Summer Bowl 2019: Carr & McCoy Set USFL Records in Wild 56-33 Wrangler Victory

Summer Bowl 2019 was a game you either loved or loathed. If you love high-scoring, big plays, and largely-ineffective defense, this was the game for you. If you love hard-nosed defense, big stops, and close contests, this year’s Summer Bowl may not have been your cup of team. The 56-33 victory by the Arizona Wranglers was the 2^nd largest margin of victory in the league’s 37-season history, with the 23-point margin falling one point short of the 24-point demolishing of Memphis by the 2002 undefeated Ohio Glory. The combined 89 points marked the highest combined score in Summer Bowl History, blowing away the prior record of 81 points when the Maulers beat these same Houston Gamblers 44-37 in 1995. The game also marked the 9^th time that the two competitors combined for more than 70 points in the game. 

Summer Bowl MVP loosening up in pre-game before his 6-TD spectacle.

This was not a game of inches, it was a game of 20+ yard plays, with both teams hitting on big plays often all game long. Eleven different players recorded at least 1 play of 20 or more yards, with several recording more than one on the day. Victor Cruz led all players with 173 yards in the game, a total that came with 2 touchdowns. For Houston, their leader was WR Josh Reynolds, with 161 yards on only 6 catches. JuJu Smith-Schuster also topped 100 yards, with 116 on the day. In the run game, there was no huge number. The game became a passing affair early and both teams used the run mostly to earn short first downs or to keep the safeties thinking. Carlos Hyde topped all rushers with only 15 carries and 76 yards. Arizona split carries between Isaiah Crowell (13 for 43 yards) and Ka’Deem Carey (9 for 43 as well). And, yes, the stars of the game were certainly the quarterbacks. Colt McCoy threw for a Summer Bowl record 427 yards, most of it playing catchup. Why? Because in addition to 390 yards of his own, Summer Bowl MVP David Carr threw for 6 touchdowns on the day, including two each to Victor Cruz and Jimmie Graham, and one apiece to DeMarcus Robinson and Maxx Williams. This was not a game for the defenders, though Joe Haden did win the Defensive MVP thanks to the game’s lone interception as well as a forced fumble (though recovered by the Gamblers). And, with a score this high, you must wonder how busy the kickers were. Well, while Younghoe Kim kicked 2 of 3 field goals, Arizona’s Elliott Parson was called on exclusively for PAT’s, 8 of them to be exact.

This was a game that saw more explosives than a good 4^th of July celebration, but it was hardly a back-and-forth affair. Arizona built up a 21-0 lead in only 14 minutes, and while Houston started to respond in the 2^nd quarter, they never pulled the score closer than 8, with it quickly ballooning back to 15, then 19, and as much as 30 at one point in the 4^th quarter before the final 24-point total. It was a coronation for the Wranglers as one of the great franchises in league history. Appearing in their 5^th Summer Bowl since 2013, the Wranglers brought home a 3^rd title in 7 years and David Carr added a 3^rd ring, something his understudy, Ryan Nassib was unable to do last year. For a team that lost most of its 2013 stars over the past couple of years, including HB Frank Gore, WRs Larry Fitzgerald and Antonio Bryant, and defenders Troy Polamalu. Adam Carriker, and Karlos Dansby, the Wranglers have not rebuilt, they have clearly reloaded, with new stars like Victor Cruz, Ka’Deem Carey, Jimmie Graham, Scooby Wright, and this year’s Defensive MVP, Calais Campbell. 

To say this game started heavily in Arizona’s favor would be a bit of an understatement. The Houston Gamblers had a combined 37 yards and 11 plays in the first quarter, while Arizona, had 21 plays, but in those 21 plays scored 3 touchdowns. Their opening drive used up more than half of those plays, as they used 12 plays to methodically march down the field, confusing Houston with misdirection runs and play action before David Carr hit his first scoring toss of the game, a short 3-yarder right over the center to TE Jimmie Graham. After Houston went 3-and-out on their first drive, Arizona went right back to business, and in only 4 plays they had upped the score to 14-0. One of those plays, a 44-yard catch and rumble by big TE Maxx Williams showed that they had a plan in place if Houston overextended themselves to cover Cruz and Graham. Williams caught what should have been a 9-10 yard play but extended it 44 yards down the field thanks to a missed tackle and some really bad angles by flustered Gambler defenders. Two plays later Carr had a 2^nd touchdown, this one a 21-yard strike to Victor Cruz on a post-corner that turned around the league’s interception leader, Leodis McKelvin.

Now down 14 only 9 minutes into the game, Houston mounted a meager drive, but when Colt McCoy was flushed from the pocket by Calais Campbell he had no choice but to throw the ball away rather than take the sack. Arizona got the ball for a 3^rd time, and for a 3^rd time they would make the Houston defense look foolish. Their 3^rd drive began with a Ka’Deem Carey 12-yard run on a basic sweep, then Carr found DeMarcus Robinson for 20 yards before connecting a 2^nd time with Cruz, this one from 27 yards out to put Arizona up 21-0 as the 1^st quarter reached its final 2 minutes. Houston was shellshocked. They needed some energy and they needed it fast. 

The Gamblers would get the spark they needed on their 3^rd and final possession of the quarter. On the 3^rd play of the drive, a 3^rd and 3, they turned to their best all-around player, HB Carlos Hyde. An outside screen turned from a short first down gainer to a 24-yard crowdpleaser that finally got the Gambler contingent at Wynn Stadium on their feet. It would take only 5 more plays for the Gamblers to finally put some points on the board as they cut the Arizona lead down to 15 with a McCoy to Moeaki TD toss. But, when Younghoe Koo missed on the PAT there was a sense that Houston might possibly be snakebit in this game.

The Gambler defense finally got a break on the ensuing Arizona possession as a false start pushed the Wranglers back on 3^rd and 3 to a much harder 3^rd and 8. Houston blitzed and Carr for the first time misfired, throwing the ball too low for Jimmie Graham to scoop it up. Arizona punted and Houston got to work to try to bring the score back into a manageable range. They did just that thanks to a Carlos Hyde 1-yard TD run that pulled Houston back to 21-13, technically a 1-score game at 8 points of difference. 

Isaiah Crowell was one of 3 Wranglers to finish with 2 TDs on the day.

But, if there was any thought that the Gamblers could somehow equalize the score by halftime, Arizona’s next drive put some serious doubt into the minds of even the most adamant Gambler fans. The Wranglers controlled the ball for nearly 5 minutes, now dinking and dunking their way into the red zone. The drive featured 6 runs, the most of any on the day, and included the final play, an 8-yard run that saw Ramik Wilson bounce right off a steamrolling Isaiah Crowell as Arizona’s bigger back rumbled into the endzone for the Wrangler’s 4^th score of the game.

Houston still showed some spark, moving the ball well in the game’s final seconds before putting up a field goal to make the Arizona advantage 12 points at 28-16 as both teams headed into the locker rooms, one certainly feeling a lot more upbeat than the other. As the fans in Las Vegas were enjoying a halftime show that included local favorites The Killers as well as an unannounced appearance by Post Malone, the Gamblers were trying to find a strategy that would hold back the Arizona offense. In the other locker room, Coach Tomsula was urging his team not to let up. Chuck Long promised the offense that they were not going to take their foot off the accelerator until all 60 minutes were up. The defense would just need to slow down Houston, not even stop them every time, because the offense was planning to continue lighting up the scoreboard. 

Arizona OC Chuck Long did not get an award, but may well get a HC job after a season and a title game like this one.

Would that strategy work? Well, it did not take long for Arizona to prove it could. After a bad drop of a potential 1^st down ball on 3^rd and 7, Houston was 3-and-out again, and Arizona was ready to make them pay. After a couple of Crowell runs proved effective, the Wranglers got a connection from Carr to Maxx Williams to put them at midfield, and then went to their other, much faster, tight end. Carr found Jimmie Graham mismatched against Kenny Vaccaro and the big man used his height and body size to box out the smaller Houston safety. Once he had the ball in his hand, he spun away from the tackle and had clear running to complete the 50-yard score. It was Carr’s 4^th on the night, well on his way to a Summer Bowl record and the MVP award.

Now down 19, Houston needed yet more from their offense. They would get it again from Carlos Hyde, who ripped off his own long play, a 31-yard TD run to help Houston at least stay relevant. The long scoring run pulled them back to within 12 at the midway point of the 3^rd, but they would need the defense to find some kind of success In the final 23 minutes of action, because they simply could not trade scores with Arizona and hope to come back. The Wranglers had no intention of letting up, as Coach Long had said at halftime, and on their next drive they marched 64 yards in 10 plays before Carr hit on TD number 5, a perfect play action dump off to Maxx Williams, who rumbled the final 2 yards into the endzone before spiking the ball. Back up by 19, Arizona new that Houston would need 3 scores to get a lead, and they still felt like scoring even more to make that a near impossibility.

QB Colt McCoy (Seen here in pregame warmups) threw for 427 yards, but a 4th quarter INT gave Arizona a 26-point cushion.

The next Houston drive ended up helping Arizona all but lock up the win. Now desperate not only to score, but to do so quickly, Colt McCoy took a risk he did not need to take, trying to force a pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster despite solid double coverage by the combination of CB Joe Haden and safety Corey White. Haden confidently snapped the ball away from Smith-Schuster, knowing White was there if he somehow whiffed on it. He stepped out of bounds almost immediately, but the turnover was all Arizona needed. They soon added their 7^th total touchdown of the game, with Carr hitting his Summer Bowl record 6^th TD toss, finding DeMarcus Robinson for the score that gave the Wranglers a nearly insurmountable 49-23 lead just 3 minutes into the 4^th quarter.

The final 12 minutes of action saw Houston put up 10 points, but even in doing that there was a clear sense that it was cosmetic and not impactful, particularly as the Wranglers were also able to add 7 more, even after bringing Brandon Allen in a QB to finish up the game. The additional 17 points added to the scoreboard did not impact the end result, only the total points tally, already well above the Over-Under set by Las Vegas, but pushing the score into the Summer Bowl records cited earlier. The same could be said for Colt McCoy’s final 2 drives, which pushed him over 400 yards passing but never really challenged Arizona’s hold over the final result. 

With SB19 concluded it is on to the offseason in preparation for 2020 & Charlotte's first Summer Bowl.

When the final whistle sounded, Arizona had claimed victory, their third league title in 7 years, and had done so in about as dominating a fashion as the USFL had seen in 37 championship games. David Carr was recognized for his 6-touchdown performance with the game’s MVP award, Coach Tomsula was handed the John Bassett Trophy, which would then be shared with one player after another. The stadium filled with red, white and blue confetti, more a tribute to the league itself than to the colors of the Wranglers, and the fans found their way back to the casinos, luxury suites, and gaming floors, though many Arizona fans stayed in the stadium to share the joy that the Wrangler players and coaches were expressing on the field and the small stage built near the North endzone. Arizona and Houston had put on an offensive showcase, but in the end it was the Wranglers who could claim a dominant victory and the title of league champions.

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