The 2007 Tampa Bay Storm season was the 21st season for the team in the Arena Football League and 17th in Tampa. They tried to improve upon their 7–9 record from 2006 in the Southern Division, and looking to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2005. The apparent cause of their turnaround from an 0–5 start was the replacement of John Kaleo at quarterback with Brett Dietz. Whereas they were a combined 1–6 under Kaleo and the injured Stoney Case, they were 8–1 under Dietz. On June 13, two weeks after being placed on "left squad", T.T. Toliver was released by the Storm and subsequently signed with the Orlando Predators. On June 23, they clinched the #3 seed in the National Conference, and hosted a home playoff game vs. the #6 seed in the National Conference, the Columbus Destroyers, which they lost 56-55.
Coaching Tim Marcum, head coach since 1995, entered his 13th year as Storm head coach.
Season schedule Week Date Opponent Home/Away Result 1 March 2 Orlando Predators Home L 52–27 2 March 10 Dallas Desperados Away L 59–40 3 March 17 Georgia Force Home L 61–47 4 March 23 New York Dragons Home L 59–52 5 March 31 San Jose SaberCats Away L 69–49 6 April 7 New Orleans Voodoo Home W 66–43 7 April 14 Orlando Predators Away L 61–37 8ByeWeek 9 April 29 Columbus Destroyers Home W 34–32 10 May 6 Austin Wranglers Away W 66–45 11 May 12 Los Angeles Avengers Away W 40–37 12 May 18 Arizona Rattlers Home W 59–50 13 May 26 Georgia Force Away L 52–38 14 June 2 New Orleans Voodoo Away W 61–55 15 June 9 Philadelphia Soul Home W 69–59 16 June 16 Grand Rapids Rampage Away W 69–40 17 June 23 Austin Wranglers Home W 55–51
Playoff schedule Round Date Opponent Home/Away Result 1st June 30 (6) Columbus Destroyers Home L 56–55
Personnel moves
Acquired Brett Dietz was signed off of the Kansas City Brigade's practice squad
Departures Shane Stafford signed with the Orlando Predators in the off-season T.T. Toliver was released on June 12 after a 2-week dispute with head coach Tim Marcum and also signed with Orlando
Roster Tampa Bay Storm roster Quarterbacks Brett Dietz
Running backs Marvin Brown RB Jarrod Penright FB
Wide receivers Hank Edwards WR Lawrence Samuels WR Terrill Shaw WR Karl Williams WR
Offensive linemen Ernest Certain OL Tom Kaleita OL Lincoln Kennedy OL Marcus Owen OL
Defensive linemen Tom Briggs DL Ernest Certain DL Lincoln Kennedy DL Tim McGill OL Mark Word DL Linebackers Marvin Brown LB Lawrence Samuels LB
Defensive backs Jeroid Johnson DB Khalid Naziruddin DB Traco Rachal DB Bo Rogers DB Terrill Shaw DB
Special teams Seth Marler K Karl Williams KR
Injured players Stoney Case QB Rodney Filer FB/LB Geir Gudmundsen OL Byron Jones DB John Kaleo QB Clint Mitchell OL/DL Dwayne Morgan OL Rod Williams OL/DL Nyle Wiren OL/DL Practice squad Jeremy Darveau DL Tyrone Timmons WR Alex Wallace DB
Refused to Report Howard Green OL/DL
Exempt List Kevin House WR/DD
Stats
Offense
Quarterback Place Player Name Completions Attempts Comp% Yards TD's INT's Long Rating 1 Brett Dietz 199 302 65.9% 2395 47 7 47 119.3 2 John Kaleo 133 199 66.8% 1464 18 6 40 98.5 3 Stoney Case 48 73 65.8% 540 6 2 45 96.8
Running backs Place Player Name Car Yards Avg TD's Long 1 Torrance Marshall 55 107 1.9 17 9 2 Rodney Filer 27 96 3.6 9 14 3 Marvin Brown 9 43 4.8 1 23 4 *T.T. Toliver 5 24 4.8 0 13 5 John Kaleo 8 16 2 1 7 6 Brett Dietz 10 7 0.7 2 4 7 Stoney Case 4 4 1 2 3 8 Clenton Crossley 6 3 0.5 0 3 9 Rod Williams 1 1 1 0 1 10 Jarrod Penright 3 −3 −1 0 1
Wide receivers Place Player Name Rec. Yards Avg TD's Long 1 Terrill Shaw 101 1411 14 24 47 2 *T.T. Toliver 99 1193 12.1 17 45 3 Lawrence Samuels 122 1143 9.4 15 35 4 Hank Edwards 22 251 11.4 7 29 5 Karl Williams 10 140 14 3 39 6 Marvin Brown 2 35 17.5 1 20 7 Tom Kaleita 3 26 8.7 1 12 8 Torrance Marshall 3 23 7.7 0 9 9 Rodney Filer 3 20 6.7 0 10 10 Jesse Martine 2 14 7 1 12
Touchdowns Place Player Name TD's Rush Rec Ret Pts 1 Terrill Shaw 24 0 24 0 144 2 *T.T. Toliver 17 0 17 0 102 2 Torrance Marshall 17 17 0 0 102 4 Lawrence Samuels 15 0 15 0 96 5 Rodney Filer 9 9 0 0 54 6 Hank Edwards 7 0 7 0 42 7 Stoney Case 2 2 0 0 12 8 Brett Dietz 2 2 0 0 12 9 Karl Williams 2 0 1 1 12 10 Ernest Certain 1 0 1 0 6 11 Tom Kaleita 1 0 1 0 6 12 John Kaleo 1 1 0 0 6 13 Marvin Brown 1 1 0 0 6 13 Lincoln Kennedy 1 0 0 1 6
Defense Place Player Name Tackles Solo Assisted Sack Solo Assisted INT Yards TD's Long 1 Jeroid Johnson 96 88 16 0 0 0 10 152 2 45 2 Khalid Naziruddin 70 65 10 0 0 0 3 62 0 24 3 Traco Rachal 69.5 64 11 0 0 0 2 11 0 7 4 Lawrence Samuels 38 31 14 0 0 0 3 38 1 16 5 Alex Wallace 3.5 31 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 Tom Briggs 28.5 25 7 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 7 Bo Rogers 22.5 21 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 Tim McGill 18 16 4 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 9 Torrance Marshall 17.5 17 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 10 Mark Word 14 13 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 11 *T.T. Toliver 12 11 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 Bryon Jones 9 7 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 Jarrod Penright 8.5 7 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 Nyle Wiren 7 5 4 0 0 0 2 14 0 14 15 Ernest Certain 5.5 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Marcus Owen 5 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 Terrill Shaw 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 Karl Williams 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Seth Marler 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 Rodney Filer 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 Hank Edwards 3 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 John Kaleo 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 Lincoln Kennedy 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 Marvin Brown 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Special teams
Kick return Place Player Name Ret Yards TD's Long Avg Ret Yards TD's Long Avg 1 Karl Williams 46 810 1 55 17.6 0 0 0 0 0 2 *T.T. Toliver 23 458 0 41 19.9 4 78 0 28 19.5 3 Terrill Shaw 7 50 0 17 7.1 0 0 0 0 0 4 Lawrence Samuels 1 3 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 Jeroid Johnson 0 0 0 0 0 3 46 0 33 15.3 6 Alex Wallace 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 5 5 7 Lincoln Kennedy 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 4 4 8 John Kaleo 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 8 Traco Rachal 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kicking Place Player Name Extra pt. Extra pt. Att. FG FGA Long Pct. Pts 1 Seth Marler 92 99 16 20 41 0.800 140 2 Matt Leach 4 6 0 1 0 0.000 4 3 Bill Gramatica 0 4 1 3 37 0.333 3
*Waived Storm Front: Tampa Bay Storm blog | tampabay.com | St. Petersburg Times and tbt*: Archives
Playoff Stats
Offense
Quarterback Player Comp. Att. Comp% Yards TD's INT's Brett Dietz274067.531561
Running backs Player Car. Yards Avg. TD's Long Marvin Brown28404 Torrance Marshall24213 Brett Dietz22212
Wide receivers Player Rec. Yards Avg. TD's Long Lawrence Samuels1111610.5118 Terrill Shaw911212.4426 Hank Edwards33913117 Karl Williams33913017 Marvin Brown19909
Special teams
Kick return Player Ret Yards Avg Long Karl Williams 5 99 19.8 35 Terrill Shaw 3 8 2.7 8 Jeroid Johnson 1 13 13 13
Kicking Player Extra pt. Extra pt. Att. FG FGA Long Pts Seth Marler 7 8 0 1 – 7
Regular season
Week 1: vs Orlando Predators
at the St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida
The Storm opened their season with a lousy performance March 2 against their rivals the Orlando Predators. Kicker Bill Gramatica missed four extra point attempts while Predators player DeAndrew Rubin scored on two long plays to give Orlando a 14–0 lead that would hold up for the entire game as they won going away 52–27.
Scoring summary:
1st Quarter:
14:30 ORL- DeAndrew Rubin 34-yard pass from Shane Stafford (Jay Taylor kick) – 7–0 ORL 07:48 ORL- DeAndrew Rubin 42-yard pass from Shane Stafford (Jay Taylor kick) – 14–0 ORL 04:28 ORL- Jimmy Fryzel 19-yard pass from Shane Stafford (Jay Taylor kick) – 21–0 ORL 03:07 TAM- T.T. Toliver 27-yard pass from John Kaleo (Bill Gramatica kick failed) – 21–6 ORL
2nd Quarter: 12:08 TAM- Rodney Filer 1-yard run (Bill Gramatica kick failed) – 21–12 ORL 00:00 ORL- Javarus Dudley 1-yard run (Jay Taylor kick) – 28–12 ORL
3rd Quarter: 10:38 TAM- Bill Gramatica 36-yard field goal – 28–15 ORL 08:27 ORL- DeAndrew Rubin 28-yard pass from Shane Stafford (Jay Taylor kick) – 35–15 ORL 05:57 TAM- Demetris Bendross 39-yard pass from John Kaleo (Bill Gramatica kick failed) – 35–18 ORL
4th Quarter: 15:00 ORL- Jay Taylor 20-yard field goal – 38–18 ORL 11:48 TAM- Demetris Bendross 18-yard pass from John Kaleo (Bill Gramatica kick failed) – 38–24 ORL 06:01 ORL- Shane Stafford 3-yard run (Jay Taylor kick) – 45–24 ORL 02:08 ORL- Javarus Dudley 37-yard pass from Shane Stafford (Jay Taylor kick – 52–24 ORL ??:?? TAM- Bill Gramatica ??-yard field goal – 52–27 ORL
Attendance: 15,619
Offensive player of the game: Shane Stafford (ORL) Defensive player of the game: Ryan Bowers (ORL) Ironman of the game: DeAndrew Rubin (ORL)
Team 1st Down. Rush. Yds Pass. Yds Fumbles/lost Fumble yds Penal./yds TOP 3rd Down. 4th Down. ORL19203291/0156/3231:123/60/1 TB17132892/107/3528:484/81/1
Week 2: at Dallas Desperados
at the American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
In their opening road game, they again lost soundly. Despite being tied as late as the third quarter, Will Pettis, on two long plays (56 and 23 yards, respectively) gave Dallas a lead they would not lose. They went on to dominate the fourth quarter as well to win 59–40 and pick up their second victory while Tampa Bay went home to play Georgia still looking for their second victory.
Scoring summary:
1st Quarter: 14:10 DAL – Will Pettis 30 yd pass from Clint Dolezel (Dustin Bell kick failed) – 6–0 DAL 08:37 TAM – Rodney Filer 1 yd run (Matt Leach kick) – 7–6 TB 05:08 DAL – Marcus Nash 4 yd pass from Clint Dolezel (Dustin Bell kick) – 13–7 DAL 03:10 TAM – T.T. Toliver 40 yd pass from John Kaleo (Matt Leach kick failed) – 13–13
2nd Quarter: 14:39 DAL – Will Pettis 10 yd pass from Clint Dolezel (Dustin Bell kick failed) – 19–13 DAL 08:58 TAM – Rodney Filer 2 yd run (Matt Leach kick failed) – 19–19 05:37 DAL – Terrance Dotsy 8 yd pass from Clint Dolezel (Dustin Bell kick) – 26–19 DAL
3rd Quarter: Lawrence Samuels 15 yd pass from John Kaleo (Matt Leach kick) – 26–26 12:06 DAL – Will Pettis 56 yd kickoff return (Dustin Bell kick failed) – 32–26 DAL 05:34 DAL – Will Pettis 23 yd pass from Clint Dolezel (Dustin Bell kick) – 39–26 DAL
4th Quarter: 13:22 TAM – Rodney Filer 1 yd run (Matt Leach kick) – 39–33 DAL 10:22 DAL – Will Pettis 14 yd pass from Clint Dolezel (Clint Dolezel pass failed) – 45–33 DAL 03:02 DAL – Josh White 9 yd pass from Clint Dolezel (Dustin Bell kick) – 52–33 DAL 00:55 TAM – T.T. Toliver 15 yd pass from John Kaleo (Matt Leach kick) – 52–40 DAL 00:10 DAL – Willis Marshall 2 yd pass from Clint Dolezel (Dustin Bell kick) – 59–40 DAL
Attendance: 13,805
Offensive player of the game: Will Pettis (DAL) Defensive player of the game: Duke Pettijohn (DAL) Ironman of the game: Will Pettis (DAL)
Recap: DAL 59 TAM 40
Team 1st Down. Rush. Yds Pass. Yds Fumbles/lost Fumble yds Penal./yds TOP 3rd Down. 4th Down. TB19312711/0010/5630:553/71/3 DAL23302940/0011/8329:053/40/1
Week 3: vs Georgia Force
at the St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida
Still looking for their first win in week 3 vs. divisional rival the Georgia Force, the Storm would keep a close game well into the 2nd half of the game. Both Dan Burnett and Seth Marler missed on two extra point attempts. For the Force, however, they would prevail on the strength of a 21-point fourth quarter to finish the Storm and win 61–47, which left the Storm again without their first victory.
Scoring summary:
1st Quarter: 14:18 GEO – Derek Lee 4 yd pass from Chris Greisen (Dan Burnett kick) – 7–0 GEO 10:41 TAM – T.T. Toliver 11 yd pass from John Kaleo (Seth Marler kick failed) – 7–6 GEO 07:53 GEO – Chris Jackson 4 yd pass from Chris Greisen (Dan Burnett kick) – 14–6 GEO 01:09 TAM – Rodney Filer 7 yd run (Seth Marler kick) – 14–13 GEO
2nd Quarter: 13:41 GEO – Troy Bergeron 27 yd pass from Chris Greisen (Dan Burnett kick failed) – 20–13 GEO 04:17 GEO – Troy Bergeron 7 yd pass from Chris Greisen (Dan Burnett kick blocked) – 26–13 GEO 00:55 TAM – T.T. Toliver 17 yd pass from John Kaleo (Seth Marler kick failed) – 26–19 GEO
3rd Quarter: 13:00 TAM – Rodney Filer 3 yd run (Seth Marler kick) – 26–26 10:50 GEO – Troy Bergeron 5 yd pass from Chris Greisen (Dan Burnett kick) – 33–26 GEO