Pittsburgh Maulers shut down by Tampa Bay in opener
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One game in, the second incarnation of the USFL’s Pittsburgh Maulers didn’t look any better than the first.
Jordan Ta’amu threw for 185 yards and a touchdown and the Tampa Bay Bandits handled the Maulers, 17-3, Monday night at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Ala.
Tampa Bay’s head coach is former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley.
The game was originally scheduled for Sunday night but was bumped back a day by bad weather. All regular-season USFL games will be played this season in Birmingham, where a sparce crowd watched the Maulers opener.
The Maulers went 3-15 in their only season in the original USFL in 1985.
The first points in the second era of Maulers history came off the toe of kicker Ramiz Ahmed on a 28-yard field goal with 4:25 left in the third quarter in a rare foray into the red zone. The score, set up by a 31-yard pass from Josh Love to Bailey Gaither, cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 17-3.
The Maulers had a chance to move within a score after a 32-yard pass from Love to Jeff Thomas got them to the 12-yard line with 11:20 left in the game, but they failed to convert a fourth-and-5 from the 8 with 8:42 to go.
The Maulers had 186 yards of total offense.
Maulers head coach Kirby Wilson was running backs coach for the Steelers from 2007-13, and in the early going, it showed.
The Maulers ran the ball on their first seven offensive snaps, failing to record a first down on their first two drives.
They used two quarterbacks. Love, a San Jose State grad who was the second quarterback chosen by the Maulers in the USFL draft, started and took the majority of snaps. Kyle Lauletta, the first QB the Maulers drafted, saw limited action.
Love was 9 for 16 for 121 yards. Lauletta went 2 for 10 for eight yards. Garret Groshek ran 16 times for 55 yards.
Tampa Bay marched down on the field on the first drive of the game, going 68 yards in eight plays in 4:11, to take a 7-0 lead. Ta’amu, an Ole Miss product, was 5 for 5 for 58 yards on the drive, which ended on a 3-yard TD run by BJ Emmons on a third-and-goal play.
The Maulers played solid defense throughout. After the opening touchdown, they held Tampa Bay to three punts and a field goal on its next four drives, before the Bandits expanded their lead with a touchdown late in the second half.
Ta’amu capped off an eight-play, 38-yard drive with a 3-yard scoring strike to Jordan Lasley 1:17 before halftime to make it 17-0.