Week 5 sees the last of the winless teams break out, and Baltimore becomes the last remaining undefeated squad with a big win at RFK paired with a little help from a division rival. The South continues to cluster, while a projected Central Division frontrunner continues to struggle. Add in a few big games for unheralded players and you have an exciting week of USFL action.
We did not predict this one as a GOTW contender, but it’s what happens on the field that counts, and this week the most exciting game was the clash between the Ohio Glory and the New Jersey Generals. The Generals have been relying on defense to get the job done this year, but they came up short against the Glory this week, with Jeff Hostetler having the most prolific game of his career, throwing for 413 yards and 2 scores, while Eddie George finally broke the 4 YPC barrier with a 79 yard day. New Jersey tried to combat this with Rob Johnson himself having a big day with 3 scoring throws, but in the end it was not enough and the Glory head back to Columbus with their second win of the season.
Things looked good for the Glory from the start, as their first drive showed a commitment to the run (Eddie George carrying the ball 4 times in 5 plays) and then the effectiveness of play action as Hostetler hit Robb Thomas for a 32-yard scoring strike to open the game. After a Generals punt, the Glory added to their score with a Don Silvestri field goal to take a 10-0 lead after one.
New Jersey struggled on offense all day, and while they did get the only score of the 2nd quarter, a 51-yarder from rookie kicker Adam Vinatieri, they were just not in synch. Bam Morris struggled to establish a run game, averaging only 1.6 yards per carry, and with Rob Johnson only connecting on 7 of 21 passes in the first half, it was not looking good.
The third quarter was a bit better for New Jersey, as the halftime adjustments seemed to pay off. Johnson got better protection and made more connections, hitting Morris for a short TD to even the score at 10 after 3 quarters. Fans expected the game to continue to be a low scoring affair, but with 4 TDs in the 4th quarter it was anything but plodding.
Ohio took the lead early in the 4th when Eddie George had his longest run of the season, a 26 yard sprint around the right side and down the sideline for the score. When New Jersey went 3-and-out on their next possession, Ohio doubled up on the Generals, with a beautiful pass from Hostetler to Galloway, putting the Glory up 24-10.
New Jersey were not done, however. They took the kickoff and in 8 plays pulled the game back to within 7. Johson hit Chris Gedney for the score and New Jersey was back in the game with only 2:29 left to go. What happened next has to be considered a coaching muff by Nick Saban as he tried to fake out the Generals with a play action pass instead of running the ball. On a 2nd and 7, Hostetler faked the ball to George and tried to hit Chris Kelley, only to have the ball deflect off Kelley’s shoulder pad and right into the hands of Chris Hicks for the Generals. New Jersey was in business with 1:47 left to play and the ball on the Ohio 39.
The Generals capitalized, and when Johnson hit Wayne Chrebet with a goal line crossing route for the game tying score, you could feel the air come out of Ohio Stadium. Ohio got the ball back, and now, rather than risk a 4th Hostetler interception, they played it conservatively, winding down the clock and taking the game to overtime.
In overtime both teams struggled to get out of their side of the field. After 4 failed drives, each ending in a punt, Ohio finally found the energy and the right combination of plays to get into field goal range. Hostetler connected with Galloway on a key 3rd and 11 to keep the drive alive, and with only 26 seconds to play in the extra period, Saban had Don Silvestri trot out for a 35 yard attempt. The kick went true and Ohio scored the victory on the road, moving their record to 2-3, alongside New Jersey in the very difficult Atlantic Division.
WSH 11 BAL 21
It is an Atlantic Division headed by this season’s revelation team, the Baltimore Blitz. Baltimore shut down the Kordell Stewart-led Federals, limiting their offense to only a field goal for 3 quarters before a safety gave the Feds a short field and they pulled within 10. It was not enough as Baltimore’s offense had put 21 on the board thanks to 3 Miller TD tosses, two to Lamar Thomas and one to Bill Brooks. The Blitz left the day as the league’s last remaining undefeated club.
PIT 27 PHI 20
Philadelphia lost their first game of the year thanks to a strong performance from the Mauler defense and a solid, if not exciting game from backup QB Shane Matthews. Matthews avoided turnovers and Mike Rozier kept the clock and the yards turning as the Maulers shortened the game. The Mauler D contributed with 3 sacks and 2 picks of Chuck Long, but the story of the day has to be the run defense. Check this out for a crazy stat line. Bouie and Ham for Philadelphia combined for 14 carries for a total of -5 yards. Yup, negative rush yardage on the day for the Stars, who have to hope that Charlie Garner comes back next week.
TBY 28 BIR 31
The South got tighter as Birmingham used home field and a 110-yard rushing game from FB Mike Alstott to squeak by the Tampa Bay Bandits. It was a good day for fans of the rushing game as Tampa back Errict Rhett rushed 19 times for 167 yards, but it was the combination of Alstott’s 2 scores and another 2 from receiver Lawrence Dawsey that gave Birmingham the win. With Stephen Davis out, Alstott has been taking over in 1-back formations, and those were used to great effect by the Stallions in this win.
ORL 16 JAX 9
Orlando joined the Bandits and Stallions at 3-2 with a win on the road in Jacksonville. The Bulls simply got nothing going on offense as they were limited to 277 total yards and failed to get into the endzone. The Renegades also struggled in that department, kicking 4 field goals themselves, but an early Terry Kirby TD run plus those 4 kicks proved sufficient to get the road win.
MEM 48 ATL 20
Memphis became the 4th Southern club to hit 3-2 for the year as they dismantled the Atlanta defense, a fate Atlanta has seen a lot of this season. Heath Shuler was on fire all day, completing 26 of 35 throws for 359 yards and 4 TD’s to lead the Showboats. Atlanta simply could not get any pressure on the Memphis QB, recording their only sack on the day on veteran Mike Kelley in garbage time.
CHI 10 POR 27
Portland’s usually soft rush defense came up big against Ricky Watters, limiting him to 28 yards, while the Thunder had no trouble rushing the ball against a usually stout Chicago defense. Robert Drummond carried the ball 26 times for 99 yards and backup Amp Lee got another 11 carries for 75 as Portland limited Jack Trudeau’s throws and kept the ball on the ground on a rainy day in Portland. Chicago’s offense was out of sorts all day, with Scott Zolak only completing 43% of his throws. Their only TD on the day was a pick-6 from George Teague on an errant Trudeau toss late in the first half.
HOU 31 SEA 10
Seattle’s defense held through the half, leading 7-0 at the intermission, but the dam burst in the 3rd quarte as Houston scored 28 unanswered points in the period. All 4 were Kelly TD tosses as the MVP candidate went 21 for 32 for 377, hitting 4 different receivers on scoring tosses of 61, 7, 24, and 73 yards in 15 minutes of play to sink the Seattle hopes for a huge upset.
TEX 20 OAK 48
We said that to win Oakland may need to just outscore their opponents and that is exactly what they did, scoring on 8 of 10 possessions in the game. Bobby Hebert threw for 366 and 4 TDs, with both Ellard and McCaffrey going over 100 yards receiving against an overwhelmed Texas secondary. Forced to play from behind, Texas abandoned their solid run game and Oakland spent almost the entire second half in nickel an dime defenses.
STL 30 LA 13
This battle of upstart clubs was won by the St. Louis defense, which limited Brent Pease’s success throwing the ball and limited Marcus Allen to 1.9 yards per carry. The Knights offense went through HB Darrell Thompson, sort of a forgotten man when we discuss USFL ballcarriers. Thompson rushed 20 times for 134 yards and score, while running mate Alfred Jenkins scored twice on only 8 carries to help St. Louis even their record at 2-2-1.
NOR 20 DEN 26 OT
The thin air was too much for the Breakers as Denver won in overtime to take over first place in the Pacific. The Gold got strong games from both QBs as Mark Brunell threw for 2 scores before suffering a possible concussion. Billie Joe Tolliver relieved Brunell and completed 13 of 18 and threw for a score, despite tossing two inopportune picks. Tolliver’s single TD toss occurred in overtime, where he found Odessa Turner open for the game winner.
MGN 23 ARZ 17 OT
A third overtime thriller, this time with the Panthers upending the Wranglers in Tempe. Both Doug Flutie and Trent Green threw for over 300 yards and 2 scores each, but it was a 27-yard Rodney Culver run in overtime that gave the Panthers the win. Culver had only 2 carries on the day as Tyrone Wheatley remains the main man for Michigan, but his second touch was huge as he burst through the line on a 2nd and 2, stiffarmed a Wrangler defender and rumbled all the way to paydirt.
ROOKIE WATCH: So far this year it is all about the running backs of the South among the 1996 rookie class. Moe Williams is the indisputable starter in Memphis (322 yards and 3 TDs to date), Mike Alstott and Stephen Davis are leading the charge in Birmingham, with Alstott now leading the way with 255 yards and 4 TDs in 5 weeks, and in Orlando Kantroy Barber has seen considerable action and has 4 scores of his own as he backs up Terry Kirby. The biggest name in the draft, Ohio State HB Eddie George, has struggled. His 2.8 YPC average is not what you want from a starter and he has yet to find the endzone.
There are also some outstanding performers on defense as Portland CB Je’Rod Cherry already has 2 picks and 2 sacks to his name. Breakers CB Walt Harris has 3 picks and a TD, and DE Tony Brackens in Washington has proven a great complement to Dexter Manley, with 5 sacks in 5 weeks.
As expected the QB class of 1996 has yet to see much action, with Birmingham’s Danny Kanell leading all rookie QB’s with 1 pass attempt. Not much to see here. Among receivers the leader of the pack is, to no one’s surprise, New Jersey’s Terry Glenn, with 25 receptions for 314 yards and 1 TD. Behind him we find Denver TE Marco Battaglia (20 Rec, 143 yards), Jacksonville’s Terrell Owens (19 Receptions for 252), and Memphis’s midround steal, Joe Horn (18 receptions for 276 and 3 TDs).
QB Controversy: It may not be a controversy yet, but Coach Knox in New Jersey cannot be happy that his “rising star” QB, Rob Johnson has shown more of a proclivity for getting sacked than for tossing TDs. Johnson is currently near the bottom of the league (among QBs with 4 or more starts) in yardage and TDs. He is near the top in sacks suffered, with 13 already. While the Knox philosophy does not ask a lot of its QB’s, staying upright and avoiding costly sacks is an important part of their “grind it out” strategy. With former NFL draft pick Tommy Maddox in the wings, we wonder if Knox will start to think about a replacement.
Seattle Offensive Woes: Rob Johnson must be happy that Timm Rosenbach is still the QB in Seattle, because Rosenbach’s numbers are the only thing making Johnson look viable. Rosenbach is sitting with a 3-5 TD-INT ratio and only a 59% completion rate. The Seattle offense is dead last in points per game, and while not all of this is the passing game, it does not help that even the arrival of Eric Metcalf does not seem to have helped. Metcalf has been targeted a whopping 66 times (20 more than any other Dragon receiver) but has only 28 catches. Of course the lack of a dependable run game is also not helping. While Potts and Loville have each had moments, there is just not a lot of consistency there, with both averaging well below 4 yards per carry.
So, what is the answer for Coach Widenhofer? He cannot pull Rosenbach, as his backups are David Klingler and two untested rookies. He is unlikely to find a quality back to boost the rush game through trade or free agency at this point. It may come down to altering the offensive philosophy to try to maximize what he has. For starters he needs to find Rosenbach an option outside of tossing the ball up to Metcalf whenever he can. In Keith McKeller and Theo Young, Seattle has two decent receivers at TE. Widenhofer might want to consider using more 2 TE formations. It will help the run game and could create mismatches in the middle of the field for Rosenbach to exploit.
PARITY OR PARODY: Outside of the Atlantic Division, we are seeing a ton of balance across the league. Some see this as a sign of quality across the board, others see mediocrity. With no team better than 3-2 outside of the Atlantic, and even 1-4 clubs still in contention, especially in the Pacific Division, it seems there is still a lot to sort out. In the 3 weeks that lead up to the midway point of the season, we expect to see some distancing, as some of the 2-3 teams continue to lose, while others at 2-3 or 3-2 string together some wins. Who do we like? Well, Denver seems a step above many of their division foes, but we also think that Portland has righted their ship after an 0-3 start with 2 solid wins. Houston may begin to pull away from the pack in the Central, though we like what we have seen from both Michigan and New Orleans, and as they face more division games, we expect the cluster of 3-2 teams atop the Southern Division will separate. Right now, we have a perfect scenario for those folks who love to discuss playoff tie breaker scenarios, but we know that is a small and very bizarre group of people, and we know that it won’t last. At least we hope so.
INJURY REPORT: A few injuries of note this week, but particularly for the Philadelphia Stars, who are looking at no fewer than 9 players listed as questionable or worse on their injury report this week. They hope that they will see Garner back at HB this week, but now havequestions about Chris Conlin at tackle, John Flannery at center, and Ruben Brown at guard. Add in a major injury to TE Marcus Pollard and a possible season-ender to FS Tim Hauck and the Stars are hurting.
We mentioned earlier that Mark Brunell was clocked in Denver’s game this week. He may be out this week just as a precautionary measure as Tolliver has gotten most of the snaps in practice this week. Birmingham is hoping to see HB Stephen Davis back in action, though they will still certainly want to keep giving the ball to Mike Alstott after the success he has seen. Rookie DE Simeon Rice could miss 1-2 weeks for Chicago as he suffered a stress fracture in his left foot in this week’s loss. Memphis is down another corner as Deon Figures is likely lost for the year with a back injury that could require surgery to repair. With Figures out and Derrick Cudrup still questionable this week, Memphis has to dig deep into its roster. And finally, despite his strong game this week Errict Rhett also ended up on the injury list, though he is listed as questionable after suffering a shoulder injury at the tail end of the game against Birmingham.
It’s April and that means Spring Owner’s Meeting time in NYC. We are anticipating some interesting discussions this week in New York as several interesting topics are on the docket. First among them is a concern about the NFL-USFL truce and ongoing negotiations to modify the trade window system that has been in place the last few years. The NFL is unhappy with the timing of the summer window, which overlaps with NFL camps, and one has to suspect that the USFL is not happy with the Jan-Feb window for much the same reasons. Everything seems to be on the table, including buy-out clauses, adjusted schedules for both leagues, even a player re-draft system for free agents in which both leagues could bid on players. Of course the NFLPA and USFLPA are not looking for anything that would restrict player movement or the upward trajectory of salaries across the league. They will be big players in the discussions to be sure.
The USFL is also in the midst of renegotiation of TV rights, now with 24 clubs and 12 weekly games, there is talk of rebalancing coverage among the 3 current providers (ABC, ESPN, and FOX) and there have been rumors that CBS has also been sniffing around to see if they could acquire a piece of the pie. In addition to TV rights, there is talk within the USFL of a national radio deal. The recently passed Telecommunications Act is expected to expand the power of the largest radio syndicates by allowing syndicates to own a much larger number of stations nationwide, and the league is looking into whether it makes sense to shift from local team-by-team agreements with local stations to a national radio presence similar to national TV deals. It seems a bit premature, as we are certainly unsure which syndicates may come out on top in the anticipated “radio wars” but the league seems to be exploring the possibility.
Additionally, the competition committee is looking into several potential rule changes, including an exploration of overtime rules as well as the always-controversial pass interference penalty. Also, while the league does not wish to abandon its stance as the “more fun league” by curtailing post-play celebrations, there is a concern that certain forms of celebration amount to taunting and have led to more than a few significant incidents between players. While they certainly want to encourage enthusiasm in the stands through personality-driven celebration, taunting may have to be restrained to avoid ongoing disciplinary issues.
Finally, there are a couple of franchise ownership moves to approve, as the Michigan Panthers, Oakland Invaders, and Orlando Renegades are all proposing to bring in new minority owners to bolster their ownership groups. We don’t expect any of these moves to be controversial as primary ownership remains with the current ownership groups, but you never know what may come of it. The most interesting of the cases is Orlando where NY Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is among a small group of investors who hope to buy into the Orlando Renegades. Again, this would be a minority position, so don’t expect Big George to start firing coaches left and right as he does in NY. Seems more of a financial diversification strategy than a power grab, but it is Steinbrenner, so you never know.
Week 6 flips the script again (get used to this with the USFL’s divisional based scheduling model) as the Western Conference is in division while the Eastern Conference has the Southern clubs hosting the Beasts of the East. Looking at the Pacific Division, this could be a big week as Denver, likely without Brunell, heads to Portland. Arizona is in LA, which is no easy win, and Seattle hosts Oakland in a battle of 1-4 clubs.
In the Central, the big game is Chicago at New Orleans, with the Machine trying to scrape back to .500 with a win. Houston is in San Antonio for the annual battle of Texas clubs, and the St. Louis Knights will try to spoil the day for the visiting Panthers.
Some great inter-divisional games in the East as well. A banged up Stars team will try to escape Birmingham’s Legion Field with a win, while Washington hopes to get back to .500 but face a very game Memphis squad in the Liberty Bowl. Undefeated Baltimore could be challenged by a balanced Orlando squad and an enthusiastic Citrus Bowl crowd. Pittsburgh will be in Jacksonville, where the Bulls hope to rediscover their offense, but face a very tough Mauler D. New Jersey will be in Tampa Stadium to face the Bandits, and Atlanta will see if their defense can show up for a change when they face the Ohio Glory.
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