The Memphis Showboats are the newest team on the block after leaving the Bandits name behind and donning shiny new Showboat blue and yellow. While the team name, city, and colors are all different from last year, the Bandits ghost still lingers over the Boats as they look to prove they are a new team to go along with their new brand.
The coaching staff is mostly intact besides losing DC Pepper Johnson in the off-season along with promoting secondary coach and former NFL safety Carnell Lake into the open position. The Tampa Bay Bandits were an underwhelming 4-6 last season with a few flashes here and there of possible greatness. One huge factor to the Bandits rough season was 567 penalty yards, enough two be second in the league just behind the New Orleans Breakers at 591. Sloppiness and undisciplined play will hurt you every time whether it's on offense starting 1st & 15 due to a false start, or on special teams negating a great return because of a holding call or block in the back. Besides the penalties the Bandits' other huge struggle was turnovers. The Bandits finished easily in last place when it came to turnover margin last year with a turnover differential of -10. Bandits defense managed to cause 10 turnovers but they ultimately were all for naught as the offense gave the ball away 20 times, most in the league!! The Bandits had 13 INTs to go alongside 7 lost fumbles. Ask any coach at any level of football and they all say the same thing “The ball is the program. Take care of the ball and we have a shot to win every game”
The 20 giveaways coupled with 567 penalty yards and an offense that just never seemed to get going spelled out an ugly season for Bandits fans in year one. This year Coach Haley and company need to fix those issues if they want any shot at a “re-birth” season with the Memphis Showboats coming back to town for the first time in 40 years. The folks around the Memphis area seem to be embracing their new professional football team, but that can change quickly if the Showboats start to look like their team of last year. It's not obvious what it was last year that had Coach Haley's offense looking so inept at times, but the new QB room is more suited to Todd Haley's style of offense. Throughout his time in the NFL, Haley coached QBs like Kurt Warner, Matt Cassel, and Ben Roethlisberger. All of which would not be considered a “dual-threat” QB besides MAYBE Big Ben, and even then he mostly avoided guys in the pocket as opposed to running for yards the way Jordan Ta'Amu can. It is no far cry to think Haley didn't know how to mesh his offense with Ta'Amu's skillset, and that seemed to show up week in and week out.
We are now the Showboats, and our new hashtag is "Showtime", so the fans in Memphis will be expecting a show in 2023. Here's hoping that Todd Haley and the players can live up to the Showboat name in season 2 of the USFL and Showboat ALL OVER THE LEAGUE!!!
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