Wildcard Weekend. Two teams on the cusp of excellence. Two teams that want one more week, one more game to prove themselves. It is win or pack it in. Time to put it all on the field, leave nothing behind, because the only way to play next week is to grab the W this week. It’s do or die time for the Generals, Bulls, Invaders and Gold. Playoff football.
Sunday, July 4, 1993 --- The Gator Bowl, Jacksonville Florida
It was tale of two halves between the Generals and Bulls. A first half dominated by defense was followed by an explosion of 4th quarter points as the Bulls wore down the Generals and put the game away late. New Jersey hung tough and held a modest 6-0 halftime lead thanks to two kicks from Roger Ruzek and a lackluster Bulls offense in the first half. The second half was another story as adjustments made by Jacksonville wore down the Generals defense, and the Bulls kept up defensive pressure on New Jersey QB Doug Flutie, holding the visitors scoreless in the second half.
Flutie would be sacked 3 times and throw a costly interception in the 3rd quarter, while Tony Eason heated up, throwing for 3 scores in the final 30 minutes. Jacksonville came out in the second half willing to give up on a run game that garnered only 54 yards on the day. They turned the ball over to Tony Eason, who survived a 5-sack day, including 3 from NJ’s sack leader, Phil Hansen, and found Hassan Jones for 110 yards and 2 scores. Jones would be named Player of the Game, but it was really the shift away from a 2 back, 2 wideout offense to a 3-receiver set for most of the second half which gave the Bulls the momentum they needed.
New Jersey lost their 6-0 lead half way through the 3rd when Eason found Jones for his first of 2 scores. Down 7-6 after 3, the game was still anyone’s to take, but a costly pick by Flutie, caught by safety Mark Carrier, led to a quick Pete Stoyanovich field goal. Four minutes later Eason found Brian Blades for a score and now the Generals found themselves down 11 with only 6 minutes left. Jacksonville held tight and after a failed NJ field goal, Hassan Jones broke down the New Jersey coverage with a double move and Eason found him for a 66-yard touchdown to all but end the game and send Jacksonville to a Southern Division rendezvous with Birmingham next week in Legion Field.
Sunday, July 4, 1993 --- Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado
With Oakland facing Denver for a second straight week, and with the Gold now holding the home field advantage, Coach Vermeil knew the game would not lead for an easy day. Rumored to have spent 3 nights sleeping at his office in Oakland, Vermeil tried to put together a game plan that would break the slow, grinding style of the Gold. Would he unleash Hebert to go deep or rely on Siran Stacy against the Gold’s rush defense. Vermeil, recognizing the playoff pedigree of his quarterback, Bobby Hebert, decided to let him loose, to try to go over the top on the Denver defense. Hebert was able to find some deep balls, but the strategy also led to only a 51% completion rate, and despite having speedy wideouts in Henry Ellard and Marc Duper, the leading receiver for Oakland ended up being TE Sam Bowers.
For their part it seemed that Denver anticipated Vermeil’s strategy. They employed a deep zone, often a 3-deep formation, and forced Hebert to look to short receivers far more often than he wanted to. But, while the story of the game could have been the Denver defensive strategy, a twist of fate altered the course of the game and created a totally different storyline.
While the first half was dominated by the Denver defense, despite Hebert’s 145 yards passing, the Gold went into the half leading 10-3. They would open the second half with the ball, but on a 3rd and 7, Dave Krieg scrambled to the sideline to avoid the pressure, but took a huge hit, some would say a late hit, from Oakland LB Randy Kirk. Krieg was visibly shaken and untested rookie Mark Brunell was called in to take his place. Oakland would score on the ensuing drive, putting more pressure on Brunell as the game was handed to him as a 10-10 tie. He was erratic, to be sure, but he did what needed to be done. With just over 3 minutes left in the game he positioned Jason Elam for a very makable 37 yard field goal. Denver took the lead, but could not hold it. Hebert led a final drive to equalize the score, and when Matt Bahr’s kick sailed through with 25 seconds left, the crowd of 45,604 in Denver groaned with agony, sensing that they would now need Brunell to lead them to victory in overtime.
He did just that. After a rough first drive in overtime, one which saw him miss a wide open Odessa Turner on a 3rd and 7, Brunell calmed, and when the Denver defense got him the ball back, he seemed a different player. Over 6 plays he found 4 different receivers, including a 28-yarder on 3rd and 10 to former Bandit Willie Gillespie. With the team in field goal range, he faked a run to Means and found a wide open Jay Novacek alone in the middle of the field, and Denver got the 6-point score to take the home win, and to advance to next week’s huge challenge, facing the Houston Gamblers in the Astrodome, and likely with a rookie who did not start a single regular season game at quarterback.
Next week is a huge one for USFL action with two Saturday games and two Sunday clashes. It will be Pittsburgh @ Washington at 4pm Eastern from RFK on Saturday, followed by Denver @ Houston in the nightcap, kicking off at 8:30pm Eastern. On Sunday we will see the Bulls at the Stallions at 1pm Eastern from Legion Field. Birmingham swept the season series with Jacksonville, taking the Week 10 matchup on the road 41-31 and facing them again in Week 17, when Bob Lane got the start as the Stallions rested Brett Favre, yet they still came out ahead 38-27. The Final game of the weekend sees the Chicago Machine, in their first playoff game as a franchise, facing the Pacific Division champion Arizona Wranglers. The two met early in the season, a Week 5 tilt in Tempe, which the Wranglers won 30-24, but that was before losing Robbie Bosco for the season. How the untested Scott Mitchell will do in a playoff situation is one of the big questions for the game.
Our picks: We love Houston and Birmingham to do what #1 seeds are supposed to do. In the other two games, we give the road teams, Pittsburgh and Chicago, a fair chance to pull off the upset and advance. In the case of the Maulers and Federals it is a game of familiarity. For Arizona and Chicago it is a game of unknown quantities and first time pressures. Considering how much playoff experience Chicago QB Bernie Kosar brings to his team, we have to give the edge to Chicago, while the other game is truly a toss-up. Our editor’s bullpen is split right down the middle, with half taking the Maulers to pull off the road win and the other half solidly in Washington’s corner. Sorry, but no help with your Vegas odds on this one.
First up on our round up of non-playoff league news, the Philadelphia Stars have released their 1994 uniform designs, presented by Nike. The new look Stars are honestly not far from the old look stars. Yes, they have a new secondary logo depicting the Liberty Bell with a star-incorporated into the famous crack, and yes their new red is slightly darker and their new gold slightly lighter, and yes, the sleeve and pant stripes are updated, but all in all it is not a big shock to the system compared to their prior look, and we expect that most Philly fans like it that way. You can check it out below, at the end of this section.
On the coaching front, it looks like we have three teams all chasing after the same coach. Within the span of 8 days former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka has toured the south, starting off in Tampa Bay, then Orlando, and finishing off his tour of down and out Southern teams, he spent yesterday with the New Orleans Breakers. All three teams have been known much more for offense than defense in the past, so Ditka is an interesting choice for all three. Of the three Tampa has the best QB situation with Troy Aikman the clear choice, Collier is clearly slowing down and showing his age, and New Orleans is still trying to figure out if Rosenbach is a keeper or not. But, outside of QB, each team has serious issues. None of the three has been able to run the ball effectively, none has a top notch pass rush, and none look like a team ready to break out. Ditka does appear very favorable to making the jump to the USFL, so we expect him to sign with one of these three teams, but that means the other two really need to have a Plan B, and we are just not sure what that might be for any of them.
And finally, while no official announcement has been made, we expect that Columbus, Ohio will be announced as the next USFL franchise any day now. Why do we think this? Because local Kmart’s in the entire state have just received a shipment of the t-shirts pictured here, and told to put them out on Monday. If that is not a clear sign of an announcement, I don’t know what is. The fact that not only does the team have its name and logo, but that they already went into mass production of merchandise can only point to an absolute certainty that they have been selected and are ready to roll. And what is the new team name, the Ohio Glory. I am not a big fan of singular names, and we already had one with the Atlanta Fire introduced earlier this year, but a team that celebrates American excellence, and the unique role Ohio has played in our history, makes a lot of sense. This is a team that has a local owner, but also investors from Michigan (of all places) and even a minority owner who is an American Hero, Senator John Glenn, so embracing the entire state, and an All-American, red, white, and blue theme, makes a lot of sense here. So, it is not official, but we are ready to get on the bandwagon for the Ohio Glory.
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