It took a second week of USFL action, but some of the league's best offenses started finding their rhythm. Philly, Jersey, Michigan, Tampa and Houston all scored over 30 in the second week of the season, and even Portland showed some potential with a big upset win at home.
SCORES
BAL 3 NJ 35
It was utter domination at the Meadowlands as New Jersey used every weapon in their arsenal to overwhelm the Blitz. Walker, Byars, Jones, Schwedes and rookie J.J. Birden all scored as the Generals took Baltimore to the woodshed.
PHI 38 PIT 10
An 87-yard run highlighted a 21-point first quarter for the Stars, ending the game as soon as it began. By the half it was 35-0 and the Stars could ease their way to a 2-0 start. For Pittsburgh the lone brightspot was the play of LB Manu Tuiasosopo, who recorded 6 tackles, a sack and an INT (of Philly backup Wayne Walker).
BIR 26 JAX 17
This was a close one throughout, but eventually HB Joe Cribbs’s 168 yards and 2 scores were too much for the Bulls. Birmingham got the win despite going 2 for 11 on 3rd down thanks to 4 field goals by Scott Norwood and their ability to grind out the clock with Cribbs and Brent Fullwood toting the rock.
MEM 20 ORL 23 OVERTIME
A really fun back and forth game between the Showboats and Renegades in front of a rowdy Orlando crowd. Curtis Bledsoe had a banner day, rushing for 130 and a score, while Greg Boone returned to Florida and had 126 of his own. New Renegades kicker Fuad Reveiz was the late hero, hitting a 45 yarder to send the game to overtime and then connecting from 29 for the Renegades win.
CHI 6 TEX 27
Chicago again struggled under Chuck Long as Texas moved to 2-0 after another win against fellow expansion teams. IT was a good day for Doug Williams (73% completion rate against the Machine D) and Stump Mitchell (another 86 yards on the ground), but the best day was that of wideout Carlos Carson. The former Chief had 10 catches for 135 and a score.
MGN 31 NOR 20
It became a battle of backups as Ed Luther got the start for Jack Trudeau (knee sprain in practice). Matt Robinson got poked in the eye on his only pass attempt, leading to Matt Dunigan taking over. Marcus Dupree rushed for 112, but it was not enough as John Williams paced the Panthers with 145 and 3 scores. Despite getting sacked 7 times by the Breaker D, Luther kept it together and led Michigan to the win.
LA 20 OAK 17
The Express got 85 yards and a score from Christian Okoye and their new power run offense did just enough to stay ahead of the Invaders. Oakland QB Gale Gilbert threw two costly picks that ended Invader drives, while Steve Young, while not awe-inspiring, did enough to keep LA on track. Eric Martin had his best game in a while, catching 6 balls for 119 yards in the Express win.
ARZ 3 POR 17
This is what happens when you take a team from the desert and ask them to play in a monsoon. Portland’s field was a slippery mess as it rained throughout the game, but somehow this did not seem to affect Willie “Flipper” Anderson. The player named after a famous dolphin looked right at home in the rain, catching two early TD’s that ended up being enough for the Thunder to get their first win in front of a pretty full and very wet Civic Stadium crowd.
WSH 13 DEN 28
Washington got a taste first hand of one of the best home field advantages in football, as Denver used the one-two punch of Harry Sydney and Timmy Smith to grind out a win on a cold, blustery day in Mile High Stadium. Neil Lomax was held to only 223 yards in the wind and the Denver D built up an insurmountable 28-0 lead before letting off the gas late in the game.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Tampa Bay Bandits 28 Houston Gamblers 34
It was billed as a matchup of two high octane offenses led by two top gun QB’s and it ended up playing that way. The overtime thriller saw John Reaves throw for a 76% completion rate and hit Eric Truvillion 9 times for 93 yards and a score. Not to be outdone, Houston’s Jim Kelly threw for 335 and 4 scores, including 2 each to TE Victor Hicks and his favorite target, Ricky Sanders. Hicks would finish the day with an impressive 131 yards as well as the 2 scores.
The other big performer on the day was Houston’s rookie HB, former OK State Cowpoke, Thurman Thomas. Thomas rushed 27 times for a whopping 177 against the Tampa defense. The rook has clearly taken over the #1 slot ahead of veteran Todd Fowler, who got only 6 carries on the day. The highlight for Thomas was a 46 yard scoring romp at the end of the 1st that will be sure to be shown on Gambler highlight reels for the rest of the year. After bursting through the line untouched, he put a move on SS Tyrone Davis that left the defender standing flat-footed as Thomas raced past him and into the endzone. Davis is not going to like the look of that play as it is replayed again and again.
Tampa now falls to 0-2, another slow start for a team that seems to do this every year, while Houston is off to a 2-0 start and seems laser-focused on returning to another USFL Championship after falling by only 1 point in last year’s beauty of a game. But despite Tampa’s slow start, they did play well in this game, keeping pace throughout. When Benny Ricardo hit the game-tying kick in the 4th, many in the stadium were noticeably nervous about the overtime outcome, but the Houston offense left no doubt, marching the ball down the field before Kelly found his go-to guy, Sanders on a beautiful corner route, fooling the CB with an inside move before sprinting to the pylon and the winning score. A good win for Houston, a tolerable, if unwelcome loss for the Bandits, and a great show in front of over 45,000 in the Astrodome and a huge TV audience on Saturday night. A clear win for the USFL and the Gamblers.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
There were a lot of outstanding games this week, from Kelly’s 4 TD day, Thurman Thomas’s breakout performance, a 2 sack and 1 forced fumble day for Birmingham’s Bob Barker, and another 130+ yards for Texas’s Carlos Carson, but with the pressure on, playing with a backup QB, Michigan’s John Williams proved why he should not be left out of the discussion when we talk about the best running backs in the league. Williams came through, carrying the Panthers on his back, as he rushed for 145 yards against the Breakers, and scored 3 touchdowns to lead the Panthers to a much-needed division win. And these were not all 1 yard plunges either. Williams started the day with a 29 yard scoring run on an off-tackle scamper in the first, and followed it with a 2nd quarter 39 yard run on a beautiful toss sweep. His 9.1 yard average, against a defense that did not have to contend with Jack Trudeau, was exactly what Jim Stanley needed and just what the few Michigan faithful in the Super Dome came to see.
NEWS & NOTES
It may be early in the season to start thinking about what might happen with free agency and player movement this summer, but there is a potential concern for the league that they may want to address early. Most USFL coaches are on 3-year deals, and what we saw in Year 3 of the league was a lot of extensions offered early to the top coaches. That has not happened this time. Look around the league and you see some of the league’s best coaching minds on the final year of their contracts. Michigan’s Jim Stanley, Tampa’s Steve Spurrrier, Birmingham's Rollie Dotsch, and Philly’s Jim Mora are all on the last year of their 2nd three-year deal. If their owners cannot get them an extension during the season, the NFL could come calling. And for Mora, Stanley, and Spurrier, who have done all there is to do, including winning championships in the USFL and making the playoffs every single season, the temptation to prove themselves in the NFL could be a tough urge to resist. If we were working in the front offices in Pontiac, Tampa and Philadelphia, we would be doing all we could to make sure these three were happy to stay put.
INJURY REPORT
While the eye poke which took out Breakers’s QB Matt Robinson should be fine by next week’s game, Michigan’s Jack Trudeau may need to sit out at least one more week, putting the ball into the hands of Ed Luther once again. Michigan, of course, is still reeling from the injury to John Corker in week 1, now confirmed as a severe knee strain, and likely to require several weeks before he is back to his usual terrifying self. Philly lost an often underrated, but important player in fullback Eddie Colson this week. Colson who suffered what had to be a painful groin pull, was shown to have torn a key muscle connecting to the hip and is likely to be out at least 2 months. In Arizona, rookie DE AL Noga got some bad news when x-rays showed that he will miss at least a month with 2 fractured ribs, while Houston’s Kiki DeAyala may be out at least 1-2 weeks with an badly turned ankle.
LOOKING AHEAD
We stick with a heavy slate of divisional games again, including some key early matchups. It will be a war when the Generals host the Stars this week, and the Battle of I-95 is renewed when the Federals make the short trip to Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. One of the league’s best rivalries is on display at Legion Field when the Bandits come visiting the Stallions. Memphis gets an early test as well, heading down to Jacksonville for a Week 3 clash. In the Central it is a battle of underdogs and heavy favorites when Chicago hosts Michigan and the new Texas Outlaws play Houston in the Dome. LA will head to the desert to face the Wranglers while the Thunder get to experience Mile High Mayhem in Denver. In inter-divisional play, the Breakers will be in Pittsburgh to take on the Maulers and Oakland will fly cross country to play in Orlando against the Renegades. A good week with some key early season divisional battles to enjoy.
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