SCORES
BLT 24 NJ 20 Vince Evans hits Jackie Flowers with 3 bombs to blow up the Generals.
PIT 16 BIR 29 Rookie Ernest Givens shines in Stallions win over the 1-win Maulers.
NOR 20 MEM 12 Reggie White’s 3 sacks are not enough as Breakers get win #5.
HOU 24 JAX 27 Houston loses another heartbreaker as Williams finds Clark to win.
MGN 33 TBY 19 Over 50k watch Michigan move to 9-0 with another dominant win.
BYES: Arizona, Denver, Los Angeles, Oakland
GAME OF THE WEEK
Washington Federals 22 Philadelphia Stars 27
The Stars took advantage of a rowdy Philadelphia crowd to edge past the Federals in familiar fashion. In a game that was closer than many expected, the Federals proved a lot to themselves, but still came up short against the heavily favored Stars. Reggie Collier took the game on his shoulders as the Stars defense held Craig James to only 35 yards on 17 carries. Throwing for 271 yards and 2 scores, Collier, and a solid defensive performance, kept Washington in the game. Philadelphia broke out early on two first quarter scoring drives as, in both cases, Fusina found Tom Donovan for six. The 14-0 lead faded in the second as Collier hit Webster Slaughter for the Feds first score, and then came back on their next drive with a field goal. At half it was 21-10 after a late Kelvin Bryant run from 2 yards out. Bryant would end up with a tough 101 yards on 20 carries, bolstered by a 54 yard run in the 3rd that broke him out of what otherwise was a very tough day.
The third quarter belonged to Washington, as they scored 10 straight to pull within 2 at 21-19, failing on a 2 point conversion that would have tied the game. In the 4th, neither team would see the endzone, but Philly kicker David Trout’s two field goals outdueled Washington’s Nick Mike-Myer, allowing Philly to let out a sigh of relief with a hard-won 6 point victory over the feisty Federals. The win places Philadelphia right back into the thick of the wild-card scramble, while dropping to 3-6 means the Federals will need to string some wins together to get into the fray.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Two weeks ago it was Joe Cribbs who put away a game with a 200+ yard performance. This week it was Baltimore receiver Jackie Flowers. Flowers had only 5 catches, but when three of them are 44 yard, 71 yard and 75 yard touchdown catches, you have to be impressed. Flowers finished with 229 yards receiving, thanks in large part to those three scores. What may be even more impressive is that only the 44 yarder was really a deep deep throw. The 71 yarder was actually about a 20 yard throw, with Flowers evading a hit from the safety and burning past the CB to take it to the house. The 75 yarder was even more impressive, as the pass itself was a 17 yard deep out on 3rd and 14, but somehow, Flowers absorbed the hit from the CB, placing one hand on the turf while retaining possession with the other. He then spun back up to his feet, got another 10 yards and then juked left to avoid the scrambling safety, giving him a clear path to the endzone and what would be the winning score for the Blitz. Not a busy day for sure, but certainly a spectacular one for the 4 year veteran.
NEWS & NOTES
Having finished the last of the bye weeks, we can now look at all teams with 9 games in hand, and begin to ponder the playoffs. Michigan (9-0) and Baltimore (8-1) look like clear favorites to take their divisions and each conference’s #1 seeds. Denver, with their dominant defense, have a 1 game lead in the Pacific, but Oakland is charging with 3 straight wins. LA and Arizona seem to be fading, but a comeback after this week’s bye could be in order. In the Southern Division, Jacksonville has a 1-game lead over Tampa Bay, but we expect these two to be battling all season long. That leaves one Eastern Wild Card left, and we have 3 teams at 4-5 in the hunt, Philly, New Jersey, and Birmingham. In the West, the Wildcard slots will likely come down to New Orleans (5-4) and the Pacific Division, as all 3 trailing teams could be in the hunt. Pittsburgh and Memphis at 1-7 are just looking to play spoiler, as is Houston at 2-7. Washington, at 3-6, has a shot to claw back into the hunt, but they need a solid streak of wins to keep pace and catch up to the others in the race.
INJURIES
Arizona will be without G Morris Vaughan for the rest of the season after his Week 9 neck injury was fully diagnosed. Jacksonville backup WR Dennis Breach also suffered a scary injury as he landed awkwardly and appeared to lose feeling in his legs. Doctors believe he will recover, but his season is done. Washington SS Claude Gorman will also be out for the year after suffering an ACL tear in his left knee. And, Eddie Simmons, the Memphis LB who just this week found himself atop the tackles league leader list, will likely miss up to 3 weeks with a hip injury suffered at the end of the game this week. In a season with so many tough injuries, Memphis just cannot catch a break. They also lost their 2nd QB, at least for a week or two, as Damon Allen suffered a dislocated shoulder. The Showboats are now down to their third string QB Lowell Garrett, and will have to activate Mike Livingston from their practice squad just to have a backup ready to go this week.
LOOKING AHEAD
After 4 weeks of divisional byes, we are back to a full slate of 8 games this week. In Pacific matchups, which will loom large as we head down the stretch in the league’s tightest division, Denver will face the streaking Oakland Invaders with first place on the line. Slumping LA and Arizona also meet with one of the two breaking their losing streak and getting back into the playoff hunt. The Southern Division is also playing in-house this week, with 1-8 Memphis hoping to spoil things in Tampa while Jacksonville visits Birmingham. The other 4 games pit the Atlantic teams against the Central, with Baltimore at Houston, New Jersey in the SilverDome to face the Panthers, Philly heading across the state to play Pittsburgh and Washington hoping to get a win down in the Big Easy against the Breakers.