Only two weeks in and we already have some interesting storylines to follow. Whether it is the surprising 2-0 starts of Los Angeles, Ohio, and Seattle, or the equally shocking 0-2 starts for Arizona, Portland, Oakland, and Philadelphia, there is a lot of head scratching around the league. Add in an epic Southern clash between two of the best offenses in football, and an equally intriguing battle in St. Louis between the hard hitting defenses of the Knights and the Gold, and you have a heck of a second week in the USFL this season. Let’s get to it with that Bandit-Stallion showdown in Legion Field.
The Saturday Night Game of the Week on ESPN was a beauty this week, with the league champion Bandits and their 2nd year phenom Randy Moss headed to Legion Field to play Brett Favre and the always dangerous Birmingham Stallions. Both clubs came into the game with big Week 1 performances in hand, and we all knew that with both clubs being offensive-minded franchises, it might come down to who had the ball last with a chance to score, and that is exactly what we got. What we did not expect was that it would be a back up QB who would get the job done and get the win for the Stallions.
The game ran much the way we thought it would for about 55 minutes. Both clubs proved their offensive might, combining for oaver 700 yards passing between them, with Troy Aikman completing 39 of 57 passes for 291 yards and 2 scores, while Brett Favre one-upped him going 17 for 33 for 373 and 4 scored. But Favre was also sacked 6 times, and late in the 4th, one of those sacks got him sent to the lockerroom with a possible ankle injury, leading the way for a most unlikely hero in rarely used backup Danny Kanell.
The game entered the 4th quarter with Birmingham holding a 22-18 lead thanks to two 3rd quarter TD passes from Favre, the first a 37-yarder to the speedy Lawrence Dawsey, and the second to his new lead TE, Walter Reeves. It had been 18-7 after Tampa Bay got a TD from Aikman to Marsh to start the second half, but now, with 1 quarter to play, Birmingham started off with a clearly-insufficient 4-point lead.
That lead shrank almost immediately when Mike Vanderjagt connected on a short FG to bring Tampa Bay back to within one score. But, just as they had all day, Birmingham responded, with Favre hitting Dawsey for his second score of the day, a 20-yard corner-post that worked to perfection. Tampa responded in only 3 plays, with Aikman hitting Randy Moss for 1 of his 10 receptions on the day, and the only score, a 39 yard deep ball that had Moss leap over the defender to make an acrobatic catch for the score. Tampa went for two but failed, leaving them now 2 points behind the Stallions at 27-29. They would catch a break only 60 seconds later when Orpheus Roye recorded a sack of Favre, forcing a fumble on the play. CB Darien Gorden picked up the loose ball and Tampa Bay had a chance to go ahead.
Birmingham’s defense held after the Tampa Bay drive got them all the way to the Stallion 7-yard line. On 3rd and goal, Aikman was forced to throw the ball away thanks to solid coverage and a charging Mike Rucker. Tampa put 3 on the board with 1:21 left on the clock, and with Favre having hobbled into the locker room, the small contingent of Bandit fans in the stadium were feeling pretty good. Danny Kanell barely ever sees the field thanks to the iron horse Favre, but he would have his shot here to make himself an instant hero.
Coach Erhardt, knowing that Tampa Bay would be bringing pressure, called up a perfect call with an outside screen to Stephen Davis. Kanell dropped back and found Davis alone, with 2 blockers in front. The short dump off pass led Davis and the big back rumbled down field for a massive 63-yard gain, leaving Birmingham at the Tampa Bay 5 yard line with just under a minute to play and 2 timeouts. After having FB Mike Alstott crash into the line on first down, leading to a 1-yard gain, he turned back to Kanell. Kanell faked the ball to Davis, now back on the field after a 1-play respite, and bootlegged to his right. After initially setting up to block, TE Walter Reeves slipped past the backer and out into the flat, an easy target for Kanell. Birmingham went up 35-30, failing to convert on the 2-point conversion, but leaving Tampa Bay with only 23 seconds left on the clock. A squib kick and some prevent defense secured the win for the Stallions as teammates congratulated Kanell while still hoping that Favre had not suffered a major setback. The club got the good news 3 hours later that the exams and x-rays showed no lasting damage. Favre would likely be able to start next week, and the Stallions could celebrate the win over the Bandits to the fullest.
ORL 27 JAX 23
The Southern Division gave us a good game on Sunday as well, with Jacksonville holding their own with Orlando through three quarters before giving up 13 points in the final period to let the game slip away. Chris Chandler threw 2 touchdowns, but a late pick, paired with a Robert Bailey 99-yard kickoff return, flipped the momentum to the Renegades, who finished the tame with two Charlie Bauman field goals to move from a 23-21 deficit to a 27-23 victory. POTG was Orlando CB Deon Figures, who had 8 tackles, 3 passes defended and the key pick in the 4th to swing the game towards Orlando, though certainly Bailey and his electric kick return deserve kudos as well.
MEM 28 ATL 10
Memphis moved to 2-0 thanks to an explosive 21-point first quarter as Heath Shuler found Joe Horn twice and newly-acquired Bobby Olive in a huge quarter for the Tennessee grad. The game would calm down after the initial scoring outburst, as Memphis was content to hand the ball to Garrison Hearst (15 carries for 44 yards) and Moe Williams. Both Joe Horn and TE Adrian Cooper finished the game with over 100 yards receiving to lead the Showboats. Atlanta struggled as Memphis’s D held Tiki Barber to only 38 yards rushing and Jeff George completed only 57% of his throws on the day, including two picks in the first half. The player of the game was Memphis LB Joe Mott, his second POTG in two weeks, as he made 6 tackles, a sack and forced a fumble by George.
WSH 20 NJ 12
Huge early games in the Atlantic, including this one, a defensive battle between the Federals and the Generals. Washington relied on Barry Word and his 95 yards rushing to outlast the Generals, who struggled to move the ball against that vaunted Federals’ front seven. Curtis Enis was bottled up, with only a 2.2 YPC average on 11 carries. The game’s final score was set at the half, with neither team scoring a point in the second half of the game. Washington CB Charles Woodson was named POTG for his 5 tickles, forced fumble, recovery of that fumble, and his late pick of Spence Fischer to preserve the 8 point lead.
PHI 19 BAL 36
Philadelphia @ Baltimore was the other big matchup in the Atlantic, and it went solidly in Baltimore’s favor as they got big plays from both Derrick Fenner and Mike Cloud out of the backfield. Fenner had 4 rushing touchdowns and one through the air as well, despite rushing for only 54 yards, while Mike Cloud had a huge 48-yard run to help him finish the game with 127 yards rushing on only 9 carries. Charlie Garner had a solid game (137 yards on 15 carries) for Philadelphia, but the Stars simply could not put points on the board despite keeping largely even with Baltimore in yardage (414 to 423). Derrick Fenner was named player of the game for his 4 TD performance, a game Al Bundy would be proud of.
PIT 20 OHI 23
The final game of the Atlantic divisional games saw Ohio move to 2-0 under Coach Al Luginbill, as the Glory upended the Pittsburgh Maulers in front of only 23,042 fans in expansive Ohio Stadium. Kerry Collins threw TDs to Joey Galloway and Derek Brown, but it took a Don Silvestri 47-yard kick with just over 4 minutes to play to give Ohio the home victory. Pittsburgh had a shot at a comeback, but opted to go for a 4th and 3 instead of giving kicker Scott Blanton a shot at a 54-yard kick. Ohio CB Vince Buck broke up the 4th down throw from Charlie Batch and the Ohio sideline breathed a sigh of relief as they moved to 2-0 with the win. Kerry Collins was named POTG for his 35 of 54 day. He threw for 351 against the Maulers to go with his 2 scoring tosses.
DEN 17 STL 27
Sunday Night’s big game was the Denver Gold in St. Louis to take on the Knights. Denver would provide more offensive spark (342 total yards to St. Louis’s 251) but the big story was the 5 takeaways produced by the aggressive Knights’ defense, including 4 picks of a flustered Mark Brunell. St. Louis scored 17 points off those turnovers, the difference in the game to be sure. Rookie Reggie Kelly looked good at tight end, catching 3 balls, including 2 redzone touchdown passes. The POTG rightfully went to the defense, where it was split between DE Chad Bradtske (2 sacks on the day) and FS Isell Reese (2 picks).
POR 0 TEX 29
Texas gets the shutout as an early injury to Portland QB Bill Musgrave forced an uprepared Akili Smith into action. The rookie QB completed only 6 of 19 passes against the Outlaws, and with Texas focused on Robert Drummond, Portland simply could not produce any steady offense. Texas split carries between Reggie Cobb and Rodney Thomas, with the duo combining for 94 yards and a score. We even got our first Tommy Maddox sighting in Outlaw green & blue, as Maddox mopped up the game in the 4th. The POTG was LB Garth Jax for the Outlaws. Jax produced a safety, dropping Smith in the endzone, but also added a forced fumble and 4 tackles on the day.
OAK 23 MGN 42
Concern in Oakland and surprised joy in Michigan as the Invaders fall to 0-2 while the Panthers start off the season with two very solid wins. Tyrone Wheatley had a big game, rushing for 160 and 3 scores against an Invader defense that clearly has not found itself yet. Michigan also had some defensive issues as Oakland’s diminutive HB Troy Davis busted out for 135 yards on only 8 carries, including a 56-yard romp in the 2nd quarter. But, the Panther D proved successful in limiting Oakland scoring chances, while the offense proved it had depth and talent. Even when Doug Flutie went out of the game after getting poked in the eye, Elvis Grbac showed he had some talent, completing 7 of 16 and finding Cedrick Tillman for a score. Wheatley was the POTG for his dominant rushing performance.
ARZ 21 HOU 23
Arizona fell to 0-2 as they struggled to move the ball on the ground against Houston. Darrell Thompson had a rough day, rushing for only 12 yards as Houston forced Jake Plummer as well, forcing 7 sacks and a lot of errant throws as Plummer found himself running from the pocket on almost every obvious passing down. Rookie Kevin Faulk had a solid game sharing carries with Dorsey Levins, the two combining for 110 on the ground. Wideout J.J. Stokes, a new acquisition for the Gamblers, had his first catch in black and crimson, a key TD late in the game that helped Houston pull out the win at home. DE Michael Sinclair was an easy choice for POTG with his 3-sack performance.
SEA 23 NOR 20
Seattle also moves to 2-0 as fans actually booed the home town Breakers late in the game. Seattle did not look good early, with Jon Kitna falling to injury and Brian Griese throwing 4 picks in the game, including one to Breaker FS Darren Woodson, a pick 6 that put the Breakers up 20-16 midway through the final period. But, Griese redeemed himself 3 minutes later, finding rookie TD-maker David Boston on a 38-yard scoring toss to regain the lead and bring out the local boo birds. At least the Breaker fans had no reason to boo rookie HB Ricky Williams, whose 107 yards rushing were the highlight of the home team’s day. While it looked like Woodson, with the late pick-6 was a shoe-in for the POTG, the late score change led to Eric Metcalf (6 receptions for 122 yards) gaining the honor.
LA 26 CHI 10
Before we get too excited about the LA Express’s 2-0 start, we should remember that the two clubs they have beaten were two of the league’s worst last year, 0-2 Atlanta and 0-2 Chicago. What fans should be excited by is the production coming from LA rookies, as both Cade McNown and Tory Holt helped contribute to the Express victory. In a game where Chicago focused on shutting down lanes for Antowain Smith (only 17 yards rushing), it was on McNown and the passing game to come through. The UCLA product went only 13 of 33 but did throw for 2 scores and again avoided interceptions as he led the Express to match their total win total for all of last year in only their first 2 games. POTG was given to LA free safety Martin Bayless as he recorded 7 tackles and a key sack on a 3rd down blitz that shut down a late Chicago drive.
The big story after 2 weeks is the somewhat inverse listing of winless and undefeated teams. While there remains a lot of skepticism around the league that this quick start for Ohio or LA really means that either club has turned a corner, there is curiosity about just what might be different about these clubs this year. Likewise there are early concerns that teams like Oakland and Philadelphia have let themselves get complacent and that others have caught or surpassed them. Yes, this all falls into way-too-early panic, but that is what fanbases do. So what do the statistics tell us?
Well, on the positive side, they show us that teams like Michigan, Houston, and even LA are among the league leaders in points, along with the expected 1-2 of Tampa Bay and Birmingham. Michigan is also third in yardage, just behind the Stallions and Bandits, a good sign that things might be in a good position for the Panthers. LA and Houston are not there yet, so this causes some concern that their early success has more to do with bad opposition and the unreliability of takeaways.
if we look at defense as well we see some surprises. Texas leads the league, having only allowed 12 points in 2 games, but that includes a shutout of Portland after Bill Musgrave went down to injury. LA is second, and again we look at the fact that they have faced only Atlanta and Chicago as a likely reason. Memphis, sitting at 3rd, gets more respect, while Ohio also seems to be overperforming to come in 4th after 2 weeks, ahead of such expected defensive heavyweights as Baltimore, Washington, and St. Louis.
Looking at defensive yardage totals, Houston has allowed an impressively low 48 yards rushing to lead all teams, with Texas and Orlando right behind them. The top passing defense after only 2 weeks is Texas. We expected the Outlaws to depend on run game and defense this year, as once again their receivers seem somewhat undervalued. Chicago is a surprise #2 in pass defense, but their offense seems to be the major issue, so perhaps if they can get into the win column it will ride on defense.
Finally we look at turnovers and takeaways and we see the usual parallel with win-loss record. St. Louis, Memphis, LA, and Houston are all tied at +5 after 2 weeks, and they are all undefeated. Birmingham is a surprise last at -4, having forced only 1 turnover so far, while Brett Favre alone has accounted for 4 picks, yet the Stallions remain undefeated in large part due to Favre’s arm.
Like we said, it is very very early. Too early to panic or to pat yourselves on the back. Let’s at least wait until the ¼ mark of the season after week 4 before we start anointing or vilifying anyone.
After a relatively clean first week, we started to see some game and season-impacting injuries this week. The worst of the blows was to Memphis CB James Fuller, who broke his femur, a painful break that will take at least 4 months to heal and then start rehab. His season is tragically over after only 2 weeks. Atlanta will be losing FS Charles Mincy for perhaps 2 months as he also suffered a fracture, though not a full break. Others expected to miss multiple weeks include Jacksonville LB Jessie Armstead (hamstring), Memphis TE O.J. Santiago (thigh), Denver CB Todd McMillon (knee), and New Orleans wideout Darren Flutie (thigh).
Portland QB Bill Musgrave is listed as doubtful for Week 3, so we may get to see a full game and a full week of prep for Akili Smith. Another QB unlikely to play is Jon Kitna in Seattle, after being listed as questionable with a shoulder injury. Both Brett Favre and Doug Flutie are expected to start this week after being pulled last week due to injury. Others listed as probable include Chicago CB Eric Allen (neck), Birmingham SS Darryl Williams (finger), and St. Louis wideout Bert Emmanuel (Concussion).
Our first off-field story of the week focuses on the ownership of the Orlando Renegades. As you may recall, it was a little over a year ago when the ownership group led by private hospital magnate Donald Dizney, expanded the ownership group for the Renegades by selling a minority share to NY Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Dizney, who owns a 51% share of the Renegades after being a minority owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits, had shared ownership with a small group of Florida investors, including Woody Weiser, who had originally been the lead owner in a bid for the club when it was targeting Miami and not Orlando. Weiser remained a minority owner, but it now appears that Steinbrenner is seeking to purchase Weiser’s shares in the club.
This move would provide Steinbrenner with 44% of the franchise, and he could opt to expand his role in the club. This is not going over well with Dizney, who sees Steinbrenner as a potential disruptive force in the USFL if his partnership were to turn to a significant ownership share in the club. Steinbrenner has long stated that he hopes to one day provide NYC with a second USFL franchise, but that his role in Orlando was not a stepping stone in this direction. Dizney now appears concerned that Steinbrenner is changing his tune and may very well be interested in relocating the Renegades to the nation’s largest market, perhaps hoping to earn extra revenue out of aging Yankee Stadium by adding a second spring tenant.
It is important to remember that even if a deal were to move forward, and Steinbrenner were able to acquire the Weiser shares of the Renegades, Dizney would remain the majority owner, and could put an end to any future expansion of Steinbrenner’s role by bringing in additional owners and selling further shares of the club, diluting both Steinbrenner’s and his own percentage of the club. This would be viewed as something of a “poison pill” strategy, one Dizney seems unlikely to call into play. For now what we have is a millionaire trying to strongarm another millionaire and preserve his sense of authority. What we could end up with is a very messy legal and financial situation for a club that has not exactly been a model franchise to date.
Before we finish our segment on off-field news, we have one more story, and it’s a bit of a strange story out of St. Louis, where the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has been looking at what it deems discrepancies between the advertised attendance at Knight games and the declared revenue of the club in USFL reporting. The paper has not made any specific claims regarding any potential fraud or malfeasance, but they point out that the revenue stated would require attendance far higher than that reported at the end of the 1998 USFL season.
Now, we all know that inflated attendance numbers are nothing new for USFL clubs, as they often use ticket deals and giveaways to put more seats in the stands, but what would be unusual would be for a team to underreport attendance and/or overreport revenue. That helps them neither with the league or with the IRS, so the question would be why this might be occurring in the case of the Knights. With concerns already existing about the renewal of the Knights’ lease in the Gateway City along with the ongoing tensions between the ownership group, the NFL Rams, and the city regarding the dome and the concept of primary v. secondary tenancy, any issues surrounding the misreporting of ticket sales and/or revenue from on-site attendance, could turn discussions quite nasty.
Week three doubles up on Eastern Conference divisional games, a rarity in the USFL schedule, but once again we will see clubs from the Atlantic and Southern Division going to battle within the divisions while the Central and Pacific clubs again face off. Looking at the Atlantic, we have a real challenge for the 2-0 Ohio Glory as they head into New Jersey to face the Generals. Philadelphia has a tough task ahead if they want their first win of the season, pull off a road win in Washington. Baltimore heads to Pittsburgh hoping they can win their 2nd in a row, but facing a desperate 0-2 Mauler squad.
In the South, the game to watch is 2-0 Birmingham, fresh off their home win against Tampa Bay, as they head to Memphis to face the Showboats. Expect at least 55,000 as this game always draws fans of both teams in droves. Tampa Bay and Orlando face off in the Citrus Bowl as both clubs sit at 1-1 after 2 weeks. Finally, Atlanta is in Jacksonville in a battle of winless teams hoping to turn the season around after a rough start.
It is matchups of surprise 2-0 clubs that highlights the inter-divisional games this week. 2-0 Michigan will likely be favored on the road as they face off against 2-0 Los Angeles in Farmers Insurance Field. Seattle, also a surprise at 2-0, host Texas, and are an early 1-point favorite at home. Houston is also 2-0 as they head up to Mile High to face the Denver Gold, always a tough place to play. St. Louis take their 2-0 record into Arizona, where the Wranglers can hardly afford to go 0-3 if they hope to have a shot at winning the Pacific Division. Other games include battles of 0-2 clubs as New Orleans will visit the Akili Smith led Portland Thunder, while Chicago is in Oakland, where the Invaders hope they can outclass the Machine and earn their first win.