2006 USFL Week 13 Recap: And Then There Was One.

A week that largely defined the playoff picture, that is the outcome of Week 13’s games. We are down to only 1 remaining playoff spot in play, the Southern Division title. New Orleans comes out of this weekend still in a precarious situation. Birmingham comes out still with hope of not only making the postseason, but as a division winner. The other 11 spots are locked in, though we could see a lot of shifting of seeds next week. What we also saw this week was a sign that any thought that Ohio was a team whose window of opportunity was closing were overblown, as they take Las Vegas’s defense apart in a blow out win. We start, however, with one of the more entertaining games of the season as Joey Harrington makes his case to be considered the starter for Oakland in 2007, and in the process hurts Los Angeles’s title hopes in the Pacific.

LOS ANGELES 34 OAKLAND 40 OVERTIME

There is something about rivalry games, isn’t there? This is a game that looked like it should be pretty predictable, one team fighting for a division title, the other outside of the playoffs and finishing up the season, and yet, when two rivals meet, sometimes there is nothing sweeter for the underdog than to play spoiler, and the Invaders did just that.

It was a game that could make defensive coordinators cry. Seventy-four total points, and yet, despite all the points scored, there was never a lead change. Oakland was first on the board, and LA played from behind until the final minutes of the game, when they tied it up and sent it to overtime, only for Oakland to take the W in the extra period. The Invaders controlled the action but never put the Express away, as big play followed big play. Ricky Williams was the offensive star for the Invaders, rushing for 115 yards on 22 carries, but it was his understudy, Justin Fargas who kept finding the endzone, with 3 scores on the day. For LA, playing catchup the entire game, the story was Cade McNown, who threw for 344 yards and 5 touchdowns, but could not get that one necessary score to take the W.

The Invaders got off to a fast start, with an opening drive leading to Justin Fargas’s 1st of 3 scoring runs. While LA was still struggling to find their offensive rhythm, the Invaders succeeded on two more drives, getting kicks from Joe Nedney on both to go up 13-0 after 1. LA would finally get on the board when Cade McNown hit L. J. Smith from 15 yards out, but just before the half Fargas again scored, this time a 20-yard sweep, and Oakland would lead 20-7 at the half.

LA would shrink the gap on Smith’s second TD grab to open the third, but Oakland responded, and once again it was Justin Fargas with the scoring run. The 4th quarter opened with LA down 27-13, but both teams would mount a furious campaign of scoring that saw 4 TD’s in the 15-minute period. LA would kick it off with a McNown TD pass from 4 yards out to drop the lead to 7, and then, following a costly Joey Harrington pick, they would strike again, with McNown hitting HB Cedric Houston for 6. We had a tie score with 4:07 left to play, but it would not last.

On the ensuing kickoff, LA’s coverage failed, and Keith Smith took the kick 102 yards to the house as the Oakland fans went into a frenzy. From being quieted by LA’s comeback, they were back on their feet and ready to celebrate an Invader win. But there was still nearly 4 minutes left to play.

The Express took the Oakland kickoff and Cade McNown went to work. He completed 5 of 7 passes on the drive, and with 2:15 left on the clock he once again tied up the game, connecting with slot receiver Dez White for another game-tying touchdown, his 5th TD toss of the game.

Oakland, stunned by the LA drive, opted to send the game to overtime, taking a knee on 2 plays to end regulation and regroup. They got what they wanted from the strategy, not only getting a moment to collect themselves, but winning the coin toss as well. With McNown as hot as he was, they opted to go on offense, and it took only 3 plays for that decision to pay off. After 2 Ricky Williams runs got them a first down on their own 33, Oakland went for a kill shot. Harrington handed off to Fargas, who drove towards the right guard, before turning and tossing the ball back to the QB. The flea flicker was working perfectly, and when Harrington looked down field, WR Marty Booker had 3 steps on the safety and was racing towards the right corner. Harrington hit him perfectly in stride and Booker glided into the endzone untouched.

Oakland gets a signature win for the year, and a sign that brighter days may be ahead. Joey Harrington makes a lot of fans happy, and Ricky Williams establishes himself as a player to be reckoned with. For LA, this is a tough blow. They risked falling into 3rd in the division, but would luck out in that both Las Vegas and Seattle would also fall this weekend. They maintain their slim lead on their divisional rivals, but will need to win in their season finale to capture the title.

HOUSTON 28 ARIZONA 24

A good game in the desert, and one that Houston had to have. The win locked them into a playoff spot and kept them in range to leapfrog Arizona and claim the Southwest title. But this win did not come easy. Houston raced out to a 28-0 lead in the first half, and looked like they would cruise to a win, but Arizona gained momentum with a Santana Moss TD right before the half, and took over the second half, with Moss scoring twice more, but Houston held on and Matt Hasselbeck’s 4 first half TDs were enough to secure the W.

LAS VEGAS 0 OHIO 40

An ugly road loss for the Thunder and one that knocked them out of playoff contention as well. The Thunder managed only 8 first downs and rushed for an astoundingly bad -1 yards on the day as Ohio, not known as a defensive power, sure looked like the team with the best record in the league. Ohio outgained Las Vegas 446-162, with Kerry Collins throwing 4 TDs and Eddie George rushing for 119 in the big win.

SEATTLE 28 MICHIGAN 35

Michigan knew that this game was their season and they played like it. The win locked them into the playoffs, and they got the offense that has eluded them recently, with Drew Brees connecting on 3 TD passes and both Fred Jackson and Leon Washington finding the endzone as well. For Seattle the setback means they need to win at home next week against Memphis and hope that LA falters at Chicago to switch from the #6 seed to the #3 with a division title to boot.

BIRMINGHAM 26 MEMPHIS 13

The Stallions stay alive for one of the last playoff spots by knocking off archrival Memphis in Memphis. In what could be Jim Mora’s last game in Memphis, the Showboats were unable to shut down Birmingham’s problematic offense. Sean Alexander rushed for 90 yards and a score, while backup Maron Barber added another 41 and another score. The Stallions need help, but they could still take the Division title from New Orleans with a win and a Breaker loss.

PHILADELPHIA 13 NASHVILLE 27

Nashville gets the win at home only to discover that it was to no avail, as they are eliminated from the playoffs for only the 2nd time in 8 years. With Ahman Green and Robert Mathis both out due to injury, Philadelphia was just not up to the fight that Nashville brought. Frank Gore ran for 121 and Bert Emmanuel caught both Collins TD tosses as the Knights took a 13-0 halftime lead and turned it into a comfortable 14-point win only to discover that tiebreakers cost them a chance for a meaningful Week 14 game.

ORLANDO 6 ATLANTA 10

The Atlanta Fire are headed to the postseason, powered once again by that defense. It was a costly win however as starting QB Jeff Lewis, the former Texas Outlaw, was lost for the next several weeks with a neck injury. Lewis, who led Atlanta all year, suffered the injury early in the 4th quarter, with the Fire leading 10-3, had to be carried out on a back brace, but reports have indicated that he has not suffered any spinal injury, so a recover is expected, but not in time for what will be a historic playoff appearance by the expansion Fire.

PITTSBURGH 13 JACKSONVILLE 22

Antowain Smith tops 100 yards on the ground and Anquan Boldin does the same in the air as the Bulls win at home and lock up the Southeastern Division title. The defense also flexed its muscles, holding Terrell Davis to only 38 yards rushing. Jacksonville has one home game left against Nashville and will be the #2 seed in the East. Pittsburgh will finish the year at home against Washington, and have already locked up the #1 pick in next year’s draft. Quarterback anyone?

BALTIMORE 31 TAMPA BAY 27

The Bandits had a chance to stay on pace with Jacksonville but got sloppy and lost to a Baltimore team that had nothing to play for and came out loose and energetic. The game went back and forth, with Tampa Bay taking the lead midway through the 4th on a Nate Kaeding field goal, but Big Ben Roethlisberger hit Craphonso Thorpe with only 1:04 left in the game to give the Blitz the win and ruin Tampa Bay’s division title hopes.

BOSTON 16 WASHINGTON 12

We will say this for the Federals, they continue to play hard, at least on defense. Drew Bledsoe threw for only 214 and Tiki Barber averaged only 3.7 yards per carry, nearly a yard below his season average, as the Feds did their best to hold Boston down. But, with Kordell Stewart out of the game early with a concussion, Jared Lorenzen, the Hefty Hurler himself, came in and completed only 6 of 19 passes as Washington simply could not get that final score they needed.

NEW ORLEANS 17 CHICAGO 37

Another upset as the Breakers fail to lock up the Southern Division and Chicago shows they still have some fire. The Breakers had more yardage, but Chicago ate up the clock and Michael Turner’s 140-yard, 2 TD day made life tough for the Breakers. Eli Manning’s 3 picks also did not help, as Chicago got a pick-six from Marlin Jackson, and held New Orleans to only 3 points in the second half to win their 6th of the year. They are hoping to reach .500 as a bit of a pyrrhic victory next week.

TEXAS 20 DENVER 17

Finally, one last upset as Denver falls to 0-6 this year in division games and Texas improves their record to 5-8. The Outlaws scored the final 13 points of the game after Denver led 17-7, including a T.J. Duckett TD run, one of 23 carries on the day, producing 87 yards and 2 scores. Denver is eliminated from the playoffs, a rare failure in the past decade, with this loss.

Atlanta Pulls Off Stunning First Season

The Atlanta Fire this week clinched a Wild Card berth at 7-6. They could finish 8-6 next week, becoming the first expansion team ever to both finish above .500 and score a playoff spot. The best expansion record in USFL history was the 1984 Houston Gambler squad who went 7-9 in their first year, and would go on to win 3 league titles. By making the playoffs in their first season, Atlanta has already made history, can they take it a step further? Fans who suffered through the woes of the 1995 expansion Fire squads have to be over the moon about this version of the team. The first Fire squad in ’95 finished 5-11, not bad for an expansion club, but would win only 4 games in 1996 and 1997, 6 in 1998, and only 2 in 1999. Not exactly the kind of growth you hope to see from a team building a roster.

This year’s version already has big playmakers and quality leadership. So much so that league owners are debating whether or not to modify the expansion draft rules for 2008, worried that one of the new teams could repeat this feat. But we would argue against that. Having an expansion team do so well is a story that fans want to follow, and it certainly builds support in town. Atlanta has seen steady growth in attendance all year and expects as many as 53,000 at the Georgia Dome for their regular season finale against the Breakers. That is good for Atlanta as a market, and for the USFL as a whole.

Denver Finishes 0-6 in Division for First Time Ever

The Denver Gold are out of the playoffs for only the 2nd time since 1992, and they have one clear reason why. They simply could not win division games. Denver finished the year 0-6 against Texas, Arizona, and Houston. That dubious feat has never happened in team history and is rare in general within the USFL. With an overall record of 6-7, that means that the Gold went 6-1 against the rest of the league but could not garner a win in their own division. A weird thing to say, but a reality this year for the rebuilding Gold.

Denver does have some positives to build on for next year. Rookie QB Matt Leinart is currently 5th in QB Rating and 7th in yards, a good start for any rookie. The defense was a solid 11th in the league and allowed just over 20 points a game. The issue was the run game, as more and more it seems that Cedric Benson may be a bust. He was given the bulk of the run game load this year after Rod Smart was signed by Atlanta in the Expansion Draft. The result? Smart currently sits 18th in the league with 779 yards despite sharing carries with Kevin Faulk (16th at 828) while Cedric Benson sits in 20th position at 748 despite operating essentially in a lone back situation. So, a rough year in Denver, but one with hope for the future, but perhaps not for the former Texas HB.

Nashville Eliminated on Tiebreaker, Cutler to Start Week 14

We know that a lot of fans look at the standings and see Birmingham still alive at 6-7, while Nashville, with an identical record, is eliminated. How is that? Well, it is pretty basic tiebreaker football. Both Nashville and Birmingham would need to win and have the Breakers lose in Atlanta in order to equal all three records at 7-7. So, what happens then? Well, if all three are at 7-7, then the top tiebreaker is the division record, and with New Orleans and Birmingham at 4-2, while Nashville is at 3-3, that tiebreaker eliminates the Knights. If Nashville wins, but Birmingham and New Orleans lose, then it is a 1-on-1 between the Knights and Breakers. Since the Breakers swept the 2 games with Nashville, the result is the same, loss on tiebreaker.

With this being the scenario for the Knights, we are not surprised that Coach Johnson has announced that rookie Jay Cutler will get the start in Week 14’s game at Jacksonville. We still expect to see Frank Gore, who is once again 2nd in rushing and hoping to overtake Tiki Barber in Week 14, just like he did last week, but Todd Collins, whose contract runs out after next week’s game, is very likely to have his options determined by how well Jay Cutler plays. A disaster and the team may well rush to resign Collins before free agency, but a good Cutler game and Collins could be seeing his last game in Nashville. For a player that took the Knights to the playoffs 7 of the last 8 years, including a Summer Bowl appearance in 1998, this will be a bitter pill. We think that this reality could lead either to a retirement or to Collins taking the leap and joining a new team, possibly a new league.

With one week left, 10 of 12 playoff spots are guaranteed, including all 6 out West, but lots of seeding questions remain. Let’s take a look at each team, what is possible and what is in question.

OHIO: The easiest to figure as they have locked up the Central Division title. They have a huge game at Arizona this week, because if the Wranglers win at home, it is Arizona that wins the #1 seed and home field throughout the playoffs.

ARIZONA: Defeating Ohio at home would be doubly rewarding for the Wrangelrs. Not only would it lock up the Southwest Division, but the win would also equalize their record with Ohio and give them the top tiebreaker (head-to-head), so Arizona would win the top seed and home field throughout the Western playoffs.

HOUSTON: The Gamblers are 5-0 in division, which means that if they knock off rival Texas this week, and if the Glory can beat the Wranglers, it is Houston that will claim the Division and very likely a bye week as the #2 seed.

LOS ANGELES: A win at Chicago and the Express claim the Division title. They would be locked into the #3 slot, without a bye, regardless of the results of the games involving Arizona and Houston, so a division title and a home playoff game would be the only rewards.

MICHIGAN: The Panthers locked up a Wild Card with their win over Seattle. Their hope is that Houston loses in Texas, which would allow the Panthers to claim the #4 slot and get a home playoff game in 2 weeks.

SEATTLE: Tie Breakers make it impossible for Las Vegas to finish above Seattle, even if the two tie in their win-loss record. That means that they are guaranteed the 6th spot, but if they can beat Memphis at home and if LA loses to Chicago, both very possible scenarios, then it would be Seattle claiming the division and jumping up to the #3 spot and a home playoff game.

BOSTON: The Cannons are in a weird place. If they win their division, they are guaranteed the #1 seed in the East, but they have a head-to-head game against New Jersey, and a loss in the Meadowlands means that it is the Generals who take the title and the top seed, pushing Boston all the way to #4 in the conference.

NEW JERSEY: This may be the biggest regular season game in Generals history. A loss to Boston at home and they are the #4 seed, but a win puts them at #1 overall and gives them a 2-game path to the Summer Bowl.

JACKSONVILLE: The Bulls have clinched the Southeast and are locked into the #2 seed, complete with a bye week and a home game in the divisional round, all thanks to a 4-2 division record, compared to Tampa’s 3-3 mark. They can afford to take it easy this week and perhaps rest a few players against Nashville.

NEW ORLEANS: The Breakers win the division by defeating Atlanta in Atlanta, but that is not going to be an easy feat. If they falter, it is possible that Birmingham would leapfrog them and take the Southern title, pushing New Orleans down to the #6 seed. That should motivate them to bring their best to the game against the Fire.

TAMPA BAY: The Bandits are guaranteed a Wild Card, but can do no better than the 5th seed, which means a road game. And here is the weird part, an argument can be made that they might want to lose this week. If they finish in 6th position, they play the Southern Division winner (likely another 8-6 or even 7-7 team), but if they are in 5th, they face the #1 Wild Card, which will be either New Jersey (10-4) or Boston (11-3). This may be that rarest of situations when it benefits a team more to lose than to win.

ATLANTA: Amazingly the Fire have locked up a playoff spot in their first season of play. It will be a tough week of prep as Jeff Lewis is out for this game and maybe more (see Injury Report), but if Atlanta can win with David Garrard at QB, they can finish at 8-6 and possibly the 5th seed. But, just like Tampa Bay, is that what they want? If they lose to New Orleans this week, they will stay at #6 and that means playing the Breakers again in a week. Will they go fully vanilla this week to set that up? We shall see.

A week that could significantly impact the USFL playoffs as several contenders saw important players go down with injuries that will keep them out of any postseason games. Among those hit hardest, Atlanta, who won this week to clinch a playoff spot, but lost QB Jeff Lewis in the process. Lewis was diagnosed with a tear in his MCL, and even with a brace will not be able to play for at least a month. For Ohio it was wideout Santonio Holmes, who fractured his fibula, meaning he is also done for the year. New Jersey also lost a wideout as Brandon Stokely tore his Achilles in this week’s game and will need several months to recover.

Boston will be without LB Pat Thomas, who suffered a significant hip injury this week. Las Vegas, eliminated from playoff contention, also lost Muhsin Muhammad for the next week. Oakland will play their finale without DE Israel Idonije (quad), while Philadelphia will finish the year without WR Roddy White (ribs) and SS Reggie Tongue (arm). Memphis will not be able to play HB Cadillac Williams (ankle), and Denver will miss TE Lonnie Johnson (finger). Washington will end their very disappointing season without Kordell Stewart, who tweaked his hip this week and will rest in the finale.

Charlotte Monarchs to Join USFL in 2008

The owners have met, the votes have been cast, and the winner has been announced. The Charlotte Monarchs will debut as the USFL’s 28th franchise in March of 2008. The Monarchs beat out bids from the Raleigh-Durham triangle region and the Tidewater region of SE Virginia to become the next USFL franchise. The team will share Bank of America Stadium with the NFL Panthers, an agreement that is not without its tensions, but a locale that offers over 70,000 seats, by far the largest of the proposed homes for the expansion club.

Voting took just over 3 hours, as there remained several owners who required further persuasion one way or the other. While the vote is a closed-door affair, it was known that at least 4 owners were promoting the Triangle Region proposal, and it was believed that a larger group was interested in the Virginia site, but with powerful voices in favor of Charlotte, the proposal led by the Charlotte Football for the Carolinas Group came out on top. The Monarchs will now get to work on building a front office, a ticket sales and marketing division, and on the 18 month process of roster development. Of course, a wide range of logistics also have to be arranged, everything from equipment to publications to transportation contracts. Add in the need to develop local sponsorships and partnerships, community engagement efforts, and advertising for the inaugural season, and it will be a busy year and a half in the Queen City.

The club held a celebratory party on Thursday, open to the public at Bank of America Stadium, complete with appearances from North Carolina royalty, former Giant LB Lawrence Taylor and former UNC and Philadelphia Star Kelvin Bryant, as well as minority owners and former Charlotte Hornets Muggsy Bogues and Larry Johnson. At the event, the team unveiled their inaugural uniforms, shown on mannequins as the club does not have any players at this early date.

The helmets are as we have seen in graphics before, teal shells with a satiny finish, a deep purple facemask, the crown logo on both sides, and a tapered stripe in gold and purple. The jerseys feature a new element we have not seen before, a series of horizontal stripes (purple, teal, gold on the white jersey, purple and gold on the dark) which stretch across the chest. The design features a crown shape that emerges from the stripes and extends into the base of the collar. The striping is paralleled with twin stripes on the sleeve cuffs. The secondary logo, a shield shape featuring an interlocking C and M to form a castle, is found on each sleeve. The numbers are teal (or white) in a rounded font with gold and purple outlines. The pants maintain a similar multi-color striping similar to the chest stripe, with three pant options ,a white set with purple, teal, and gold stripes, a teal set with purple, gold and white, and a purple set with white, teal and gold striping.

These uniforms will not see the field until 2008, but we should expect that replica jerseys, along with everything from t-shirts to hoodies and caps will be on sale soon both in the region and nationwide in the USFL’s online store, where Portland gear has already become a top seller.

So now we wait and see what comes next for both Portland and Charlotte as they will soon be interested in hiring key leadership positions, including head coaches, though that could take over a year before we get that far. We already know that the Portland Stags are looking like they have a strong fanbase to draw from, as witnessed by the incredible turnout for the displaced New Orleans Breakers this year. Charlotte looks promising as well, with the team likely to draw fans away from regional allegiances to teams like Baltimore, Washington, Nashville, Atlanta, and Jacksonville, but there are also plenty of football fans in the two Carolinas to fully support the club. We anticipate as well that the league will be busy redesigning everything from the territorial draft to the schedule format, as we already know that 2008 will bring with it a return to a 16-week season, now with 4 divisions of 5 teams and only 2 divisions with 4 teams (Southwest and South). For Charlotte, the real work starts now, but it is also a great time to be a football fan in the Carolinas.

QB Posturing Has USFL Worried

We are one week away from contract expiration for half of the league, and only about a month from full free agency and the concerns of USFL owners about QB posturing and the potential bidding war between a re-energized NFL and the USFL are coming to fruition. As of now there are nearly 30 unsigned USFL quarterbacks that could join the free agency market, and with the NFL vowing to regain what they see as their rightful edge in talent at the position, there is a real risk of the USFL looking a lot different in 2007.

Among the names raising the most concern are veteran starters like Tom Brady, Cade McNown, Todd Collins, Trent Dilfer, Drew Brees, and Jeff Lewis. Add in some of the league’s best backups, players like Ray Lucas, Eric Wilhelm, Ken Dorsey, Craig Whelihan and Jon Kitna and the league may find itself with a dearth of quality after only 1 year of NFL “prioritization” of the position.

It seems clear that agents and players alike are hoping the competition will lead to a winfall as competing teams and leagues continue to increase the market value for these players. What is more, the influence seems to be spreading, with several other skill position players apparently willing to decline solid offers in hopes that they too will get wrapped up in the NFL-USFL bidding war. The most recent decline of a contract extension was that of Joey Galloway, who was offered a deal that would make him the highest paid receiver in the league, a deserved title for the Ohio Glory star, but if the NFL is interested, the sky may be the limit on what a contract for Galloway could be.

Others who remain unsigned include fellow receivers Muhsin Muhammad, Dez White, Bert Emmanuel, Terry Glenn, Marty Booker, Donte Stallworth, Bobby engram, Taylor Jacobs, Joe Horn, Antonio Freeman and Joe Jurevicius. Halfback Michael Turner of Chicago also remains unsigned, as do Arizona’s Stanley Pritchett, Houston’s Mike Anderson, Denver’s Julius Jones, Ohio’s Musa Smith, and, perhaps most concerning, Seattle’s Corey Dillon. We could be on the verge of a major wave of NFL signings, a wave that could significantly reduce the USFL’s star power, or, alternatively, we could see the USFL spend itself into some financial difficulties, as salaries rise faster than revenues. The Salary Cap is designed to avoid such a situation, but the league may be forced to modify the cap if it wants to retain some of these top tier players. We all know that the NFL has deeper pockets and greater financial leverage in these cases, and while they certainly will not be able to sign every top prospect, the potential is there for a significant talent drain this offseason, perhaps the first of several difficult offseasons for the USFL unless alterations are made to the NFL-USFL transfer system or to USFL finances.

Week 14 is all about clinching and seeding, with two “must watch” games and several others that will impact who plays whom in the Wild Card round and who gets the much-coveted byes. All TVs in the nation should be tuned in when Ohio plays Arizona in the desert with the #1 seed on the line. Both clubs come into this one as hot as franchise can get, with Ohio coming off a 40-0 drubbing of Las Vegas, while Arizona had won 9 in a row, before their stumble against Houston in a hard-fought game this week.

The other game that should have your full attention is on Saturday, when Boston faces New Jersey, again with the winner taking the #1 seed. New Jersey took the first matchup back in Week 2, 21-19, in a thriller. But Boston comes in riding a 10-game winning streak, can they make it 11 and take the big prize of homefield throughout the Eastern playoffs?

Other games with significant playoff impact include Los Angeles at Chicago and Seattle hosting Memphis. LA locks up the Pacific with a win, while Seattle needs to win and get help from the Machine to take the title. In the South, New Orleans clinches an unlikely title with a win at Atlanta, while Birmingham can win it if New Orleans stumbles and the Stallions can win in Orlando.

In other games, Houston hosts Texas and could actually catch Arizona and take the Southwest title if the Wranglers lose to Ohio. St. Louis is in Michigan, Nashville in Jacksonville, and Las Vegas is in Tampa Bay in the only other games featuring playoff teams. Games which might garner less interest due to both clubs being eliminated already include Oakland @ Denver, Philadelphia @ Baltimore, and Washington @ Pittsburgh.