The Michigan Panthers, champions of the United States
Football League’s first season in 1983, had gotten off to a 6-0 start in ’84.
Head Coach Jim Stanley’s team, featuring the passing combination of QB Bobby
Hebert to WR Anthony Carter, looked as though it was on its way to another
title until Carter suffered a season-ending broken arm in the sixth game. The
Panthers lost the two that followed and were not the same without the second-year
wide receiver, who was also an outstanding punt returner.
On April 23, 1984 Michigan
hosted the Tampa Bay Bandits at the Pontiac Silverdome. The Bandits, coached by
Steve Spurrier, were 5-3 and had won their previous two contests after losing
three straight. 34-year-old veteran QB John Reaves directed the attack and had
outstanding targets in WR Eric Truvillion and TE Marvin Harvey. RB Gary
Anderson, in his first full year with the club, was proving to be a productive
all-purpose back.
There were 31,443 fans in attendance for the Monday night
contest. The visitors started out impressively, putting together an eight-play,
80-yard drive in their first possession. Reaves completed two key third down
passes to Harvey
along the way and finished the possession off by connecting with the tight end
once more for a 12-yard touchdown.
Meanwhile, the Panthers were having difficulties moving the
ball. But after two uninspiring possessions, Hebert woke up the crowd with a
bomb to WR Walter Broughton, running a deep post pattern, that covered 80 yards.
The score was tied at 7-7 after a quarter of play.
The Bandits got a break in the second quarter when Michigan
RB John Williams fumbled the ball in his own territory and it was recovered by Tampa
Bay LB James Harrell, who returned it 18 yards. Reaves quickly tossed another
TD pass, this time of 17 yards to Truvillion in the left corner of the end zone,
and Tampa Bay was back in front with 4:40 left in the half.
There was very little offense on display in the second half,
but with the defense keeping the Panthers in check, the Bandits could afford to
play for ball control. Zenon Andrusyshyn added field goals of 38 and 20 yards
(he also missed twice, from 42 and 44 yards) and Tampa Bay
John Reaves (pictured above) completed 22 of 37 passes for 251 yards with two touchdowns and an interception (
For the Panthers, Bobby Hebert went to the air 35 times and
completed 18 for 262 yards with the one TD but was intercepted four times
(twice by CB Warren Hanna). TE Mike Cobb had 7 receptions for 68 yards while,
thanks to the long scoring play, Warren Broughton led the team in receiving
yards with 96 on his two catches. RB Ken Lacy rushed for 34 yards on 9 carries
and added 6 pass receptions for 52 yards.
“We felt that since they had lost two games in a row they would
want to set up their running game,” said DE Mike Butler of the Bandits, a former
Green Bay Packer. “So what we wanted to do was take that away from them from
the beginning and that's what we accomplished.”
“It’s difficult to do the job when we get outplayed,” said a
disappointed Coach Jim Stanley. “We didn’t get enough pressure on the
quarterback. It appeared that we didn’t have enough heart and soul.”
The third straight defeat for Michigan
put them in a three-way tie atop the Central Division with Houston
and Oklahoma .
They lost again the following week before ending the slide and ultimately made
it into the postseason as a Wild Card entry with a 10-8 record, losing an epic
overtime game to the Los Angeles Express.
The third straight win for Tampa Bay
John Reaves had an outstanding season, throwing for 4092
yards and 28 touchdowns. Eric Truvillion and Marvin Harvey each caught 70
passes and scored 9 TDs, with 1044 and 938 yards, respectively.
Bobby Hebert, dealing with the effects of a knee injury that
hindered his mobility as well as the loss of his primary receiver, ended up
with 3758 passing yards and 24 TD passes, but also gave up 22 interceptions,
tying him for second in the USFL in that dubious category.
