The USFL season hit week and the Western Conference finally began division play. We got a lot of blowouts this week, but we also got a major upset, a statement game from a Summer Bowl favorite, and we may have seen the true birth of a rivalry in the Pacific Northwest. Not bad for April Fool’s weekend.
We got a bit of everything in the matchup between the undefeated Showboats and the homestanding and equally undefeated Philadelphia Stars. We saw an understudy come up big, we saw some rookies looking like seasoned pros, and we saw one of the league’s best do what he does best. All this and 2 score changes in the final minute of play made this inter-divisional game our clear GOTW winner.
Let’s start with Memphis, a team that seems to be transitioning right on schedule for Coach Ryan. It also looks like he hit on a couple of gems in this year’s draft as rookie HB Moe Williams is among league leaders, racking up another 91 yards on only 13 carries in this game against the tough Philly D. That would be enough, but we also have midround pick Joe Horn working his way into the Memphis offense. He only had one catch in this one, but it was an 8-yard TD catch. Most of the balls went towards veteran Carl Pickens, who snagged 7 receptions for 104 yards.
For Philadelphia the revelation was backup HB Pat Chaffey, subbing for a dinged up Charlie Garner. Coach Berry gameplanned Garner well, using the threat of the pass to set up several nice draw plays, and using a lot of pulling linemen to work the outside game which is Chaffey’s forte. The result? How about 21 carries for 144 yards and 2 TDs? Not a bad first start in the league for young Chaffey. The other big hero for Philadelphia was Cris Carter, whose 7 receptions led the team and included a 45-yarder when the Stars were desperate for a big play.
Both clubs looked good in a first half that ended 20-14 in favor of the Stars. Pat Chaffey had his 2 TD’s and Heath Shuler looked sharp, connecting with both Joe Horn and Adrian Cooper for scores. The 2nd half began with rookie back Moe Williams putting Memphis on top 21-20 with a short TD run. It would be the only score of the quarter and the final TD of the day. The rest of the game would depend on the feet of Chip Lohmiller and Kevin Shea.
Lohmiller struck first, connecting on a chipshot 25-yarder with 6:35 left on a drive where Stepfret Williams missed on a corner route that could have given the Stars 7. Memphis received the kickoff and used a methodical short game to get the ball in range for Kevin Shea. Shea connected on a 40-yarder with only 25 seconds left and Memphis players started to celebrate just a bit prematurely. Philly received the kickoff from Shea as a touchback. They would have the ball on their own 25 yard line but with only 25 seconds left.
After a quick toss to the left was ruled out of bounds, the Stars opted to go deep. They placed Williams, Cris Carter and Jeff Graham in trips formation, with the receivers kris-crossing after 10 yards. The coverage got confused, with 2 DB’s following Williams, and no one on the sideline to follow Carter. Long released the deep ball and Carter tip-toed along the sideline as he caught the slightly errant pass. Out of bounds at the Memphis 23 with 19 seconds left. It was a huge error by Ryan’s defense, and, after a kneel down by Long to center the ball, Philly would run down the clock to 3 seconds left before calling their last time out and bringing out their new kicker, Chip Lohmiller. It was a 46-yard kick, with all the pressure on Lohmiller, but it sailed right down the middle and likely would have been good from 55 as it easily cleared the crossbar.
Philadelphia moves to 3-0 and keeps pace in the hyper-competitive Atlantic Division, while Memphis learns a valuable lesson about playing to the whistle.
BIR 9 NJ 23
Don’t look now but the revamped Generals’ defense under Coach Chuck Knox may just be for real. No one expected Brett Favre to be held out of the endzone all game, but with 2 interceptions and only 19 completions on 42 passes, New Jersey showed it could be done. The offense also came through, with Bam Morris’s 78 yards and the game’s lone offensive TD leading New Jersey to an upset victory.
TBY 10 WSH 41
The Washington Federals got their first victory in dramatic style this week, laying the lumber to the favored Tampa Bay Bandits. Barry Word scored 4 times as the Federals just kept pounding the ball into the Tampa line. This strategy was implemented when Don Majkowski went down and Kordell Stewart came in at QB. Stewart would run 11 times himself, and with Morris and Terrell Fletcher, they formed a triad of rushers that overwhelmed the Bandits.
ORL 21 PIT 42
Pittsburgh got another monster game (182 yards rushing and 3 TDs) from Mike Rozier as they doubled up the Orlando Renegades. Add in two Michael Shaw TD receptions and a 21-0 run between the 2nd and 3rd quarters and Orlando just did not have an answer for the Maulers, who move to 3-0 on the season.
ATL 13 BAL 36
Trailing only 13-10 at the half, the wheels came off the bus for the Fire in the 2nd half. Baltimore got 113 yards receiving from Bill Brooks and the Blitz defense sacked Eric Zeier 6 times to keep the Fire down all day. Add in 5 Luis Zendejas field goals and the game quickly got away from the Fire.
JAX 37 OHI 10
The Bulls got their second victory of the year in Columbus as they manhandled the Glory. Natrone Means went over 100 yards and Jamie Morris added another 53 as Baltimore found holes in Nick Saban’s defense. Rookie Terrell Owens also had a good game for Baltimore, catching 4 balls for 49 yards. For Ohio, Joey Galloway again led all receivers while for the 2nd time in 3 weeks Eddie George had difficulty finding room to run behind Ohio’s shaky line.
NOR 23 MGN 45
A statement game from the Panthers as they took down Jamie Martin and the Breakers with ease. Weegie Thompson gained 132 yards in the air, helping Doug Flutie to his best game as a Panther (293 yards and 66.7% completion rate). Ad in a defense that picked off Jamie Martin 4 times and you have a beat down. Chris Snyder nabbed a share of the league league with 2 more picks in this game, and Garland Rivers added to his impressive career total with one of his own.
TEX 17 STL 7
The Outlaws had a tough go of it in St. Louis, but their defense held the Knights and their offense did just enough to eke out a win. It was a strange game for Kelly Stouffer, as he completed 33 of 37 passes, but almost all were short completions which St. Louis kept from turning into long gains. Reggie Cobb averaged only 2.8 yards per carry, and the game could have gone either way until a late Boniol FG gave Texas a definitive 10-point lead.
DEN 21 ARZ 13
In a game that may be Robbie Bosco’s swansong as the Wrangler starter, Arizona again struggled to move the ball. Bosco finished with only 176 yards passing, and Arizona again needed to rely on its defense to keep the game in range. By the 4th quarter they were down 21-6 before a late “garbage time” score made the game look closer than it was. Second year back Rashaan Salaam looked good, rushing for 110 yards on 22 carries and scoring twice.
OAK 18 LA 33
Trouble in Oakland for Coach Mora as his new team lost one most expected them to win easily. The LA Express came out ready to rumble, and it showed. QB Brent Pease threw for 3 scores, including a nice thread-the-needle play to rookie TE Rickey Dudley, and the LA defense, led by Santana Dotson’s 2 sacks, took down Bobby Hebert 6 times. Despite the constant pressure, Hebert threw for 305 and both Ellard and McCaffrey went over 100 yards, but the problem was red zone offense, a problem LA used to keep the Invaders from keeping pace all day.
SEA 29 POR 14
Another shocker in the Pacific as Seattle got their first win of the year, and their first road win ever, by knocking off the Thunder in Portland. Down 14-7 early in the 2nd quarter, Seattle went on a 22 point run, getting 2 field goals from Mike Hollis to pull within 1 at the half, then starting the 2nd half with a safety as Jack Trudeau was sacked in the endzone. Roosevelt Potts rushed for 102 yards and Eric Metcalf led the Dragons with 7 receptions as Seattle upended Portland and perhaps started a true rivalry among the two clubs.
HOU 29 CHI 10
The finale for the week was the highly anticipated Gamblers-Machine showdown in Chicago. Once again Jim Kelly carried the team, as he threw for 443 and 3 scores. Thurman Thomas was a game time scratch due to an eye infection that impacted his vision, so Keith Woodside stepped in. He was adequate, but it was clear that Kelly would need to lead the team, and he did, finding Antonio Freeman twice for scores and adding another to TE Ken Dilger.
Run to Daylight: It was a good week indeed for fans of the run game as we had several contenders for Offensive POTW from the HB position. With weather a little dicey in many games, and with teams trying to avoid good defenses from teeing off on their QBs the run game has had some moments in this pass-happy league, and this week was certainly one of them. Leading the pack, as he always seems to be, was Mike Rozier, who does not seem to be slowing down at all. Rozier’s 182 yards and 3 TDs were too much for Orlando to handle. Not far behind him were Pat Chaffey in Philadelphia (144 yards), Natrone Means, for Jacksonville (116), Rashaan Salaam for Denver (110), Robert Drummond in Portland (110), Roosevelt Potts (102) for Seattle (102), and Terrell Davis for New Orleans . Of note, from those 100-yard days, only Drummond’s Thunder failed to win their game this week. And, while he did not make the 100-yard group, Barry Word’s 4 TD day should also not be ignored. The message to other clubs, get yourself a run game.
Dragon Breathing Fire: Special kudos to Scott Stephen of Seattle, who won the Defensive POTW, a first for the longtime rotational player of the Panthers who is getting his chance to lead for the expansion club. It is also a first for Seattle, which has hardly been a regular in the weekly awards. Seattle got their first win of the year, and only their 2nd in 2 seasons, in large part due to their defense containing Portland in a tough road environment. Stephen’s day was a big part of that. The strongside backer finished the day with 8 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and his sack of Trudeau in the endzone to open the 2nd half was the game-changer that gave momentum and a belief in themselves to the entire defense. A good day indeed for the 10 year vet who has found new life in the Northwest.
Glimpse at the Future: Washington fans may have gotten a glimpse of their future this week, and likely will get more over the next month. Midway through the 2nd quarter of their game against Tampa Bay, Don Majkowski went down, awkwardly twisting his throwing arm on a 2nd quarter sack. Kordell Stewart, the star signing from Washington’s 1995 draft came in, and what we saw from Kordell caught the attention of fans. While the former Colorado Buffalo completed only 14 of 26 passes, he avoided the deadly turnover, and he added 11 rushes, helping the Federals run away from the Bandits and leading them on 5 scoring drives in 8 possessions. While Majkowski remains a popular figure among Federal fans, this next month, with the Majik Man out with a wrist injury, may give Washington a chance to see how their franchise might transition to a new style of play with Stewart under center.
Injury Report: While the Majkowski injury is certainly a big one this week, it is sadly not the only one. We saw a few long-term concerns around the league. Seattle’s success this week came at a cost as their starting strong safety, Chris Hayes herniated a disk and could miss 2 months. Philadelphia tackle Chris Conlin may be out upu to 6 weeks as doctors revaluated his neck injury. New Jersey will be without TE Jeff Spek after he fractured his jaw in a collision with a linebacker this week. In Pittsburgh, the Maulers lost two of their speedier players, with CB Le-Lo Lang likely to miss 1-2 weeks with a torn abdominal muscle and wideout Freddie Scott nursing a gimpy ankle. Expect Pat Chaffey to get a 2nd start at HB in Philadelphia as it does not appear that Charlie Garner is ready to return, and in Memphis, good-looking rookie wideout Joe Horn could miss a week or two with turf toe.
News this week from Nike as the three teams getting updates to their for the 1997 season have been announced. It will be Denver, Texas, and Orlando getting facelifts for the next year. While we don’t expect any of the three to abandon their current color schemes, past history has shown that an updated logo, along with newly-imagined uniform designs are certainly within the realm of the possible. Of the 3, we would have to say that both the Orlando and Denver logos do seem a bit dated, or at least not as aligned with contemporary style as many other teams in the league.
Denver’s gold starburst is simple enough, but lacks any real connection with the region or its rich mining history. We would not be surprised to see a new logo that contains a mountain element or makes use of the golden nugget instead of a more astronomical-themed gold icon.
For Orlando, the tomahawk seems an appropriate logo, but the long horizontal style, along with the script wordmark, is awkward on the side of a helmet. We would not be shocked if the Renegades found a way to balance out the logo a bit more, perhaps two crossed weapons, similar to the famous Chicago Blackhawk crossed-tomohawk “C” logo. Something that creates a more centered logo might make sense.
As for Texas, the scruffy-looking bandit placed on a blue star has received some criticism for being derivative of the Dallas Cowboys’ star logo, but it is a good, well-balanced logo that captures the spirit of the original Oklahoma Outlaws masked bandit and allows the team to incorporate black into the otherwise blue and green look of the city’s original team, the Gunslingers. If anything, we would expect an attempt to connect the franchise more to San Antonio now that the club has a permanent home in the Alamodome rather than splitting time across the state.
Expect to see new looks towards the end of the season, as has become the norm in the league, as teams try to build up excitement for the next year. Of course, if these three “middle of the road” teams can make a push towards the playoffs that may be all the excitement needed for their fanbases.
Week 4 offers up the rarest of the rare, a full slate with all 24 clubs fighting within their divisions. So many meaningful games, especially for those clubs who have not started off as hot as they, or their fans, would like. Among the high-tension games we have Baltimore @ Pittsburgh in a battle of 3-0 clubs, Jacksonville heading down to Tampa, with both at 2-1, and Birmingham trying to right their course on the road in Memphis.
In the Western Conference we have Michigan headed to Chicago to face the Machine, Texas down in New Orleans, Denver in LA, and in a surprising matchup of 0-3 clubs, Oakland hosts Portland in a must win for both clubs. Other games include Seattle at Arizona, St. Louis in Houston, Atlanta @ Orlando, Ohio traveling to DC to face the Federals, and, in a game that could surprise some folks and spark that classic rivalry, the 2-1 Generals head to Veterans Stadium to face the unbeaten Philadelphia Stars.