Injuries at the QB position highlight a wild week. Hebert's exit in Michigan costs the Panthers an undefeated season, while Kelly goes down in Arizona. Even after the week's action, news of a practice field injury to Bob Gagliano in Denver adds even more pain to a rough week for USFL field marshals.
SCORES
NJ 14 BOS 17 Boston overcomes 4 turnovers to win at home against New Jersey.
WSH 21 PHI 27 The Stars take over the Atlantic lead behind 160 yards from Kelvin Bryant.
BIR 21 MEM 16 Cribbs’ big day (163 yards) powers Birmingham to a win.
JAX 23 TBY 44 A 4 TD day from Reaves overwhelms the Bulls in Florida rivalry game.
MGN 17 CHI 20 Without Hebert the Panthers struggle and lose their first in Chicago.
PIT 6 DEN 27 Syndey & Stamper combine for 220 yards and run over the Maulers.
LA 24 OAK 16 Late Young to Townsell connection sends Invaders to 6th straight defeat.
BYES: None
GAME OF THE WEEK: Houston Gamblers 20 Arizona Wranglers 21
It was a tale of two backups in Tempe, as the Wranglers knocked Jim Kelly out of the game and found just enough behind third stringer Tim Koegel to knock off the reeling Gamblers. The game started out much as many expected, with Kelly leading an opening drive that ended with a TD. On their second possession, the Gamblers again marched down the field, this time settling for a Toni Fritsch FG. Tim Koegel rebounded for the Wranglers, hitting Trumaine Johnson on a 18 TD pass to bring the game back to within 3. Houston would go up 13-7 before Kelly was knocked out, but after a sack by Arizona’s Kit Lathrop, Kelly hobbled over to the sideline with an apparent ankle injury. That changed the game. On their next possession, Arizona again found space in the Houston secondary and Koegel hit rookie sensation Louis LIpps for a 9 yard score to take the lead 14-13.
Houston backup Danny Hale was unable to play due to a hip injury during practice, so it was the third QB, Sam Garcia, an undrafted free agent out of Southern Miss, who would have to lead the Gamblers. Jack Pardee and Mouse Davis ran a simiplified offense for the rest of the game, and Garcia did find Gerald McNeil for a score to put Houston up 20-14 late in the second quarter, but for most of the game the Run & Shoot was grounded and Houston had difficulty moving the ball.
Arizona too found it difficult to gain much traction as Tim Koegel was only able to complete 54% of his passes, and RB Tim Spencer only averaged 2.1 yards against the Gamblers defense. The gamebreaking score came off of a fluke play, as Sam Garcia, trying to hit Ricky Sanders on a slant route, threw the ball behind Sanders. The young wideout reached for the ball, but was only able to tip it skywards, where it was snagged by Wrangler’s CB Frank Minnifield. Minnifield weaved his way past an initial rush of Gamblers players and then sped into the endzone to tie the game. Frank Corral’s PAT put the Wranglers up for good as neither team would move into the opposition’s redzone for the rest of the game.
The win moves Arizona to 5-6 and now in contention with LA and Denver for the Pacific Division title. Houston, now also at 5-6 is part of the logjam of 5-win teams trying to secure a possible wild card spot in the Western Conference. Fortunately for the Gamblers, X-rays reveal that Kelly’s injury is not a fracture, and he may miss a week at most. For Arizona, hopes rest on the potential return of veteran QB Greg Landry next week.
NEWS & NOTES: Can we talk about the resurgence of the Denver Gold for a minute? They were written off as dead when they hit 0-4, but their defense has gelled, their young signal caller Bob Gagliano has started to catch fire, and the return of Harry Sydney from injury has awakened the Gold’s offense. The team has won 6 of 8 and is right back in the thick of the Pacific Division title chase as well as the conference Wild Card pool. Gagliano cracked the Top 5 in QBR this week and his 3,174 passing yards, on a team without big name receivers, is proving that Denver made the right choice to replace Ken Johnson. They have three very winnable games against Chicago, Pittsburgh and Oakland before their very late Week 16 bye. This is a team that could easily finish at 9-7 or 10-6 and take the division despite having the lowest salary budget in the league. **LATE NEWS**-- Bob Gagliano sustained an injury in practice and may miss several weeks. See below for details.
INJURIES: A lot of dings and sprains on the injury list this week. In addition to Bobby Hebert’s neck strain and Jim Kelly’s ankle tweak, others who will likely miss a week or two include Oakland WR Gordon Banks and LA’s Anthony Allen, Houston safety Donald Dykes, and Michigan DE Ronnie Paggett. In late week news, Denver may be in trouble as QB Bob Gagliano appears to have dislocated his knee during 7 on 7 drills and may miss up to a month. That is huge. It was a non-contact injury as Gagliano executed a called rollout his knee simply seemed to give way when his left foot caught in the practice field turf. More details to come next week.
LOOKING AHEAD: Craig Penrose will have to lead the Gold into their game vs. a resurgent Chicago Blitz squad at Soldier Field this week. Houston and New Jersey will also likely suit up backups at QB as they face each other this week. Arizona hosts Oakland and hopes Greg Landry will return. Meanwhile, the Stars must head to Birmingham to face the Stallions, and there is a key matchup in the Atlantic as Boston will play at RFK against the Federals. Jacksonville and Michigan have a bye this week, with the Panthers hoping that Bobby Hebert can return to action in two weeks to lead the Panthers down the home stretch.
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