Arena football

Tampa Bay contains league's top rusher

By FRANK PASTOR
Published March 7, 2005

TAMPA - Grand Rapids quarterback Michael Bishop was on the Storm's mind last week, as the team devoted practice time to stopping the Arena league's rushing leader.

But by the end of Sunday's game, it was Tampa Bay that had gotten into Bishop's head.

By applying pressure up the middle and keeping containment on the outside, the Storm held Bishop to 18 rushing yards, 48 fewer than his average. Grand Rapids tried to pass over the top of Tampa Bay's man-to-man coverage, but the pressure up front forced Bishop to overthrow his receivers.

"We knew their scheme, so we tried to keep him in the box, not let him get outside the ends," said lineman Ricky Hall , who had one of the Storm's three sacks. "He kind of took off a couple times up the middle, but we kept him screened in and tried to hit him. He's a great athlete. He's going to get his yards anyway, so you've got to hold him to a minimum."

In addition to Hall's sack, lineman Nyle Wiren forced a fumble that linebacker Umar Muhammad recovered and Muhammad sacked Bishop in the end zone for a safety.

"Most of the pressure came from up the middle," said Bishop, 16-for-37 for 259 yards and five touchdowns. "We do a lot of three-step (drops), a lot of five steps. When you've got a guy coming up the middle hard, it's hard on the quarterback."

STEAMED: Storm coach Tim Marcum was upset that the referee didn't mark the ball for play before a Grand Rapids onside kick in the closing seconds, forcing the Rampage to rekick.

"It wasn't necessarily that we didn't get the ball back," Marcum said. "The thing that's important is he risked getting another kid hurt. That's the thing. Had I got another kid hurt on that play, that's a dangerous play. That ball is popped up, and our guys are sitting waiting for it."

WELL-DEFENSED: Storm defensive specialist Jonathan Ordway was named defensive player of the game after making four tackles and breaking up a pass while limiting Chris Jackson , the league's 2003 offensive player of the year, to two TD catches.

"He did a nice job covering whomever they sent in motion," Marcum said. "That was his job, and he did a nice job with it."

GRAND EXIT: Grand Rapids' Travis Reece was penalized for an illegal exit when he jumped into the stands after realizing the Rampage had too many men on the field before a Storm extra-point kick. ... Grand Rapids receiver/defensive back Dennison Robinson wore No. 1, because his No. 2 jersey went missing at one of the airports during the trip from Michigan to Tampa.

[Last modified March 7, 2005, 01:58:12]