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It was a week that saw two huge offensive displays, with the Knights and Breakers combining for 88 points while Ohio and Memphis went 2 better and put up a combined 90 points. It appears that defense is no longer the strong suit for several clubs that made their name on shutdown defenses. We also got a big win for the Blitz, hoping their playoff push is not over, and the Atlanta Fire came close as a team can come to pulling off an upset win, but snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the Federals. Orlando fell for a second straight week, and LA made their claim on the Pacific with a commanding win over preseason favorites Seattle. All this plus our first playoff race tally of the season in this week's recap. For two clubs that were planning on a playoff run spearheaded by top level defenses, this one got offensive early and never looked back. This game saw 27 points scored in the 1st quarter, 31 in the 2nd, 13 in the third and 17 in the 4th as the lead kept going back and forth. Neither defense seemed particularly honed in on the other club as everything seemed to work for the two offenses. Trent Dilfer would have his first 400-yard game, throwing for 420 and 4 scores, while Todd Collins would also hit 400, throwing for 404 and 3 touchdowns himself. The running backs also found success, with Ricky Williams just barely losing out to Ahman Green 116-118 yards. Add in 160 yards for Raynard Brown, 130 for Bert Emmanuel, and 163 for Amani Toomer, and you have yourself a true shootout in the Central Division. And for all the shootout elements of the game, neither team was able to fully take control. The score was 14-13 St. Louis after one quarter, with scores from Knights Bert Emmanuel and Ahman Green offset by a Hakeem TD (with missed PAT) and a Ricky Williams score, all in the first 15 minutes. The second quarter saw both clubs go back and forth again, with St. Louis holding the lead once again at the break. Toomer opened the scoring with a 5-yard reception, followed by Hakeem’s 2nd of the day for New Orleans. Toomer then added a 2nd, this time a 78-yard bomb on a busted coverage, but New Orleans returned the favor, with Dilfer hitting Raynard Brown from 17 yards out. Ryan Longwell’s 21-yarder as time ran out in the half was the difference in the game. Third quarter saw New Orleans take the lead after both clubs traded field goals. The Breakers got up by 3 when Steve Johnson caught the period’s only TD from 3 yards out. The 4th quarter opened with St. Louis regaining the lead, going up 41-37 thanks to an Ahman Green TD run. New Orleans got within 1 at 41-40 thanks to Lin Elliott’s 27-yard field goal. But, the deathblow would come 4 minutes later with the Breakers driving. Rookie CB Bhawoh Juh made the huge play, stepping in front of a ball headed for Andre Coleman and it was off to the races. Juh’ dove into the end zone and St. Louis had the largest lead of the game at 8 points. That would be the final score as New Orleans did not have enough in the tank to get an equalizer. With the heartbreaking home loss, the Breakers fall to 5-5 while St. Louis gets a slight leg up, finishing the week at 6-4. OHI 49 MEM 41 Hard to believe that the Knights-Breakers game was not the highest scoring of the weekend, but the combined 90 points in this matchup beat that game by 2 points. Both Kerry Collins and Heath Shuler went off in this game, Collins with 491 yards and 5 Touchdowns, while Shuler threw for 465 in what was simply a ridiculous game for both. Adrian Cooper caught 6 balls for 175 yards and all 3 Shuler TDs while Collins spread his wealth around, with both Galloway and Johnson going for over 100 yards and 4 different receivers catching scoring tosses. BAL 31 BIR 24 Not quite as fast-paced, but still a very good game as Baltimore got two scores in the final period to knock off the Stallions at Legion Field. Ron Dayne rushed for 102 and a score, but it was Jeff Garcia’s 2nd TD pass, a 3 yarder to Rob Moore that got the W for the Blitz. James Thrash was the star for Birmingham, catching 6 balls for 140 as Lawrence Dawsey sat the game out with an injury. NJ 31 JAX 23 The Bulls put a scare into New Jersey before a late Curtis Enis TD and a Neil Rackers field goal gave the visiting Generals the lead and the win. Enis would finish with 99 yards rushing and 2 scores, while both Terry Glenn and TE Anthony Becht scored on Brady TD passes. Jacksonville struggled to run the ball with Kenny Bynum and Sedrick Irvin combining for only 33 yards. WSH 20 ATL 19 The Fire again proved a tough out, but fell for the 10th time this season as they held a 19-14 lead until the waning moments of the game. Having picked off Kordell Stewart twice and sacked him 3 times, the Fire were on the verge of victory, but Stewart would find TE Bubba Franks with 35 seconds to go to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. PIT 20 TBY 42 The resurgence of the Bandits continued as they scored on Pittsburgh from every angle. Five different Bandits got on the board in this one, with Rhett (2), Prentice, Moss, Doering, and Lonzell Hill all finding pay dirt against the Maulers’ defense. The win is Tampa Bay’s 4th in a row and has them at 5-5 and thinking about a playoff spot. PHI 31 ORL 20 The Stars hand Orlando their second consecutive loss as the Renegade defense struggled without Chris Doleman I the game. Davis and Chaffey combined for 127 yards and 2 scores while Bobby Hebert threw for 2 more in the Stars’ road win. Orlando drops to 8-2, while Philadelphia moves to 7-3 in the Atlantic. SEA 21 LA 49 Another offensive showcase for the Express as Cade McNown wins Offensive POTW with his 364-yard, 6 TD game. Corey Dillon went down in this game after only 1 carry and that sunk the Dragons on a day when they needed every weapon possible. Mike Pritchard caught 5 for 132 and 2 scores and Brandon Manumaleuna added 2 scores of his own as the Expressed cruised to win number 7. OAK 25 DEN 32 Oakland gave the Gold a fight, but in the end the home team had enough to hold on and win a close one. Rashaan Salaam (90) and Rod Smart (44) combined for 134 on the ground, but it came down to a late Peerless Price TD reception to give this game to the Gold. Ryan Leaf returned to action as Jon Kitna went down with an injury. Leaf went 12 of 20 for 125 and a TD, and for once kept his mouth shut after the game. POR 11 ARZ 20 Oppressive heat on Saturday made this game a marathon for both clubs, but in the end it was Portland who wilted in Tempe. Arizona rushed for only 8 yards in the game (with Plummer not helping with 10 carries for -15 yards), but Plummer’s passing game was good enough to outlast the heat-impacted Thunder. MGN 17 HOU 37 Houston bounced back against the Panthers with a solid run game for once. Kevin Faulk and Mike Anderson (back from injury) combined for 137 yards rushing as Houston kept the ball away from Drew Brees. The Gambler D also got to Brees, sacking him 5 times, Kavika Pittman getting 3 of the 5. TEX 13 CHI 24 It was close through three quarters as Texas held a slim 13-10 lead going into the final period, but a Duce Staley 12-yard TD run and a Johnnie Morton TD reception were the only scores of the final period, and that propelled Chicago to the W at home and a 7-3 record in the Windy City. BACKUPS WHO DESERVE A SHOT Last week we spoke about Atlanta’s QB conundrum as the Fire simply don’t feel great about any of the signal callers on their roster (Bulger, Brooks, or Fisher). And yet there are teams out there with some top quality talent on their bench. Usually somewhat untested behind established starters, these backups deserve a chance to shine, and we wonder if there is not a chance that someone will make a move to sign or trade for one of these potential starters this offseason. Here is our pick of the 10 best backup QBs in the USFL right now. Ryan Leaf (OAK): With Leaf in the doghouse in Oakland, there is a real shot that the Invaders will not resign the young and cocky QB. That would make him available this offseason. He shown as a rookie, but has seemingly been coming apart at the seams since then. Would someone, seeing that $1M arm, be willing to deal with the $1 head? Doug Flutie (MGN): With Drew Brees clearly the favorite to remain the starter in Michigan, it seems only fair for Flutie to get a shot somewhere else as he wraps up his USFL career. You know what we want, for Flutie to end up in New Jersey, but the Generals are certainly enamored of young Tom Brady, so perhaps the Generals are not the best location if we actually want to see Flutie on the field. Bobby Hoying (NOR): Filling in for an injured Trent Dilfer, Hoying had decent success this year, throwing for 9 TDs to only 3 picks. He is not the strong-armed gunslinger that so many teams seem to crave, but he is a smart player with good accuracy. Craig Whelihan (ARZ): Tall, athletic, capable, but simply unable to get any snaps. That is the story of Whelihan as a Wrangler, trapped behind Jake Plummer. The lanky QB deserves a shot to compete, but he won’t get that if he remains Plummer’s understudy. Craig Erickson (ORL): For years now Erickson has been coming into games when Scott Mitchell gets hurt, and when he does, he plays well. He will never be a 4,000 yard QB, but some clubs just need a steady hand and his experience and skill set would be a good fit for several clubs that have tried the flashy athlete and maybe need to go with more of a game manager. Kent Graham (TBY): Another player who just never gets a chance to start. For a brief period it looked like he might be the guy after Troy Aikman signed with New Jersey, but the Bandits went and traded for Trent Green and Graham again finds himself riding the pine. Bill Musgrave (MEM): He saw quite a bit of action in Denver, where he subbed for Mark Brunell, but in Memphis he is stuck behind Heath Shuler. While he is a great insurance policy for the Showboats, it feels like a lost opportunity that he is not getting a chance to compete for a starting job. Alex Van Pelt (PIT): Van Pelt was a phenomenon for a short while in Chicago. Traded to Pittsburgh the thought was he could unseat Charlie Batch, but Coach Thomas has been solidly in the Batch camp all season. With the Maulers struggling for wins, perhaps the time is now to see what they have in Van Pelt. Danny Wuerffel (JAX): This is a former Heisman winner who simply has never gotten a true shot to be a USFL starter. He may get that shot soon as many expect Chris Chandler to retire after what has been a very frustrating year. If that is the case, then we want to see Wuerffel get his shot to continue his story in Florida. Will Furrer (PHI): No pomp, no circumstance, just a solid performer. We have seen Furrer in action very sparingly as Bobby Hebert’s backup, but he has shown a steady hand and a good grasp of Coach Mora’s offense when he has gotten into games. We could see him as a solid plug-and-play guy for a team that is just one piece short of a solid playoff run. OK, one more, just to mix things up a bit. We have only seen 1 rookie QB get any playing time, Drew Brees in Michigan. With Oakland’s season all but over, and with Jon Kitna now out for several weeks, we think rookie Marques Tuiasosopo deserves a shot to show us what he has. This is especially true if the Invaders are done with Ryan Leaf. Yes, they want some good games from Leaf to possibly deal him with a sign-and-swap contract, but you do not want to do that at the expense of giving the young Tuiasosopo a few games to show if he can be the answer for the Invaders. DEFENDERS WORTH DEFENDING We spend a lot of time here discussing offensive playmakers. So much so that it may seem we don’t value defensive monsters who bring it to the opposition each and every week. So, to remedy that, we are going to highlight this week 5 defenders who are showing us grit, ferocity, and game-changing skills this year. These are guys who don’t just excel in one area but who are making plays all over the field. Broderick Thomas (LB-Wranglers): A regular near the top of the leaderboard for tackles, we often forget how nasty Thomas is behind the line of scrimmage. Not only does this disruptive force currently sit third with 74 tackles, but he has 7 sacks and 13 tackles for loss as well. Thomas is one of the best pass-rushing linebackers in the league, and his run blitz can devastate an offensive game plan. Allen Aldridge (LB-Gamblers): A bit of an under-the-radar player, Aldridge is used to Kavika Pittman and Michael Sinclair getting all the attention, but this year, with Sinclair on IR, Aldridge has really stepped up. He has 6 sacks on the season, 16 tackles for loss, and 71 tackles (4th in the league after 10 weeks). That has truly helped Houston deal with the loss of Sinclair and still produce one of the league’s best pass rush defenses. James Fuller (CB-MEM): Another “no glamour” player, Fuller currently leads the league with 24 passes defended. If he had better hands he could easily be an interception leader, but he tends to go for the swat or the punch out instead of the pick. He has 2 picks this season, but he still remains one of the most effective man-to-man coverage guys in the league. Rodney Harrison (SS-STL): A sledgehammer waiting to strike in the secondary. Harrison Is third among safeties with 58 tackles, but he may be leading the league in “decleaters”, hits that separate the player from the ball or from his shoes. Add in 4 picks and Harrison is a guy you do not want to lose in the defense. Pat Williams (DT-ORL): We tend to talk a lot about Jerome Brown in Washington, and he deserves every word we say about him, but while Brown is a pass rushing disruptor at DT, Pat Williams is the quintessential “brick wall” at the nose. The man is huge, he is impossible to move off his position, and he just takes up space, making the run game impossible up the middle. Add to this his tendency to occupy both the center and the guard and you can see how Chris Doleman is able to get the better of tackles and make all the sacks he does. Williams is actually second behind Jerome Brown with 4 sacks (2nd among DTs) but his game is not penetration, it is filling space and holding the line. Our first playoff preview of the season and a lot to talk about here. Orlando, thanks to two consecutive losses, has actually dropped to 2nd in the East, with the 8-2 Federals holding a tiebreaker edge on them, thanks to a 7-1 record in conference play. Ohio, Philly, and New Jersey are only 1 game back at 7-3, while Memphis and Birmingham round out the top 7 with 6-4 records. In the West, it is Arizona sitting atop the playoff standings, with Chicago in 2nd despite a 5-0 division record in the Central. LA is right there as well, with all 3 at 7-3. Denver and St. Louis are the only other clubs with winning records in the conference, while New Orleans currently holds the 6th spot at 5-5. On the outside looking in, but still very much in the hunt, we have Tampa Bay and Baltimore at 5-5 in the East, and, believe it or not Houston, Portland, and Seattle all at 4-6 with Portland actually holding the tiebreaker and only 1 game behind New Orleans for the final spot. Still 6 weeks of action to go, but this season’s playoff race could just now be heating up. A bad week for Orlando on lots of fronts. Without Chris Doleman, they relied on Israel Ifeanyi to pick up the baton, but he went out midway through the game with a knee injury and post-game we learned that it was an ACL tear, ending the young DE’s season. Doleman is expected back in Week 11, but this certainly hurts the D-line rotation for the Renegades. A big hit in Chicago as well, as CB Jimmy Hitchcock could be out for 6-8 weeks with a broken collarbone. In Oakland it looks like Ryan Leaf gets a second chance as Jon Kitna’s injury was diagnosed as a significant knee sprain. He could be out a month or longer even without ligament damage. Portland will be shorthanded in the secondary as cornerback Corey Sawyer could miss 4-6 weeks thanks to a stress fracture in his right foot. Birmingham WR Lawrence Dawsey had more tests done and we are still looking at 2-3 weeks before he could return. Seattle could be without David Boston this week as a patella issue might hold him out. Expect a game time decision there. Garrison Hearst in Memphis is hoping to return to action, but again a likely game time decision. Others likely to return to action include Michigan LB Andy Katzenmoyer, Birmingham tackle Todd Steussie, Tampa guard Craig Novitsky, Michigan TE Butch Rolle, and Seattle tackle Willie Anderson. The Philadelphia Stars become the next club to reveal their new look for 2002, holding a posh “reveal” event at the Union League on South Street for a select group of fans (mostly suite holders, as you would imagine) this past Thursday evening. With players Stephen Davis, Regan Upshaw, Bobby Engram and Bobby Hebert on hand and in uniform, the Stars presented the new Reebok designs for the 2002 season. While not a radical departure from past and present looks, the design does come with an updated “shooting star” logo and a new color added to the palette. The new look Stars logo still features a series of stars creating a shooting or fading effect from the primary red star, now through orange, and into gold. Orange is new to the Stars look, and acts as a transitional color in the logo and uniforms. The team will still primarily be decked out in a bright red and metallic gold look, though the gold is slightly richer, with more yellow tones, helping to distinguish Philly’s look from that of Birmingham (with a darker, more grey-rich gold tone). The logo now has four stars, starting with a solid red star and progressively fading to a light gold star. The Stars wordmark remains at the top of the primary star and the secondary logo, the Liberty Bell, remains unchanged. The uniform features the familiar metallic gold helmet with white facemask and the red-over-gold jersey and pants combo. The primary gold pants now are stripeless, with only the secondary Liberty Bell logo on each hip. There is also a secondary set of white pants, likely added to help with extreme heat days in midsummer. The white set features a wide red stripe, similar to past Stars’ looks, with the Liberty Bell also on the hip. The two jerseys, white and red, are mirror images of each other, both with a new, more rounded block font, both with tri-color colors fading from red to gold through orange, and both feature a 3 stripe pattern on the sleeves: thick red to thinner orange and gold on the white jerseys and thick white with thinner orange and gold stripes above it. The home jersey numbers are gold with white trim, the road whites have red numbers with gold trip. It is a look that will be very familiar to Stars fans, not straying far from the original look of the club while adding subtle elements to update the look. Honestly, other than the addition of orange, and the adjustments to the logo, which are only truly noticeable from quite close up to the helmets, the changes to the look could go largely unnoticed by most casual fans. After all, this is a club with a proud history and 3 titles, so it seems clear that a total overhaul was both unnecessary, and unwelcome. One interesting note about the Stars; with the logo update the Stars still remain the only team in the league that does not have a logo set that includes the city name. We guess the Liberty Bell is identifier enough for the City of Brotherly Love. It’s another inter-conference showdown week with the Atlantic Teams headed to the Pacific Coast while the southern clubs head north to face their Central Division foes. Among quality games we expect a lot of folks to tune in to the matchup of New Jersey and LA out at Farmers Insurance Field. Both clubs enter the game 7-3 in this coast to coast showdown. Philly @ Denver also looks like a good one between Eastern and Western clubs. Ohio is in Seattle in a battle of two 1995 expansion clubs hoping to make the playoffs in 2001, while Baltimore is in Portland, Washington heads out to Oakland, and Pittsburgh will face the Wranglers in the desert. In our North-South battles, the best game is likely to be the Birmingham-Chicago clash at Soldier Field. Two very different styles on display there. Another to catch is Tampa Bay, winners of 4 in a row, as they head to New Orleans to face the Breakers. Orlando hopes to end their short losing streak as they head to San Antonio to face the Texas Outlaws, while Houston welcomes the Jacksonville Bulls to town in a game that has potential to be a wild one. Atlanta has a rough game if they want their first win, heading to St. Louis to face the Knights. Finally, Memphis will be in Michigan, hoping to pick up a win against the offensively challenged Panthers.

Playoff Picture: No teams have clinched a playoff spot or been eliminated at this juncture.

It’s the kind of week that just makes you love year-round football. Orlando had the win in hand, but a backup QB does the impossible and an undervalued kicker comes up huge as Tampa Bay wins their third in a row and knocks off the undefeated in-state rival. As if that were not enough, we had a shootout win in New Jersey, a truly classic Keystone Clash, a defensive slugfest in Denver, a big upset in Portland and even a win for the previously hapless Michigan Panthers. It was a really good week of football for all you USFL fans, but we have to start with one of the greatest and most improbable comeback wins in league history. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. That’s the famous quote often attributed to Yogi Berra (though of somewhat dubious origin), but that is absolutely the message on the lips of all of America as the Tampa Bay Bandits, with only 34 seconds on the clock, and facing one of the league’s best defenses with a backup QB got the job done and won the game on an improbably last second field goal. Orlando was the scene, and the 51,002 who showed up to watch their Renegades take on their rival from just down the road, the Tampa Bay Bandits got their money’s worth on this date. The unbeaten Renegades were taking on a Bandits club that had already upset Memphis and St. Louis the past two weeks. Few were really sure that Tampa had found the formula to win, but when two rivals clash you simply cannot trust the records, so even with Orlando unbeaten, this game was always going to be a battle. After a relatively calm first quarter that saw both teams feel each other out and only a 45-yarder from Mike Vanderjagt on the board, things heated up in the 2nd quarter with Tampa Bay showing some teeth in this dogfight. Orlando scored first, a Zeroue 1-yard dive to go up 7-3, but the Bandits responded with a good drive ending in an Errict Rhett TD run. After a poor pass from Scott Mitchell was picked off by Tampa’s LeRoy Butler, the Bandits expanded their lead, with Trent Green hitting Chris Doering for a 14-yard score. Tampa would finish the half with another Vanderjagt field goal to go in at the half up 20-7 to a shocked Orlando crowd. The tone of the game would change in the second half, where it appeared Orlando was taking the game over. Mitchell hit Keenan McCardell to pull within 6, and on Tampa’s next drive, a big hit from DE Israel Ifeanyi forced Tampa to go for 3, but also forced Trent Green out of the game with what appeared to be a neck or shoulder injury. Kent Graham would have to take command for the Bandits. Graham would struggle through most of the half, and bit by bit Orlando would chip away at the Tampa Bay lead. 23-14, then 23-17, then, and in a drive that started with 4:27 on the clock in the 4th, Orlando thought they had taken this game by the skin of their teeth. Mitchell hit Donald Driver in the endzone with only 34 seconds on the clock. Charlie Baumann’s PAT put Orlando up 24-23 with only seconds left and an ineffective Kent Graham under center for Tampa Bay. A decent return got Graham the ball at the 31 with 29 seconds left. Tampa had 2 time outs left, and they would need both. On 1st and 10, Graham found Randy Moss over the middle for 17 and the Bandits called their first time out. He would miss on a pass to Moss on his second attempt of the drive, but on 2nd and 10 found Chris Doering on the wide side of the field. Doering avoided the initial tackle and was able to get out of bounds, 18 yards downfield at the Tampa Bay 38, 7 seconds left. It would be a 55-yard kick from here, so the offense tried for a quick out to get 4-6 yards closer, but Graham missed on a connection with Bobby Shaw. Vanderjagt would have to try from 55. As he lined up the kick, Coach O’Leary called Orlando’s final time out to try to ice the Tampa kicker. He would regroup and Graham, who also acts as the holder for kicks, lined up on the left hashmark. Vanderjagt would hit the ball low but straight and it just kept ascending. Some believe the kick would have been good from 60, but it was certainly good from 55 and the Bandits sideline erupted with joy not seen since Summer Bowl 1998. They had not only won their third in a row, and against a third highly regarded team, they had beaten their rival and knocked Orlando from the ranks of the unbeaten. The win moves Tampa Bay to 4-5 and very much a potential playoff contender, especially if they can keep their heads about them as they did on this drive. There would be good news later as well with a positive prognosis for Trent Green meaning he likely will be in action next week. For Orlando it was a bitter defeat to a team they were confident they had beaten. The lesson learned is that, as Yogi may have said, it ain’t over until it is over. A hard lesson to learn for sure. OHI 37 NJ 31 Ohio got 428 yards and 2 scores form Kerry Collins, who dealt with the pressure from New Jersey (3 Phil Hansen sacks) all day long. Both Joey Galloway and Chad Johnson went over 100 yards receiving, as did both Terry Glenn and Kevin Johnson for the Generals, in a game that saw both offenses move up and down the field on each other. WSH 37 BAL 14 The Federals bounced back from their home loss to Portland and knocked off a fading Baltimore squad to take over sole possession of first place in the Atlantic. The Federals got solid run game contributions from their QB and both halfbacks as Stewart scrambled for 43 yards, McCallister rushed for 70 and Droughns gained 99 on the day. PIT 24 PHI 29 The Maulers again proved a tough out but again failed to close the deal as Philadelphia came back from 24-13 to win in the final quarter on a bizarre play, a botched field goal in which holder Will Furrer was able to find little-used backup TE Mondriel Fulcher open, not only for a first down, but for the score, giving Philly the 5-point win as time expired. MEM 48 JAX 27 Memphis exploited the Bulls’ defense for 533 yards, 429 on the arm of Heath Shuler, who threw for 4 scores and completed 20 of 29 throws. Touchdown runs from Aaron Stecker and Tony Carter helped put the game away for Memphis despite starting HB Garrison Hearst sitting the game out due to injury. BIR 31 ATL 17 Atlanta remains the only winless club in the league after Birmingham took an early 14-0 lead and never looked back. Brett Favre would throw 2 picks, but the game was well in hand by the half and Atlanta simply could not mount a response. MGN 28 OAK 17 Drew Brees had his best game as a pro, throwing for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns against a troubled Oakland team. Siran Stacy added 82 yards on 10 carries as the Panthers got their first win of the season. Jon Kitna threw two picks, costing the Invaders two potential scores, but the backbreaker was a 4th and inches that the Invaders could not convert, giving momentum and field position to the Panthers. HOU 6 LA 28 This one was close (14-6 after 3 quarters) until Cade McNown hit Tory Holt with a 75-yard bomb to open the final period. That sucked all the air out of Houston’s sails and the Express would go on to win handily. LA got a combined 23 carries and 101 yards from their duo of Michael Pittman and Antowain Smith but hurt Houston more through the air with Cade McNown connecting on 3 scoring plays. CHI 12 DEN 23 We expected a defensive struggle in this one and that is what we got, with the score 10-6 Denver at the half. With no one scoring in the 3rd, Denver took control in the 4th, scoring 2 touchdowns, both passes from Brunell (47 yards to Price and 12 to Dedric Smith). Rashaan Salaam seems to have returned to form, rushing 21 times for 101 yards on the day. NOR 17 POR 35 This game looked very different through 3 quarters as it was a 14-10 game until the final period, when three straight drives ended with Portland rushing TDs (Smith for 1, Kaufmann the other two). The key play was a Trent Dilfer TD that gave Portland the ball on the Breaker 11-yard line. They punched it in to take a 28-10 lead and that was all she wrote for the Breakers. Portland wins a second game in a row and is now a very respectable 4-5. STL 24 SEA 31 The Dragons, particularly Brian Griese, found holes in the Knights’ defense in this medieval clash of familiar foes (Dragons v. Knights, right?) Briese threw for 4 scores, including a 68-yarder to David Boston right before the half to upend the favored Knights. It was 24-24 into the 4th, but Seattle had the final blow, a Griese to John Embree pas swith 1:23 left to take the home win and move to 4-5. TEX 24 ARZ 44 Jake Plummer threw for 2 scores and ran for 3 more in a game that felt like one of last year’s MVP games. Texas simply did not have a good plan to shadow the Arizona QB, who shredded the Outlaw defense every time he got out of the pocket. Santana Moss gathered a TD catch, and we even had a Craig Whelihan sighting as the backup got into the game midway through the 4th quarter. ROOKIE RECEIVER CLASS OF 2001 We mentioned in our midseason review that wideout has been the clear impact position so far with the class of 2001 rookies, and that is certainly the case when we look a both playing time and impact on the league. This year’s crop of rookie receivers has had an immediate impact and have shown that they are ready for prime time. While not every selection has become a breakout star, there is clearly a mark being made by some of the cream of this year’s receiver crop. Chad Johnson (OHIO) is the leader statistically of the group. He is currently 8th in the league with 840 yards receiving despite having only 38 catches for the Glory. His 8 touchdowns also have him on pace for a rookie record. Koren Robinson (HOU) has helped to revive the Gambler passing offense, and has helped pull coverage from Antonio Freeman, allowing the veteran to become the league’s top receiver in yardage. Robinson’s totals so far have also been outstanding, 42 receptions for 558 yards and 5 touchdowns. Steve Smith (PHI) has moved from the slot into a starting WR position opposite Bobby Engram, and has shown a penchance for the acrobatic catch and the 50/50 ball. Smith has 37 receptoins for 544 yards and 4 touchdowns this year. Justin McCaerins (MEM) has not had quite as much attention in Memphis, where he shares targets with WR Joe Horn and All-USFL TE Adrian Cooper, but he has still managed a very strong 495 yards and 7 touchdowns on only 24 receptions. Santana Moss (ARZ) was expected to be the most immediate starter, replacing Rocket Ismail as the speed demon on the Wrangler roster, and while he has not had quite the impact some fans hoped for, his 403 yards and 4 touchdowns are well on pace for a solid first season in the desert. The only significant disappointment among early round receiver picks in the USFL Draft this year has to be Drew Bennett in Jacksonville, who has barely seen the field except on special teams and has only 1 reception for 8 yards to date. Bennett currently sits 4th on the depth chart, behind Terrell Owens, Cedric Tillman, and Dez White, but even veteran possession receiver Brian Stablein, technically the 5th receiver in Jacksonville, has seen more targets. HANSEN ON PACE FOR RECORD Phil Hansen is loving life in East Rutherford this year. For the first time in his stellar career, the Generals have a defense around him that is backing him up and the club is seeing the benefits. That is not to say that Hansen is resting on his laurels and letting others around him step up. The big man already has 18 sacks, a pace that could challenge Chris Doleman’s record of 29 sacks in a season. But what may be even more impressive for the Generals’ all-time sack leader, is that Hansen is also becoming a force in the run game, with 50 tackles already this season. Thanks in part to offensive lines having to compensate for the stronger presence across the line, with DE Shaun Ellis and DT Darwin Walker pulling away double teams from Hansen, but an improved LB corps means that 4th pass rusher and run disruptor is disrupting blocking schemes. New Jersey is mixing up their run and pass blitzes, with Dwayne Rudd the principal blitzer, but with blitzes alternatively coming from Bobby Houston, Bobby Howard and even safety Jason Sehorn. It is a formula that is making life easier for Hansen, who in turn, is making life tougher for opposing quarterbacks. TAMPA TURNAROUND The Bandits were the big story this week, knocking off Orlando, but fans in Tampa are pointing to the past 3 weeks as a trend rather than a fluke. Tampa has seemingly found a rhythm and a scheme that makes sense for their personnel, and that has helped them knock off three quality teams in three weeks, Memphis, St. Louis, and now Orlando. At the center of the newfound success is QB Trent Green. Traded from the Baltimore Blitz after Coach Infante opted to go with Jeff Garcia as the full time starter in Baltimore, Green struggled early to pick up Coach George Seifert’s vertical passing game in Tampa, but the past three weeks seem to indicate that he is now on the same page as his coach and his arm talent is a good fit for Bandit Ball. Against three of the league’s top defenses, Green has managed to go 41 of 66 (63%) for 850 yards, with 7 TDs and only 1 pick. He has also formed a bond with Tampa’s top receiver, Randy Moss, who has 13 touchdowns on the year to lead all receivers. Chris Doering has also had a strong year with 571 yards and 4 scores. Pundits are now beginning to take the Bandits seriously, and to realize that this club has had one of the toughest schedules in the league, with early games @ LA, New Jersey, and Memphis, and home losses to Orlando< Washington, and Birmingham. In fact, Tampa Bay is the only team to face 8 teams in their first 9 games thatall currently have winning records (only a Week 4 win at Jacksonville breaks the run.) To be 4-5 with that schedule is impressive, and with a much better final 7 weeks ahead, with games against Pittsburgh (3-6), Jacksonville (2-7), Oakland (2-7) and Atlanta (0-9) on the docket, the Bandits could well be a darling to make the type of late playoff run that Seifert needs and that fans want to see. If they can make a run over the season’s second half, expect Trent Green to be at the center of it as he has begun to make some fans among the Bandit brigade. ATLANTA’S QB QUANDRY What to do if you are the Atlanta Fire? The team is winless after 9 games, Coach Petrino has been fired, and they have a temporary coaching tandem of former defensive coordinator John Pease and consultant-turned-Assistant Head Coach Rick Neuheisel in charge. The club is 24th in passing, and the only team in the league with fewer than 200 yards per game passing. Coach Petrino named Mark Bulger the starter over the more athletic Aaron Brooks and former New Jersey starter Spence Fisher, and he did not waiver from that decision over the first 7 weeks of the season, but now, after 9 weeks, Bulger’s numbers are just not good. He is one of the league’s worst rated quarterbacks, with a 64.1 QBR, has 8 picks for his 9 TDs and has completed only 52.3% of his passes. Compare that with the 2000 stats from Aaron Brooks (47.2% completion, 12 TDs to 11 picks, 60.8 QBR) and there is not a lot of hope that a QB switch can make a difference. Spence Fisher seems a longshot as he simply has not been given much attention since arriving from New Jersey, this despite a pretty solid 1998 season as a General in his resume. Fisher threw 25 TDs to only 3 picks in 1998 for New Jersey. So, if you are Neuheisel, who seems to be leading the offense, what do you do? The trade deadline is next week, and it is not as if starting QB’s grow on trees or on trading blocks. The Fire seem stuck with a bad situation, and quite frankly, issues with the offensive line and a weak receiving corps don’t make prospects look good no matter who is at QB. To make matters worse, the run of games coming up for the Fire includes Washington (7-2), St. Louis (5-4), Orlando (8-1), Memphis (6-3), Philadelphia (6-3) and the now dangerous Tampa Bay Bandits. The Fire are in real danger of going 0-16 this year, a true embarrassment for the club. You know it is getting deep into the season when you start seeing backup players on the injury list, and that is what we have seen in a big way this week. While not all household names, these players contribute each week and provide much-needed depth for their clubs, so now we start to see just how deep the benches of some clubs are. In Philadelphia, the concern is at safety after Larry Wigham went on IR with a torn bicep muscle. In Pittsburgh it is DT Roderick Coleman, out for the year with a broken collarbone. Baltimore will be without WR Malcolm Floyd (neck) while Washington will lose TE Travis McNeal (PCL), both placed on IR. St. Louis is looking at 6 weeks for DE Mike Ulufale (torn hamstring) while Memphis is likely without CB Terrance Shaw for 2-4 weeks. The only starter who could miss significant action after an injury this week is LA cornerback Aeneas Williams, whose sprained knee is a 2-4 week diagnosis. Birmingham’s Lawrence Dawsey went out with a dislocated shoulder but is expected back in 1-2 weeks. Portland backup HB Blair Thomas could miss the same amount after spraining his wrist, and Orlando’s Chris Doleman is expected to be out just this upcoming week as he deals with a hip stinger. Garrison Hearst remains questionable to return for Memphis, as does kicker Tim Seder in Texas. Expected to return to action this week are Houston WR Koren Robinson, St. Louis CB Steve Israel, Denver SS Sean Lumpkin, Seattle TE Ken Dilger, and Atlanta wideout Terrance Mathis. We have wondered for weeks now whether it would be the courts or the league that would be pushing St. Louis owner James Orthwein to sell off his controlling share of the Knights and this week we got our answer. League officials, including the commissioner, met with Orthwein in St. Louis this week, and the decision has come down. Regardless of any decision by the court in his tax and insurance fraud case, Orthwein will have until May 15, 2002 to divest himself of the Knights. In a statement on Thursday, Commissioner Ebersol made it clear that the preference of the league is for Orthwein to sell to a local group or individual so that the Knights could remain in St. Louis, but that it is not out of the question for the club to be purchased and relocated if local ownership could not be identified. The news did not go over well in St. Louis, where the St. Louis Dispatch reported on local opinion. While most recognize the financial issues surrounding Orthwein are serious, there is significant fear that the team will relocate, and the lack of an obvious alternative within local businessmen has the fanbase nervous. There has been a grassroots effort to develop a public option, similar to what we see in Green Bay with the NFL Packers, but that is both unlikely to organize in time to meet the league’s 1 year deadline, or to be seen favorably by other league owners, who would have to vote to approve any such plan. A potential hybrid plan, similar to what we see with the controlled sale of shares to a local public in Birmingham might have a better shot at league approval, but only works if the effort can lock in a local investor to act as the principal owner and executive for the sale, and that is where the issue lies. Meanwhile, in Portland, the sale of the Thunder has attracted the attention of at least two out-of-town investment groups, with both the Boston Colonials Football Club (a group led by East Coast investors interested in a franchise for the Boston area) and the USFL DFW group (a similar group seeking to bring the league to Dallas) have engaged in high level talks with the attorneys for the Thunder’s current ownership. As reported in local media, it appears that no local group or investor has come forward, putting the future of the Thunder in Portland in significant doubt. Unlike in St. Louis, where the concept of community ownership has gained some traction, in Portland there is no significant community effort on the horizon. It appears that either the Thunder will attract a local investor or, perhaps more likely, we may be looking at relocation for the 2002 or 2003 season. Week 10 and the Playoff Position Tracker are just around the corner, and, with the Eastern Conference in divisional play this week, we get the West doing the same in Week 10. In the Central the big game is between St. Louis and New Orleans in the Super Dome, with the loser dropping to 5-5. Chicago hosts Texas and Houston hosts Michigan in the other two central games. In the Pacific, the surprising Portland Thunder are going to be tested as they head down to Tempe to face the Wranglers and QB Jake Plummer. LA has a huge game as well, hosting the Seattle Dragons, while Denver is back at Mile High and hoping to get the W against the 2-7 Oakland Invaders. In the East, it is the Atlantic catching some Southern hospitality. Orlando, fresh off their home loss to Tampa Bay, will try to rebound as they face the 6-3 Philadelphia Stars. Ohio and Memphis battle in the Liberty Bowl with both entering the game at 6-3. Baltimore needs a win, but they head to Birmingham, where the Stallion faithful will be anything but welcoming. Washington, the Atlantic leader, gets a bye week, by which we mean they are facing Atlanta. New Jersey hopes to get their 7th win as they visit Jacksonville, and the Bandits, winners of 3 in a row, will host the Pittsburgh Maulers.

INTRO Never let it be said we cannot admit when we are wrong. We put the Portland-Washington game in our "do not watch" category last week, stating that there was no chance for the beleaguered Thunder to go into RFK and knock off a 6-1 Federals team. I guess that is why they play the games. In what can only be called a weather-assisted win, the Thunder proved us wrong. Let's get right to our Week 8 game recaps with the big upset in DC. What did we just witness? That was a result no one saw coming, the Thunder getting a road win at Washington? How did that happen? Well, it was a conspiracy of happenstance, at least that is the best answer we can find. First off, a bit of a fluky weather day, with winds gusting up to 35mph and on and off again rain. Not unusual for Portland, Oregon, but not your typical early May weather in Washington D.C.. Now, we throw in a still not 100% Deuce McCallister, and what has to be considered a really bad day from the Federal’s offensive line and what you get is a truly unforeseeable upset. A look at the numbers and you would have guessed the Feds took this one by 10 or more points. They outgained Portland 414 to 268, were better on 3rd down (6 for 15 vs. 4 for 14), had only 1 turnover, and controlled the clock for 41:15 over Portland’s 30:30 (remember extra time for the overtime period. And yet, the Federals only put up 10 points, and needed a late Stewart to Herman Moore TD to tie at 10 in the waning minutes of the game. So what did Portland do to make this a game? First, they did not produce any self-inflicted wounds, zero turnovers, and while 7 penalties in the game is not great, they were mostly penalties of aggressiveness (offsides, encroachment, defensive holding) not confusion. Secondly, they were modestly efficient on offense. Akili Smith completed 19 of 31 passes, mostly short dump offs, though he did have 1 long play to Lonnie Johnson. The Thunder also got rookie HB Correll Buckhalter into the game early and he got a lot of touches: 23 carries and 4 receptions. Finally, the Thunder found a pass rush. They got six sacks of Kordell Stewart. Now, 2 of those were clearly coverage sacks with Stewart holding the ball too long, but the other 4 were straight up defenders taking it to the offensive line. Both Clyde Simmons and Hugh Douglas garnered 2 sacks each,with Simmons’s final sack being the game-winning safety in overtime. And, we really should give credit as well to the Portland special teams. Punter Aaron Broome averaged 48.4 yards per punt, and his 58-yarder in overtime dinked out of bounds at the 2-yard line, setting up the Thunder for the safety and the win as Simmons found Stewart in the endzone on an ill-advised attempt to use play action to fake out the Thunder defense. Was this a masterfully-played game? No, absolutely not. Was it pretty to watch? Not even close. What it was, in this case, is evidence that on any given Sunday a game can go sideways and fool everyone. Portland moves to 3-5 with an unexpected road win and Washington gets their second L of the year. ARZ 38 PHI 20 Folks are beginning to take the Wrangler offense seriously after another high total against another supposedly solid defense. Jake Plummer again was a one-man show, throwing for 3 scores and running one in himself as the Wranglers got good games from WR Hines Ward and TE Matt Cushing to upend the Stars in Veterans Stadium. DEN 13 PIT 17 The Maulers get their third win and drop Denver to 4-4 as Rashaan Salaam sees only limited action and the Mauler D confines Rod Smart to only 26 yards on 10 carries. Charlie Batch was shaky, throwing 2 picks, one of which could have given Denver a late opportunity to score, but he also threw for 2 scores, one each to Rison and Jake Reed. LA 30 OHI 38 In the shootout we all expected, Ohio got the edge on LA by building a 38-23 lead early in the 4th on a Joey Galloway TD. It was Galloway’s first game back after injury cost him several weeks and he responded with 3 receptions for 75 yards and the late score. Shaun Alexander was a good target for Kerry Collins all day, catching 5, with 3 going for scores. LA got 174 yards from Tory Holt as they had to abandon the run to play catchup, but it was too little too late for the Express as Ohio takes it. OAK 10 BAL 13 Baltimore was on upset alert, but a late Martin Grammatica field goal helped them pull out a tough one in the same bad conditions we saw in DC. Oakland actually outgained the Blitz, thanks in large part to the scrambling and out-of-pocket throws of Jon Kitna, who remains the starter while Ryan Leaf pouts to the media. Ron Dayne was held to only 39 yards on a day when most would have expected him to get 39 carries. SEA 10 NJ 34 The Dragons came out flat after weather delayed their flights to Newark. New Jersey took advantage, with breakout player Tom Brady throwing for 272 and 3 scores. Phil Hansen added 2 more sacks to his league lead, and Geno Atkins returned a pick for a score as the Generals won in all three phases of the game. NOR 17 ATL 13 Well, the Fire played hard. At least we can say that. Outgained by New Orleans 471-187, this game could have easily gotten out of hand, but the Fire defenders went for the ball and that produced 4 Breaker turnovers to keep the game close. A touchdown from Tiki Barber and a pick six from Tyrone Poole were Atlanta’s only scores, while New Orleans managed 2 Raynard Brown TDs and a 37-yard field goal from Lin Elliott with 2:10 left to play that helped them win the game. HOU 24 BIR 27 Close but no cigar for the Gamblers as the Stallions got just enough to hold them at bay. Brett Favre threw two costly picks that helped Houston stay close, but Shaun Alexander had a good game, rushing 12 times for 65 yards and two scores to help spur on the Stallions. Kevin Faulk had to leave the game with an ankle issue for Houston, so it was backup Kantroy Barber who had to step in. Matt Hasselbeck threw for all 3 Houston touchdowns, but it was one short for what they needed. CHI 27 JAX 24 The Machine move to 6-2 with a nice road win, spurred by a game opening pick six from Eric Allen. They would add scores from Adrian Murrell and Michael Ricks on their way to a win. Jacksonville was without Sedrick Irvin, who had to step away due to a family crisis, but Kenny Bynum stepped in and helped the Bulls’ run game with 139 yards and 2 scores as Jacksonville kept it close. TEX 10 MEM 41 The Showboats left little doubt that they had no intention of dropping to 4-4. After falling behind 7-0, the Showboats rattled off the next 34 points in the game, spurred on by the return of TE Adrian Cooper (2 TDs). Garrison Hearst was hurt in the game, and may be out next week, so Tony Carter and Larry Centers took up the slack as Memphis cruised to another home win. MGN 3 ORL 43 As predicted, this one was ugly from the start. Orlando put up 23 points in the 1st quarter alone, 2 Amos Zeroue short touchdown runs, a Mitchell to Driver TD pass, and a safety as Michigan’s center got called for holding in the endzone. It did not get better from there as Drew Brees was sacked 6 times and Siran Stacey rushed for only 32 yards on the day. STL 20 TBY 31 Don’t look now, but that is 2 in a row for the Bandits, and this was against a pretty good defense. Yes, Knights’ CB#1 Steve Israel was out, and that showed as Randy Moss and Chris Doering combined for 261 yards receiving and 2 scores. Errict Rhett added 2 TD runs as well as the Bandit offense came to life for Coach Seifert this week. Eight Weeks in and time for our Midseason Report Card of where teams are compared with expectations. This year we are going to return to a standard A-F scale and see which teams are living up to the preseason hype, surpassing it, or failing to meet expectations. We will also take a look at the breakout players of the season’s first half and make some altered predictions for the end of the season. Let’s get started with the cream of the crop, the A students. GRADE A: Surpassing expectations, excelling, impressing us. ARIZONA: Sitting at 5-3 is good, having the 5th best scoring defense (despite a quasi-porous pass defense) is even better. They still need to develop a run game, but that is less urgent when you are at the top of your division. CHICAGO: A 6-2 start is more than Chicago fans could have hoped for. Jeff George is over 2,000 yards passing and Duce Staley is on pace for a possible 1,00 yard season, but the igger story is the Machine defense, which has been shaky in recent years but which is holding most opponents under 20 points per game, and that is a good start for a potential division title battle with St. Louis. LOS ANGELES: A 5-3 start is good,reviving a Top 5 offense is better, but having the 2nd best run game is a sign of good things to come. Add to this a Top 10 scoring defense and the ability to both pressure the QB and limit big plays and we have a team that could be looking at a division title if not more. NEW JERSEY: A 6-2 start is far better than even the most rosey General fans would have predicted for Coach Parcells’s first season, and when Aikman went down in Week 2 the tone certainly turned darker, but Tom Brady has come up big in his first pro action, Curtis Enis has been solid all through the season, and Parcells has had a huge impact on the defense, which now ranks 2nd against the run and 3rd in points allowed. This club is a surprise contender and the tri-state area is catching “General hysteria”. ORLANDO: 8-0 pretty much says all you need to know. Well, one more item to put fear in other clubs, they are averaging 33.6 PPG and giving up only 10.2. That is a 21 point per game margin for error. Their closest game so far was a 23-16 win over Tampa Bay. They shut out Jacksonville’s offense, and have given up 14 or more only 3 times. This team is clearly the odds-on favorite for the title this year. WASHINGTON: We are going to forget that this week’s rain-soaked, wind-affected loss to Portland did not happen. If we ignore that glitch of a game, the Federals have been impressive. They have allowed 18.6 points per game, and they have found an offense based on the rushing duo of Rueben Droughns and rookie Deuce McCallister. The Federals are a dangerous club, especially if they can get consistency from Kordell Stewart. GRADE B: About where we thought they should be, maybe better in some areas and worse in others than expected. BIRMINGHAM: The defense has shown improvement (15th) and the passing game is its usual dynamic self (2nd in yards), but we still cannot help but think that the Stallions are wasting the career of yet another HB as Shaun Alexander is just not getting enough touches. OHIO: We picked the Glory to win the division, so we cannot give them an A for meeting expectations. The defense is a concern, giving up 29.4 ppg, which is not good at all. They are outscoring people because they have the #1 pass offense and have found a viable top tier receiver in Chad Johnson. They now have 2 very dangerous deep ball experts in Johnson and Galloway, but they need to still give Eddie George his touches, and learn to work the clock a bit better so that their defense is not on the field for 40 minutes a game. PHILADELPHIA: The Stars likely would have ended up as an A, except we were scared off a bit by the mistakes and blown opportunities we have seen. They are not Top 5 in any category except rushing, but they are solid across the board. Their losses have been to Ohio (a shootout), Birminghma (another shootout), and Arizona (giving up 38 points). If they can just keep teams from getting big plays that send the score skyrocketing, they could be a top tier team. PITTSBURGH: This one we are chalking up to how they play. This is a club that in most games is competitive, and 3-5 is honestly better than we thought we would see. They are strongest in the run game and in run defense, and weakest against pass-heavy offenses, but we gave Pittsburgh a B because they are solidly on an upward path and may have what it takes to square things up at 8-8 by year’s end. ST. LOUIS: Yes, a 5-3 start is solid, equating to 10-6 at year’s end, but the Knights’ big issue is that their stellar defense has not be shining at all. They currently rank 16th in the league in both points allowed and yards allowed. That is not a championship defense, that is a defense that is showing its age and missing some pieces. Ahman Green is still a dominant player for the Knights, but he cannot do it alone. They need more on offense and they need to find more consistency on the defense if they hope to claim a 4th straight Central title. GRADE C: Just getting by, doing enough but not impressing. BALTIMORE: We considered a D here if only because expectations were high in the preseason. 4-4 is not where this group wanted to be, but we have to give credit where it is due and the Blitz still score as Top 5 in both yards allowed and pass defense. They need more from Jeff Garcia as they are 21st in passing and 22nd in scoring, but the D keeps them out of detention. HOUSTON: The Gamblers are definitely a much better club than they were last year, and Matt Hasselbeck in particular seems to be growing into a quality starter, placing Houston 4th in the league in passing yards per game at 297.6, but the run game is still MIA, and the defense, while solid (12th in PPG Allowed) does give up the occasional big momentum-shifting play. MEMPHIS: Hear us out here. It is not like 5-3 is a bad record for the Showboats, it is that they have lost three games when they were favored. We can forgive the loss at Washington, but losing at home to both Philly and Tampa is tough to take. Maybe we are being harsh here. After all the Showboats are Top 5 in both scoring and points allowed, so they are very likely to be able to finish with double-digit wins, but something still does not feel right. NEW ORLEANS: Sure, 5-3 is good, but look closer. The combined record of the 5 teams New Orleans has beaten is 8-32, including wins over both Atlanta and Michigan. They have lost to Washington, Denver, and Chicago, the only .500 or better teams they have faced. That is a sobering bit of info for a club that is not Top 10 in any category. PORTLAND: We will confess that we pictured the Thunder being 0-8 or 1-7 at this point, so 3-5 is a bit of a shocker. The fact that those three wins are against Chicago, Washington, and Seattle is also a big plus in their column. Akili Smith is outperforming expectations, and while they are not a playoff club, they could reach a respectable win total this year, which moves them to a B because we did not see that as even a faint possibility when the year started. TEXAS: We are giving the Outlaws credit for exceeding pretty low expectations. They have had at least one good win (vs. St. Louis) and they have been in some games where they had a shot late. They need more from their defense, especially in the pass rush, and they need Jeff Lewis to stay healthy (Tommy Maddox did not shine in relief). Maybe, just maybe, they can get to .500. GRADE D: Headed in the wrong direction and causing growing concern among fans. DENVER: For any other team, a 4-4 start is not that bad. Some clubs would love to be where Denver is, but these are the defending league champions, so a drop to .500 is a concern. The hope, of course, is that this is largely due to the suspension of Rashaan Salaam, and now that he is back they will go on a streak. Our concern is that the defense is not as solid as it needs to be to keep Denver at or near the top of the conference. JACKSONVILLE: The Bulls seem to be fading fast after seeming like a popular darkhorse club as recently as 1999. The defense is the worst in football, which is surprising considering they have players like Lavar Arrington, Sam Adams, Jessie Armstead and Mike Vrabel on defense. We are 8 weeks into the season and the secondary does not have a single interception yet. That is insane, and not in a good way. SEATTLE: This is a team that has been letting victory slip from their fingers all year. On their resume is a 1-point loss to Portland, a 7-pointer to Arizona, 3 to Denver, and two bad blowouts. Their wins have come against Atlanta, Oakland, and Texas, not exactly knocking off the big boys. They still have time to turn it around, but if 10 wins is what is needed to make the playoffs, which is very possible, that means they need a 7-1 second half. We don’t see this team pulling off that kind of run. TAMPA BAY: This may actually be a D-. We seriously considered giving the club an F, and had it not been for back to back impressive and gutsy wins against Memphis and St. Louis the past 2 weeks, an F would have almost certainly been in the cards. If the Bandits of these past 2 game remain active all season, Tampa could actually rally to a respectable finish, but if they play like they did in weeks 1-6, it could be the end for George Seifert, 1998 Summer Bowl ring or not. GRADE F: Nothing is working, this season is already a lost cause and it is time to clean house and look to the future. ATLANTA: No surprise here. 23rd in scoring, 24th in total yards, 24th in yards allowed and they fired their head coach 7 games into a season. The Fire are becoming the model of how not to run an expansion club and the empty seats each week at Bobby Dowd are becoming a big concern. MICHIGAN: The Mike Martz era has not started off well in Pontiac. The Panthers are averaging only 9 points per game, and rookie QB Drew Brees appears to be getting no help at all. Siran Stacy leads all rushers with 207 yards, yes, that is an average of 26 yards per game. That is pathetic! Add in the 23rd scoring defense and the worst run defense in the league. I wish we could say we see improvement in the 2nd half, but this club has a legit shot at 0-16. OAKLAND: Expectations were not high to begin the year in Oakland, and the Invaders have been somewhat competitive even in games they have lost, but there are two big issues here that push them into the F category. The first is the inability to win close games. They lost by 2 to New Orleans and LA, and by 3 to Baltimore. They need to learn how to pull those games out. The other issue is Ryan Leaf. He was first suspended by the team, then benched, and now he is just making the rounds being a petulant child on sports radio and local tv. This is not going to end well for anyone. REVISITING THE PRESEASON PICKS As usual, our preseason prognostications were not exactly 100% accurate. That's football, folks. So, with 8 weeks down, let's take a second shot at this as we compare the preseason picks with our revised projections for the playoffs, title and season awards. While we were not completely off the wall with our earlier picks, there definitely were some changes needed. We called it that Orlando would be very good, but overestimated Ohio's run, at least so far. We did not see New Jersey's rise being quite so quick, nor Baltimore slipping as much as they have. We also did not foresee Denver sliding quite so far back to the pack, and, as with the Generals, the Chicago Machine have surprised many this year. We are still sticking with front-runners for our Summer Bowl picks, but now instead of Seattle and Ohio we are going with Orlando over LA. We are still going to go with Kerry Collins as the MVP, since he remains a top-rated QB on the league's top offense. Salaam's suspension kills any chance for Offensive POTY, so we are giving it to Houston's breakout star, Antonio Freeman. We still love Chris Doleman and this Renegades defense, but he cannot win Defensive POTY if Phil Hansen is 2-3 sacks ahead of him, and if New Jersey is a legitimate contender. Rookie of the year was always going to be a wideout. While Santana Moss has been great for the Wranglers, Chad Johnson in Ohio has been even better. Finally, our coach of the year, barring a total collapse, has to be Bill Parcells, proving he is still the king of the Meadowlands by turning around the Generals and doing it with an unproven commodity at QB. A tough week with several players now concerned about a lost second half to the season. Texas is likely now without Shawn Collins for at least 6 weeks after suffering a stress fracture in his foot, only days after the Outlaws traded to get Carl Pickens. In Washington, TE Travis McNeal is likely lost for the year with a broken jaw, while in Arizona, tackle Matt Stinchomb could miss 4-8 weeks with a fractured tibia. Baltimore will likely be without DE Kabeer Gbaja-Biamilia at least 2-3 weeks with a wrist injury and Ohio guard Lester Holmes is dealing with a hip injury that could cost him the same length of time. The weirdest item on the injury list is Texas kicker Tim Seder, who had to be taken to a local San Antonio hospital on Wednesday where he was diagnosed with a ruptured appendix. The Outlaws signed free agent Ryan Lindell as a short term replacement. Finally, Houston’s rookie wideout Koren Robinson is likely out 1-2 weeks as he deals with a bulging disk in his mid-back. (A quick note before this section. In light of what has happened the past week with Dolphins' QB Tua Tagovailoa the story about Troy Aikman being forced out of the 2001 season by back to back concussion games seems a bit insensitive. I apologize for that, but, as you can see by checking the dates I published the earlier stories, this was a plotline in no way resulting from Tua's medical situation. Aikman actually did leave the game IRL due to concussions, and I wanted to present this in a dramatic way in the USFL. I am sticking with the original design for the story, and, of course, will be having the USFL deal with concussions and player health as we move through the 2000's into the present, because that is appropriate to the period.) All the speculation about Tampa Bay’s announcement on Monday was a bit off topic, but then, who could have predicted this. Yes, the new logo and uniforms were revealed on Monday, but the surprise was the player who came out wearing #8 in the new gear, quarterback Troy Aikman. Apparently about 2 weeks ago, Aikman announced to the New Jersey Generals that he would be retiring from the game, but that he wanted to retire as a member of the Bandits. It took a bit of work, but this past week Tampa Bay and New Jersey came to an agreement whereby the Generals would trade Aikman back to Tampa Bay and the Bandits would agree to pay the Generals a sum equivalent to the signing bonus given to Aikman when he jumped ship, approximately $1.7M. In the press conference, representatives of the league announced the trade, introduced Aikman, in new Tampa gear, and then announced that the entire amount Tampa Bay had negotiated with New Jersey was being donated by New Jersey to the Boston University Alzheimer’s Research team, helping them to form a special division focusing on cerebral trauma in athletes. Commissioner Ebersol and Tampa Bay CEO Carling Bassett announced that 1,000 special edition #8 jerseys, all to be signed by Troy Aikman were going to go up for auction and that all proceeds would also be donated to the BU center, to be matched dollar for dollar from the league as a whole. The auction is expected to raise between $500k-$100k in total, with minimum bids on the jerseys’ starting at $300 apiece. Aikman will be on the roster, though not active for the game this week in Orlando, and then will be activated for Tampa Bay’s next home game, in two weeks, when they host the Pittsburgh Maulers. Expect tickets for that game to skyrocket in price as Bandit fans don’t want to miss a chance to say goodbye to their golden armed QB. Week 9 starts the long 2nd half run towards the playoffs, and it starts with the Eastern Conference in divisional play, while the Central and Pacific teams clash out West. In the Atlantic there are two big games, the first a major rivalry between Washington and Baltimore, as the two clash at Aetna Stadium. Baltimore lost the first clash at RFK 17-13, and cannot afford another loss in division as they currently sit at 1-3 in divisional play. Another interesting matchup has Ohio headed to New Jersey in a battle of high speed offense vs. stout defense. The week also includes the latest in the Keystone Clash, with Pittsburgh headed to Philadelphia. The best watch in the South will almost certainly be Tampa Bay at Orlando. The Bandits have looked much better in recent weeks, but the Renegades have simply been outclassing opponents each week. Memphis travels to Jacksonville and Birmingham visits Atlanta in the other southern clashes. Of the inter-divisional games out West, the best game Is likely going to be the showdown between Chicago and Denver. The Gold are back home and not happy to be mired at 4-4, but Chicago (6-2) is on a roll and hoping to take over the division where they currently hold a 1-game lead over St. Louis and New Orleans. The Knights are in Seattle in a game that many Dragon fans point to as the bellwether for the year. At 3-5, a win puts them right back in the hunt, while a loss could be devastating. New Orleans is at Portland, and hoping to avoid the kind of upset we saw the Thunder pull off this week. Texas travels to Arizona, so a bit of a homecoming for Carl Perkins only 2 weeks after being traded. Houston heads to LA in hopes of pulling themselves back into a playoff hunt, and in a game that may be one of Michigan’s best shots to avoid an 0-16 season, the Panthers have a late afternoon game in Oakland on Saturday.

(Quick editorial note: I am in the process of fleshing out more of the history page. I have added league leaders from 1983-2000 and I am hoping to add short "top stories" for several years this weekend, and more after that, so check in periodically. I have also recently updated the teams page with the new uniforms created over the past 2-3 years, including new "figures" showing off the look.) Orlando faced a big challenge and came out looking like the league’s best team. Atlanta faced an ultimatum, failed to rise to the occasion, and Fire ownership did what they promised to do, letting Bobby Petrino go after only 23 games as head coach. Washington, Philly, and Ohio won big games in a tough division, Tampa got a huge upset win on the road, and Oakland shocked the Arizona Wranglers. All this in a wild Week 7 of USFL action. We get started with the game of the week, Tampa’s big win in Memphis. Bandit fans did not go into this weekend feeling good about their chances. The Bandits were a miserable 1-5 and were on the road in a very tough place to win, Memphis’s Liberty Bowl, against a pretty good 4-2 Showboats team and one of the most prolific quarterbacks in the league, Heath Shuler. What the few Bandit faithful who made the trip got to see was just a hint of the old Bandit Ball, going deep early and often, and a bit of dramatics at the finish as the Bandits stole this win. The Bandits came into this game talking quite a bit about how they had to find their offensive identity. Even before the departure of Troy Aikman, Tampa Bay’s offense had seen significant drops in their long-ball vertical game, had relied more on HB Errict Rhett, and had simply not produced the big plays that had made their 1999 squad so deadly. All of that changed in this game, and it changed quickly. Tampa Bay failed to move the ball on their first drive, but their second, third, and fourth drives (if you want to call them drives) were each punctuated by long TD tosses from Trent Green. Green hit Randy Moss from 30 yards out to open scoring midway through the 1st quarter, then Chris Doering on a 3-play drive for a 2nd, and then back to Moss on a backbreaking 69-yard TD toss in the 2nd quarter to take a commanding 21-0 lead, shocking the Memphis faithful. Midway through the 2nd quarter and Errict Rhett had only touched the ball 4 times, with one of those being a swing pass. Randy Moss had over 100 yards at the half, and Memphis found itself reconsidering the run game at all. But the Showboats are a plucky team, and Heath Shuler was not going to let a 21-0 deficit end the story. Before the half he rallied the Showboats to their first score, a 4-yard Tony Carter run. When the 3rd quarter began with a Memphis possession, they used the opportunity to double their score and pull the game to within 1, with Shuler hitting Justin McCaerins with his own deep ball, a 45-yard TD reception. McCaerins would end the game with 140 yards on only 4 receptions as Memphis tried to match Tampa Bay’s early deep ball success. Tampa, for their part, would seemingly play into Memphis’s hand, trying to slow down the game by switching to the run, a strategy that would get Rhett 100 yards rushing, but would drive Bandit fans crazy as Memphis continued to draw closer. The Showboats would tie the score as the 3rd quarter drew to a close, Shuler hitting TE Erron Kinney with the equalizer on the last play of the period, an 8-yard seam route for 6. Tampa had squandered a 21-point lead, and it was about to get worse. Whether from Memphis adjustments or simple lack of execution, the Bandits had failed to hit on any chunk plays for the entire quarter, and as the 4th began, two consecutive 3-and-outs gave Memphis plenty of time on the ball. The Showboats responded, moving into field goal range for Jeff Hall twice, and taking the lead, 27-21. Memphis could not get in the endzone, which we have to call a win for the Bandit defense, an oft-maligned defense. That minor victory for Tampa would allow for the full victory of the club in the final minutes. Following Hall’s 2nd field goal, Tampa Bay got the ball back with 3:34 left on the clock. On a drive that lasted nearly the full time, the Bandits looked deep but connected short, slowly moving the ball down the field. They were helped by a bad encroachment call on a 3rd and 3, but for the most part it was Trent Green making the smart call and dumping the ball off to Chris Doering, Bradford Banta, and Lonzell Hill rather than trying to force the ball to Moss. When Moss did get open, it was on hitch routes or hooks, making use of the cushion the Memphis defenders were giving him. That is until the Bandits were on the 11 yard line with 39 seconds to play. On a first and 10 from the 11, Moss hit the fade route, Green kept the ball high, where only his lanky wideout could reach it, and Moss went up in an almost slam-dunk-contest style and snatched the ball out of the air, just barely getting his right foot down in time before falling out of the back of the endzone. For the Bandits it was only their 2nd win of the season, but it was a win that seemed to indicate that the club might just be returning to the big play style that had won them a title 2 years ago. They still have a lot to work on with their defense, but if the Bandits can revive the deep ball, they have weapons to attack with. For Memphis, now trailing the Orlando Renegades by 2 games, it was a tough home loss. They had come back from a 21-0 deficit to take a 6-point lead, but the day was simply not theirs. ORL 35 BIR 14 We stay in the South with a game that may just end the doubt anyone had about Orlando’s legitimacy. The Renegades utterly dominated the Stallions in Birmingham, scoring the first 28 points in the game and easily coasting to a divisional road win against a solid 4-2 Stallion squad. Scott Mitchell threw for 265 and a score, Terry Kirby just missed on a 100-yard game, finishing with 99, and the defense just manhandled Stallion QB Brett Favre, recording 8 sacks of the frustrated signal caller. It was a solid team victory that demonstrated just how tough the Renegades were going to be as they remained unbeaten. JAX 42 ATL 13 If the Renegades proved their legitimacy this weekend, the Fire proved their utter incompetency. With Coach Petrino’s job on the line, Atlanta showed absolutely nothing, giving up 466 yards on defense, while mustering only 13 points in an utterly unimpressive showing to save their coach’s job. Chris Chandler threw for 4 scores and Sedrick Irvin had his best game of the year, rushing for 122 on a Fire defense that simply did not play with any fire. Atlanta ownership kept their end of the bargain and by the next morning Petrino was out. BAL 13 PHI 34 Jeff Garcia struggled against a fired up Philly defense and the Stars got a solid 1-2 punch from running backs Stephen Davis and Pat Chaffey as they outpaced the Blitz to take a commanding win at home. A 91-yard pick six from Stars DB Anthony Dorsett highlighted a solid three-phases game for the Stars as they moved to 5-2 and dropped Baltimore below .500 with the win at Veterans Stadium. NJ 14 WSH 27 Tom Brady threw for 327, but it was not enough as the Federals got early scores from Herman Moore and Rueben Droughns to build a 17-0 lead. A crutial pick-six by Clarence Love, taking advantage of a ball deflected at the line, was the nail in the coffin for the plucky Generals as Washington’s defense turned up the heat in the second half to take the division win and move to 6-1, atop the Atlantic. OHI 48 PIT 38 It was not easy, but the Ohio Glory moved above .500 with a shootout win against a feisty Pittsburgh Maulers team at Three Rivers. Both clubs gained over 500 yards as Ohio barely edged Pittsburgh 531-517. Among the many offensive stars of the game Kerry Collins, with 3 TD tosses and Eddie George with 2 TD runs were essential. Pittsburgh got 115 yards and 2 scores from Terrell Davis and their top receiver, Andre Rison, finished with 10 catches for 144 in a back and forth game that stayed within 1 score until the final minutes. ARZ 14 OAK 24 A clear case of a team looking past an opponent they did not respect as the Wranglers fell into a trap in Oakland. Jon Kitna was back under center and went 32 of 44 for 313 yards and 2 scores in the upset win for Oakland. Jake Plummer was limited to 20 of 36, was sacked twice and got no help from his run game (a familiar refrain) as the Wranglers’ top flight offense looked flat and out of synch. DEN 16 SEA 13 A rare sunny gameday in Seattle highlighted a defensive war of attrition between two clubs sitting precariously at 3-3. Seattle held the lead going into the final 3 minutes, having limited Denver to only 3 field goals all day, but in a classic late game drive, the Gold found victory in a Brunell to Peerless Price TD toss. With Salaam still on suspension, Rod Smart led the Denver ground game with 92 yards on 17 carries, while the Gold defense limited Corey Dillon to 82 yards and the Dragons’ lone touchdown. LA 42 POR 22 The Express rediscovered their offense this week as Antonwain Smith (105) and Michael Pittman (71) combined for 176 yards on the ground. Pittman would also notch 3 touchdowns, with Smith adding a 4th as the Express manhandled the Thunder run defense and made it an easy day for Cade Mcnown. The win puts LA right at the top of the division at 5-2. MGN 7 TEX 19 No ultimatum for first year Panther coach Mike Martz, but it is not looking good for the winless and listless Panthers. Drew Brees struggled to find open receivers, completing only 19 of 40 passes, and the run game was utterly lost as the Panthers again failed to cross 10 points on the day. Texas, starting Tommy Maddox for the injured Drew Brees, was not exactly an offensive juggernaut, but a 101-yard game from Reggie Cobb helped them control the tempo and take the home win, their 3rd. HOU 31 NOR 47 Bobby Hoying got one more start before Trent Dilfer returns this week, and he went out with a bang, throwing for 2 scores as a New Orleans squad missing injured HB Ricky Williams, found inventive ways to get on the scoreboard. The defense helped with a pick 6, one of 3 interceptions of Matt Hasselbeck, and the Gamblers were limited on the ground as an early injury to Kevin Faulk left Kantroy Barber as their only viable option. The win boosts the Breakers to 4-3 while Houston falls a game under .500 at 3-4. CHI 24 STL 21 The Sunday Night game did not disappoint as the Machine outlasted the Knights in a tough slugfest of a game. Jeff George found Johnny Morton twice for scores and the Machine defense loaded the box to limit Ahman Green to only 54 yards rushing as Chicago held off the Knights in the Trans World Dome. It came down to an onsides kick after a Collins to Emmanuel scoring play got St. Louis within 3, but sure-handed Jim Kliensasser recovered the kick and the Machine moved to 5-2 along with St. Louis. ATLANTA PULLS THE TRIGGER William Shivers Morris laid down the ultimatum, and when the Fire could not respond with a win for Coach Petrino, he carried through on his threat to remove the coach after only 7 weeks. The Fire certainly did not help Petrino with their play. In the 2 weeks since the ultimatum was made they lost both games by a combined score of 80-23, that is just plain ugly. So, Petrino will probably find himself back in the college game, not really having had a shot in the USFL. The Fire now turn to something of a coaching combo. Morris promoted Defensive Coordinator John Pease, but they are also shifting duties for former USFL QB and LA Express Head Coach Rick Neuheisel, who had been serving as an offensive consultant. Neuheisel will now be the official QB coach and Assistant Head Coach. That does not mean he will be calling plays, but likely will assist the inexperienced Pease with game management (clock, penalty decisions, gameplan preparation, etc.). So what do we expect from the club under this pair of coaches? Honestly, not much. The big question is whether the change can really impact play at all. We expect Neuheisel will want to stick with Bulger at QB, he is a player very much of Neuheisel’s style. We cannot imagine that the 24th ranked defense gets any better when the DC now takes on the head coaching duties. Honestly, we don’t know what the Fire can do this year except try to minimize self-inflicted wounds such as turnovers and penalties. Tiki Barber is a quality back, so maybe focus more on his skillset, with more of a screen and short passing game. On defense, perhaps more shell zone defenses to minimize big plays and hope that teams commit mistakes of their own. Atlanta’s strength on defense is their LB corps with Mo Lewis, Randall Godfrey, Johnny Holland, London Fletcher, and Roman Phifer rotating into the 3 LB spots, but that only helps them if the line and the secondary can at least do a marginally adequate job, which we just have not seen this year. So, big picture, don’t expect either Pease or Neuheisel to earn the full-time job at seasons’ end. We expect a full national search, and the Fire may want to consider a new GM along with a new coach, because they simply have not done enough to bring in talent on either side of the ball. Aside from hitting on Bruce Smith, who may well retire after this year, they just haven’t made a lot of successful moves these past few years. NEXT ON THE HOT SEAT? I think we all know the next team to watch on the coaching “firing” pool. Michigan is equally horrible, actually worse in both points scored, though slightly better than Atlanta on defense (17th in the league). And yet, pretty much everyone believes that only a winless season could cost Mike Martz his position in his first year. Even 1 win is enough for Martz to get a second year and start transforming a roster that has gotten both old and thin in recent years. Brees is a talent and they can build a team around him, but they need to improve the line, the run game, the receiving corps, and the defense as a whole. So, a lot of moves need to be made to bring them up to respectability. So, if not Martz, who is the most likely casualty of their team’s poor play? There are several candidates whose teams have not been meeting expectations. In Jacksonville patience is growing thin for Gunther Cunningham, whose 3rd year in the league now features the league’s worst defense in points allowed. An 8-8 season in 2000 spared him last year, but the 2-5 start does not bode well for him hanging on for year 4. Another prime candidate is Emmitt Thomas in Pittsburgh. Thomas inherited a playoff club, only 1 year removed from a league title in 1997. Since then he has had seasons with 9, 7, 8, 10, and 3 wins. That 3-win season was viewed as a fluke, but a 2-5 start has everyone wondering if that was really the case. We don’t see Thomas surviving a 4-12 season, and even 5 or 6 wins may not be enough, which means, in the toughest division in the league, Thomas has to start winning games. Finally, as weird as it may sound to some, we have to look at the precipitous decline of the Tampa Bay Bandits since their 1998 league title. Just one season later Tampa fell to 7-9 and out of playoff contention. Last year it was 6-10 and even further from contending. This year they have started 2-5 and all indications are that the magic that made the Bandits all but unstoppable on offense in 1998 is now thoroughly depleted. Those who say that George Seifert inherited a championship team from Jerry Glanville, used to seem silly, after all, the Bandits were 8-8 in Glanville’s final year, but something went right in 1998 and more and more evidence seems to be pointing out that it was not Seifert’s arrival that got Tampa Bay over the hump. SALAAM SET TO RETURN It has been 4 weeks since the league put Rashaan Salaam on suspension, meaning he is due to return next week when Denver takes on Pittsburgh. What has happened to the Gold in the meantime? Well, it started off rough, with the Gold getting slaughtered by the LA Express, 45-17 and having no run game at all. But, the Gold rebounded, showing some grit and some ability to adapt as Rod Smart took over rushing duties. They have won three straight, knocking off New Orleans, Portland, and Seattle without their star back. Smart, who is certainly a very different style of runner from Salaam, has found ways to be effective, mostly on outside runs. The past three weeks, all wins, Smart has been the primary back, gaining 76 yards (with 2 TDs) against the Breakers, a really solid 123 yards (1 TD) against Portland’s punchless run defense, and then 92 yards against Seattle. Those are solid starting HB numbers. So, what this may mean is that Denver does not need to push Salaam for 25 carries this week, or possibly for the season. The Gold could well become yet another team using a thunder & lightning combo, though in this case it is more like thunder and little thunder as Smart is not exactly a track star, he is clearly good at finding the hole and making opposing players miss, but speed is not his top quality. Regardless, Denver may come out of the suspension in better shape than they went in, having learned how to use Smart effectively. Well, Texas must believe that their 3-4 start is a sign of good things to come, because they went out and added made a deal to improve the one aspect of their club that has proven the most problematic, the receiving corps. The Outlaws made a deal with Arizona for veteran receiver Carl Pickens. Pickens, one time the #1 receiver for the Wranglers, has slipped to platoon duty as Arizona has opted to go with rookie Santana Moss and possession man Hines Ward as their two primary receivers. So what does Arizona get out of the deal, how about a real thumper at MLB with Zach Thomas coming over from Texas. The two clubs also swapped bench players at each position with Arizona adding Texas wideout and special teams gunner Scotty Anderson while Texas gets backup MLB Mike Stonebreaker from the Wranglers. Texas also sends a 3rd round pick in next year’s draft to Arizona. The second big swap of the week was between two teams in better shape, with Philadelphia hoping to improve their pass rush in a tough division while Jacksonville, perhaps looking to the future, added a quality backup QB. The Stars sent little-used Jake Delhomme to the Bulls, who may just have some inside new on Chris Chandler’s 2002 plans. Delhomme has been a preseason hero in Philly, but he sits behind both Bobby Hebert and Will Furrer on the depth chart. In Jacksonville he immediately gets in the running to be the #2 with Danny Wuerfel, and could have a shot at the starting gig if Chandler does, as suspected, hang it up after this season. For their part, the Stars get a more dynamic edge rusher in Jacksonville’s Derrick Burgess. Burgess, who has played the swing position, rotating with Aaron Wallace opposite Jevon Kearse, will be an immediate upgrade for the Stars. Jacksonville also adds Philly DE Ta’ase Faumui, while Philly gets a true 3rd stringer in Bulls QB Stoney Case in another swap of equal positions but unequal talent. We still have 3 weeks in the trade window, and it looks like we may get a few more moves before the window closes for the final run of the season. A rough week for cornerbacks across the league, with the biggest blow in a place that cannot afford to lose any defenders, Oakland. Nickel back Clayton Holmes is lost for the year, placed on IR this week after tearing his posterior cruciate ligament on an awkward landing as he went up to defend a pass. The Invaders estimate an 8 week recovery as a minimum expectation and opted to place Holmes on IR rather than rush the process. In addition to Holmes, two other starting corners are now expected to miss multiple weeks. Darrien Gordon, New Jersey’s top pass defender, could be out up to a month due to a partial hamstring tear, while St. Louis’s #1 corner, Steve Israel is expected to miss 1-2 weeks with a diagnosed stress fracture in his left foot. Tackle was another position that saw a couple of noteworthy injuries, though fortunately both may be of the 1-2 week variety. Birmingham’s LT Todd Steussie suffered an elbow injury with dislocation and hyperextension but could return in Week 10. Likewise, Jacksonville’s Todd Runyan is expected back in either Week 10 or 11 after getting his ankle rolled up in this week’s game. Players listed as doubtful this week include Ohio DT La’Roi Glover (wrist) and Michigan TE Butch Rolle (knee). New Orleans is hoping to have HB Ricky Williams back in the lineup but he is still listed as questionable. MYSTERY PRESSER IN TAMPA BAY The Tampa Bay Bandits have scheduled a press conference for Monday, following their game against the Knights, and speculation is somewhat rampant about what they could be announcing. It certainly is not a midseason firing of their coach George Seifert, as a team would never schedule that this far in advance, nor want to set it up as a full press conference. The prevalent theory is that the timeline has been sped up on their release of their updated Reebok uniforms for 2002. Leaked photos seem to show the design scheme for the uniforms and logo, both of which go through significant changes, and it may simply be that the Bandits are going to release the uniforms earlier than expected due to the leak. This image (below), obtained from the St. Petersburg Times, appears to be an official Reebok design scheme much like the ones we have seen with previous releases. It indicates a modification to the masked rider logo of the club, adding silver highlights to the horse and an updated wordmark. The uniform design itself removes the “slashing” piping and side panels and replaces them with a consistent pant & side panel stripe with a thin red line bordered by two thick black lines and those bordered by thin silver lines (which do not appear on the silver pants. The secondary logo (TB monogram with Stetson hat) remains on the sleeves, and there is a modified number font. The helmet also uses the striping pattern of two thick black lines with an almost pencil-thin red line at the center. And yet, while it is not inconceivable that the presser on Monday is to reveal the new look for the club for next year, that too seems insufficient cause to push the event as much as team representatives have with local, and even national media. There have even been hints that league commissioner Dick Ebersol will be in attendance, which certainly seems out of the norm for a simple uniform or logo reveal. If these rumors are true, we suspect that something far larger is to be announced, and that has spawned theories of every shape and size, from a leaguewide announcement (normally made in New York) to some panicked Tampa residents claiming the Bandits are relocating to Boston, which seems very unlikely due to the quite profitable and stadium-secure position of the club in the Gulf Coast region. So, a few days to wait and ponder, but on Monday we should know. Week Eight, the halfway point of the season and so much to play for. It’s an inter-conference weekend with the Atlantic teams hosting the Pacific and the Central visiting the South. That means unfamiliar foes and potential mismatches, upsets, and blowouts. Looking at the week, several games stand out as potential slugfests, while others might just be trap games as team focus on upcoming divisional matchups. Our picks for the games to watch and avoid: 5-STAR, Must Watch Arizona @ Philadelphia. Two teams in the heart of divisional races, both trying to prove that they deserve to be taken seriously. Los Angeles & Ohio. Offense against offense with two of the highest scoring clubs in the league facing off. 4-Star: Lots of potential Seattle @ New Jersey: Can Seattle right the ship or will New Jersey’s defense help them reach a lofty 6-2 mark at the midway point in what has been something of an unexpeted gem of a season so far. Houston @ Birmingham: With both clubs hovering around .500, Houston can get right back into the mix with a win, but a loss here means they may begin to fade from view. For Birmingham, any hope of catching up to Memphis means a win here is vital. Texas @ Memphis: The Outlaws have clawed their way to 3-4, a win here would be huge, but Memphis cannot afford to lose and drop to .500 themselves. Not with Orlando already 2 games up. 2-Star: If you love football. St. Louis @ Tampa Bay. This game will only be a good watch if Tampa Bay truly has found an offensive rhythm. If not, then St. Louis might make this one ugly pretty quickly. Oakland @ Baltimore. The Blitz are stunned to be a game under .500 at Week 8, and they do not want to lose to the Invaders. Oakland may just stick with Jon Kitna instead of returning to Leaf, and that means Baltimore has to plan for either one, advantage Oakland. Denver @ Pittsburgh. The Maulers can score points, which makes this one more interesting. Can Denver win on the road or can Terrell Davis help Pittsburgh get the home upset. Chicago @ Jacksonville. Chicago should win this one, but Jacksonville has shown they can put up points, if the Machine are not careful, this is the kind of game that could get away from them. 0-Star: You could not pay me. Portland @ Washington. I know we said Akili Smith was looking better, but this feels like a lamb to the slaughter situation with Washington’s defense just licking its lips for the mistake-prone Smith. New Orleans @ Atlanta. Sure, it is the first game for a new coach in Atlanta, but does anyone really think the Fire are going to immediately turn it around and make it tough for the Breakers? We didn’t think so. Michigan @ Orlando. Yup, a winless club at an unbeaten one. That is not a big deal in week 2, but by this point in the season we have a pretty good idea who is who, and this one just looks ugly on every level. We actually feel bad for Drew Brees here. He is going to get to know Chris Doleman in a very personal and painful way.

Orlando remains undefeated, Michigan and Atlanta winless, and Bobby Petrino feeling the heat. A huge win for the Arizona Wranglers as they knock off LA, and a big win for Chicago as well as they try to move up in the Central. Our game of the week was a great one between two teams with very different futures in front of them. Tom Brady continues to impress as the unheralded QB from Michigan helps the Generals upend the Bandits with a last minute drive. It’s a tale of two teams going in very different directions. It was planned as a “homecoming” game for Troy Aikman, with the Bandits coming to town to face their former All-USFL QB, but back-to-back concussions landed Aikman on IR and his future in football very much in question, so what we got was a team that dominated the league, racing to a title only 2 years ago thanks to an unstoppable offense, but now seemingly flailing to find an identity. Across the field we get a team in New Jersey in what appears to be an ascendency, sitting at 4-1 and looking very much like a contender under Bill Parcells and with the unexpected quality of an unheralded late round draft pick at QB in former Wolverine Tom Brady. Tampa seemingly on their way down the standings while New Jersey is surging. The game too was a tale of different trajectories. New Jersey started off strong, bolstered by a crowd of nearly 55,000 in the Meadowlands. New Jersey, after giving up a field goal on Tampa’s first drive, would score 7 on two consecutive drives, the first thanks to a Brady to Terry Glenn 20-yarder, and the second with Brady hitting the diminutive slot receiver Wayne Chrebet from the 3. In the second quarter Tampa Bay, led by veteran Trent Green, could only add a second field goal, while New Jersey got both a Neil Rackers kick and a third TD, this time on the ground as Curtis Enis burst to the pylon from the 5-yard line. Down 24-6 at the half, things did not look good for Tampa Bay, but Coach Seifert was not ready to concede the game quite yet. He changed up his defense at the half, spreading the linemen to provide better angles to Brady. The strategy led to a few solid runs from Enis and backup Olandis Gary, but also kept Brady under pressure. The result, along with a shift away from a run game that only averaged 1.3 yards per carry, was some quick success. Tampa added a 3rd field goal, and then followed that up with three consecutive TD drives, all the while containing the Generals offense. Trent Green first hit backup HB Travis Prentice on a short pass that ended up going 55 yards for a score. He then turned to the best player on the Bandit offensive roster, hitting Randy Moss with a TD to bring the Bandits back to within 22-24. Tampa again stymied Brady and the Generals, getting the ball back with just over 2:20 on the clock. Only 5 plays later, Randy Moss again found the endzone and suddenly the Generals’ faithful were silenced, sitting in stunned silence as Mike Vanderjagt kicked the PAT to put Tampa Bay up 29-24 with only 1 minute left on the clock. The Bandits kicked the ball deep, but New Jersey got a good return from Ahmad Merrit, placing the ball at the 31 with just under 1 minute to play and 69 yards from paydirt. While some fans seemed resigned to the loss, the same was not felt on the sideline as Tom Brady took the offense out on the field. On first and 10 he found Chrebet over the middle for 11. Time Out. 1st and 10 again, 49 seconds. Brady finds Terry Glenn 17 yards downfield, but the defender whiffs on the tackle and Glenn adds another 20 yards before the safety pushes him out. 40 seconds left, and New Jersey is now on the Tampa Bay 20, time for some shots in the endzone. On first down Brady tries for Chrebet on an out pattern, but the ball is just a little too far outside. On 2nd down he is forced to scramble and throw the ball away. 29 seconds left. 3rd and 10 from just outside the 20. Brady stares down the safety, pushing him towards Glenn, then shifts his attention to Kevin Johnson, in single coverage, and lofts a perfect laser to the speedy receiver. Touchdown New Jersey!!! The Generals go for 2, and fail, but the damage is done. 23 seconds to play and the Generals have pulled out a stunning comeback. Tampa would handle the squib kick from Rackers, but the drive never had a chance. New Jersey moved to 5-1, Tampa fell to 1-5, and Coach Parcells may have just answered his QB question as the 2nd year Brady, in only his 3rd start as a pro led New Jersey to a miracle comeback and first place in the Atlantic Division. NOR 24 CHI 31 A really fun game at Soldier Field on Friday night kicked off the weekend of USFL action. Jeff George throws for 301 and 2 scores but Bobby Hoying of the Breakers has his best game of the season in relief of Trent Dilfer, throwing for 3 scores and nearly pulling off the road win. Chicago got a late TD from HB Adrian Murrell, and a game-ending sack of Hoying by LB Keith Brooking helps the machine move to 4-2. TEX 14 HOU 32 The new look offense of the Houston Gamblers once again proves fatal as Houston takes the home game in their rivalry series with Texas. Matt Hasselbeck continues to show growth, throwing for 319 and 3 scores, which Houston needed as their run game managed only 25 total yards. Texas struggled largely because Jeff Lewis was knocked out of the game with what looked like a shoulder injury early in the 3rd. Tommy Maddox simply could not do much after coming in for Lewis. STL 34 MGN 13 The St. Louis defense feasts on the inexperienced Drew Brees, sacking the rookie 4 times and limiting Michigan to only 37 yards rushing. Ahman Green supplied all the offense the Knights needed, rushing for 124 and 3 scores as Michigan simply did not have an answer and fall to a woeful 0-6. LA 14 ARZ 41 The Wranglers remain red hot, scoring 40 yet again as they manhandle the LA defense. Jake Plummer was all over the field, throwing for 201 and 2 scores and then rushing for 2 more TDs as the Wranglers blew past the Express. In defeat, Tory Holt continued to shine for LA, catching 4 passes for 121, but it was not near enough as the Wranglers move to 4-2. POR 31 DEN 41 The Thunder offense looked solid, but the defense let them down as Denver got 3 TDs from Mark Brunell and another 2 from their backup HBs. Rod Smart found plenty of holes in the Thunder run defense, rushing for 123 on 22 carries, including a 34-yard touchdown run that electrified the Gold faithful. SEA 31 OAK 21 The Dragons move to 3-3 thanks to a very solid 328 yard, 4 TD game from Brian Griese. Jon Kitna got the start for Oakland and was 6 of 8, but went down to injury, and that meant Ryan Leaf came in. Leaf again looked shaky, throwing 2 picks and completing only 46.7% of his passes. The Oakland defense just did not have a good game either, letting up not only Griese’s big yards but also 118 yards to Corey Dillon. ATL 10 OHI 38 Eddie George came back for the Glory and while he was limited to only 36 yards, it opened up the game for Kerry Collins and the Glory offense. Chad Johnson and Qadry Ismael combined for 187 yards receiving on the day. Atlanta’s offense continued to struggle with Mark Bulger at the helm, and now Coach Petrino is 1 game away from the ultimatum. A win against Jacksonville next week is said to be the only way that Petrino finishes out a 2nd season in Atlanta, a team that simply does not look ready to compete each week. BIR 36 PHI 29 Brett Favre hit Lawrence Dawsey for two long TD’s in the first quarter, but Philly came back on them before a late Shaun Alexander TD helped Birmingham get the big time win and move to 4-2. Philly falls to 4-2 with the home loss, but got a great game from Stephen Davis (117 yards). Three Bobby Hebert picks may just have cost the Stars the comeback win in this one. Tory James nabbed 2 of them, both on throws seeking Bobby Engram. JAX 28 PIT 48 The Jacksonville defense continues to be a disaster, perhaps giving Atlanta and Bobby Petrino hope for next week. The Bulls gave up 408 yards to the Maulers, including 2 scoring runs by Terrell Davis and 3 TDs to Charlie Batch. TE Alge Crumpler was the big target for Batch, catching 4 balls for 108 yards and 2 TDs for the Maulers, who move to 2-4 with the home win. MEM 21 WSH 31 This battle of top flight clubs was a Sunday Night cherry on the top of this week’s USFL sundae. The game was 24-21 Washington with Memphis driving, but a fumble by Tony Carter gave the ball to Washington with just over 1:30 to play. The Feds faked out everyone, with Stewart faking the ball to Tim Lester (playing for the injured McCallister and playing well with 72 yards rushing). Stewart kept the ball, bootlegged right and was all alone, racing down the field for a 67 yard TD run that put the game out of reach and earned Washington their 5th win on the year. ORL 36 BAL 10 We expected a close defensive battle in this one, but the Renegades jumped on the Blitz early and made Baltimore one dimensional. Scott Mitchell connected with Ricky Dudley and Donald Driver for scores and the run game added 2 more as the Renegades put the Blitz away early, causing them to give up on the run (Ron Dayne held to 11 yards). Orlando remains unbeaten and has a big game next week against a pretty good Birmingham squad in Legion Field. TEAM RANKINGS Six weeks into the season and we thought it would be a good time to explore some of the team rankings and see what stands out. We looked at some of the most commonly-cited stats on a per-game basis and here is what we see: Points per game: 1-Arizona 34 2-Ohio 32 3-Orlando 31.8 4-Memphis 31… …22-Oakland 16.3 23-Atlanta 11.3 24-Michigan 10.3 First thing to note, that is a huge disparity between Arizona and Michigan, nearly 24 points per game of difference. And, as one would expect, all 4 of the top offenses have winning records while the bottom 3 are among the worst teams in the league, including two winless teams. Now, let’s take a look at defenses. Points Allowed: 1-Orlando 10.8 2-Memphis 16.5 3-New Jersey 17.2 4-Arizona 18.3 … … 22-Atlanta 31.5 23-Michigan 32.2 24-Jacksonville 38. No shocker here, the one undefeated team in the league is not only a Top 3 offense but the league’s #1 scoring defense, creating a very comfortable 20 point margin of victory for the Renegades. Meanwhile, Atlanta and Michigan struggle on this side of the ball also and Jacksonville’s poor start is clearly the fault of a truly miserable defensive showing. One more Turnovers. Turnover Difference: 1-Los Angeles +12 2-New Orleans +11 3-Orlando +9 4-Pittsburgh +9 … … 22-Memphis -5 23-Jacksonville -6 24-Baltimore -6. Orlando again at the top of the rankings, and we also see how LA has managed to have a successful start to their season. We see Jacksonville again struggling, and we get a hint as to why Memphis and Baltimore have fallen a bit behind the leaders in their respective divisions. An interesting portrait of where things stand, and we will leave you with just a few more items to mull over. Top Rushing Clubs: 1-WSH 2-LA 3-DEN 4-SEA 5-NJ Top Passing Clubs: 1-OHIO 2-BIR 3-JAX 4-MEM 5-DEN Top Rush Defense: 1-ORL 2-NJ 3-BAL 4-PIT 5-ARZ Top Pass Defense: 1-ORL 2-LA 3-HOU 4-MEM 5-OAK Based on all the statistics, it seems Orlando is very much going to make a serious run at a title this year. Hard to argue with their success on both sides of the ball. Baltimore loses one of their best pass rushers, potentially for the year as Andre Wadsworth suffered a pretty gruesome wrist injury. His hand was bent underneath him and it was visually apparent that he was unable to move his hand afterwards as it hung limply. There is certain tendon and ligament damage and we expect Wadsworth to be placed on IR as soon as the imaging results and diagnosis are complete. Outside of the Wadsworth injury, the week was relatively good one from an injury perspective. Several players are expected to miss a game or two, but no other season-ending injuries. Among those with short term issues we see Atlanta wideout Terrance Mathis (1-2 weeks, jaw), Michigan LB Andy Katzenmoyer (1-2 weeks, finger), Chicago LB Tommy Polly (1-2 weeks, knee), and Oakland QB Ryan Leaf (1-2 weeks, deep thigh bruise). Santana Dotson, Tampa’s best pass rusher is likely out this week only with a nerve pinch in his lower back, while Portland will be without Napoleon Kaufmann due to a displaced thumb. It’s an all divisional week in Week 7 and you know we love that. Let’s look at each game in turn. Friday Night Denver (3-3) @ Seattle (3-3): Two teams expected to compete for the title but both trailing LA and Arizona. Neither can afford to lose this one. Saturday Afternoon New Jersey (5-1) @ Washington (5-1): A game no one expected to be a division title clash, but that is what we have. Two very aggressive pass rushes and two teams hoping to put their mark on the Atlantic right now. Jacksonville (1-5) @ Atlanta (0-6): The Petrino Bowl. Win and he gets 9 more weeks. Lose and he is out. How is that for pressure? Jacksonville has a horrible defense, Atlanta an incompetent offense. Which will prove to be worse? Michigan (0-6) @ Texas (2-4): A game the Outlaws should win, but Michigan is a cornered animal and that could be a problem. Of course, they are more of a cornered bunny than a wolverine, so perhaps not a problem after all. Houston (3-3) @ New Orleans (3-3): A big match for both clubs. Will Dilfer be back? We expected him this week but he was a game time scratch. Will Houston find offensive success against a Breaker D that has not been as tough as last year after several free agency losses. Saturday Night Orlando (6-0) @ Birmingham (4-2): If anyone is going to slow down the Renegades it might be these Stallions and QB Brett Favre, backed by potentially 60,000 rowdy Alabamians (Alabamers? Alabama-ites?) Sunday Afternoon Baltimore (3-3) @ Philadelphia (4-2): A game worthy of a prime time slot, but stuck at 12pm on Sunday, it is the afternoon game to watch as the Stars and Blitz will certainly slug it out in this battle of divisional rivals. Ohio (3-3) @ Pittsburgh (2-4): If the Glory are going to get into the fight in the Atlantic, they have to win this one. Eddie George says he is now close to 100%, and that could be exactly what the Glory need. Tampa Bay (1-5) @ Memphis (4-2): The Showboats are hoping that home cooking will help them get the W, and that Orlando finally slips. Tampa Bay is just hoping to find a defensive strategy that works after another tough loss this week. Arizona (4-2) @ Oakland (1-5): We are not sure yet if Jon Kitna will get the start again or if rookie Marques Tuiasosopo gets his first start with Leaf out due to a deep thigh bruise. Does it really matter? Jake Plummer and the Wranglers have got their offense humming along even without Dorsey Levins. Los Angeles (4-2) @ Portland (2-4): Life does not get easier for the Thunder as they get crushed by Denver and now face an angry Express club trying to keep pace atop the Pacific Division. Sunday Night Chicago (4-2) @ St. Louis (5-1): This one is bitter even when the two clubs are not playing well, now, with both of them looking very solid, this could be epic. Brian Urlacher and Keith Brooking vs. Kevin Hardy and Na’il Diggs in a battle of dynamic linebackers.

Sorry everyone, but once again I got ahead of myself and simulated Week 7 before I had made up the stats page for Week 6. So, no stats this week, but in Week 7, because of the lapse, I will give you double the leaders, going 10 deep in each category instead of just the top 5.

In preparing to announce the 2001 USFL semifinalists for Hall of Fame induction, I suddenly realized that the announcement of the Class of 2000 Hall of Fame inductions was never published. So, what can USFL Lives do to recognize this very special HOF Class? Seems the best option is to reprint the October 2000 edition of Sports Illustrated which did such an excellent job of covering the induction, followed by our announcement of the Class of 2001 Semifinalists and our picks for 1st ballot and returning candidates. HERSCHEL IN THE HALL It may be too much to say that one player changed the course of pro sports history, and yet, that seems very much appropriate to say about Herschel Walker’s arrival to the USFL in the winter of 1983. At the time, the spring league was a ragtag group of dreamers, entrepreneurs, and sports enthusiasts who were trying something different but who had received little to no notice from the nation. Yes, the USFL had been announced back in the summer of 1982, and there were some names that people were familiar with, though honestly, at the time, the biggest name was likely Tampa Bay Bandits minority owner Burt Reynolds. By Winter of 1982 a few older or disgruntled NFL veterans had signed on to the league, and a few highly regarded coaches like New Jersey’s Chuck Fairbanks, Rollie Dotsch, John Ralston, and, most notably, the Chicago Blitz’s George Allen, but the new league simply had not captured the attention of most folks. The 1983 player draft and early signings had some good signs that this league was willing to go after top college talent. Highly regarded players such as Southern Miss QB Reggie Collier, UCLA’s Tom Ramsey, and Arkansas HB Gary Anderson had signed on to the new league, but most of the top NFL draft candidates were wary of the league. The LA Express were trying to sign Dan Marino, but even despite issues that would eventually cause his NFL Draft stock to plummet, the Pitt QB was not looking seriously at the spring league. That all changed with one huge announcement. Herschel Walker, the unquestionable best player in college ball, perhaps the best player in a generation, and the winner of a Heisman Trophy as a freshman, was signing with the league, and not only with the league, with its largest market club, the New Jersey Generals. Walker’s signing was an instant game-changer for the USFL. Not only did it bring front page news, as both a powerful statement of the league’s intention to sign the best college players available, but it was a direct challenge to the NFL’s policy of not drafting underclassmen. If this new league would sign Walker a year before he could be eligible for the NFL Draft, then they would be able to do the same year in and year out with a wide range of top college talent that simply wanted to get paid to play. It was a shot across the bow of the NFL and the relationship that league had with the NCAA. It led almost immediately to other players opting to join the upstart spring league. Craig James of SMU’s Pony Express signed on with the Federals, Ohio State’s Tim Spencer with Chicago, the top tackle in the draft, Irv Eatman of UCLA with the Philadelphia Stars, and Grambling’s speedy wideout Trumaine Johnson with the Blitz in Chicago. It was a wave that would continue throughout the early years of the USFL, with the league signing the next 2 Heisman winners (HB Mike Rozier of Nebraska and QB Doug Flutie of BC), as well as top NFL prospects such as QBs Jim Kelly, Rick Neuheisel, and Steve Young. It was the moment the USFL became a legitimate rival to the fall league, and not just another wannabe like the World Football League. Within 3 years we saw NFL players jumping ship for huge contracts, the entire concept of Free Agency in football was born as the two leagues battled for players, and the 1985 lawsuit filed by the USFL against the NFL form monopolistic anti-trust violations led to a huge settlement that essentially funded all the crazy spending the younger league had engaged in over its first 3 seasons. The USFL had forever changed the way pro football operated. It proved that the USA had such a degree of passion for pro football that it could support 2 full-fledged top tier leagues and year round football seasons. Is all of that on the shoulders of one running back from Georgia? No, there is a lot of credit to go around, from the early TV savvy of the league as a whole, to the wisdom of former Bandits owner John Bassett, who opposed a movement to shift the league to the fall and direct conflict with the NFL, but what the signing of Herschel Walker meant was that this league was going to be a high talent, highly competitive, true rival of the NFL. That realization, and the success of the league’s first few seasons in signing top talent, put the league on the map, and created the year round football passion we now see in the USA. The man at the center of all of this, Herschel Walker, was inducted this weekend into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was not the only inductee, in a class that included NFL-USFL crossover coaches Dick Vermeil and Sam Rutigliano, as well as Tampa Bay’s speedy wideout Eric Truvillion and the Wrangler’s defensive captain Sam Norris, but it was clear that the ceremony in Canton would be a celebration of Walker and what he brought to the league, on the field, but also in the public imagination. Walker played 13 seasons in the spring league, all of them with the Generals. He would set the league rushing record in his very first season, gaining1,767 yards in a year when a derth of quality QB’s meant the league was far more run-oriented than its current reputation as a passing league would have you think. He would win a title 6 years later with the Generals, be named to the All-USFL team 9 times, and reach 1,000 yards an astounding 11 times in his storied career, and yet his on field accomplishments seem almost secondary to the impact that his simple signing had on the landscape of football in America. Walker retired as the league’s all time leading rusher with 15,569 yards, a mark that would eventually be bested by the 1983 Heisman Winner and Pittsburgh Mauler Mike Rozier, a player who very likely would never have signed with the USFL without Walker’s example. Walker’s 93 rushing TDs is now third behind Rozier and Bryant, and while his 396 rushing attempts and 1,767 rushing yards remain league records, nearly 20 years after that magical first season, Walker is still viewed more as an icon of the league than as a player who was simply dynamic to watch. Whether it was bursting through tackles or racing downfield leaving even the speediest DB’s in his wake, Walker was electric. His wide smile and pure love of the game became a hallmark of the league, which liked to contrast its celebratory, youthful attitude against the prim and proper stoicism of the No Fun League, just as the AFL had done in the 1960’s. Walker’s impact on the league and the game of football itself cannot be overstated. While others like Kelvin Bryant, Mike Rozier, Joe Cribbs, Jim Kelly, and Bobby Hebert helped the league become a truly legitimate rival of the NFL, it was Walker that opened the door and put the league and the entire concept of a 2nd major football league into the public consciousness. For that alone, without even looking at his amazing on-field performances and statistical high marks, Walker is perhaps the most obvious and most deserving first-ballot inductee in Hall of Fame history. HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2000 We mentioned them briefly in our story about Herschel Walker, but each of the Class of 2000 deserves recognition for their contributions to the game of football and to the growth of the USFL. Here is our tribute to all the members of the Class of 2000. ERIC TRUViLLION (WR, Tampa Bay Bandits 1983-1996): Emerging from HBCU Florida A&M, Truvillion did not have the immediate accolades of a Walker, Craig James or Trumaine Johnson, but it did not take him long to establish that he was a star in the making. His first season in 1983, Truvillion gained 1,703 yards on only 59 receptions, averaging a ridiculous 28.9 yards per catch. He added 18 touchdowns as he partnered with QB John Reaves to lead the Tampa Bay Bandits to the league’s first championship title. He would go on to star with the Bandits for 13 seasons, amassing a whopping 1,090 receptions for an even more amazing 20,181 yards. Add in 174 career touchdowns and it is easy to see why Truvilion was a first ballot HOF entry. Despite never having a Top 10 season in total receptions, the ultimate deep ball threat still holds the top 3 places on the all time receiving yardage recordboard, garnering 1st place with 1,959 yards in 1986, 2nd place with 1,944 yards in 1985, and third place with 1,932 yards in 1992. No other player has ever reached 1,900 yards in a season. He lands 5th on the all time list in career receptions with 1,090, and first all time in yardage at 20,181, with Arizona’s Trumaine Johnson a solid 4,000 yards behind him in second place. His gap at the top of the Receiving TDs category is even more impressive. Truvillion’s 174 career TDs is 52 touchdowns ahead of Henry Ellard (122), Ernest Givens (121), and Derek Holloway (119). Of active players, only Lawrence Dawsey at 110 is even in the ballpark and he would need another 7 seasons of 10 TDs to even come close to Truvillion’s numbers. A true GOAT in the game, and still, 5 years after his retirement, one of the best selling jerseys for the Bandits. DICK VERMEIL (Head Coach, Oakland Invaders, 1985-1995): Coach Vermeil came to the Oakland Invaders with a reputation as a passionate, emotional leader who built teams up through force of will. Having taken the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl in 1980, Vermeil had stepped down only 2 years later, dealing with stress and the ravages it can produce. He would return to coaching 3 years later as the second head coach of the Oakland Invaders. In his 11-year stint with the Invaders he would take them to their only league title, a 1991 Summer Bowl victory over Orlando, the only Pacific Division league title until 2000’s Denver Gold. He would amass a USFL career record of 97-70 (.595 Winning Percentage) and take the Invaders to the playoffs eight times. His teams were known for the passion they played with, a reflection of Coach Vermeil’s own dynamic personality, and for a combination of complex defensive schemes and innovative offensive attacks. Coach Vermeil would return to the NFL after leaving the Invaders in 1995 and would lead the Rams to a title in Super Bowl XXXIV. A dual league superstar among coaches, Dick Vermeil will almost certainly be recognized by the NFL as he has been by the USFL. SAM RUTIGLIANO (Head Coach, Washington Federals, 1987-1995). Coach Rutigliano, in a 9-year USFL career, helped the Washington Federals move from also-rans to league champions and perennial contenders. After a career in the NFL that started as a WR Coach for the Broncos and concluded with a 6-year term as the head man in Cleveland, Coach Rutigliano came to the USFL in 1987. He had always been an offensive-minded coach, known for his Cardiac Kids in Cleveland, but also known as a coach who simply could not win the big game, losing in the AFC Championship game twice to the Denver Broncos in fantastic (or horrific) fashion. In the USFL, his teams quickly became known as defensive powerhouses, often leading the league in sacks and interceptions thanks to a high-pressure front four manned by DE Dexter Manley and LB Brandon Zavala. Washington under Rutigliano made the playoffs 6 times in 9 years, including a title in 1990 and division titles in 1991 and 1993. Rutigliano retired after a playoff season in 1995 with a USFL career record of 84-60. SAM NORRIS (LB, Arizona Wranglers/Chicago-Baltimore Blitz, 1983-1994): Entering the hall in his 3rd year of eligibility, Norris was an Ironman for the Blitz and a team captain for the better part of his career. A member of the infamous 1984 roster switch between the Wranglers and Blitz, Norris began his USFL career with 14 game started for the Arizona Wranglers before moving with the entire team to the Blitz Roster. By 1985 he was a defensive captain for the Blitz, a position he would hold in both Chicago and Baltimore until his retirement in 1994. Norris, who began his career at San Francisco Community College before transferring to Eastern Carolina, came to the USFL as an unheralded prospect found during leaguewide pre-draft camps in 1982. Undrafted in either the territorial or open draft, Norris signed as a free agent with the Wranglers. Over the course of his 12 season career in the USFL Norris would amass 1,174 tackles, 29 sacks and 4 picks, but statistics are not the story of Norris’s career. He was known as a coach on the field, a motivator, and a mentor for younger players, both within the LB corps that has always been a strength for the Blitz, and on the roster as a whole. Norris would not earn a ring with the Blitz, though he did appear in the 1985 USFL Championship with the Blitz, then still in Chicago. THE CLASS OF 2001 SEMI-FINALISTS As promised, here is the list of the Class of 2001 Hall of Fame Semi-finalists. We have 6 nominees who retired in 1996 and in their first year of eligibility with another 4 decided upon by the writers as returning candidates. Only 5 can enter the Hall this year, so some tough decisions ahead to be sure. Kelvin Bryant (HB, Philadelphia Stars, 1983-1994): Bryant, though he essentially retired from the league in 1994, is a first year nominee this year because he retained his eligibility through 1996 hoping that a comeback season would be possible after a knee surgery. The come back never materialized but the delay placed him in the Class of 2001 instead of 1999. Bryant is a shoe-in as a first ballot candidate. One of the most dominant players in the league in its early years, Bryant amassed 15,378 yards and 113 touchdowns in his brilliant USFL career. His constant battles with Herschel Walker, Joe Cribbs, and Mike Rozier for the league rushing title was one of the highlights of those early league seasons. Bryant won three titles with the Stars, taking home the trophy in 1985, 1987 and 1994. He was named the MVP of the 1985 season thanks to 1,524 yards rushing and 14 rushing touchdowns. Named to an incredible 10 All-USFL teams in 12 seasons, Bryant was and always will be a Star in Philadelphia. Joey Walters (WR, Washington Federals, 1983-1996): Walters was already a veteran of 5 seasons of pro ball when he came to the Federals in 1983. He broke in with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and played 4 seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders before the formation of the USFL allowed him to move a lot closer to his South Carolina home with the Federals. In Washington, Walters quickly made a name for himself as a consummate slot receiver, fearlessly going over the middle, eluding tackles and turning a slant into a sprint to the endzone. He retired in 1996 with 1,066 receptions, 15,402 yards and 91 touchdowns. Walters was one of the offensive stars of the Federals during the good run under Sam Rutigliano and with QB Don Majkowski. He won a league title with the Federals in 1990 and was voted to 6 All-USFL Teams in his career. It is a tough WR pool with several strong candidates out there, but we put Walters at the top of the class. Ted Marchibroda (Head Coach, Pittsburgh Maulers, 1988-1996): An offensive innovator both in the USFL and the NFL, Coach Marchibroda led Pittsburgh from obscurity into the limelight as a 7-time playoff club, 2 time title contender, and the victors in the 1995 Summer Bowl. Marchibroda relied heavily on a stout defense and the running prowess of Mike Rozier during his 9 year stint in the USFL (sandwiched by NFL gigs on either side). His clubs were known for an old-school approach to clock management (keep the ball away from the opposition) paired with some innovative passing schemes, often highlighting the talents of the tight end position or using the backs as primary receivers. Coach Marchibroda’s career may not be as lengthy as some other HOF coaches from the spring league, but his record of 83-61 (.576) is one of the league’s best and certainly the best in Mauler history. Is it enough for a first ballot entry? Not likely, but we see Coach Ted getting in before too long. QB Alan Risher (QB, Arizona Wranglers, 1983-1985, Pittsburgh Maulers 1986-1996). A scrawny scrambler from LSU, Risher was not initially seen as a viable pro QB, but over 14 seasons, mostly with the Maulers, he proved how wiley and how effective he could be. Risher began his career in Arizona, the 170th draft pick in the open pool. In Arizona he quickly got his chance to shine, starting the final 14 games of the year after an injury to Week 1 starter Dan Manucci got the rookie his shot. Retained by Arizona after the roster swap with Chicago, Risher was largely unused in 1984 and 1985 as Coach George Allen preferred the more traditional style of play of veteran Greg Landry. Risher was traded to the Pittsburgh Maulers for the 1986 season and that provided him with a new lease on life. Risher would see action in 10 games in 1986 before becoming the full-time starter for the 1987 season. A year later he had his best season as a pro, throwing for 3,926 yards and 33 touchdowns. He would finish his career in Pittsburgh, with a total of 34,523 yards and 239 passing touchdowns. In 1995, his last full season as a starter in Pittsburgh, Risher would help Pittsburgh attain its only league title, a 44-37 shootout win over the heavily-favored Houston Gamblers and Jim Kelly. Risher would suffer a significant injury in 1996, which would force him to miss the final 12 games of the year and announce his retirement in the offseason. Risher has to be considered a longshot, especially in his first year of eligibility. Only a 2 time All-USFL nominee, and having spent most of his career working with Mike Rozier, there may not be a lot of groundswell of support for Risher as a HOF finalist. Greg Boone (HB, Tampa Bay 1983-1987, Memphis 1988-1996): The former Duke Blue Devil entered the league as a rookie in 1983 with the Bandits. In Tampa Bay he spent most of his career backing up Gary Anderson and only getting occasional moments to shine. When given the ball, he was successful, averaging 4.6 yards per carry and scoring 23 touchdowns in his time in Tampa Bay. Boone was traded to Memphis in 1987 and there he blossomed. He became the main back for the Showboats, gaining his first 1,000 yard season in 1988 and his TD high mark the next year with 14 scores in 1989. He obtained his lone All-USFL accolade in 1992, a season in which he rushed for 1,383 yards for the Showboats. He finished his career with 9,563 yards rushing, 81 touchdowns and 131 receptions, 1,023 yards receiving, and another 10 scores. Boone is considered a longshot for induction despite having played in 2 league title games, winning a ring with the 1983 Bandits and falling just short in his first year in Memphis as the Showboats fell to the Houston Gamblers. David Trout (K, Philadelphia Stars, 1983-1996): Yes, a kicker. David Trout was one of the best the USFL had to offer at the position, and if Tim Mazzetti could get into the hall in his first year, then Trout also needs to be considered. After all, this is the league record holder for the longest field goal in league history, 60 yards against Tampa Bay in 1994, already his 12th season in the league. While Trout currently ranks 4th in total field goals made with 373 (Trailing Kevin Shea, Luis Zendejas and John Carney) he is also among the Top 5 career stats in basically every kicking category. Trout was a member of the 1985, 1987, and 1994 Philadelphia Star teams that won league titles, making him the kicker with the most rings in the league. Is the HOF next for him? RETURNING CANDIDATE SEMIFINALISTS We mentioned that this was a tricky year for Wide Receivers, well that is certainly the case. Of the 10 semi-finalists, 5 are in that position, and there is no way more than 2, three at the outside, can get in this year. Then, add to this the fact that in 2002 the first year HOF class will also add Bill Brooks and Louis Lipps to the mix. So, this year may be the year for any of the three receivers in this group, and likely only 1 will make it, if any. Wamon Buggs (WR, Arizona 1983, Chicago 1984-1986, Orlando 1987-1995). Bugs is in his second year of eligibility and was close last year, so he may be the frontrunner here. He retired with 952 receptions for 13,769 yards and 109 touchdowns, easily HOF number if we compare him with others from the USFL or NFL. Buggs was a 3-time All-USFL receiver, but never got a ring as he was often on poor to mediocre teams, and that alone could hurt his odds. He reached 1,000 yards eight times in his 12-year career, a pretty solid number, and had 3 seasons with 10+ touchdown receptions. His case will be one where we look at the balance between statistical success and the win-loss column of his team. Jo-Jo Townsell (WR, Los Angeles 1983-1990, Memphis 1991-1995). Townsell also enters his second year of eligibility. His numbers are very comparable to those of Wamon Buggs, with a handful more receptions (1,029) but fewer yards (13,678) and 93 TDs over 12 seasons. It would be hard to argue with one getting in while the other did not, at least not based on numbers. Townsell was a 2-time All-USFL player and he too never won a title, but somehow fans seem to have greater respect for Townsell. In part this is due to his straight line speed and deep ball tendencies. The deep ball receivers are inherently seen as more dangerous than the short route, slant, hook, and crosser receivers like Buggs. Just seems that fans remember the big arcing bombs far more than the 7-yard catch on 3rd and 5. Lam Jones (WR, New Jersey 1985-1995) Jones is the third of the 1995 wideout retirees who could potentially earn a spot here. His numbers do not compare well with Buggs or Jefferson, with 792 receptions, 13,088 yards and 86 touchdowns, he is slightly less than the other two wideouts, but when we consider that he played for only 10 seasons, not 12, it is impressive that they are so close to those of Buggs and Townsell. Townsell did earn a ring as part of the magical 1989 season that Doug Flutie put together with the Generals, and that season was the 2nd of 3 All-USFL accolades for the lanky receiver from the U. of Texas. We see Jones as the longshot in this group. In an era when the USFL fully developed into a passing league, his numbers are just not dominant compared to many who played at the same time. He did average over 1,000 yards a season throughout his career, but only eclipsed 1,300 yards once Kiki DeAyala (LB, Houston Gamblers 1984-1995). An 11-year starter for the Gamblers, Kiki-D was one of the first Gamblers, signing before Jim Kelly in 1983 when the club was first forming. The Another UT Longhorn, Ayala was scooped up in the territorial draft by the Gamblers and quickly became a mainstay on a defense that helped Houston win titles in 1988 and 1992. DeAyala was named All-USFL at the outside linebacker position 3 times. He retired with 1,136 tackles, 19 sacks, 12 interceptions, and 99 career tackles for loss. In a year when the 2nd year receivers could split their votes DeAyala may be the easiest non-newcomer to get the requisite 75% of votes. Having 2 rings certainly does not hurt that calculus either.