Week Five saw 14 teams in action, some injuries starting to take a toll on team success, and three upsets that confirm that this season is going to remain interesting. It also saw a resurgence of some 1983 stars like Richard Crump, Craig James and Tim Spencer. It was a week that drew several divisions closer together, and proved that attrition is a factor in USFL football.
SCORES
NJ 29 WSH 30 The Feds get a big day from James to squeak by the Generals at home.
MEM 17 BOS 38 Walton finds Franz for 151 yards as Boston tries to get back into form.
PHI 21 JAX 17 With Bryant dinged, rookie Johnnie Hector powers the Stars to victory.
ARZ 24 MGN 38 Despite Tim Spencer’s 115 yard day, Hebert and Holloway win out.
CHI 7 DEN 24 The Denver D comes up big and Gagliano has his best day as a pro.
OAK 24 TBY 23 The Invaders shock Tampa, winning on a John Reaves INT returned for 6.
BYES: Pittsburgh and Birmingham
GAME OF THE WEEK: Los Angeles Express 23 Houston Gamblers 17
The say that football has three phases, and this week proved it. LA’s oft-beleaguered defense held tough against Houston’s Run & Shoot, limiting the Gamblers to 17 points. The Express offense, led by rookie Steve Young and a combo of running from Tony Boddie and LaRue Harrington, while not prolific, was potent enough to keep pace. But the star of the show was the special teams. Both punt and kick returns were strong for the Express, giving them short fields to work with all day. When the game went to overtime, special teams won the day. The Express won the coin toss and chose to receive. Houston’s Tony Fritsch directed his kick to the left corner of the endzone, but LA’s Anthony Allen, who had frustrated the Houston coverage team all day, caught the ball a yard into the endzone, made the gunner miss, and then wove his way past the Houston coverage, juking a flailing Frisch at the 45 and it was clear sailing from there, a 101 yard game winning, walk off, kick return for the Express.
NEWS & NOTES:
Attendance has fluctuated most of the year, particularly as we see bye weeks impact which teams are playing any given week. Week 5 attendance was up from the season lowpoint in week 4, but again failed to crack a 40,000 target. Jacksonville was once again the league leader, with just over 60,000 in attendance for their game against the Stars. Washington trailed the league, with only 25,788 in attendance to watch the Feds sneak past the Generals. USFL executives continue to push that 25,000 is their true target attendance number for the year, but with most franchises getting regular results in the 30,000-45,000 range, one could hope that an average near 40k could be realized.
INJURIES:
This season is proving to be a rough one on league rosters, and once again it seems Oakland, despite scoring a shocking win this week at Tampa Bay, is paying the biggest price. A week after losing RB Arthur Whittington for the year, they have lost defensive captain and tackles leader Gary Plummer for at least 10 weeks and possibly the season with a torn hamstring. Chicago too looks like it will have to reconfigure their plans for the year as former NFL QB Vince Evans has ruptured his achilles tendon and will likely miss the rest of the season. Rookie Blair Kiel is the likely candidate to run the Chicago offense for the time being. Other players who may miss some action due to injuries include CHI WR Jackie Flowers, PHI RB Kelvin Bryant, JAX RB Sidney Thornton and PHI DE James Painter.
LOOKING AHEAD:
As we enter the middle third of the season, week six has all 16 teams in action, mostly in inter-divisional play. Saturday will see New Jersey visit Memphis and Chicago visit Arizona (in a game that features the two franchises who essentially swapped places this offseason. On Sunday, the early games include Boston @ Birmingham, Washington @ Jacksonville and Pittsburgh @ Michigan. The late afternoon tilts are Houston @ Denver and Oakland traveling down the PCH to face LA. The week ends with the most anticipated game of the early season, Philly traveling to Tampa, with both teams at 3-1 and both hoping to prove they are the team to beat this season.
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