Four weeks into the season and it is anyone's guess who is truly a contender and who is a poser. We have 11 of the league's 20 teams sitting at 2-2, all even, including nearly all of the Southern and Central divisions. The Pacific has 3 teams sitting at 3-1, but no one is sure if that is just because they have been playing each other or not. We have had both Houston and Birmingham lose 2 consecutive games (Houston the last two, B'ham their first two), and we are looking at a lot of win-one-lose-one patterns across the league. Other than saying that Orlando looks pretty bad, we are not feeling confident about saying much else.
We went into the Oakland-Arizona game knowing that this could be a good one. Both teams are hoping to ascert themselves atop a very talented Pacific Division. Both have defenses that can make big plays and enough offensive talent to threaten those defenses. The fact that we ended up with an overtime thriller is no shock to anyone familiar with these two teams.
In a game that saw a combined 11 sacks, what was perhaps surprising to those who attended was how poised both Bobby Hebert and Robbie Bosco were in the face of the pressure. Hebert was under constant pressure, sacked 6 times by 6 different Wranglers. Arizona used varied blitz packages to rattle the USFL and NFL veteran, and yet, Hebert still completed 21 of 32 passes (66%) and threw for all 3 Oakland touchdowns. It was much the same situation for Robbie Bosco, who was sacked 5 times yet still completed 74.5% of his throws and threw for 2scores, with Tim Lester’s rushing TD providing the third.
Lester would be the star of the game for Arizona, compiling 55 yards on 10 carries and also catching a crucial 4th quarter TD from Hebert to give the Wranglers a 21-17 lead. Lester’s score with 5:35 held up only 4 minutes, as Oakland’s Henry Ellard would catch a 22-yard toss from Hebert with 1:35 left to give Oakland a 24-21 lead, their 3rd lead of the game, a game which saw both teams see-saw up and down over the course of 60 minutes.
With 1:35 left, and down by 3, Bosco avoided a sack on the final drive and moved the Wranglers into position to level the score. Mick Luckhurst’s game-ending kick sent the matchup to overtime, much to the delight of the 43,202 in attendance in Sun Devil Stadium. The overtime period saw a back and forth of unsuccessful drives and very much looked like a game destined to end in a tie.
With only 1:45 left on the clock, Oakland received the ball on their own 22, with one last chance to get Matt Bahr into range for a final field goal attempt. Hebert, who is no stranger to last minute drives, would find Ellard on 1st down for 10, then Carlester Crumpler for 12,and Sam Bowers for another 10. Then, after spiking the ball to stop the clock and save their final time out. On 2nd and 10 Hebert again found Henry Ellard on an out route, moving to the edge of Bahr’s range. Bahr lined up the kick, a 52 yarder, and it barely escaped the oustretched hands of Arizona linebacker Broderick Thomas as its low arc gave it just enough distance to top the crossbar. Oakland had pulled off the win and moved to 3-1. The Wranglers would fall to 2-2, looking up at the Invaders, and the fans in Tempe went home disappointed, but well-entertained by a very well-played game.
PHI 12 BAL 20
Good things seem to be happening in Baltimore, where the Blitz have found some defensive muscle and now have won their second in a row. The Blitz held Chuck Long without a score, and kept the Combo of Bryant and Garner to a modest 83 yards rushing on the day. Meanwhile, Bill Brooks had 103 yards and FB James Jones had a rare TD reception to guide the Blitz to the win.
NJ 36 WSH 24
Sam Wyche came up with some wrinkles to disrupt the Washington pass rush, and the Feds, led by Mike Hohensee due to ongoing concerns about Don Majkowski’s shoulder, simply did not muster enough offense to keep pace. Flutie ended the day with 2 scores, both to Lam Jones, and a 74% completion rate and the Generals’ defense held Barry Word and Terry Kirby to only 39 yards rushing on 25 carries as the Generals took an important early season road win from RFK.
MEM 20 BIR 37
Birmingham evened their record with a key divisional win at home over the Showboats, and they did so with veteran Cliff Stoudt at the helm for most of the day. Brett Favre went out early with what appears to be a minor hamstring injury. Stoudt came in, to the cheers of an appreciative home crowd, and threw for 230 yards and 2 scores to power the Stallions to the win. Ernest Givens returned to form with 136 yards and 2 scores for Birmingham as they outlasted the Showboats.
JAX 13 TBY 31
The Bandits impressed the home crowd with a healthy win over their in-state rival. The defense shut down the Bulls run game (not unusual in recent years) and the offense found a rhythm with a good balance between Aikman (361 yards on 34 of 44) and Rhett (89 yards on 17 carries) as Tampa busted open a 13-10 game with 21 unanswered points to even their record at 2-2.
MGN 17 CHI 31
Chicago’s defense held Marcus Allen to 76 yards and kept Michigan guessing all day as Bernie Kosar won his duel with Joe Montana. The former Cleveland Brown threw for 224 and 2 scores, aided by a solid day from HB Ricky Watters (18 carries for 81 yards.) Darryl Talley was also a huge factor as he logged 11 tackles, including 5 for a loss as Chicago evened their record at 2-2.
HOU 21 TEX 30
The Outlaws were an uncharitable host as they sent Houston to their second consecutive defeat. Trailing 21-17, Texas scored the final 13 points of the game to take the win. Reggie Cobb was the key as his 118 yards helped keep pressure off of Kelly Stouffer. Brett Perriman was key for Houston, catching 8 balls for 133 yards and a score, but it was not enough for the Gamblers on this day.
STL 17 DEN 35
Denver took care of business at home and moved their record to 3-1 with a convincing win over the St. Louis Knights. The Denver defense held St. Louis to only 164 total yards on the day, forcing 3 turnovers in the process. Natrone Means and Timmy Smith combined for 99 yards rushing and Mark Brunell, who got the start over a recuperating Dave Krieg, threw for 189 and a score as Denver’s D sacked David Archer 5 times and picked off 3 passes to clinch the divisional win.
NOR 17 PIT 30
A week after knocking off Houston, the Breakers came up flat in their road trip to Pittsburgh. Timm Rosenbach threw the ball 44 times as the Breakers abandoned the run early. For Pittsburgh, QB Alan Risher was forced to scramble more than the team would like, but those scrambles included a 43 yard scoring run and helped the Maulers outpace the Breakers. Louis Lipps again topped 100 yards as he has clearly become the go-to receiver in Pittsburgh. The Maulers, at 3-1 now sit atop the Atlantic with New Jersey.
POR 17 ORL 0
It was a depressing day for the Renegade faithful who turned out at the Citrus Bowl. Orlando was ineffective on offense and simply never posed a threat to the Thunder. Jack Trudeau went 32 of 43 for 293 yards and a scoring toss to Clint Didier, and the Portland D contained and confused Reggie Collier all game long. TE Deforest Whittaker was the leading receiver for Orlando, who just could not connect with their outside receivers against the Portland zone.
The star of the weekend was the Denver defense, led by free safety Charles Mincy’s 2 pick-six interception returns against David Archer. Denver held down both the St. Louis run game and made life miserable for Archer all game. The combination of tight coverage outside and pressure up the middle limited the Knights to 164 total yards, including a paltry 25 total rushing yards. Knights’ starting HB Darrell Thompson, a 1,000 yard rusher last season, was held to only 10 yards on 7 carries, and Archer was sacked 5 times, by 5 different Gold defenders. Rooke Trev Alberts led the team with 7 tackles, including a key tackle for loss on a St. Louis 4th and 2, a sack, and a hurry which forced one of Archer’s two pick-sixes to Mincy. LB John Roper was also key to several big plays, shutting down TE Frank Wycheck all game long. It was a team victory for the Denver defense, so while the AP chose to select Mincy as the defensive POTW, we believe the entire team, including Head Coach and defensive guru Wade Phillips should get the credit this week.
Looking around the league, we thought it was a good time to focus on the decline of the rushing game in the USFL. The league has always been a playground for quarterbacks, with the deep ball and the West Coast offense being two dominant elements of typical USFL style, but the run game has always been a key as well. We opened the season wondering if this was the end of an era, with Rozier, Walker, and Bryant possibly playing their last seasons of football. Perhaps the better question is whether the USFL remains a league that values the run. Far too often we are seeing teams provide fewer than 20 total rushing plays in their stat lines, and even teams known for their power game, like New Jersey with Walker, or Philadelphia with Bryant, are throwing the ball far more than they opt to pound out a win. 4 weeks into the season and we have no rusher averaging 100 yards a game. We have only 3 who are over 300 yards total (Drummond, Rozier, and Reggie Cobb). While there have been some solid performances, such as Marcus Allen’s Week 2 explosion, or Memphis backup Tommy Agie’s consistent pounding of opposing defenses, the run game simply does not seem to be at the forefront of most coaches’ minds.
This may be a phase, as football coaches tend to be somewhat imitative of each other. All it may take is one coach to innovate a bit on how to emphasize the ground game for others to catch on. What we are seeing now is a lot of teams trying to copy the successful run of the Birmingham Stallions, who, after losing Joe Cribbs to retirement, have moved to a 70-30 passing/rushing split and put the game into the hands of their young gunslinging QB, Brett Favre. Even teams with successful run games, like Houston with the multitalented Thurman Thomas, are spreading things out, adding 3rd and 4th receivers to their early down formations, and passing their way to yards. Thomas, who led the league in rushing last year, is not even among the Top 10 this year, falling 16th with only 191 rush yards in 4 games. Portland’s Robert Drummond is an unlikely league leader after 4 weeks with 371 yards. For a league that first splashed onto the scene with the signing of Heisman winner Herschel Walker in 1983, it is surprising to see how little the run game seems to play into offensive schemes. It is all about the aerial attack with Favre, Kelly, Aikman, and others racking up huge games week in and week out. For those of us who like the traditional mix of run and pass, something seems off, and we worry that this could be the wave of the future.
Looking around the league, it seems one of the reasons why run games might be suffering is injuries to the key offensive linemen who make the holes for the league’s lead backs. This week we saw Portland guard Stan parker go down, possibly for the season, with a broken wrist. In New Orleans guard Jeff Zimmerman’s arm is costing him games and center Tim Rother may miss time with a sprained knee. Washington tackle Ken Lanier is out with patella tendonitis, and of course there is also the injury to Oakland’s Muhammad Elowinibi, which has impacted Siran Stacy’s game.
Add to this the bevvy of injuries to players in the secondary for many teams, and perhaps passing is the way to go. Currently on the injury report we see injuries to CB Richard Jennings (NJ), Garland Rivers (MGN), Chris Dishman (BIR), Clayton Holmes (OAK), Thomas Pitman (ORL), Leslie Frazier (BAL) and Derrick Burroughs (CHI). Things are not much better at the safety position where we also find Bennie Blades (MEM), Tim Hauck (PHI), Kyle Kramer (PIT), Martin Bayless (ARZ), and Joe King (BAL) among the walking wounded. Looks like a good time to pass the ball.
Week 5 brings us to an inter-divisional week, with the Atlantic teams headed south and the Central Division headed west. With so many teams at 2-2, there are a lot of interesting games to be had. Baltimore will have a tough one this week as they visit the Birmingham Stallions, and New Jersey may find it tough sledding in Jacksonville as well. Philadelphia is hoping to garner their second win of the year in Memphis, while Pittsburgh is hoping Orlando is as bad as their 0-4 record indicates. Washington wraps up the Eastern Conference games with their trip down to face a feistier Tampa Bay Bandits squad.
Out West we have Chicago visiting the Wranglers, Houston with a tough task as the face off against the Denver Gold at Mile High, Michigan visiting their old QB Bobby Hebert in Oakland, New Orleans headed up to Portland, and the Texas Outlaws hoping to get a win as they visit the 1-3 Knights in St. Louis.
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