyuk, did not connect and the Wranglers now faced the reality of a 1-point lead to defend for 4 minutes against the league’s most potent offense, but a lead is still a lead and for the Wranglers it was more than they could have realistically hoped for when they were down 20-3.

The final 4 minutes of the game saw the Bandits get only 1 real shot at scoring. Their next possession ended quickly, with two incompletions forcing a punt after only 68 seconds had come off the clock. They would get the ball back after sacking Ryan Nassib on both 2^nd and 3^rd downs on the ensuing Arizona possession, but it would force them to use all three of their timeouts, getting the ball back with 1:31 left, but needing to reach at least the Arizona 35 to have a real shot at a game-ending field goal from their veteran kicker.

Arizona had been defending against the big play all game, had been dropping safeties for the entire second half, but now it was not the 40-yard play that was the risk, it was a series of 11 yard plays that had Coach Tomsula reminding his defenders of their assignments and the need for focus. The very first play of the drive proved why that focus is so important. What started as a 10-yard completion to TE Jordan Cameron turned into a 33-yard gain when Cameron shrugged off a hit intended to send him out of bounds, regained his balance and rambled down the sideline before finally stepping out. The Bandits were now close enough to produce real worry, sitting on the Wrangler 49, only 15 yards from a realistic field goal attempt for Butker.

Coach Tomsula called a timeout to give his defenders a moment to breathe, to refocus, and to remember that the game was not yet lost. They returned to the field focused on the task at hand, defend that 15 yards like it was the last 15 on the field. On 1^st and 10, Prescott tried to find Samuel on an out-cutting route, but his throw went too far to Samuel’s outside, forcing the receiver out of bounds before the ball came in. On 2^nd and 10, Prescott found his receiver, but Dez Bryant’s catch produced only 4 yards, leaving a 3rd and 6 from the 43. Third down proved even worse for the Bandits as a bubble screen to Bryant was blown up before the receiver could even get to the line, with Joe Haden and Malik Jefferson trapping the 2021 OPOTY 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Back at the 46, with 38 seconds left in the game, Coach Trestman had a tough call to make. Would he trot out Butker for what would be a near impossible kick of 63 yards, well beyond his career best of 57, or would he send out Prescott and the offense to try to convert a 4^th and 7? Without a timeout available to think the play over, Trestman kept Prescott on the field, setting up a “4^th and the Game” situation. 

Coach Tomsula gets a 4th ring, cementing his place in USFL history as the Wrangler Dynasty nabs another title.

Coach Tomsula signaled to MLB A. J. Klien to both shorten widen the coverage. The Wranglers might allow Tampa Bay to catch a ball over the middle, but not on the outside, inside and the clock keeps ticking, outside and at least 8 yards down field and they get a timeout and a real shot to set up a field goal. The play came in, Prescott in the shotgun, Cook moving in motion from the backfield out to the right. At the snap, the two Arizona safeties took man coverage along with all 3 corners. Linebackers Malik Jefferson and Scooby Wright dropped back into the shallow zones. Tampa shifted their blocking outwards, hoping to keep Bud DuPree from reaching Prescott, but it was that shift that would produce immediate pressure, with DT Snacks Harrison looping around linemate Jason Hargrave and finding a path towards Prescott. The Bandit QB had to release the ball early, hoping he could place it where TE Jordan Cameron could bring it in. But Cameron had not been able to break past Jefferson. The ball came in low and Cameron was not in a position to scoop it off the turf. The ball careened off the Audi Field grass and the Wrangler faithful in the stadium erupted in celebration.

It would take only one Ryan Nassib kneeldown to end the game and give the Wranglers their 4^th title in the past 10 years. Arizona had come back from 17 down, had shut out the Bandits offense for nearly 38 minutes, and had fought their way back to a USFL title. For the Bandits it was an opportunity lost, a chance to make history slipping between their fingers, and a frustrating paucity of the very big yardage plays that had been their bread and butter all season long that did them in. Coach Trestman congratulated Coach Tomsula mid-field, and as copper, red, and gold confetti rained down on the stadium, the Wranglers celebrated another title and another trophy in a case that had stood empty for 30 years but was now getting quite cluttered with honors.

Ryan Nassib, who just one year ago had been demoted in Washington, finished his first year back with the Wranglers with a ring and with the Summer Bowl MVP award. His 20 of 34, 311-yard, 2-TD day had crept up on many, with more eyes on Prescott, who would finish only 12 of 27 for 241. And as the stars came out over the District, the night belonged to the 4-time USFL Champion Arizona Wranglers.

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Hello USFL Fans. A quick word that this Summer Bowl recap will not be the last thing I post on the USFL Lives before shutting down and starting work on a new project. You may have already noticed that I have updated the Hall of Fame, Teams, and League History Pages to provide a full 40-year alt-history perspective to this project. I will follow this article up with one more 40-Year Retrospective on the USFL Lives project, including more stats and facts from the project's 40 simulated seasons.

I hope you have enjoyed what started as a pet project during COVID 19 and turned into a 6-year trip that saw me put out 40 seasons of imagined USFL football, with just about 10,000 pages of text and hundreds of articles. I have loved hearing from you about what you love and what you wish could have been in a world where the USFL did not die out in 1986. Hoping you will join me as I go even further back into the annals of failed football leagues to reimagine a very different path for the short-lived World Football League. The goal is to kick off the Alt-History with league building over 1973-1974 in the first week of September. Before that, please check out the Concept message board at Chris Creamer's outstanding Sportslogos.net website, where I will post some pre-kickoff designs, announce opportunities for you to participate in the WFL Reborn project, and to help me design the league, and its path from 1973 into the future. It will not be a rehash of the USFL Lives project, as I plan to take the league in a different direction, but it will be (hopefully) just as engaging, and offer a lot of "what if" moments, as I hope The USFL Lives has.