We arrive at the midseason with some big surprises around the league. Michigan, Washington, Portland, and especially Texas have outperformed expectations, while Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and all four 1995 expansion clubs have failed to live up to preseason optimism. We have surprise success stories like New Jersey's Spence Fischer or Atlanta's Tiki Barber, and we have some surprising letdowns, like Ohio's Joey Galloway, or Baltimore's Chris Miller. This is why they play the game, folks. What we saw on paper is not always what is seen on the field. And we have not even begun teasing Chris Berman about his pick of Seattle as a Summer Bowl club.
Another case of a team letting up too early as Memphis thought they had this one in the bag but let up 16 unanswered 4th quarter points to allow Jacksonville to steal a dramatic home win in the final minutes. Heath Shuler played 3 near-perfect quarters, throwing for 4 scores, and guiding the Showboats to a 28-13 lead with just one quarter to play, but the Bulls came all the way back, thanks to two big-play TDs.
Early on it was all Memphis as Heath Shuler threw a 1st quarter TD to Carl Pickens and then doubled down with a second scoring throw to Kirby Dar Dar. Down 14-3, Jacksonville got back in the game with a 24-yard scoring toss from Chandler to Owens, but Memphis would go on to score 14 to Jacksonville’s 3 points over the course of the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Shuler found both Joe Horn and Adrian Cooper for scoring tosses and it looked like the visitors were in control, up 28-13.
But the fourth quarter belonged to the Bulls. The quarter opened with a dynamic Marquette Smith run, a simple counter tre run left that turned into a 24-yard touchdown scamper. The Bulls would get even closer on their next drive when they got the ball in position for Pete Stoyanovich to kick it between the uprights. Now down only 5 at 28-23, the Bulls and the crowd of 51,232, could feel the momentum on their side. The got the ball back with just under 2 minutes to go, down by 5. It would take them only 57 seconds to score as Chandler first used short passes to the boundaries to get Jacksonville into Memphis territory. Then, on a 2nd and 10, he threaded the needle to a streaking Terrell Owens, and the big receiver did the rest, shaking off a glancing hit from the strong safety and spinning his way into the endzone to put the Bulls up 29-28. They would fail on a 2-point conversion attempt, giving Memphis a chance to win with a field goal, but the Showboats could not muster a late drive to counter Jacksonville’s and the Bulls fans celebrated a key divisional win to move to 6-2 and stay atop the Southern Division, tied with Birmingham.
BIR 31 ATL 28
Birmingham kept pace with the Bulls, but it was not easy as Atlanta looked game for a fight. The Fire got 4 TD’s from QB Cliff Stoudt, but the veteran also tossed 3 interceptions, the most damning being a pick-six off a deflection when blitzing LB Kevin Greene tipped the ball at the line, caught it himself, and rumbled to the endzone.
TBY 27 ORL 37
Tampa loses their 4th in a row after a 4-0 start as the Orlando Renegades put together a balanced offense to control the clock and keep the Bandits from hitting on big plays. Terry Kirby led the way with 81 yards on 12 carries, getting an assist from Kantroy Barber with 19 yards in relief. Troy Aikman threw for 430 yards and 4 TDs but it was not enough as Orlando held the ball for over 34 minutes in the game.
WSH 23 BAL 15
The Federals won the battle of I-95 by splitting carries between Thunder (Barry Word with 24 carries for 72 yards) and Lightning (Terrell Fletcher with 7 carries for 64 yards). The Feds also sacked Chris Miller 4 times and produced 2 more Miller interceptions (he leads the league in this dubious category).
OHI 7 NJ 22
New Jersey got just what they needed from a home game against 1-win Ohio. Bam Morris averaged 4.6 YPC on 18 attempts, and the combo of Terry Glenn and Wayne Chrebet accounted for 13 catches for 133 yards in a Generals’ victory that moved them back to .500 on the year.
PIT 24 PHI 31
Philly had Pittsburgh’s number, thanks to a late TD from Long to Cris Carter. Long finished the day with 4 TD tosses, while the Stars D picked off Robbie Bosco twice in the second half and held Mike Rozier to only 40 yards rushing on 18 carries. The big target for Chuck Long was not Carter, despite the late score, but TE Eric Green, who accounted for 140 of Long’s 285 yards passing.
CHI 31 DEN 24
Chicago spoiled a home game for the gold by putting up 10 points in the final period to upend the Gold. Backup Alex Van pelt continued to overperform expectations, completing 29 of 40 passes for 328 yards and 3 scores, including 102 yards to WR Aubrey Matthews and TDs to Davis, Eccles and Wessley Walls.
HOU 33 LA 13
The Express continue to flounder on offense as Jeff Garcia cannot spark the offense in relief of an injured Brent Pease. Antowain Smith returned to action and looked good (10 carries for 53 yards) but it was not enough as Chuck Hartlieb’s return for Houston was a 3 TD outing, aided by 74 yards rushing from Thurman Thomas.
MGN 30 OAK 7
Michigan continued their impressive run as Tyrone Wheatley and Rodney Culver went off against an overmatched Invader defense. Wheatly averaged 7.2 yards a carry on his way to 174 on the day, along with 3 scoring runs. Culver backed him up and averaged even better, 8 carries for 73 yards, a 9.1 YPC average.
NOR 20 POR 26 OT
The Breakers played the Thunder tough, taking the home team into overtime before a Jack Trudeau to Lonnie Johnson TD ended the game with a Thunder win. Terrell Davis outrushed Robert Drummond 107 to 94, but Trudeau had the last laugh with his overtime TD.
STL 45 SEA 14
The Knights must have gotten sick of us criticizing their lack of offense, because they went off on Seattle for 6 TDs, including two each from HB Darryl Thompson and FB Ironhead Hayward. Thompson was the game MVP with 158 yards on 18 carries, but Haywards also had a strong day, rushing for 52 yards and 2 scores.
TEX 30 ARZ 10
Texas avenged their first loss of the year by taking their frustration out on the winless Arizona Wranglers. They outgained Arizona 400 to 186 in a game that never felt as close as the final score. Reggie Cobb had 22 carries for 96 yards and a score, while Kelly Stouffer threw for 293.
ROOKIE WATCH:
It’s midseason and that means time to evaluate how the rookie class of 1997 is faring. There have certainly been some hits in this year’s draft, but the one player brought in to save his team is just not finding life in the pros easy.
Jake Plummer leads the 0-9 Wranglers, and while he has been able to start every game for Arizona, it has not gone well. The Wranglers, aside from being the league’s lone winless team, are 24th in scoring with only 13.8 points per game. Plummer is also struggling, having thrown 12 interceptions to only 9 TDs and completing only 55.7% of his passes. He needs a stronger run game, and more weapons in general if he is going to find success, but he is also very raw, and will need time.
On the other side of the spectrum, Tiki Barber has done exactly what Atlanta drafted him to do. He leads the league in Yards Per Carry at 4.9, and his 533 yards have him on pace for a 1,000 yard season, the first for an Atlanta back. He has only scored once, something the Fire are hoping will improve, but they cannot complain about the balance on offense anymore as the threat of Barber’s runs have freed up Cliff Stoudt for the play action passing game Atlanta has always sought.
While he has fewer yards than Barber, Jacksonville’s Kenny Bynum has proven to be the master of the big play. He leads the league with 5 runs of over 40 yards, and has scored 7 TDs on the season, backing up big back Natrone Means. The two other rookie starters at HB have struggled. Antowain Smith in LA has had some injury issues, and has only 32 carries after 8 games. His 5.1 average is strong, but he needs to be on the field more. In Seattle, Corey Dillon has had moments, but is averaging only 3.5 yards per carry behind a suspect Dragon line.
Among receivers, the leader is Portland’s Matthew Hatchette, with 26 receptions for 425 yards. On defense we have a had a few immediate impact players. Philly’s Mike Crawford has 3 sacks and 4 forced fumbles as part of the improved Star LB corps. Al Harris in Seattle could reach 100 tackles for the Dragons, and Washington’s Michael Booker is seeing a lot of action, with 2 picks and a fumble recovery already on the books.
SURPRISE STARS:
The other big story this season has been the emergence of some surprise players. We have spoken quite a bit already about New Jersey’s 3rd-string-QB-turned-starter, Spence Fischer. The young Duke grad has moved the Generals back to .500 with his 4th win of the season and ranks in the top 10 of QBs by rating after finally accruing enough attempts to qualify.
Kordell Stewart in Washington has also started his first full campaign as the Feds’ starter quite solidly, helping Washington rise to the top of the division, while throwing for 1,953 yards and a decent 8-5 TD-INT balance. Jeff Lewis in Michigan has been another pleasant surprise. Forced into action by a lingering injury to starter Doug Flutie, Lewis has held at nearly 75% completion rate, while throwing 5 TDs to 0 interceptions in his starts for the first-place Panthers. It helps that he has Tyrone Wheatley drawing a lot of defensive attention, but it is still a very impressive performance for the sub.
The success of both Flutie and Lewis in Michigan has a lot to do with why we have a relative unknown, Panther wideout Jeff Campbell, leading the league in receptions and among the yardage leaders as well. Campbell has also shown a nose for the endzone, only 1 score behind Shannon Sharpe with 8 TDs for the league lead. Texas receiver Terrell Owens has also emerged this year, averaging 15.8 yards per catch and accounting for 6 scores for the 6-2 Bulls. Being paired with Brian Blades means it is rare for Owens to see double coverage and the big receiver is making smaller corners pay for the single coverage.
On defense the big surprise is that it is 2nd year DE Tony Brackens, and not Dexter Manley, who is leading the club with 11 sacks, good enough for second in the league. Manley is still a danger, but has only 6 sacks on the season thanks to a lot of double-teaming. Those double teams have freed up Brackens on the opposite side and the big man is making offenses pay.
Another defender busting out this season is Birmingham Stallion LB Kevin Greene. Greene is hardly new to the league, in his 12th season of pro ball, but this has been his most productive season to date for the Stallions. He is on pace for double digit sacks and is also among the league leaders in tackles.
WHAT HAPPENED?
If we are going to look at what is going right, we need to also point out what is not going as planned at all. It is safe to say that no one in Arizona, St Louis, Seattle, LA, or Ohio is happy about the first half of the year. The Wranglers in particular had very high hopes that they would rebound in their first year under Art Shell and with the rookie QB at the helm, but it has been tough sledding for the league’s worst offense. In St. Louis the problem has also been offense, as the Knights’ defense has shown signs of life over the past few weeks, but that offense has struggled (this week’s game not included).
Of all these clubs, Ohio and Seattle have to be the biggest disappointments. Both were expected to make significant moves this year, with some prognosticators picking both as potential dark horse championship contenders. Instead we have 3 wins combined for the two 1995 expansion clubs. In Ohio the decline in production for Joey Galloway is staggering, and the slow development of Eddie George is not helping. In Seattle, Corey Dillon is struggling to find holes, and the QB rotation of Jon Kitna and Timm Rosenbach has proven ineffective. When we look at the expansion club coaches, we saw Dan Reeves lose his job last year, and things are not looking good for any of the other three. Without a stronger 2nd half, we may expect to see Woody Widenhofer (SEA), Rick Neuheisel (LA) and Nick Saban (Ohio) all out on the street in August.
As another midseason report, let’s talk about attendance. We have not focused on this aspect of league finances in a while, in part because TV money and sponsorships have helped to make the league less dependent on gameday revenues, but also because as a whole the league has seen steady growth in attendance, with an overall average now solidly above 40,000. That is not to say that all clubs are created equally.
Among the league leaders we have the usual suspects, clubs in good weather cities that have good clubs. Jacksonville, New Orleans, Birmingham, and Orlando are all in the top 10, along with Denver (always a contender), Washington, Philadelphia, and Michigan. Down on the other side we find Portland (popular but playing in a 34,000 seat stadium), LA (always a tough market), Atlanta, and St. Louis. Bad play has caused Arizona to drop from a solid opening day crowd to a 3 year low with only 21,000 attending their last home game. St. Louis started the season strong, and has a solid season ticket base thanks to optimism following last year’s playoff season, but attendance has been slipping after their weak start. Despite poor play Ohio, Seattle, and Memphis are still drawing decent crowds, though we are not sure how the Glory will do once the heat of summer and the misery of a 1-win club start to impact the numbers.
So, the overall prognosis for the league remains strong, and while there are still concerns about the impact of the Rams in St. Louis, the 3-years of weak performances by the four 1995 expansion clubs, and the loss of fanbase in New Jersey after several sub-par seasons (and the loss of stars like Walker and Flutie), overall the situation is very solid for the league as a whole. Of course, this can all change if the current labor issues carry over into the offseason, or even impact the 1998 season, a worst case scenario for the league.
We kick off the second half of the season with inter-conference play across the board. Even without any divisional games, we still have some really interesting matchups to look forward to as the USFL clubs cross the nation to play rarely-faced foes. Two games which immediately pop off the schedule page are Denver (5-3) at Pittsburgh (5-3), a battle of two clubs thick in the heat of divisional title fights. The same is true just down the pike in Washington, where the Federals host the 6-2 Portland Thunder. You also should be excited to see the Chicago Machine in Jacksonville to face the Bulls, with both clubs at 6-2. Michigan faces a good test against 5-2 Orlando, and it is a battle in Dixie as the New Orleans Breakers head to Atlanta to face the Fire, both stuck at 3-5 and needing a win to stay in playoff contention.
In other matchups, we have the Texas Outlaws (7-1) in Memphis to face the 3-5 Showboats. New Jersey (4-4) hopes to get over .500 as they host the Seattle Dragons. Two disappointing clubs, both at 3-5, face off when Oakland visits Baltimore. Arizona is staring down an 0-9 start as they have to face the Philadelphia Stars in Veteran’s Stadium. Houston is visiting 6-2 Birmingham, St.Louis is in Tampa to face a Bandits squad that has followed a 4-0 start with an 0-4 2nd quarter. And, in a game I don’t expect many will tune in for, the 1-7 LA Express are in Columbus to face the 1-7 Ohio Glory.
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