Big wins for the Stars, Dragons and Machine highlight a week of action and a cluster of clubs at the top of each conference. We also got a tough upset as Houston shocked the Jacksonville Bulls, their third loss in a row after such a strong start. We also got another ridiculous game from Jake Plummer, the Offensive POTW after Pittsburgh simply could not replicate the success Portland found in containing the Wrangler QB. Another strong game for Jeff Garcia as Baltimore wins again, and Tiki Barber comes close to helping Atlanta pull of a major upset but falls just short. Let’s get to it with that game, as the Fire prove they are still playing hard, putting a real scare into the St. Louis Knights.
A game that most expected to be a lopsided affair actually turned out to be a fun watch as Atlanta put a scare into the St. Louis Knights. Tiki Barber returned to All-USFL form and the Fire defense, led by NFL veteran Bruce Smith, proved a challenge to the Knights, at least through the first half. And this was a game of halves, with Atlanta building a 21-7 lead in the first and St. Louis slowly grinding their way out of the hole in the second.
Atlanta took a note from Arizona, allowing Aaron Brooks to run a bit, and on their first drive he did just that, scoring on a 6-yard scramble when no receivers were open. After a solid defensive stand on the Knights’ first drive, Atlanta scored again, this time Tiki Barber capping off a drive in which he carried the ball 6 times with a 1-yard TD run to put Atlanta up 14-0.
St. Louis would get a score back on an Ahman Green run to pull back within 7, but when the half ended, Atlanta had put up a third score, a Brooks t o James Whalen 9-yard TD toss. Atlanta seemed to have something cooking, but would need to hold onto the intensity of the first half as the game resumed in the second, a task that proved quite difficult.
The Knights moved the ball well on their first drive of the half, with Todd Collins finding Amani Toomer on a key 3rd and 7 to keep the drive alive. It would end with a Knights fieldgoal, but points are points and these pulled them within 2 scores. 5 minutes later, after Atlanta failed to convert a 4th and 1 on the St. Louis 40, St. Louis put the ball up and got back to within 3 points as Todd Collins found TE Reggie Kelly wide open on a blown coverage. The turnover on downs, combined with the quick score seemed to enliven the Knights, who had seemed sluggish all game in the Atlanta heat & humidity.
Atlanta was fading, and while their defense played well, they eventually tired and on St. Louis’s 3rd drive in the final period, they got what they needed, Atlanta mistakes that provided 2nd chances and an eventual score. Twice on the drive, Atlanta bailed St. Louis out of a whole, once with a defensive holding call that nullified a good 3rd down play, and again when an offsides penalty immediately offset the 5-yard false start penalty one play earlier. St. Louis took the gifts and when Ahman Green burst through the line on a 2nd and goal, the Knights had their first lead of the day, a lead that would hold for the game’s final 3 minutes, giving St. Louis a much-needed win, and once again disappointing the Fire faithful.
DEN 14 PHI 31
An offensive explosion from the Stars as Bobby Hebert goes 21 of 24 and throws for 3 scores. Stephen Davis also rushes for 116 and 5.0 YPC as the Stars just simply had Denver’s number all day. Rashaan Salam gained 119 on 15 carries, but with Denver converting only 3 of 11 third downs, they simply could not keep pace and fall for only the 2nd time all year.
SEA 35 OHI 13
Seattle takes advantage of Denver’s slip to even their record with the Gold by dominating the Ohio Glory. Seattle built up a 28-0 lead by the 12 minute mark of the 2nd quarter and never looked back. All 3 Seattle backs, Dillon (83 yards), Loville (36) and Joe Montgomery (45) got carries as the Dragons played keepaway for the better part of 3 quarters.
NOR 24 TBY 10
New Orleans also caught up to Denver in their hunt for a top seed, shutting down the Bandits offense by holding Errict Rhett to 2.9 yards per carry. With Ricky Williams out, New Orleans used a rotating HB corps to carry the ball, with Erric Pegram getting 20 carries, while James Bostic carried the ball 26 times in a run-dominated offense that allowed Bobby Hoying to hand the ball off more than he threw it (47 runs to only 25 pass attempts).
HOU 24 JAX 13
It is officially panic time in Jacksonville as the Bulls fall at home to the 2-9 Houston Gamblers. Mario Greer was Houston’s secret weapon, rushing for 81 yards on only 11 carries. Jacksonville struggled to run the ball, with Irvin getting only 59 yards on 19 carries. Houston was 0 for 10 on third down, but got enough big plays to upend the favored Bulls.
ARZ 36 PIT 24
The Wranglers get back to .500 thanks to another ludicrous rushing game for Jake Plummer. 122 yards on 16 carries, nearly as much as his 181 yards passing. Plummer also added 3 rushing TDs to his totals. He is now over 500 yards rushing on the season, with 10 rushing TDs, numbers some teams would love to get from their halfback, much less their QB.
LA 26 NJ 20
The Express struggle to pull away from New Jersey, but get two field goals to break a 20-20 tie in the final period. For New Jersey the hero was Anthony Becht, the rookie TE, who bailed Jeff Lewis out time and again, catching 7 balls for 101 yards. For LA it was Tory Holt and Michael Pritchard, who combined for 194 yards receiving as the Express cling to fading playoff hopes.
OAK 10 WSH 26
Ryan Leaf’s 2 picks help Washington pull away from the Invaders at home. Oakland actually limited the Feds to only 63 yards rushing, but Scott Zolak, in what may be his last game before Kordell Stewart returns, survived 6 sacks and still completed 14 of 25 for 188 and 2 scores for Washington.
POR 10 BAL 27
Baltimore’s defense held Napoleon Kaufmann to only 9 carries before a tender ankle forced him out. Darius Turner could only average 2.5 yards per carry in relief and Rick Mirer completed only 16 of 33 passes as the Baltimore defense stymied the Thunder all game. Jeff Garcia looked good again, with 3 TD passes and 334 against Portland’s porous D.
CHI 17 BIR 14
Chicago’s losing streak ends at 5 as something is seriously wrong in Birmingham. For the Stallions to lose at home, and to only score 14 points, is not a good sign. Lawrence Dawsey looked like a one-man show, catching 6 balls for 121 yards and a score, but he got no help as Chicago held the Stallions to only 2 scoring drives. Two short Duce Staley runs and a late Carney field goal were enough for the Machine to get their 5th win and stay alive in the Wild Card hunt.
MGN 17 MEM 33
Memphis limited the Michigan offense and pulled ahead by scoring the final 19 points of the game, including 4 Jeff Hall field goals in the second half. Michigan could not find holes for Natrone Means (only 40 yards rushing), while Memphis got 88 from Garrison Hearst and 3 TDs from Heath Shuler to pick up their 8th win.
TEX 13 ORL 27
Scott Mitchell looked solid, completing 15 of 24 and throwing for 3 scores as Orlando managed the Outlaws and won comfortably. Terry Kirby had his first 100-yard game of the year, getting 120 on only 14 carries as he split touches with Moe Williams.
No season-ending or long-term injuries this week, which is always good to hear. We have quite a few players between Probable and Doubtful and just a few confirmed to be out for certain. Among those who will miss Week 12 and possibly 13 are Atlanta FB Zach Crockett, Ohio DT Jonathan Brown, and Michigan DT Tony Garbarczyk. Players listed as doubtful include Ricky Williams, who likely misses his 2nd game, WR Rob Moore in Baltimore, Generals’ CB Gene Atkins, and Tampa LB Keith McCants. The biggest potential return this week is that of Washington QB Kordell Stewart though with how well Scott Zolak has played, the Feds feel confident even if Stewart’s return is delayed another week.
FEDS QB DECISION
We start with the Federals’ QB situation in this week’s rundown. The good news for the Feds is that Stewart is almost certainly back next week, and could play this week if Friday and Saturday’s walkthrough go well. The question is whether or not to start him as long as Scott Zolak is producing wins. The cagey vet has produced 5 straight wins for Washington, and while it is pretty common to give the credit to Washington’s 2nd ranked defense and not the 18th ranked offense, the fact remains that Zolak is not costing the Feds games. Since taking over as the starter after Stewart’s injury in Week 1 of the season, Zolak has led Washington to 7 wins to 4 losses, and his stats, while not All-USFL quality, are not bad at all. Zolak has thrown 17 touchdowns to 9 picks and completed nearly 63% of his passes.
We all expect Stewart to be under center as soon as he is at 100%, but having such success with their backup means that the Feds don’t have to rush him, or put him in at 80%. That said, if Washington struggles at Philadelphia, a key divisional game this week, the temptation will be there to see if Kordell can spark the offense. Washington finishes up with Michigan, Ohio, Jacksonville, and New Jersey, and a division title is absolutely the target for the Feds, so the pressure will be there to put the best possible team on the field, and that means getting Kordell Stewart ready to play as soon as the coaching staff and trainers believe he gives the team a better chance to win than Zolak can.
BULLS LOSE THE MAGIC
It is not just that Jacksonville has lost 3 games in a row, or that they have slipped from first place down to a tenuous third place. It is that two of those losses came against teams they were expected to manage easily, New Jersey and Houston. Their first loss, a 4-point squeeker at Memphis, was not really a shock. The Showboats are the defending league champions, playing in their home stadium, and playing very well after a bit of a shaky opening month. The Bulls played well in that game, but not well enough to win. The next week, losing by 3 to the Generals, was a bit worse. Jacksonville’s defense allowed Jeff Lewis to throw for over 300 yards and 2 scores and Curtis Enis to rush for 98, numbers that have to concern Coach Cunningham. The Bulls lost despite getting a combined 221 yards rushing from Irvin, Bynum and FB Edgar Bennett. They needed a 2-minute drill to score a game-tying TD, and then with under a minute left could not keep New Jersey out of field goal range. That is troubling.
And then this week, Houston, a 2-win club, with the game at the Gator Bowl and everything to play for as they worked to stay on pace with Orlando and Memphis, the Bulls came out flat. No other way to explain it. Again the run defense failed them, with the combo of Mario Greer and Kevin Faulk gaining 141 yards and scoring twice. The offense also struggled, with Sedrick Irvin gaining only 59 yards on the ground and Chris Chandler unable to lead the club to any 2nd half points.
The Bulls had better figure out where the issues are because it does not get much easier down the stretch. J’ville is again at home this week, but against a dangerous Tampa Bay team on the cusp of Wild Card contention. Then it is a brutal 3 game stretch, at 10-2 Denver, at 9-3 Orlando, and home to 8-4 Washington before finishing with another potentially tough divisional game at Birmingham. We expect that the Bulls need to win 3 of 5 just to have a chance at a Wild Card, and if they have any hope left of winning the division, they will need to run the table, and likely get some help since both Orlando and Memphis are ahead of them. What was a brilliant first half of the season could be turning south quickly for the Bulls.
CHICAGO BREAKS OUT OF SLUMP
After a long and painful 5 game stretch that saw Chicago winless in over a month, the Chicago Machine have finally found their way back to the win column. The Machine started the season strong, much to the surprise of pundits who predicted a last place finish in the division. The defense was playing well and the Machine rattled off early wins against Philly, Arizona, Houston and Portland, not allowing more than 17 points in any of those games. But Week 6 brought a brutal awakening as another surprise club, the Breakers, manhandled Chicago on their way to a 33-7 win. A loss the next week to St. Louis, one in which the machine gave up 38 points, drove home the concerns that the quick start might be a mirage.
The defense continued to struggle through losses to Jacksonville and Denver, though each week they gave up fewer points, 23 to the Bulls, 20 to the Gold, and then last week they barely missed out on a win as they lost 16-13 to the Outlaws. The defense was coming around again, but the offense was still an issue.
This week, in their 17-14 victory over Birmingham, the defense came up big, shutting down the usually high-flying Stallion passing game and limiting Shaun Alexander to only 32 yards rushing. The offense, however, still remains a big concern if Chicago is going to make a push for a playoff berth. In this week’s game Duce Staley and Ricky Watters combined for 29 carries, but only managed 58 total rushing yards. Yes, Staley accounted for both Chicago touchdowns, but both were goallline plunges. Jeff George has yet to show us that his arm and his head are in the game. Coach Mornihnweg has the big-armed QB throwing short routes to protect him from a suspect front line and the pass rush that always seems to find him, but that means that the talent George possesses is not being used to its fullest. He is a deep ball thrower, so the constant slants, outs, and hooks is not taking advantage of what he can do. But, that of course is predicated on the immobile QB staying upright, and therein lies Chicago’s main issue. Their line, while occasionally strong for the run game, is just not capable of dealing with 7-step drops and delayed routes.
The Machine have a favorable finish to the year, at least for the next 3 weeks. They get Houston this week, then a home game against Pittsburgh and a trip to Oakland. All 3 are winnable games, which would put the Machine at 8-6. But then they face those two divisional opponents who ripped their D apart, first the Breakers at Soldier Field in Week 15 and then the Knights in St. Louis in Week 18. They will need to win one of those two games to reach 9-7, which looks like a bare minimum to reach the postseason in the Eastern Conference. So while the club has to be happy that they broke the streak and are back at .500, the road ahead is a tough one.
ARIZONA YO YO SEASON CONCERNING
We finish our round up of teams looking to make a push with the Arizona Wranglers. Two years ago they surprised everyone with a deep playoff run, and that made many of us predict great things for the Wranglers, but last year they slipped a bit and the unforeseen rise of the LA Express meant that they simply were not in contention. This year they have been the model of inconsistent play. Over the past 7 weeks they have alternated wins and losses, never getting 2 solid results back to back. A week after losing to the Portland Thunder, a shocking upset and a humiliating result for the Wranglers, they came back this week with a solid 12-point win in Pittsburgh. They sit at 6-5, and have some winnable games ahead of them (Birmingham at home in Week 13, Portland again in Week 15, and a visit to Oakland in Week 16), but they also have to face Denver this week, in Denver, a tough game for sure. They also face the New Orleans Breakers in Week 14. So, are the Wranglers destined to an 8-8 season?
The answer almost certainly lies with the offense. The team’s defense is pretty solid, 7th in yards allowed, and one of the better pass defenses, though the loss of Winfred Tubbs to injury is a concern. The issue, as it seems we say each year, is the rushing offense. Yes, Arizona ranks 15th of 24 clubs, which is not horrible, but if we remove Jake Plummer’s 521 yards, they drop to a clear dead last in the league. Dorsey Levins, at 415 yards, is the leading back, but we have to remember that most of those yards came when he was playing in Houston, not as a Wrangler. Tim Lester has only 294, Leeland MacElroy, the offseason acquisition from New Jersey, has 204. This is not good for a club that has playoff aspirations.
When the Wranglers win, it is often because Plummer makes plays with his legs. In the weeks where the shadow defender strategy works, as it did for Portland, the Wranglers struggle. Even against Portland, when Jake Plummer had great success in the air (336 yards passing), the lack of a run game led to a Wrangler defeat. The weirdest part of this tendency for the Wranglers is that their head coach, Art Shell, is a former All-Pro NFL left tackle, yet it is often run blocking that is seen as the biggest issue. The Wrangles simply do not block well for whichever back is in the game. Plummer has success because he scrambles, or bootlegs on designed plays, and the line play is less essential. That the club cannot put together an effective gameplan of inside and outside runs for the backs is truly puzzling. And if they cannot figure that out, and quickly, the odds that they find themselves in the playoffs, and winning what would almost certainly be road playoff games, are not good at all.
Weird how tie breakers can shift things. Washington at 7-3 was atop the Eastern Conference, but despite winning this week they slip down to 4th thanks to wins from Orlando, Philly and Memphis, which impacts strength of schedule, a tiebreaker pretty far down the list but one still very relevant right now. Philly takes over first, while Orlando edges Memphis in the South. Five games to play and we need to expect that this muddle at the top will continue.
Baltimore is back in play for a Wild card at 7-4, but Ohio, with 2 straight losses has now dropped back. Both are still in the running, of course, while Jacksonville, with 3 straight defeats, has slid to 7th place, just out of a position at present. They will need to turn it around. Out West, Denver holds the tie breakers against New Orleans and Seattle, though all three look pretty good at 9-2. St. Louis gains one on the Breakers, now at 7-4, 2 games back, and Arizona’s win puts them in 5th as the only other team over .500 in the conference. Sitting at 5-6 we have Michigan, LA, and Chicago, after a much needed win. It seems unlikely that any new player will emerge, though a 5-game win streak can help almost anyone get into play.
We do have our first eliminations as 1-10 Portland, and the trio of 2-9 clubs in the East (Atlanta, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh) are now officially playing for pride.
The second of our three Reebok redesigns was released this week. The Houston Gamblers, in the midst of one of their worst seasons as a franchise, will retool their look for 2001, perhaps in the hope of recapturing some of the glory of past years. The popular Texas G logo remains unchanged, though a new wordmark treatment, with both vertical and horizontal options is on tap for the Gamblers. The color scheme and most of the uniform elements remain largely unchanged as well, with a black helmet, black and white jerseys and black and white pants, all with red features.
The helmet will no longer feature stripes as it will be a glossy black shell with the familiar Texas G on either side. The pants are largely the same, though the black pant set no longer has white stripes outside of the center red stripe. It is the jersey’s where we see the biggest shift as Houston joins the popular shoulder yoke and side panel trend. Both the white and black jerseys now feature a thick red side panel, designed to align with the pant stripe and paired with red sleeve caps. The black jerseys also feature a thin white piping line surrounding the shoulder panels, while the white jerseys have a solid black shoulder section, ending at each sleeve seem. The blockish black shoulders contain a single red stripe on the collar. The numbers on both jerseys remain a standard block font with red piping. The look is basic and yet something of a departure from the traditional sleeve stripes the Gamblers have worn since 1984.
Week 12 is another barn burner with 12 divisional games as we head into the home stretch, and with so many games looming large for playoff chases, you may have to spend all weekend in front of the TV just to not miss anything. Let’s start in the Pacific where Saturday Night’s game in Denver could be a huge one for both clubs. The Gold need a win to hold onto that #1 position, while Arizona is hoping to move 2-games over .500 and gain an upper hand over all the current 5-6 clubs. LA is one of those clubs hoping to scrap back to .500, and they have a good shot if they can avoid the upset at in-state rival Oakland. Seattle is also in a rivalry game, but with 1-10 Portland in town, they could fall into a trap if they are looking past the Thunder.
In the Central, Chicago hopes to make it 2 games in a row to get back on track as they visit the Houston Gamblers. Michigan has a huge task ahead of them as they visit New Orleans needing a win to reach .500 and stay in contention. St. Louis is in Texas on Sunday in a game that they hope positions them for a late run to catch the Breakers as they caught the Outlaws last year.
In the South we do not want to miss the Tampa Bay @ Jacksonville game. The Bulls have lost 3 straight, and a 4th would dump them at 6-6. Tampa is hoping to get to 6-6 by knocking off their in-state rival. Memphis is in Birmingham, where the struggling Stallion defense will be tested by Heath Shuler and the Showboats. Orlando travels to Atlanta in the division’s final game.
Is this project dead?