Tampa Bay 35 at New Orleans 13

1984 Week 8 - Monday, April 16, 1984
Tampa Bay Bandits(4-3) at New Orleans Breakers(6-1)(-4.5)
Attendance: 35,634, TV: ESPN

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Tampa Bay and quarterback John Reaves, started out slowly, but picked up the pace during the second quarter while the New Orleans Breakers looked just awful.

Reaves, who threw for two touchdowns, passed for 126 of his 174 yards in a 21-point second period to help the Bandits upset New Orleans, 35-13, in a United States Football League game Monday night.

New Orleans stayed in the game as long as it did only by recovering three Tampa Bay fumbles -- two by Gary Anderson and another by Reaves -- in the Bandits' first three possessions.

The victory knocked New Orleans, 6-2, out of a first-place tie with Birmingham in the USFL Southern Division and kept Tampa Bay, 5-3, alive in the developing Eastern Conference playoff picture.

"It was a 'must' game for us. New Orleans could afford to lose, we couldn't." said Tampa Bay coach Steve Spurrier.

"We could not get any rhythm in our offense," Breakers coach Dick Coury said. "I just can't explain a game like that. I wish I could explain it, but I can't."

Reaves threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to tight end Marvin Harvey for the last of the three second quarter touchdowns that rallied the Bandits from a 7-0 deficit at the end of the first quarter.

Gary Anderson's two-yard touchdown dive with 5:04 gone in the second period tied the game at 7-7. Both plays came on third down during a streak in which Tampa Bay was successful on 11 consecutive third down possessions.

Fullback Greg Boone, enjoying his second 100-yard game, ran seven yards for the Bandits' second score just 3:31 later. He finished with 108 yards on 21 carries.

Tampa Bay's defense, which rendered the USFL's most potent offense impotent, held New Orleans to just 1 yard rushing in the two series sandwiched between the Bandits' three scoring drives.

Highlights

	1	2	3	4	F
TB	0      21	0      14   -   35
NO	7      	0	0	6   -   13

Scoring

NO: Ross 22 yd pass from Walton (Mazzetti kick) - NO 7, TB 0

TB: G. Anderson 2 yd run (Andrusyshyn kick) - TB 7, NO 7

TB: Boone 7 yd run (Andrusyshyn kick) - TB 14, NO 7

TB: Harvey 31 yd pass from Reaves (Andrusyshyn kick) - TB 21, NO 7

TB: Williams 21 yd run (Andrusyshyn kick) - TB 28, NO 7

TB: Morgan 6 yd pass from Reaves (Andrusyshyn kick) - TB 35, NO 7

NO: Jordan 4 yd run (pass failed) - TB 35, NO 13

Box Score

                              TB             NO
First Downs                   20             15
Rushes-Yards              37-178          21-86
Passing (A-C-Y-I)    27-16-174-0    40-16-214-1
Sacked-Yards Lost           2-13            1-8
Total Plays-Yards         66-339         62-292
Fumbles-Lost                 4-3            1-0
Penalties-Yards             7-58           6-53
Turnovers                      3              1
Time of Possession         34:07          25:53

Attendance = 35,634 

TAMPA BAY				     NEW ORLEANS
Passing     Att Cmp Yds In Td  Rate          Passing     Att Cmp Yds In Td  Rate
Reaves       27  16 174  0  2 103.0          Walton       23   8 125  1  1  50.1
                                             Dupree        1   0   0  0  0  39.6
                                             Casarino      1   0   0  0  0  39.6
                                             Woodward     15   8  89  0  0  71.3

Rushing     Att Yds  Ave TD                  Rushing     Att Yds  Ave TD
Boone        21 108  5.1  1                  Jordan       13  68  5.2  1
Anderson G   13  59  4.5  1                  Dupree        5  15  3.0  0
Williams      3  11  3.7  1                  Schellen      3   3  1.0  0

Receiving   Rec Yds  Ave TD                  Receiving   Rec Yds  Ave TD
Harvey        4  63 15.8  1                  Smith C       2  49 24.5  0
Truvillion    3  58 19.3  0                  Brown         2  40 20.0  0
Gillespie     2  21 10.5  0                  Lockett       2  38 19.0  0
Anderson G    5  20  4.0  0                  Ross          2  35 17.5  1
Boone         1   6  6.0  0                  Jordan        5  32  6.4  0
Morgan        1   6  6.0  1                  Steels        2  14  7.0  0
                                             Good          1   6  6.0  0

Kick Returns   No Yds  Ave TD                Kick Returns   No Yds  Ave TD
Bailey          3  39 13.0  0                Good            6 112 18.7  0

Punt Returns   No Yds  Ave TD                Punt Returns   No Yds  Ave TD
Bailey          3  51 17.0  0                Wilson          1   0  0.0  0

Kicking          Fg  Lg   Xp  Pts            Kicking          Fg  Lg   Xp  Pts
Andrusyshyn     0-1  --  5-5    5            Mazzetti        0-1  --  1-1    1
                miss: 40                                     miss: 46-

Punting        No Yds  Ave                   Punting        No Yds  Ave
Andrusyshyn     2  90 45.0                   Casarino        4 160 40.0

Sacks          Sk Yds                        Sacks          Sk Yds
Butler        0.5   4                        Gaylord         2  13
Harrell       0.5   4                         

Interceptions  No Yds  Ave TD                Interceptions  No Yds  Ave TD
Harrell         1   8  8.0  0                None

Archived news report

Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn

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