Philly falls from the unbeatens, Washington wins its 2nd in a row, and all 4 Central teams sweep the 4 Southern Division teams, including a very unexpected mauling in Tampa.
SCORES
LA 41 BOS 20 Boston held to 13 offensive points as LA give Breakers 3rd straight loss.
OAK 14 NJ 23 Generals are not dead yet, shocking Oakland with ball control plan.
ARZ 24 PHI 17 The Wranglers knock Philadelphia from the ranks of the unbeaten.
DEN 23 WSH 32 Two in a row for Feds as Collier tosses for 3 scores.
MGN 42 BIR 20 Michigan shows no mercy against Stallions as Hebert hits on 5 TD passes.
HOU 32 MEM 31 Fred Besana subs for Kelly and leads furious comeback for the win.
CHI 27 JAX 24 Tim Spencer with a rare 100 yard game as Chicago outlasts the Bulls.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Pittsburgh Maulers 41 Tampa Bay Bandits 37
A wild one that no one saw coming as the usually conservative Maulers let loose, built up a huge lead and then held on to beat Tampa Bay in Tampa. The first half was owned by the surprisingly potent Maulers, who went up 34-14 on two Blackledge TD tosses, a 64 yard interception return by Ron Osborne, a Rozier TD run, and 2 Vitello field goals. Tampa fought back in the second half, as John Reaves threw for 3 scores (a total of 4 in the game). Reaves hit his TE Lewis Gilbert first, then little used TE Kenneth Arroyo, and finally the always dangerous Eric Truvillion. The Bandits D also contributed to the comeback with a safety as they tackled Mike Rozier in the endzone.
With 4 minutes left in the game, the Bandits led by 3, but the dormant Pittsburgh offense had one more drive in them, and when Blackledge hit Robert Jones with to score with 54 seconds left in the game, the Maulers retook the lead at 41-37. Needing a TD to win, Tampa moved down field but when Eric Truvillion could not get out of bounds on a 2nd and 8 catch, the clock ran out and the Maulers found themselves the victors.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
It surprises no one to see Bobby Hebert win a performance of the week title. He has been tearing up the USFL for 3 years and may be playing his best ball right now. Against the shockingly bad Birmingham Stallions, Hebert played the role of gunslinger to a tee. He was not particularly efficient, completing only 54% of his throws, but he found deep balls repeatedly, and his 5 TD’s prove it. His TD tosses were for 15, 21, 62, 50 and 39 yards. Trailing 17-7 at the half, Hebert lit into the Stallions in the second half, throwing for 4 scores and leading the Panthers on a 35-7 run to blow past Birmingham and score an easy win. It was not easy for Hebert, who was sacked 6 times and harassed throughout by the Stallion D-Line, but he came through again and again for Michigan, who now, for the second year in a row, are the last undefeated team standing.
NEWS & NOTES
With the case against the NFL in the hands of the jury, all eyes are on New York, but with nothing to report, we thought we would talk about another pressing issue for the league, television coverage. While we anticipate that the NFL case will impact options for television coverage for the league, it is distressing that so far only ESPN has begun to negotiate in earnest. The slow roll of ABC has to be a troubling sign for the league, as viewership has been solid all three seasons. With the NFL already on all three major networks, and deals being cut by MLB and the NBA it might be difficult for the USFL to get the type of revenue generating contract that they seek. More on this to come, particularly after the NFL verdict comes in.
INJURIES
Some significant injuries hit the league this week. Oakland’s best CB, Derrick Martin, is likely lost for the season with a neck injury. Philly will be down two starting o-linemen as both G Rory Culver and T Raymond Soto are out at least 6 weeks. Arizona will be without LB Jim Fahnhorst for at least a month, and Arizona QB Rick Neuheisel continues to have injury issues, expected to miss 2-3 weeks with a sprain to his throwing wrist. Houston will miss returner and WR Clarence Verdin with a concussion, as they hope Jim Kelly can return to action after a pinched nerve kept him out this week.
LOOKING AHEAD
Week 7 is the first of 4 straight weeks when one entire division will be on their bye. The plan was designed to limit byes to the center of the schedule and to a minimal number of weeks. Week 7 sees all four Southern Division teams on the bye as the Pacific plays in division and the Atlantic takes on the Central. Among the highlight games this week is LA @ Oakland, Arizona @ Denver, New Jersey @ Chicago, and Philadelphia facing off against Michigan.