It's a wild start to the USFL season as Portland, Washington and Philadelphia all climb to 2-0 while Houston and Birmingham have yet to taste victory. We highlight a field-goal driven comeback for the Gold and potential trouble for a founding franchise in this week's recap. All this plus all the John Jefferson you expect and deserve.
SCORES
BAL 3 ORL 31
Orlando jumped out to a 21-0 lead on Baltimore and never gave the Blitz a chance to bounce back. In a game where John Jefferson was responsible for 185 yards of the team’s 256 yards passing, the Blitz were burnt repeatedly by the deep ball. Balltimore’s offense also floundered as Tim Spencer could not have back to back strong games, falling to only 30 yards on 13 carries.
NJ 24 TBY 13
After an embarrassing loss at Philly, New Jersey came into Tampa with a plan and executed it to perfection. The game began with a Kirby Jackson 99 yard TD return of the opening kickoff and the Generals kept the pressure on, picking off Troy Aikman twice and mixing up the passing game, with Jones, Birden, Spek and Walker all having significant catch totals.
PHI 23 BIR 14
The Stars aimed to prove that their win against NJ was not a fluke, and a pretty resounding win in Birmingham may announce to the league that they are a team on the rebound. Joe Cribbs gained 116 yards, but was outshone by Kelvin Bryant’s 123. Add in 5 field goals by David Trout and a Mike Quick TD catch and Philly comes away with a win in a tough place to do so.
PIT 23 JAX 14
The Maulers get a big day from Mike Rozier (158 yds, 1 TD) against a suspect Bulls defense and the Maulers earn a rare road win in the Gator Bowl. The Bulls hurt their own cause, going only 2 for 12 on 3rd down and failing on two 4th down attempts.
WSH 23 MEM 17
A huge road win for the Federals, who are trying to prove the pundits who predicted a 5th place finish wrong. Despite a weak run game, the Feds had success on offense as Don Majkowski completed 73% of his passes for 275 yards and 2 scores. Rookie Terrance Mathis contributed 88 yards on 4 receptions for the Feds. Memphis was in trouble from the beginning when Mike Kelley went out with an apparent concussion and rookie QB Cary Conklin was forced into action.
CHI 19 OAK 22 OVERTIME
A great game between two up and coming teams as the kickers shone. Kevin Shea kicked a go ahead FG with 1:17 left, only to watch Chicago’s John Carney make a desperation 50-yarder with only 13 seconds left and the clock ticking. In overtime it was Shea who got the first shot at winning the game and he came through to give the Invaders their 2nd win to start the season. Chicago has been solid in both games this year, but fall short again.
HOU 34 POR 42
Portland’s offseason investment in offensive playmakers is clearly paying off as the Thunder win their second straight thanks to their ability to play in a shootout with the Gamblers. Playing without Thurman Thomas, the Gamblers got 125 yards from Keith Woodside, but watched as the combination of Robert Drummond and Terrance Flagler gained 136 on the ground to help David Archer avoid a constant pass rush. New arrival Gill Byrd also picked off Jim Kelly and returned it 78 yards for a score in the day’s most electric play.
MGN 34 ARZ 14
Jack Trudeau and John Williams had big days as the Panthers shut down the Arizona offense and moved the ball well, scoring an unanswered 27 points in the second half to put the game away. Arizona led 14-6 at the half but wore down in the 2nd half.
TEX 14 LA 20
The Express get a big win, but again attendance was down, only about 20,000 were on hand as the Express built up a 20-0 lead through 3 quarters before Texas made it close in the 4th. The star of the game was LA linebacker Chip Banks with 12 tackles and a sack. A decent game despite the fact that each team went 1 for 13 on 3rd down and each had 7 penalties as the early season sloppiness had not yet been worked out.
GAME OF THE WEEK
New Orleans Breakers 16
Denver Gold 19
Another classic USFL comeback as the Breakers faded down the stretch at altitude and the Gold came back from a 16-7 deficit to score the game’s final 12 points on four Brian Speelman fieldgoals, including the game-winner in overtime.
New Orleans looked good early, though they struggled to find paydirt, settling for 3 fieldgoals on their first 3 scoring drives. Denver struggled to contain Matt Robinson in the first half, but was effective in the red zone, forcing the Breakers to trot out Tim Mazzetti three times. In the second half, the strategy of using rookie Barry Foster as a battering ram began to wear out the winded Breakers. Foster would finish the day with 89 yards and his backfield mate, Timmy Smith added another 50 to help Denver slowly march back from the halftime deficit.
Bob Gagliano spread the ball around, frustrating the Breakers’ defense. Odessa Turner led all Gold receivers with 7 catches, followed by Jay Novacek, Mark Carrier, Bill Brooks and Kenan Travis. Brooks scored the only TD on the day for Denver, but thanks to the foot of Brian Speelman they came out victorious.
Denver’s biggest success came against HB Marcus Dupree, who averaged a paltry 1.6 yards per carry against a stacked Gold front. The defense was led by, of all players, rookie Marvcus Patton, who had 8 tackles, including 2 for loss against the Breakers’ run game. Kurt Gouveia and new DT Dave Butz were not far behind. All in all the Gold defense logged 12 tackles for loss and 3 sacks on the day. Just Denver Gold football at its most effective.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
This week’s POTW goes to veteran wideout John Jefferson, who has not made a lot of headlines in Orlando, but has proven to be reliable when called on. This week he took over the game against Baltimore. Reggie Collier only completed 11 passes all game and Jefferson had 5 of them. Add to that a ridiculous 37 yard average on those 5 catches and you can see why he is this week’s POTW. His receptions included a 55-yarder that would have gone the distance if not for an errant foot out of bounds, and a beautiful 29 yard TD reception on a perfectly run corner pattern.
Jefferson, who was a 3-time 1,000 yard receiver for Pittsburgh before coming over to the Renegades in the expansion draft, has yet to crack 1,000 yards for the Renegades. He lost most of the 1988 season to injury, then came back last year with 951 yads on 72 receptions. Already this year he has 299 to lead all receivers but only 10 receptions. Renegades fans hope that his numbers will continue to rise, and along with them the Renegade’s win total.
NEWS & NOTES
Should the league be worried about what seems to be happening in LA? The Express, after losing both Steve Young and Christian Okoye saw a major drop in season ticket purchases, from 19,000 in 1989 to just over 11,000 this year. Overall attendance has also been surprisingly low, with an average of only 21,555 in their opening two games, compared to over 34,000 per game in their first two games last year. The team saw declining attendance all season last year as they struggled to a 7-9 season, but losing their two biggest box office draws, and not doing much to replace them with top notch players (or highly attractive prospects) there should be concern that the LA franchise, with another poor season a real possibility, could start to have some real problems with their fanbase.
It is not time to panic, and a win this week might help the notoriously finicky LA market see some hope for the Express, but if they cannot prove to be a solid squad this season, with their low Q-value roster, the Express could see significant dips in attendance and viewership in a very sports-ambivalent market. With the Dodgers winning the World Series in ’88, and with stars like Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson on the roster, the Express have some immediate competition for fan dollars. Even the mediocre Angels could be seen as a draw opposite the Express, and while the Lakers are in the playoff hunt this year you have even more options for fan dollars. LA has always been a tough market, but having Young and Okoye seemed to provide fans what they wanted, even when the team as a whole struggled. Without them the Express need to win games to keep fans excited.
INJURY REPORT
Week two brought some bad news for several teams as multi-week injuries started to appear. Oakland will be without their top receiver, Henry Ellard for at least 6-8 weeks after he suffered a broken collarbone. Tampa LB Keith DeLong will miss even longer, perhaps the entire season, with a torn posterior cruciate ligament. Baltimore TE Mark Keel will miss a month with a high ankle sprain, while Houston rookie safety Robert Blackman may miss a few weeks with a torn abdominal muscle. The injury to Memphis QB Mike Kelley does not appear bad, but any time there is a possible concussion with neck compression as well, it will likely require a couple of weeks before he is cleared to play. That means rookie Cary Conklin will be on the spot to perform right away.
LOOKING AHEAD
Back into divisional play for week 3, with a lot of intriguing matchups on tap. 2-0 Washington heads to 2-0 Philadelphia in a matchup of teams that have gotten off to surprisingly good starts. In another good matchup, Pittsburgh is at New Jersey in a battle of 1-1 squads. In the south, Jacksonville will try to get their first win of the year as they host Orlando. Tampa has a big matchup with Memphis in the Liberty Bowl. Chicago’s home opener is a tough one as they face New Orleans, while Michigan at 2-0 will try to send Houston to 0-3 with a win in the Astrodome. In the Pacific, Oakland puts up their 2-0 record against a 1-1 Arizona team in Tempe, while the LA Express head to Denver to face the Gold, with both teams at 1-1. Surprising Portland takes the cross-country trip to face the Blitz in Baltimore while Texas has a much shorter trip as they face the Stallion’s in Birmingham’s Legion Field.