In a week with a lot of energy we got great games between some divisional rivals as Pittsburgh and Tampa were knocked off their unbeaten streaks by familiar rivals. The Pittsburgh Maulers have rediscovered smashmouth football while the Birmingham Stallions have awakened their potent offense. The results of the week leave only one undefeated team left, and who would have guessed St. Louis in the preseason picks? Add in some fast starts beginning to cool and we are seeing a tightening across the league as clubs start to move into midseason form.
Just as last week’s clash between New Jersey and Philadelphia was a pretty good bet for a well-fought game, the Keystone Clash is almost always worth checking out, and this year’s was one of the best we have seen in a while as the Maulers knocked the Stars from the ranks of the unbeaten with a game-winning kick and a frantic final drive defense. What is more, they did it with Robbie Bosco sidelined for most of the second half.
The Mauler defense is beginning to build some believers out there as they did a great job containing not only Charlie Garner, but harassing and throwing Bobby Hebert off his game. In a game that saw both Bosco and HB Dorsey Levins leave early, that defense was key to the Maulers’ earning the W. The game began inauspiciously for Robbie Bosco as on Pittsburgh’s first drive a tipped ball ended up in the hands of safety Lorenzo Lynch, who ran it back 54 yards for the first score of the game. But, with the Hebert struggling with the Mauler passrush, Pittsburgh was able to equalize and take the lead before the first quarter ran out. Bosco atoned for his earlier pick with a scoring toss to Freddie Solomon to level the score at 7, and then it was Hebert’s turn to suffer a pick six as Jerome Woods jumped in front of Cris Carter and took the ball down the sideline to give the homestanding Maulers the advantage.
Philadelphia would recover, as would Hebert, as the veteran led Philadelphia deep into Mauler territory on a drive that ended with Charlie Garner finding room on the left flank and running in a 7-yard TD. It would be Garner’s best run of the day on a frustrating afternoon for the Stars’ bell cow. But, just as the Invader offense was celebrating, the Maulers took the lead right back. Bosco hit newly signed Andre Rison on a fly route and Rison dodged the diving tackle of the safety and high stepped his way to the endzone to give Pittsburgh a 21-14 lead. They would tack on a field goal, but Philly would get one more score in the 2nd to pull within 3, an Eric Green TD from Hebert with 1:33 left in the first half.
The second half saw both clubs struggle on offense. First Dorsey Levins went out with what appeared to be a hamstring issue, and then on their 2nd drive of the half, Pittsburgh lost Bosco to a blow to the head. In came rookie Charlie Batch, and while he played admirably, it was clear that Batch was struggling with the pace of the pro game. He would finish the day at 48.3% completions, with no scores, but also no picks. And while backup HB Tavian Banks struggled to gain 42 yards (at a 2.6 YPC pace) even that minimal amount was a help for Batch.
Philadelphia started the 4th quarter by equalizing the score at 24 on a Chip Lohmiller kick after a shanked punt gave them a short field. Pittsburgh would get the ball back with just over 5 minutes to play, and, with considerable drama, they managed to convert 3 consecutive 3rd down plays, one on a Philadelphia penalty, but the others on outstanding plays, a 9-yard scramble by Batch on 3rd and 8, and a shoestring catch by Solomon on a ball that Batch put just a bit low and outside. The drive got Pittsburgh all the way to the Stars’ 11 yard line before it stalled, and with 1:31 left, Scott Blanton hit the chip shot and once again the home team had a 3-point lead.
But, with that much time left, and only a field goal needed, Bobby Hebert seemed calm as he led the Stars’ offense onto the field. On first down he hit Troy Brown for 14 yards, then 11 to Stepfret Williams. Two plays, more than 25 yards gained. An 8-yarder to Germaine Crowell to Philadelphia to the Pittsburgh 48, and it looked bad for the home team holding their lead. But, on a 2nd and 2, Hebert tried to hit TE Marcus Pollard over the middle. Pollard handled the ball, but it slid around his waist, and when he was hit by Lynch, it popped out. As the scrum formed the Philadelphia bench started screaming for the play to be considered an incompletion, but the referees called it a fumble, one recovered by Sam Shade. Coach Berry wanted to call for a review, but we were in the last 2 minutes and the booth did not review the play. Pittsburgh kneeled twice and the home crowd cheered as their Maulers moved to 4-1 and a share of first with the Stars.
NJ 27 OHI 21
The second of the Atlantic clashes was not quite as dramatic, as the visiting Generals built up a 27-7 lead and then withstood a late rally by Ohio to take home their 3rd win and keep Ohio winless on the season. Curtis Enis rushed for 87 yards and Terry Glenn caught 6 passes for 104 to pace the Generals, who also relied on a solid defensive effort to contain Eddie George and the Glory offense.
BAL 17 WSH 34
The Federals doubled up Baltimore in a game that most thought would be a lot closer. Kordell Stewart threw for 3 scores, including a beautiful post pattern from Herman Moore, while the Washington D sacked Kerry Collins 5 times on the day to pace the comfortable win for the home team.
BIR 48 TBY 35
The highest scoring game of the week saw Tampa Bay fall for the first time this season as Birmingham showed the firepower we had been waiting for all season. Brett Favre threw for an even 300 and 4 scores, but Coach Erhardt actually rant the ball too, with Stephen Davis rushing for 132 against a stunned Bandit defense. Troy Aikman also had a rough day playing catchup, tossing 4 picks as he tried to rally the Bandits.
JAX 20 ORL 27
Orlando won their 2nd in a row as they knocked off the visiting Bulls behind backup QB Scott Zolak and a strong 106-yard day from HB Terry Kirby. Zolak completed nearly 70% of his passes and hit on the game winner in the 4th, connecting with HB Kantroy Barber for the score and then adding the 2-point conversion to give them the key 7-point lead.
ATL 16 MEM 24
Atlanta fell for the second straight week as backup Timm Rosenbach was sacked 5 times by the ‘Boats and Heath Shuler threw for 3 scores. Garrison Hearst had his best game of the young season with 71 yards, including an electric, spinning & juking 16 yarder in the 3rd quarter. Atlanta struggled all game, falling behind at one point 24-6 before adding some late points to make it look closer.
SEA 27 HOU 21
The best game in the Western Conference saw the Seattle Dragons move over .500 with a win in Houston. Jon Kitna seems to be growing into his role as a starter, throwing for 264 yards and 3 touchdowns. Corry Dillon carried the ball 20 times and caught 5 balls to help the Dragons get the road win. Chuck Hartlieb is beginning to hear boobirds in Houston as he had another bad outing, tossing 3 picks against the Dragon D.
OAK 37 TEX 28
The Invaders struggled but prevailed on the road to move to 4-1. Ryan Leaf had a huge second half, throwing 3 of his 4 TDs after intermission, two to Ed McCaffrey, to pace a big half for the visitors. Kelly Stouffer was back for Texas, and played well, throwing 3 scores of his own, but a late fumble by Rodney Thomas helped Oakland double up on back to back scores, and created a deficit the Outlaws could not overcome.
ARZ 17 MGN 48
Riding a 3-game win streak the Wranglers came into this game with expectations, but Michigan quickly built up a 21-0 lead and kept their foot on the pedal until the final whistle. Doug Flutie had a masterful game avoiding the Wrangler rush, completing 29 of 36 passes for 310 yards and 5 touchdowns for the Panthers. Jeff Campbell looked like he was back in 1997 form, catching 12 balls, 2 for scores to pace the homestanding Panthers to their 3rd win of the season.
DEN 17 NOR 33
The Breakers also started to look more in synch as they controlled the game against Denver with a combination of Terrell Davis (109 yards and 3 scores) and Jamie Martin (65% passing and 2 scores). Mark Brunell had some bad luck as 2 balls tipped at the line turned into picks, and in his desire to bring Denver back threw two more. Both clubs now stand at 2-3 and are part of a muddled pack 1-game from .500.
POR 27 CHI 13
Chicago’s shaky start continues as the Machine looked anything but well-oiled this week. Three turnovers and some costly penalties derailed Chicago drives, and when Jack Trudeau found Matthew Hatchette for scores twice in the 3rd quarter the Thunder built up a 10-point lead they would not relinquish.
LA 6 STL 34
You could have predicted an even worse outcome when the winless Express headed to St. Louis to face the undefeated Knights. It was actually only 6-7 at the half, but the Knights defense just never let LA get anything going (186 total yards for the day) and in the second half, Todd Collins found Amari Toomer and Bert Emmanuel for scores to put the game away.
MIDSEASON SWAP?
That is the issue in both Ohio and Los Angeles. How many losses in a row will ownership tolerate from Nick Saban and Wayne Fontes? Fontes is only in his first year, so you have to expect that he should have more leeway and more time to build the club he wants, but Saban barely survived the axe last season in Columbus, and the way the season is progressing, it would be easy to imagine the club relieving him of duty before the final week. The problem is, who would take over if they did? Both the offense and the defense have been truly bad this year, so it is not like there is a lot of confidence in one of the two coordinators to step into the role.
The loss of Jeff Hostetler has hamstrung the club, and NFL import Kerry Collins has simply not been getting results. Meanwhile the defense, which had been improving in recent years, is now struggling to do the basics. They rank 24th, dead last, allowing 36.2 points a game, and while their pass defense is middle of the pack, that is largely due to teams being able to run effectively on their last ranked run defense, allowing a whopping 147 yards a game. Honestly, the best option for Ohio may be to test some young players out and then make a switch in the offseason and parlay a new coach with what are likely to be high draft picks to start building in a new direction.
HOW FAR THE FALL FROM GRACE
Houston is another club wondering if they have not made a huge mistake. After nearly a decade as one of the league’s best clubs, the Gamblers have not recovered from the exodus of talent due to both retirement and NFL poaching over the past 2 years. Gone are Kelly, Thomas and seemingly strong talent at nearly every position, and the decision to put their offense in the hands of Chuck Hartlieb and scatback Mario Greer does not seem to be working out at all, with Houston now the 23rd offense in the league in scoring. Of course the defense is not much better, which cannot bode well for Coach Willsey. This may be a case of a quality coach having to move on simply so that something new can be formed. Houston has not drafted well the past few years, other than a few successes such as WR Antonio Freeman, so the changes may need to start in the front office even if Willsey stays on.
WINDY CITY WOES
One more team looking hard at themselves in the mirror has to be Chicago. Believed to be a solid contender in the Central, nothing has been going well for the Machine this season. Their usually reliable defense is not forcing enough turnovers, and their offense is struggling to turn yards into points. Chicago is actually in the upper half of the league in total yards, passing and rushing yards, but they are only 21st in scoring offense. Their only win was a flukey game at Houston, and they have lost the last two games by double digits to Michigan and Portland. We don’t think Coach Schottenheimer is at risk, but something is going to have to give, and if we were positional coaches in Chicago we would be worried right now.
NEW IRON CURTAIN?
Let’s finish our stories of the week on a positive note. The Maulers have been one of the surprise success stories this year, sitting pretty at 4-1 after 5 games. They owe much of that to an aggressive defense that is producing turnovers, sacks, and 3rd down stops. The Maulers rank #2 in the league in points per game, and are in the top 10 in all 3 major yardage categories. In addition to this the club is near the top of the league in sacks, picks, and forced fumbles. LB DeMetrius DuBose is proving that the Maulers did well to resign him, leading the club in tackles and already having 3 sacks, a pick, and a forced fumble to his name. Others who have stepped up include strong safety Sam Shade with 3 picks, DE Bob Kuberski with 5 sacks, and LB Godfrey Miles, who has forced 3 fumbles already this year. Not many picked the Maulers to be a contender this year, but with a defense like this they could be in the hunt for the long haul.
Portland cannot be happy with the way the injury report is looking this season. For the second straight week they have led the league in the number of players appearing on the report. This week it was rookie guard Eric Still going down with a groin injury that could take considerable time to heal. Add to that FS Vencie Glenn, who could miss up to 6 weeks with a shoulder injury, and issues for the other starting guard, Victor Allotey, and Portland is feeling the hurt.
The other big innjry of note this week is Washington Strong Safety Louis Oliver, who could miss at least 4-6 weeks with a torn quad muscle. Oliver is considered one of the league’s hardest hitting safeties, so a big loss for the Federal D with him out.
On the positive side, several players are expected to be back in action this week after time away or after what appeared to be a more serious injury in this past weekend’s games. Among those expected to play we find Birmingham CB Torey James, Tampa LB Kevin Mitchell, Arizona DT Jason Peter, Breakers LB Lamar Lathon, and Philly tackle Emory Yates. Doug Flutie jammed his finger at the end of his strong game this week, but is expected to start in Week 6.
LOOKING FOR A LOOK
An interesting story from St. Louis this week as the Knights, who had not been targeted as one of the year’s Nike projects, have petitioned the design team at Nike to add their club to the list of teams expecting new looks in 1999. Clearly a 5-0 start has built excitement and the Knights, who have struggled with attendance since the arrival of the NFL Rams to the city, are looking to cash in by building on the excitement of their on-field success by reimagining their uniforms and possibly their logo for the next season. Nike normally works with only 2-3 teams each season to redesign their looks, a time-consuming process of pitches, focus groups, revisions, and market testing. To take on St. Louis’s request, they reached out to several other clubs, seeking one who might wait for 2000 to reinvent their look, a 2000 season which is very much in doubt for Nike as both Reebok and Russell Athletic are expected to compete with the Oregon-based sports company for the rights to the USFL contract.
Birmingham, Pittsburgh, and Portland were expected to be the three clubs looking for modified looks. Rumors had Portland well into a process of reinvention, including a new logo, so it is unlikely that they would be the club bumped for another year. Pittsburgh was likely to have more of a tweak than a major overhaul, so they would be easy to postpone, but their recent success might motivate them to retain the update on schedule. That leaves Birmingham, which makes some sense, since this season has started out somewhat rough, and since there is no real pressing need for the club to change a look that continues to sell well, due largely to the mass appeal of players like Brett Favre, Ernest Givens and Mike Alstott.
NEW MEDIA THE FOCUS OF COMMISSIONER BULLARD
While the league is deep in the hunt for a new commissioner, the interim leader is not waiting for his replacement to make some major changes. Commissioner Fred Bullard announced this week a major contract with internet innovater GeoCities to enhance and monetize the USFL website as well as the sites for all 24 clubs. The goal is to quickly enhance the ability of the sites to produce live information, serve as focal points of fan attention, and possibly even become primary resources for the purchase of both tickets and club merchandise.
The GeoCities contract, which unofficially appears to have been worth at least $20M from the USFL is aimed at making the league one of the primary sports brands on the burgeoning online world. Just how quickly this new media can be transformed from informational to profit-generating remains to be seen, but with TV contracts already in hand, and with the former Tecmo Bowl Series, now Summer Bowl videogames (Summer Bowl 1998 released this past November), neck and neck with the NFL John Madden Football Game in sales, the next battle between the spring and fall leagues seems to be the growth in online presence and the race to turn monitors into monetary gain.
STADIUM ENVY?
With both Cleveland’s and Cincinnati’s new stadia set to open in the next 2 years (Cleveland in 1999 with the expansion Browns and Cincy a year later), ownership in Columbus must be wondering what the odds are that they will ever be able to fund a stadium project for the Glory. Of course, with an 0-5 record this year, and no playoff seasons yet for the 1995 expansion club, it may be way to early, or simply way to unlikely that the club could start making demands for a venue other than Ohio Stadium. But, with the Ohio State University stadium clearly too large a venue for the club, and with the MLS Club, Columbus Crew, already pushing local coffers with the construction of a 19,000 seat soccer stadium in the area, the Glory seem a long way from moving out.
Of course, that assumes that Columbus remains the home for the club. One could imagine how the Ohio Glory, without a city-specific moniker, could look at either Cleveland or Cincinnati as options should they grow tired of small crowds in the vast Ohio Stadium, or grow weary of the restrictions placed on the club by the university. Nothing solid from the club along these lines, but with two new, state-of-the-art, and more size-appropriate stadia within the state, it does not take a huge leap of reason to imagine that ownership has to be considering their options to remain in state but perhaps not in Columbus long term.
The Schedule for Week 6 brings the Western Conference into divisional play, while the Southern clubs will head north to face Atlantic Division foes. One of the biggest games of the early season may be happening in the Central Division, where Michigan hosts St. Louis in a game that could either pull the Knights back to the pack, or all but coronate them as the future champions of the division. With Michigan the only club within 2 games of St. Louis, a Knights win would give them a commanding 3-game lead in the division as we near the halfway point.
Other Central battles, in a division that seems to have lost some of its luster, include 1-4 Texas at 1-4 Houston and 2-3 New Orleans at 1-4 Chicago. In the Pacific we have two really interesting games. On the one hand we have the two playoff clubs from last year, Denver and Portland, facing off in Mile High. But in the other, we have 2 upstarts who have begun to capture the imagination of fans, as Seattle travels to 4-1 Oakland. The other surprise club out west, Arizona, is hosting LA, which is desperate to finally put one in the win column. Can they do it at the Wranglers or will they slip to 0-6?
In the Eastern Conference we have some really good contrasting games, with the most interesting being Birmingham (winners of 2 in a row) visiting Philadelphia. New Jersey is hosting Tampa Bay hot off the Bandits first loss of the year, while Pittsburgh hopes to keep their run of strong play going as they host Jacksonville. Atlanta will be in Ohio, where Coach Saban needs to show some signs of life for the Glory. Memphis is in Washington, with both clubs sitting in the middle of their respective divisions, and finally, we have Orlando, who have won 2 straight, traveling to Baltimore, who are hoping to go 2 games over .500 with a home win.