Yes, it is Wild Card Weekend for the USFL, but there is a story which has taken over the league and become the only discussion on sports radio. The NFL is clearly making a power move to defang the USFL and reassert their dominance, and it is happening right before our eyes. Before we review the Wild Card games, let’s first address the elephant in the room, the NFL has declared war.
What does that mean? Just how did they do this. Well, you will remember that right after the regular season ended the twice champion head coach of the Philadelphia Stars surprisingly resigned from the team after the squad had its first non-playoff season in the USFL’s history. There was speculation that this was not simply a matter of a coach disappointed with himself and his team, that something else was happening here. Well, it did not take long to find out what. Mora resigned on Black Monday and by Friday was in a press conference in New Orleans announcing that he had signed on to be the new Head Coach of the NFL’s Saints. The deal is reportedly worth $6M over 4 years and provides Mora with significant personnel autonomy. The USFL immediately started chuffing over what many view as a potential case of tampering, as Mora still had a year on his Stars contract, so any contact from the NFL prior to his resignation would have been inappropriate, with Philadelphia possibly able to petition damages.
The Philadelphia story was followed by a rash of NFL signings of some top USFL free agents. While this is not abnormal each offseason, the scope of the signings and some of the names switching leagues seems to indicate that the NFL is seeking to weaken the image of the USFL as a destination league. The biggest hit was taken by the Los Angeles Express who not only saw SS Chuck Cecil and HB Christian Okoye leave the team, the latter after a 1,000 yard season to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs, but also saw longtime starter Steve Young bolt for the San Francisco 49ers, who already have the legendary Joe Montana on the roster. Young’s rights were held by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Tampa, after 5 years, rescinded their claim, allowing San Francisco to sign Young as a free agent. This essentially cripples the Express offense, who now find themselves without their lead rusher and their starting QB of 5 years.
The next dominoes to fall were in Texas, where a similar pattern emerged. Doug Williams was signed by the Washington Redskins while former St. Louis Cardinal Stump Mitchell was inked to a 3-year deal by the now-Phoenix Cardinals. This again severely impacts the team’s entire offensive scheme and will force Texas to spend significant free agent capital trying to rebuild their skill positions. Similar high-impact departures have been seen across the league, with Chicago losing both LB Clay Matthews (to Green Bay) and QB Steve Beurlein (to the Dallas Cowboys).
The NFL struck quickly, hitting the 10 teams not participating in the USFL playoffs, and not bench players, but top talent from the teams being targeted. Washington lost both TE Mark Bavaro (Giants) and All-Time leading rusher Craig James (Patriots). Philadelphia discovered that tackle Will Wolford had signed with the Buffalo Bills and that CB Cris Dishman would sign with the Houston Oilers. In Jacksonville it was again the HB position that was hit with the NY Giants signing starter George Adams, while another premier player, wideout Gary Clark, was signed by the Washington Redskins. Even 1-15 Portland was not spared as the LA Rams signed wideout Flipper Anderson as his rookie contract expired.
While it Is relatively common for the NFL and USFL to swap a significant number of players during the short window between the end of the USFL season and the start of NFL training camps, the speed and aggressiveness of the NFL this offseason is a definite shift in tone. Whether this will be parried by the USFL, looking to sign NFL talent is unclear at this point. There seems to be a definite ramping up of pressure by NFL clubs. The next few weeks will show us how severe as each USFL playoff round provides more rosters with player contracts ending and potential free agents available for an NFL raid. Whether or not this will extend to coaches as well, as many believe it has with the Jim Mora signing, remains to be seen, but even if the aggression is limited to USFL rosters and not staffs, this is certainly a turning point in the relationship between the two leagues.
WILD CARD WEEKEND
Orlando Renegades 17 Tampa Bay Bandits 15
Orlando found the formula to knock off the Bandits on the road and win their first playoff game. Two parts offensive balance and one part defensive pressure. It was a three phase win, though a close one, for the Renegades, as they contained Troy Aikman and the Bandits offense for 60 minutes while methodically moving the ball and using up clock.
The star of the game was Curtis Bledsoe, whose 113 yards were largely hard-fought battles for 4 or 5 yards, though he did bust out a 19 yarder on a key 3rd and 3. His efforts were paired by a solid game from QB Reggie Collier, who completed 23 of 38 passes for 223 yards. Collier hit John Jefferson for the first TD of the game, and set up a Bledsoe TD with a nice 19-yard pass to Wamon Buggs.
Tampa for their part struggled to string together first downs, with Troy Aikman only able to complete 51% of his passes against Orlando’s pressure scheme. Gary Anderson did well to gain 75 yards, but was not able to produce consistent first down runs to fuel the Tampa passing game. Orlando also held all three of Tampa’s top receivers below 100 yards, despite a couple of big plays from Aikman to Gillespie. All in all it was solid defense that bent but did not break and an offense which was able to pick up blitzing Bandits and move the chains that produced the win for the Renegades. Orlando will now be challenged in a very different way as they head off to Birmingham to face yet another Southern Division foe. Birmingham will be a much bigger defensive battle to be sure, but with Joe Cribbs still in doubt for the game, they may be lacking offensive power themselves, giving Orlando a chance to steal another win on the road.
Houston Gamblers 17 Oakland Invaders 10
Another defensive battle between two teams that live for these kinds of games. Everyone came into the game expecting that Oakland would try to slow things down and play close to the vest, while expecting Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and the Gamblers to try to speed up the tempo to overwhelm Oakland’s defense. But that never happened. Houston also played the slow and steady game, willing to keep the tempo and the score down.
The game was a pedestrial 7-3 Oakland lead at the half, with Richard Williams scoring the only 6-pointer of the half. Gale Gilbert had avoided errors, while Jim Kelly had thrown two early interceptions (one leading to the Williams TD) but had also put 135 yards passing up in the first half. Both Williams and Houston’s Thomas seemed to be the focus of each defense, and both would finish well below 4 yards per carry on the game. Of course, Thomas is a dual threat, so his paltry 52 yards rushing was only half the story as he also gained 53 through the air.
The third quarter belonged to Houston as they scored twice in the quarter. The first came after a shanked punt gave Houston good field position. Kelly found Sanders along the sideline. When Sanders stepped out at the 2, it was up to Thomas, and he came through with a scoring run on the next play. 2 drives later Houston would strike through the air, again with Sanders being the target. Kelly faked the counter run to Thomas and found Sanders with single coverage. 30 yards later it was Houston up 17-7, and that was all she wrote for the Invaders, who managed only 171 total yards on the day against Houston’s swarming defense. So it will be Houston heading off against a familiar foe as they face New Orleans in the next round.
DIVISIONAL ROUND PREVIEW
HOUSTON (5) @ NEW ORLEANS (1)
Saturday, July 8, 4pm ET
Louisiana Superdome
We have seen this battle before, twice this year alone, with a 19-13 defensive battle going to Houston early in the season and a 48-38 shootout favoring New Orleans in Week 12. This one could go either way. Both teams are relatively healthy, with only New Orleans center Copley and SS Fong on the injury report. Last year Houston edged New Orleans 27-21 in the Western Conference Finals, and Houston definitely has the playoff history edge here, but this is a hungry bunch of Breakers and their run to end the year brings them into the game with a lot of momentum. A tough pick, but we are going to go with the Breakers here.
MEMPHIS (3) @ NEW JERSEY (2)
Saturday, July 8, 8pm ET
Giants Stadium
Another Conference Championship rematch, as last year the Showboats knocked off the Generals 24-14 to advance to their first USFL Championship Game. Just as with New Orleans, the Generals are the hungrier team, but that does not necessarily make them the better team. New Jersey had a pretty easy path to the playoffs, leading a division with no other winning clubs in it, while Memphis battled with Birmingham and Tampa all year to get to this point. Both teams emphasize the run, Mike Kelley is a better pocket passer than Flutie, but the diminutive Flutie is a wild card, capable of pulling out some magic when needed. The two met earlier this year and it was an 11-point victory for the Showboats, but we are wagering that New Jersey learned a lot about the Showboats that day and will have something in store for them. We will pick the Generals to return to the Eastern Conference Finals.
ORLANDO (5) @ BIRMINGHAM (1)
Sunday, July 9, 1pm ET
Legion Field
Congratulations, Orlando. You won your first playoff game. Your prize? A chance to play the best team in the conference, a team that defeated you twice already this season, and a team with some serious playoff experience behind it. If it were not for the potential loss of Joe Cribbs, the Stallions would likely be a double-digit favorite in this matchup. Even without Cribbs Las Vegas has them up by 5. We like the moxie of the 8-8 Renegades, and they catch a break with a gimpy Cribbs likely a game-time decision, but it is hard to pick against Birmingham’s defense here, even without Cribbs.
MICHIGAN (3) @ DENVER (2)
Sunday, July 9, 4:30pm ET
Mile High Stadium
Michigan lost 4 of 5 games to end the season. Denver has not won back to back games since week 6 and 7, so who do you trust? We certainly trust Bob Gagliano more than Mark Hermann, but that Michigan D can win this game on their own if they want to. And yes, we recognize that Denver is also no slouch on defense. Whenever there is a matchup this close we know it will come down to 3-4 big plays. Turnovers, missed opportunities, timely strikes, that will be the story of this matchup. Again, looking at past history, there is a lot of playoff experience on the Panthers side, and a lot of winning, so we give a slight edge to Michigan in this one, but even within our own staff this is a toss-up.