Bandits beat up Maulers 17-3

    Jordan Ta'amu led the Tampa Bay Bandits sixty-eight yards down the field after taking the opening kickoff and when B.J. Emmons crashed into the end zone after covering the final three of those yards, the Bandits had all the points that they would need to defeat the Pittsburgh Maulers in a 17-3 win at the USFL hub in Birmingham.

Ta'amu would throw a touchdown to Jordan Lasley just before halftime and would finish with 185 passing yards and two interceptions.

Tight End Cheyenne O'Grady was the offensive star with eight catches for eighty-nine yards.

The now 1-0 Bandits will next face the New Orleans Breakers on Sunday, who won their first game 23-17 over the Philadelphia Stars.

Bandit Ball

1) So... Why the Bandits?

I've written about the original USFL here before and if you read those posts, I've discussed the various reasons that I rooted for a different team in each of the three seasons of the league.

None of those three (Chicago Blitz, Arizona Wranglers, and Memphis Showboats) were selected for the eight teams to start the new league, so I had to pick a new one.

2) I didn't have a connection to any of the coaching hires so I picked the Bandits for the uniforms which were pretty normal looking and for the old theme song, which I hope someone has the idea of playing all the time if the league ever starts playing games in the city that the teams are named for.

3) Onto the game, which really wasn't all that exciting.

Each new football league lives and dies with the quality of its quarterback play and Jordan Ta'amu looked to be one of the better ones in the league after Ta'amu's impressive five games in the XFL with the St.Louis Battlehawks.

Ta'amu did throw two interceptions but neither were awful throws and the first was a good throw that the Mauler defensive back Arnold Tarpley simply made a better play to get to the football.

4) The Maulers allowed that opening touchdown and yet on their first seven offensive plays, Pittsburgh called running plays.

Those possessions would result in two punts and a failed fourth-down conversion.

5) It seems like the Bandit offense is going to run through tight end Cheyenne O'Grady, who was targeted eleven times.

It's early but there is some chemistry between O'Grady and Jordan Ta'amu.

6) Any time a defense can hold someone to only three points, they've done a good job but Pittsburgh barely threatened other than the field goal and a late-game drive inside the red zone when the Bandits would stop a completion short of the first down.

Pepper Johnson had his team prepared to play and the Bandit defense was dominant.

7) BUT before we get too excited when you look at new leagues, it is very easy to overhype one victory, no matter how strong that win is.

You won't know for a few weeks which team is the best and it could be that team A just happened to draw the weakest team in the league and you just didn't know it at the time.

8) Forgive the late takes on this as I wasn't able to watch the games live and had to wait until the FS1 replay with the caveat of then needing the time to watch!

That's why some of the names are missing from this report, I'll try to do better for the next game against the Breakers!.