Divisional games this week help to either sort out or further muddle the playoff picture. In the Atlantic all three favorites won big, but the South got more confusing with Orlando shocking Jacksonville, while in the Central, Texas made a claim against the “Big 2” by upsetting Chicago. Out in the Pacific it was Portland that failed to keep pace, as Arizona barely squeeked by with a W and Denver stayed hot. A big week to be sure.
Seems odd that we pick a game between two teams with losing records while so many playoff-impact games were happening this week, but from a sheer enjoyment standpoint, this game was the best of the week. Second Year QB Heath Shuler had a strong game for the Showboats, completing 36 of 50 passes for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns. Brett Favre matched him with 281 yards and 3 scores of his own in Ernest Givens’ return to the field, a game in which he caught 4 balls for 138 yards and a score.
It was a back and forth game all the way from the opening drive. Favre wasted no time, hitting Givens for a 71 yard TD on the 1st play from scrimmage. The play action fly pattern caught the Showboats napping, and they clearly forgot how fast Givens can be when healthy. He flew past the corner and Favre hit him on a pass that sent the crowd at Legion Field into hysterics.
Memphis clawed back, thanks to two Kevin Shea field goals to end the first quarter at 7-6. Birmingham would then score 14 unanswered in the 2nd quarter and Memphis 14 unanswered in the 3rd (two Carl Pickens TDs from Shuler) so that by the time the 4th quarter began, it was all tied up at 21 apiece (2 point conversion on Memphis’s 2nd TD helped this).
Birmingham struck again to start the final quarter as Favre found Lawrence Dawsey from 22 yards out to put Birmingham back on top. Memphis answered, and with 4:31 a short TD pass from Shuler to Townsell again tied the game. But, 4:31 was way too much time left to Favre and he methodically drove Birmingham down the field for a Scott Norwood kick with 1:37 left. Memphis took the ball on their own 25 and moved the ball down to the Birmingham 35, setting up Shea for a potential game-winning FG with 40 seconds left and a 4th and 2. The sizeable contingent of Memphis fans in the stadium yelled for Coach Ryan to go for it and get Memphis closer, but Buddy opted for the kick, and Kevin Shea has always been a solid long-ball kicker. But, when Shea’s kick hooked left and fell both outside and short, the Birmingham crowd got what they needed and Birmingham moved their record to 5-6, which is now only 2 games behind both Jacksonville (for the division) and Baltimore (for the last wild card). Could the Stallions actually work their way back into playoff contention? Is the lost season not lost? Still 5 games to play, but it now seems possible, something we would not have said only a week or 2 ago.
WSH 27 BAL 6
The Federal defense shut down the Blitz, forcing 2 Chris Miller interceptions, and Majkowski hit 3 different receivers for scores as the Federals reasserted their position as the frontrunner in the Atlantic.
PHI 30 NJ 6
Philadelphia got an emphatic win over their rivals from New Jersey, thanks to 2 Pat Chaffey TD runs and yet another Cris Carter TD catch. Herschel Walker was held to only 57 yards by the tough Philly D.
PIT 17 OHI 14
Ohio proved their mettle yet again, taking the Maulers into overtime before Pittsburgh could pull out the win. Of course, Alan Risher went out early in the 2nd, so once again the Mauler offense was hamstrung. Pat O’Hara struggled, but did put both Mauler TD’s on the board and helped Pittsburgh get into position for the winning Septien kick.
TBY 41 SEA 10
Troy Aikman returned to action and it showed as the Bandits put up 403 yards of offense and blew past an undermanned Seattle squad. Rookie Terrell fletcher rushed 6 times for 51 yards in support of Errict Rhett (76 yards on 16 carries).
ORL 21 JAX 17
Orlando stayed relevant by upsetting the division-leading Bulls in Jacksonville. All 3 of Orlando’s scores came in the 2nd as they got a TD run (Fowler), a TD pass (Mitchell to Emmanuel) and a Pick-6 (Ryan McNeill) to jump on top of Jacksonville. The Bulls scored 10 in the final half, but could not get the 3rd score they needed to pull out a win.
TEX 24 CHI 17
Texas made a huge step towards the playoffs by upsetting the Machine in Soldier Field. Reggie Cobb rushed 22 times for 106 yards and a key score to power the Outlaws attack. The Texas D also held Ricky Watters to only 39 yards on 14 carries as Texas kept Chicago at bay and stuffed a final drive on a 4th and 3 stop.
NOR 17 HOU 20
Jim Kelly struggled against the Breaker D (48% completion rate and 2 picks) but got enough help from Thurman Thomas and his defense to upend the Breakers and gain sole possession of 1st in the Central. Rookie Terrell Davis took a big step towards becoming the bellcow for New Orleans, as he rushed 11 times for 60 yards in the loss.
STL 17 MGN 9
Michigan’s slide is now officially a free fall as they lose at home to the 2-win Knights. Todd Collins threw for 2 scores, while Michigan, despite 103 yards from Tyrone Wheatley, could not find the endzone.
ATL 20 ARZ 22
Atlanta hung close all game but failed on a 2-point Pat late with the game on the line. With rookie Eric Zeier still dinged up, Cliff Stoudt again got the start, and threw 3 TD’s including one to Ernie Jones with 1:24 left to play, but a solid defensive play by Broderick Thomas shut down the 2-point play, preserving the win for the homestanding Wranglers.
OAK 3 DEN 22
Denver’s defense frustrated the Invaders all day, completely shutting down the Oakland run game and limiting Bobby Hebert to 145 yards passing. Mark Brunell had the opposite day, completing 80.6% of his passes (29 of 36) and helping guide the team’s only TD drive. Jeff Wilkens added 5 FG to help Denver get a key divisional win.
POR 16 LA 24
This was a game Portland had to have, and they failed as Marcus Allen had his first 100-yard game of the season for the Express. Despite Robert Drummond’s 122 yards, Portland could not turn drives into points, and 2 interceptions by the LA defense kept the Express on top, earning them their 3rd win of the year.
1. Young Guns: QB play remains the hottest topic in the league as young guns like Heath Shuler, Mark Brunell and Scott Mitchell are beginning to work themselves into the conversation. While the big names in the league, Kelly, Favre, Hebert, and Stouffer, are doing just fine, it is good to see some young QB’s making the best of their chances. Add in the mixed bag of showings from rookies Todd Collins and Rob Johnson, and there is a sense that we are in a transition phase among USFL signal callers.
2. MVP Race: Looking at the MVP race again, things have tightened up a bit. We still see Jim Kelly as the frontrunner, simply due to the success Houston has had, but Portland’s Robert Drummond is having a heck of a year with 1,126 yards and 12 TDs after only 11 games. Add in a possible late season push from Brett Favre and the Stallions, and a possible run at the Sack record by Washington’s Dexter Manley, and this could be a tight race.
3. Sideline Stars: Coach of the Year could be another tight race. We love the job that Jim Fassel has done in Jacksonville, but if the Bulls fade down the stretch you have to look at what Lindy Infante has going on in Baltimore or what Wade Phillips seems to be building in Denver. We don’t see Houston’s Ray Willsey getting a nod, despite the bounceback season Houston is having, simply because everyone feels that they have too much talent to miss the playoffs again. And while we are impressed with the grit of all 4 expansion clubs, none of them look to be sniffing .500, so that makes giving any expansion coach the award.
4. Steal City: If you are looking for a reason why Pittsburgh has surged into contention in the East, look no further than the turnover margin stats. The Maulers are a whopping +21 with only 8 turnovers committed all season and 29 takeaways. That is a solid +8 over the closest competitor (Jacksonville at +13). On the other end of that spectrum we find Birmingham at -12, thanks largely to the trend of Brett Favre being careless with throws and getting picked. Memphis is little better at -10, as the two southern teams are the only squads in the league with 2-digit negatives.
5. Injury Update: A big blow for the struggling LA Express as DE Santana Dotson is out for the remainder of the year with a torn posterior cruciate ligament. Perhaps the best player on the Express defense will be in rehab well into the offseason after getting rolled up on by a lineman this week. Chicago too suffered a big loss as guard Juan Castenada also suffered ligament damage in his knee and will also be out for the rest of the year. Atlanta lost HB Fred McAfee toa broken foot, and Texas will be without backup TE John Henry Mills thanks to a broken collarbone. St. Louis could miss wideout Rocket Ismail for the rest of the regular season as a torn MCL sidelines the speedy receiver. In Jacksonville some bad news as a fracture in the lower arm of halfback Natrone Means could keep him out until week 16 or even the postseason. Orlando will miss their starting halfback, Dalton Hilliard, for at least 2 weeks with his own arm injury, though it appears not to be a break. Others expected to miss at least a week include Washington WR Joey Walters (knee), LA linebacker Donta Jones (hand), Texas wideout Lawyer Tillman (foot), Pittsburgh QB Alan Risher (foot), Houston WR Brett Perriman (shoulder), and New Orleans guard Jeff Zimmerman (foot).
Washington and Houston retain slim leads in their divisions and on the #1 seed in each conference, but things are getting tighter down the line. Baltimore still holds a 2 game lead on Birmingham and Orlando for the 5th and final spot, but they cannot afford to ease up as they have a lot of tough divisional games left on the schedule. Jacksonville too has to be concerned that both the Renegades and Stallions seem to be making late runs. And with Pittsburgh (7 game win streak) and Philadelphia (5 game streak) hot on their heels, the Federals cannot afford to take the pedal off the floor.
In the west, Houston now has both a 1 game lead and the tiebreaker (divisional record) over Chicago. Meanwhile Texas is now challenging the Machine for 2nd place. Down at the #5 pick we have 3 teams at 6-5 all fighting for 1 slot. Arizona, Portland, and Oakland are all trailing Denver by only 1 game, but only 1 of them can get a wildcard if they fail to catch up to the Gold. Arizona currently holds the tiebreaker, thanks to a 4-1 division record, but this is still wide open and even 5-6 New Orleans is not out of it.
We expect three clubs to have new looks in 1996, and this week we got a peek at the first of the three. While New Jersey is playing coy about their new look, and Chicago's new logo is a requirement of their lost trademark lawsuit, Jacksonville has opted to present us with their new look while the current season still goes on. The Bulls, hoping to ratchet up the support as they hope to lock up the Southern Division, present a new uniform that features more gunmetal grey while retaining the feel of the original garnet and orange looks.
The look comes with a new wordmark, three sets of pants which can be worn in combination with the white or garnet jerseys, and just a hint of black in the number outlines. The jerseys feature gunmetal grey yokes and the iconic charging bull logo on each sleeve. The collars also feature the new USFL helmet logo, and just below the collar we find the wordmark.
Week 12 has some intriguing inter-divisional games which could impact the playoff picture. On Saturday Houston hosts Oakland and Denver visits San Antonio to take on the Outlaws in the big games. We also have Arizona at St. Louis, Atlanta in New Orleans, LA heading to Chicago and the Michigan Panthers hosting the Portland Thunder.
Sunday’s big game is Jacksonville at Baltimore, a game neither team can afford to lose. We also have the Washington Federals possibly facing a tough challenge as Birmingham visits. Philly takes on Tampa Bay with a healthy Troy Aikman. Pittsburgh hosts Seattle, Ohio hosts Orlando, and New Jersey takes on the Memphis Showboats to wrap up the week.