BAL 13 PIT 3
A crushing blow for Pittsburgh’s faint playoff hopes as they simply do not show up against the Blitz. Baltimore won this one on defense as their offense went 0 for 11 on third down, but they forced 4 turnovers, all picks of Alan Risher, and held Mike Rozier to only 2 yards per carry and 51 total yards. The only TD of the day was a Tommy Wilcox interception return on a day that set back USFL offenses 20 years.
NJ 23 WSH 31
A tough day for New Jersey as well as they fell to the Federals on two late scores, with Majkowski hitting Duane Gunn for the go ahead score with just over 6 minutes left, and then the back breaker, a Curtis Taliferro 19-yard interception return on a Flutie pass tipped at the line. Washington was more than ready for Flutie’s run game, spying him all game long and holding him to only 7 yards rushing.
BIR 26 ORL 19
The Stallions play spoiler, riding a Joe Cribbs 105-yard day and getting 83% completion rate from Cliff Stoudt to upend the Renegades. Curtis Bledsoe could not get anything going and the Renegades were limited to only 259 yards on the day.
JAX 21 TBY 17
Jacksonville also got into the upset role as Oliver Luck had none on the day. Luck threw two picks, and Lars Tate fumbled away an apparent touchdown as the Bulls held on to defeat the Bandits. Yet again, the third time this week, a pick-six was pivotal as Doug Greene returned a 3rd quarter miscue by Luck for 7, giving Jacksonville a lead they would hold through the final whistle.
ARZ 24 DEN 6
The Wranglers also received a pick-six on this day filled with them, but theirs was not needed as they thoroughly dominated the Denver Gold. Bob Gagliano threw for only 110 yards and rookie Barry Foster only got 7 carries as the Wranglers controlled the game form the opening whistle. Robbie Bosco connected with Trumaine Johnson 7 times for 128 yards and a 74 yard TD to lead the Wranglers to their 9th win and a near lock on the Pacific Division crown.
OAK 35 POR 20
The Invaders kept pace 2 games behind Arizona with a road win in Portland. Richard Williams rushed for 77 with 2 scores and Paul Palmer contributed another 54 yards rushing and a score of his own as run defense still appears to be the big weakness of the Thunder.
CHI 10 HOU 17
The Gamblers evened up their record with Chicago at 6-8 thanks to a 97-yard kickoff return from Clarence Verdin and a Thurman Thomas 1 yard plunge. In an even game that saw both defenses play well, Chicago committed 2 turnovers and Houston did not, and that small difference created Houston’s margin for victory, as Houston scored 10 points off of the two miscues by the Machine.
NOR 34 TEX 24
The Breakers keep finding ways to win. In this one it was a devastating 31-0 run that did in the Outlaws. Up 3-0, Texas gave up Breakers scores on 8 consecutive drives (5 FG, 2 TD and a safety) as New Orleans simply blew open the game. On the down side, Marcus Dupree suffered a concussion which could impact his ability to play next week.
LA 3 PHI 17
Philadelphia stayed even with Washington by dispatching the Express handily. In a sloppy game that saw the two teams combine for 7 turnovers and 13 penalties, the Express simply could not move the ball well, while Chuck Fusina, frustrated by a solid LA defense, did just enough to put 2 scores, both tosses to Mike Quick, on the board.
Michigan Panthers 34 Memphis Showboats 33
Michigan needed to snap a 4-game losing streak to keep their playoff chances alive. Memphis would take over a share of first place in the South with a win, and the two teams fought like it was a playoff game in the Sunday nightcap game. Memphis would outgain Michigan by nearly 100 yards (425 to 342) but it was the Panthers who got the final points on the board and used a surprise 2-point play to steal the win in dramatic fashion.
In a back and forth battle that saw the lead change 6 times, both the Panthers and the Showboats saw their vaunted defenses fall away under intense pressure from well-designed offensive plans. Both Trudeau and Kelley would throw for 2 scores, and both running games were productive against defenses that had to respect the pass. Memphis got on the scoreboard first with a 1-yard dive by Herman Free midway through the first, a score immediately answered by a John Williams 21-yard TD run for Michigan.
Memphis then went up again on a 47-yard field goal, only to have Michigan counter with Williams’s second of three TD runs of the day. Memphis answered with their own star back as Greg Boone took a pitch and dashed 22 yards for a score, only to have Michigan’s Williams respond on the Panthers next drive. Another Ali-Sheikh field goal made the halftime score 21-20 in favor of Michigan.
Memphis kept the fast pace going in the third as Mike Kelley hit John Embree with two nearly identical 4-yard tosses on their first two drives of the half, giving the Showboats the widest margin of the day, a 33-21 lead, despite muffing a 2-point conversion attempt. But it was simply not to hold as Jack Trudeau hit Butch Rolle from 9 yards out to pull Michigan back to 33-28 to finish the third quarter.
In the fourth, Michigan’s defense was able to hold Memphis at bay for the first time all game. But for most of the quarter Memphis’s defense did likewise, as both teams struggled. It was not until the 2-minute drill that Michigan found an opportunity. Trudeau hit Daron Carter for a huge 23 yard reception on 3rd and 15, and then found Danny Knight for the TD with only 15 seconds left in the game. With a chance to tie, Michigan lined up for the PAT but shocked everyone by faking the kick, having backup QB and holder Brent Pease roll to the left, and hit Rolle for a wide open 2-point play. The daring move won the game for the Panthers, but could have just as easily spelled defeat had it failed.
Michigan won for the first time in a month and now move back into 2nd place in the Central Division, leapfrogging the Outlaws, while Memphis remains a game back of Tampa with only 2 to play. It was playoff football 3 weeks early and a heck of a game.
While we could recognize John Williams for his 3-TD day, he did not dominate the day for the Panthers, scoring twice from close range on drives where the passing game did most of the damage. The same cannot be said for Joe Cribbs, who showed classic form in rushing for 105 yards, scoring twice (once via the air) and helping Birmingham spoil the day for the Orlando Renegades.
Cribbs, who missed 5 games in midseason due to a nasty fracture, was able to return but needed several weeks to get back to prime form. It has been up and down for him all season as a 138-yard bonanza game in Week 11 was followed by a mere 17 yards rushing the following week against Memphis. His 105 against Orlando, while hardly a personal best, was one of his strongest performances this year, showing an ability to juke and evade tacklers that reminds us of past years when he was always at or near the rushing leader board. Birmingham may suffering a down year after 3 consecutive playoff seasons and a surprising 12-4 run in 1989, but Joe Cribbs remains a reliable star for the squad, and one capable of helping the Stallions play spoiler in key divisional matchups.
With only 2 weeks to go, here is what we know:
--New Orleans, Arizona, Philadelphia, Washington, and Tampa Bay are in.
--Orlando, Memphis, Michigan, and Texas get spots with 1 win in their final two games.
--Oakland is in with 2 wins or losses by Chicago and Houston.
--New Jersey is still alive, as are Pittsburgh, Houston, Chicago, and Birmingham, but need significant help to nudge their way past teams ahead of them.
--Arizona and New Orleans have their division crowns locked up, while battles still rage in the Atlantic and Southern Division, with tiebreakers a very real possibility in both.
--Baltimore, Jacksonville, Denver, LA, and Portland are out.
As we hinted at earlier this season it does appear that the city of St. Louis is going to be in the market for a pro football franchise and that the primary mover will be marketing executive and member of the Busch family James Orthwein. Orthwein has been actively approaching franchises in both the USFL and the NFL to inquire about purchasing a franchise and relocating it to St. Louis. He has apparently been in close communication with Victor Kiam, owner of the New England Patrots of the NFL along with both Alan Harmon of the LA Express and Ed DeBartolo Sr. of the Pittsburgh Maulers. Both franchises are potential targets because of their inability to move into the black in several years. Both are mired in yet another losing season, and both have attendance issues, although, of the two, Los Angeles has truly the worse situation.
The Express are the only USFL franchise averaging below 20,000 per game and had a recent game where attendance dipped below 10,000. The market is a tough one with plenty of other pro sports options as well as year-round good weather and a wide range of outdoor and cultural activities to compete with. When the Express lost their two most popular players to the NFL, fans revolted, and that revolt has taken the form of apathy and greatly reduced ticket sales. This can of course be remedied if the Express are willing to use free agency and the draft to sign some big-name replacements. Clearly signing Walter Lewis to replace Steve Young and relying on rookie Darrell Thompson paired with veteran backup Tim Richardson to replace Christian Okoye has simply not produced either the offensive spark or the box office draw that the Express need. With the Express never being one of the league’s high revenue teams, owners Alan Harmon and Ted Field are prime candidates to potentially cash out, recouping the team’s losses over the past 8 seasons, and sell to Orthwein, but the league may block the sale as Los Angeles is one of 4 markets in the league (along with New Jersey, Chicago, and Houston) which would trigger a significant reduction in television revenue from ESPN and ABC.
Pittsburgh is another potential target for two reasons, the first is that the Maulers, who have had one playoff appearance in 7 years and who have had 10 or more losses each of the other seasons, are simply not making a profit for the DeBartolo family, unlike their ownership (through another family member) of the very successful San Francisco 49ers NFL franchise. Both failure to turn a profit and failure to produce a winning club may be a major motivator for Ed DeBartolo Sr. to consider selling the franchise. And, unlike LA, the loss of Pittsburgh in favor of St. Louis would not cause any concern for the league’s TV rights, which would ease any concerns about blockage on the league level of a sale. While the Maulers have respectable attendance, surpassing an average of 30,000 for the first time since their inaugural season last year, and averaging over 34,000 this year, local support has been mixed and the corporate sponsorship for the team has lagged other franchises. Pittsburgh, for example, will bring in approximately $9M in local deals this year, compared to well over $20M for nearby franchises in Philadelphia, Michigan, and Baltimore. Even the Washington Federals, who share a somewhat comparable history of on-field failure, have close to $16M in local deals. Only the recently-added and somewhat homeless Texas Outlaws bring in less, with just about $8M per year.
As for Orthwein, he appears to be willing to hedge his bets as he speaks with three different clubs in two leagues. The stadium in St. Louis is ready to break ground, the city seems to support his efforts by offering very amenable terms to a stadium lease for either league, and at least on the surface it appears that Orthwein has found three parties willing to talk.
The Texas Outlaws received the news they absolutely did not want to get this week. After being helped off the field by teammates, starting QB Kelly Stouffer reported numbness and weakness in both arms, indicating a possible spinal injury. After two days of tests it has been confirmed that Stouffer did suffer a crack to two of the vertebrae in his neck and will be out indefinitely. Doctors confirmed that while there was some initial numbness in his upper extremities, there was no paralysis and they expect that with proper isolation and traction, Stouffer’s vertebrae will heal and the swelling in and around his spinal column will subside. They do not believe this is a career-ending injury, but it is certainly one that will require several months to heal and rehab appropriately, ending Stouffer’s season and putting the playoff run of the Texas Outlaws in doubt.
The other significant injury this week, as mentioned above, was a concussion suffered by New Orleans halfback Marcus Dupree. Dupree was visibly shaken as he came off the field, and was taken immediately to the locker room. On Wednesday the team reported that Marcus continued to suffer from significant headaches and occasional dizziness, so they would be removing him from all team activities for at least a week to allow him time to recover. Assuming he is able to recover and no longer demonstrates any negative effects of this week’s hit, he is expected to return for the playoffs, as we are assuming that the Week 16 starting lineup will include a lot of backups for the Breakers and there is no need to risk Dupree before the playoffs begin.
Time to put up or shut up as Week 15 includes several games that will go a long way to determining playoff berths and positioning. New Jersey’s slim playoff hopes depend upon them holding home field and pulling out a win against the Stars this weekend. Philadelphia is hoping for a win and an upset by Baltimore over their closest rival, the Washington Federals. In the South, Birmingham is hoping they can pull off an upset again, after beating Orlando last week, as they host the Tampa Bay Bandits and backup Oliver Luck. Memphis Is in Jacksonville and a win there would put them in prime position to take the division title.
In the Central Michigan hopes to win 2 in a row by knocking off the plucky Chicago Machine. Texas, now with veteran Glen Carano at QB, are hoping they can hold off the Houston Gamblers in Houston to lock up their playoff spot. Houston needs to win out and have some help to sneak back to the postseason, so this one will be a battle. In the Pacific, Arizona hosts the LA Express with a chance to get to 10 wins for the first time in team history. Denver is also at home against Portland, with both teams stuck at 4-10. In Inter-conference play, Oakland needs to win at Pittsburgh to lock up a playoff spot, while New Orleans can end any hopes Orlando has for a Division crown with a win at the Citrus Bowl.
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