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Tampa Bay Storm Playoff Game Notes

May 27, 2003 - Arena Football League (AFL)
Tampa Bay Storm News Release


The Tampa Bay Storm make their 13th consecutive appearance in the Arena Football League playoffs this weekend when they host the Detroit Fury on Saturday, May 31, at the St. Pete Times Forum. The Storm, seeded second in the playoffs, will be playing their first game in the 2003 postseason after receiving a first-round playoff bye. The Fury, seeded No. 10, earned the right to face the Storm with an upset victory over the No. 7 seed Grand Rapids Rampage last weekend.

The meeting will be the second of the season for the Storm and Fury. The teams also met on March 2 in Tampa, when the Storm scored a 62-60 victory over the Fury. Tampa Bay is 3-0 all-time against the Detroit Fury, but the teams have never met in the postseason.

LAST MEETING – March 2, 2003
TAMPA BAY 62, Detroit 60

The Tampa Bay Storm used a four-touchdown performance by offensive specialist Freddie Solomon and held off a late charge by the Detroit Fury to pick up a 62-60 victory before 15,434 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla.

Tampa Bay improved its record to 3-2 with the win. Detroit dropped to 3-2 overall.

Tampa Bay jumped out to a 28-17 lead midway through the second quarter and held onto a double-digit lead until late in the fourth quarter. Tampa Bay scored on all but two of its offensive possessions and outgained the Fury, 338-297, in total offense.

Solomon, who earned Game MVP honors, scored two touchdowns through the air, catching five passes for 105 yards. He also added a pair of rushing touchdowns and returned five kickoffs for 100 yards.

Lawrence Samuels took home Ironman of the Game honors after catching five passes for 82 yards and a touchdown, intercepting a pass, and recording two assisted tackles on defense.

Storm quarterback John Kaleo eclipsed the 300-yards passing mark for the second straight game, completing 17-of-23 passes for 314 yards and six touchdowns. He also went over the 19,000 career passing yards mark.

Detroit quarterback Andy Kelly completed 24-of-38 passes for 297 yards and seven touchdowns in the game. Receiver Marcus Nash hauled in four touchdown catches, catching six passes for 86 yards. Junior Lord also had six catches for 100 yards and a touchdown.

SECOND HALF SURGE

In the first meeting this season the Detroit Fury found itself trailing the Storm 35-17 at halftime and faced a 17-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter. However, after a fumble by David Saunders inside the Fury red zone and an onside kick recovered by Detroit, the Fury rallied late to make the game closer than it probably should have been.

In all Detroit scored 29 fourth-quarter points and outscored Tampa Bay 43-27 in the second half. The 29 fourth-quarter points and 43 second-half points were the most ever scored against the Storm in the fourth quarter and second half.

ONE OF THE FEW

The Detroit Fury were one of only a handful of teams this season to hold the Storm without a sack when the teams met on March 2. The Storm led the AFL and tied a team single-season record with 29 quarterback sacks on the season, but thanks to the Fury offensive line and the quick release of Andy Kelly, the Storm were unable to record a sack against the Fury. Only two other teams this season held the Storm defense without a sack – Grand Rapids on February 23 and Carolina on April 11.

LOOKING TO MAKE HISTORY

The Tampa Bay Storm have played 25 postseason games in their history, winning 17 and losing eight. However, the lowest seeded team to ever beat Tampa Bay was the eighth-seeded Orlando Predators in 1999. That was an upset of major proportions, as the Storm were the top-seeded team that season, only to lose in the quarterfinals against their arch rivals. Should the Fury upset Tampa Bay, they would become the lowest seed ever to beat the Storm in the playoffs.

HOME COOKING

Saturday afternoon's game against Detroit will mark Tampa Bay's 15th home playoff game since the 1991 season. The Storm are 11-3 in past home postseason games, but were humiliated 68-31 by the Indiana Firebirds in their last postseason contest in the St. Pete Times Forum.

Furthermore, the Storm carry a two-game home losing streak into Saturday afternoon's game. After winning six straight home contests to open the 2003 season, Tampa Bay lost back-to-back home games to Colorado and San Jose to close out the home slate.

Looking back at Tampa Bay's home playoff history, the Storm are 3-3 in the playoffs at the St. Pete Times Forum (formerly the Ice Palace). Tampa Bay was 8-0 in the playoffs when playing home games at the Thunder Dome in St. Petersburg prior to the 1997 season.

IT'S AN OMEN

What more could you ask for than to have legendary Tampa Bay Storm head coach Tim Marcum open the Arena Football playoffs against a team from Detroit, the city where Marcum made a name for himself in the Arena Football League? Marcum coached the Detroit Drive in 1988-89 and 1991-93. In his five seasons in Detroit, Marcum compiled a 50-10 overall record, including a 10-2 mark in the playoffs. Marcum guided the Drive to the ArenaBowl in all five seasons, winning three AFL championships.

RICH PLAYOFF HISTORY

Though the Storm and Detroit Fury have never met in the playoffs, the Storm do have a playoff history with Detroit. Tampa Bay faced off against the now-defunct Detroit Drive twice in the three seasons in which the teams were both in the league, with each contest coming in the ArenaBowl.

The Storm battled the Tim Marcum-led Drive in ArenaBowl V in 1991 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The Storm scored on a Jay Gruden touchdown pass to Stevie Thomas with 0:39 left in the game, capping off a 48-42 victory.

In 1993, the Storm again traveled to Detroit to face the Marcum-led Drive in ArenaBowl VII. This time, however, the outcome wasn't in doubt for nearly as long, as the Storm scored 30 first-half points to deliver an early TKO to the Drive en route to a 51-31 victory.

Going back even further, the Pittsburgh Gladiators, which eventually moved to Tampa Bay in 1991 and became known as the Tampa Bay Storm, also faced the Drive in the playoffs in Detroit's first three seasons in the league. Detroit downed Pittsburgh 34-25 in the semifinals in 1987 en route to Detroit's first ArenaBowl championship. The Drive then defeated Pittsburgh 39-26 in ArenaBowl III in 1989 before downing the Gladiators 61-30 in the 1990 semifinals.

POSTSEASON ACCOLADES

Despite finishing tied for the best overall record in the league, the Tampa Bay Storm did not place any players on the first-team All-Arena squad. The Storm did, however, have three players on the second-team All-Arena unit.

WR/LB Lawrence Samuels, OL/DL BJ Cohen, and DS Omarr Smith all received second-team All-Arena honors. It marked the first time that Samuels and Smith were named All-Arena and the second time Cohen received the honor. He was previously named All-Arena in 2000 with the Orlando Predators.

But those weren't the only postseason honors for Tampa Bay players. Samuels and Cohen were also named to the league's All-Ironman team, while OL/DL Al Lucas was named to the All-Rookie squad.

Samuels, Cohen, and Smith are also candidates for some of the league's most prestigious individual awards. Samuels is a candidate for Ironman of the Year, while Cohen is a Lineman of the year candidate and Smith is a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

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