{"id":28,"date":"2023-01-15T19:54:50","date_gmt":"2023-01-15T19:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/?page_id=28"},"modified":"2025-05-26T09:08:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T13:08:39","slug":"tampa-bay-bandits","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/tampa-bay-bandits\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Bandits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c10230\">Tampa Bay Bandits &#8211; Bandit Ball! Stealing Wins and Lighting Up the Scoreboard!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c10230\"><strong>Vital Info<\/strong><br><br>Founded: 1983<br>Stadium: Tampa Stadium<br>Head Coach: Steve Spurrier<br>Divsion: South<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c10230\">1986 Season<br><br>Record: 0 &#8211; 0<br>Next Game: at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/oklahoma-outlaws\/\">Oklahoma Outlaws<\/a> (1986 Kickoff Weekend)<br>Stat Leader:<br>Trend<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c10230\"><strong>Key Stats (Coming Soon)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c10230\"><strong>Roster Highlights<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c10230\"><strong>Franchise History<\/strong><br><br><strong>Tampa Bay Bandits \u2013 A History of High-Flying Offenses &amp; Near-Misses (1983-1985)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8220;From Growing Pains to Glory\u2014The Bandits\u2019 Rise Under Spurrier&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c10230\"><strong>1983: A Rough Debut (6-12) \u2013 &#8220;The Year the Bandits Were Robbed&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Injury Woes:<\/strong>\u00a0The Bandits\u2019 inaugural season was derailed early when their starting QB  went down, forcing Spurrier to scramble at quarterback.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Spurrier\u2019s Learning Curve:<\/strong>\u00a0The &#8220;Fun \u2018n\u2019 Gun&#8221; offense showed flashes but lacked consistency, and the defense struggled in shootouts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Silver Lining:<\/strong>\u00a0Despite the losing record, the Bandits were\u00a0<strong>fun to watch<\/strong>, laying the foundation for future success.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c10230\"><strong><strong>1984: Breakout Year (13-5) \u2013 &#8220;The Two-Headed Monster Arrives&#8221;<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Dual 1,000-Yard Rushers:<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Gary Anderson<\/strong>\u00a0(elusive scatback) and\u00a0<strong>Greg Boone<\/strong>\u00a0(power runner) became the first Bandits teammates to\u00a0<strong>both rush for 1,000+ yards<\/strong>\u00a0in a season.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reaves Finds His Groove:<\/strong>\u00a0With a healthy QB and a dominant run game, Spurrier\u2019s play-action passing attack torched defenses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Playoff Heartbreak:<\/strong>\u00a0Lost a\u00a0<strong>thriller to Birmingham<\/strong> in the playoff &#8211;Not yet ready.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c10230\"><strong><strong>1985: Championship-Caliber (14-4) \u2013 &#8220;So Close, Yet So Far&#8221;<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anderson Shines Again:<\/strong>\u00a0Rushed for another\u00a0<strong>1,000+ yards<\/strong>, but Boone\u2019s role diminished (<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reaves\u2019 Veteran Leadership:<\/strong>\u00a0The old gunslinger thrived in Spurrier\u2019s system, throwing for\u00a0<strong>3,500+ yards<\/strong>\u00a0and 30+ TDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>USFL Championship Loss:<\/strong>\u00a0Fell to the\u00a0<strong>Chicago Blitz<\/strong>\u00a0in a high-stakes showdown\u2014blown out when it mattered most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tampa Bay Bandits &#8211; Bandit Ball! Stealing Wins and Lighting Up the Scoreboard! Vital Info Founded: 1983Stadium: Tampa StadiumHead Coach: Steve SpurrierDivsion: South 1986 Season Record: 0 &#8211; 0Next Game: at Oklahoma Outlaws (1986 Kickoff Weekend)Stat Leader:Trend Key Stats (Coming Soon) Roster Highlights Franchise History Tampa Bay Bandits \u2013 A History of High-Flying Offenses &amp; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/tampa-bay-bandits\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Tampa Bay Bandits<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.2guysgaming.net\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}