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We are getting down to crunch time in the USFL season. With so many teams clustered around the .500 mark every win is a huge step forward, every defeat a crushing blow. As 18 of the league's 20 teams remain actively in the hunt for only 10 playoff spots, the passions rise, the tensions mount, and the stakes continue to get higher each week. For a second straight week we find Portland in our Game of the Week, but this time the defense which had kept St. Louis in the game last week proved a problem again as Oakland scored 14 points in the final period to upend the home team. Both clubs finished with over 400 yards each in total offense, with the star of the game being Bobby Hebert and his 5 touchdown passes. Portland, which has made a reputation for itself as a team that cannot stop the run, did fairly well against Siran Stacy, limiting him to only 70 yards on 17 carries, but in doing so, they fell prey to the play action game of Hebert and he cost them dearly. Mark Duper was the lucky recipient of much of Hebert’s attention, gaining 111 on the day with 3 touchdowns to his name. Henry Ellard was held to only one reception on the day, but that catch, a 60-yard bomb for a score, was a backbreaker for the Thunder defense. Portland kept pace through most of the game, with Jack Trudeau throwing 4 touchdown passes against the Oakland defense. He connected twice with both Clint Didier and Bruce Hill, but it proved to be just a little too little for the Thunder. The game was Oakland’s at 35-24 until Portland mounted a late comeback to tie, with a Bruce Hill TD reception (and 2 point conversion) paired with an Al Del Greco 50-yard field goal to tie the score at the 2-minute warning. But, 2 minutes on this day was plenty of time for Hebert and the Invaders. After a couple of dink and dunk passes to get them to midfield, Hebert found Duper on an out & up route, and the defense was simply out of position, leading to a 50-yard score and an endzone dance for Duper and his teammates. With the win Oakland took over first in the division, but it still remains a cluster with everyone but St. Louis very much in the hunt. BAL 7 NJ 29 Defense was the name of the game for the Generals, who forced 5 turnovers, including a tipped-ball drill that turned into a Chris Spielman pick-six. Baltimore was held to 33 yards rushing and while NJ only scored one offensive touchdown, they had more than enough points to put away a deflated Blitz squad. PIT 17 PHI 20 Philadelphia continues to improve each week and now sit atop the conference at 7-4. This week it was a strong day from HB Kelvin Bryant and a mistake free afternoon from Chuck Long that helped the Stars edge their in-state rival. The defense allowed 133 yards rushing and 2 scores to Mike Rozier, but held when they had to, averting a late Pittsburgh score as they batted away the hail mary to hold onto their slim lead and the game. BIR 31 JAX 7 The Bulls looked overmatched and underprepared for the assault that Birmingham brought to the Gator Bowl. Brett Favre was largely untouched (1 sack) and threw for 313 yards and 4 scores as the Stallions simply overpowered the Bulls in every phase of the game. ORL 22 MEM 23 Orlando saw this game as one they could win, and they took the Showboats down to the wire, but a late Kevin Shea field goal proved pivotal as Memphis eked out an uncomfortable win. John Jefferson was a menace all day for the Orlando offense, racking up 154 yards receiving and frustrating the Showboat secondary all game, but in the end the Renegades could not get the win they coveted. CHI 27 HOU 27 OT Scott Zolak did everything he could to win this game for the Machine, tossing 4 touchdowns and giving Chicago the lead with 1:35 left on a toss to Aubrey Matthews, but the undermanned Machine could not hold Houston for the final 90 seconds of the game. John Kasay evened the score with a 48-yard field goal with 9 seconds left, sending the game to overtime. In the extra period both defenses forced mistakes and neither team could take advantage, ending the game with a 27-27 tie that did not satisfy anyone. MGN 17 NOR 21 New Orleans continues to find scrappy ways to win without their starting QB, Timm Rosenbach. Brent Pease did just enough and the Breaker defense came up big against Montana and Marcus as the Breakers pulled out a close one with a late Reuben Mayes TD to move to 6-5. DEN 24 ARZ 27 Arizona rebounded from an embarrassing performance at Baltimore last week by returning to defensive basics. They picked off Dave Krieg 3 times and while they allowed Natrone Means to rush for 95 yards, they kept him out of the endzone. The defense also scored twice, turning two Krieg interceptions into points as both Leonard Bell and Martin Bayless ran picks back for points to lead the Wranglers to the W. TEX 17 WSH 21 A second straight win for the Federals as Barry Word and Terry Kirby combined for 133 yards and a score. The turning point was the injury to Kelly Stouffer as Glen Carano was unable to mount a comeback against the Outlaw defense despite 238 yards passing in relief. STL 31 TBY 34 Once again St. Louis played a solid game only to come up just a bit short in the end. A late pick-six of David Archer and an Errict Rhett TD run were enough to help Tampa Bay hold off the Knights. Rhett would finish with 105 yards on 15 carries and Eric Truvillion, the ageless wonder, caught 9 balls for 96 yards as Tampa moved their record to 6-5. As much as we would love to praise Coach Vermeil for the patience with Bobby Hebert that led to him now being the #1 rated QB in the league and a 5-TD monster this week, we cannot let Chris Spielman’s week for New Jersey go unrewarded. Spielman dominated the game as New Jersey limited Baltimore to 7 points and simply shut down their offense all day. Spielman was at the center of the Generals’ defensive domination. Not only did he record 8 tackles, including a key stuff on a Baltimore 3rd and 1 play, but he also forced a Barry Foster fumble and then recovered the ball before it went out of bounds, leading to a short field and New Jersey’s only offensive TD. Oh, and did we forget to mention the pick-six Spielman snagged off a tipped ball. That score moved the Generals from a 9-7 lead to a 16-7 advantage just as the second quarter was ending, crushing Baltimore’s hopes for a halftime lead and shifting the game’s momentum entirely. Spielman was a monster all day, helping to limit the Baltimore run game to only 33 total yards, and commanding the center of the field, all but removing TE Deems May from action. The Generals have been erratic on defense, but when they are on, particularly when Spielman’s energy infects the rest of the D, this defense can be smothering. This was one of those games. Philadelphia staked their claim on the #1 seed with their win this week, but New Jersey is right there with them at 7-4. Birmingham has a 1 game lead on their division and now seems to be clearly ahead of the pack performance-wise. In the West, Houston’s tie did not cost them the #1 seed, but will likely come into play later in the season. Oakland and Arizona both sit at 6-5 and face off this week. One will emerge as the division leader. With no teams other than Orlando and St. Louis below 5 wins, basically the entire league is still very much engaged in a postseason chase. That is great to see, though there are some fans who wish that at least a couple of teams would emerge as dominant forces. Parity can be unnerving, after all. With the league recently announcing the expansion draft format, we can already see a lot of potentially tough decisions to come this offseason. With each of the 20 current teams only able to protect 12 players from the expansion draft (and able to protect 1 more each time they lose a player) there are some serious issues to consider. Do you keep your stars, including the older, more expensive players, or do you retain a core of younger emerging players? Do you use trades to move some players ahead of the draft so that you can protect others? The last expansion draft in 1987 was rough on older vets, as teams tended to protect younger talent. Will this year be any different? Every team has their issues, but here are the Top 5 questions we have as we look at team rosters. 5. Will loyalty to past performance be enough for aging running backs? We know that Atlanta would love to draft former UGA Bulldog Herschel Walker just to boost their fanbase. Would NJ actually allow him to go? What about Rozier? Bryant? or Boone? Each is over 30 years old and while they remain highly productive, they are expensive players to retain and may only have 1-2 seasons left in them. 4. Will Denver protect Krieg or Brunell? They cannot keep both, right? Brunell looked promising in his early season games, but signing Dave Krieg was something of a coup for the often frugal Gold. Will they simply let that investment walk? 3. What about older receivers? Would Tampa really let Truvillion walk? Or Trumaine Johnson in Arizona? Or John Jefferson in Orlando? Older receivers are a tricky commodity in the league because they are often key mentors for younger players, but when you lose a step your value clearly declines. Hard to imagine that these clubs would give up on their #1’s, but not impossible. 2. What happens to O-line and Safeties? These two positions, more than any others, have great importance to gameplans but low importance to fans, so they are often the most expendable, because no GM wants to explain why they let their starting QB or star HB go so that they could protect a guard in the draft process. Expect to see these 4 expansion clubs have a solid range of linemen and safeties to choose from as teams protect the higher visibility positions like DE, CB, and the offensive skill players. 1. What will the QB strategy be for the Expansion clubs? There are a lot of options in front of them. The top USFL QBs will be unavailable, of course, but there are some very solid backups around the league, several of whom have shown they can be winners when offered a starting job. Would a Cody Carlson, Mark Brunell, Brent Pease, or even Kerwin Bell be attractive to an expansion club, or do they look for a veteran until they can draft their future star. Cliff Stoudt is likely to be available, as will Jeff Hostetler, Sean Salisbury, and possibly Mike Kelley or Scott Zolak (depending on Bernie Kosar’s career decision). The best looking rookie QB’s are either raw but athletic, like Division 1-AA Steve McNair (Alcorn State) and Colorado’s Kordell Stewart, or productive but flawed, like Penn State’s Kerry Collins, Michigan’s Todd Collins, and Georgia’s Eric Zeier. We could see Atlanta going after Zeier just to build fan base, and LA may take a shot at USC’s Rob Johnson, but this is not a draft with a clear “pro ready” prospect, and if a veteran like a Mike Kelley or Dave Krieg is available, that may be the best option if immediate wins are a pressing interest. While there are players with more serious injuries coming out of week 11, the big news this week has been the injury to Texas QB Kelly Stouffer. Stouffer’s plant foot suffered a bad sprain on Sunday, and the Outlaw signal caller is likely to miss this week’s matchup against Houston and perhaps more time as he rehabs it. Tampa is without Eric Bienemy due to an ankle injury of his own, which in past years would have been a major issue, but with Errict Rhett dominating carries, will likely impact the Tampa pass game more. Oakland goes into their matchup with Arizona down their best pass rusher as Ken Harvey is listed as doubtful with a neck injury that fortunately does not involve spinal damage only muscular strain. Jacksonville will be without Brian Blades again this week, and New Orleans looks like they will hold out Timm Rosenbach one more week before bringing him back to lead the Breakers. Week 12 brings us another round of crucial divisional games as teams claw for positioning and playoff possibilities. In the Atlantic we have a classic rivalry game that, for the first time in a long time, seems to matter to the playoff hunt as Washington travels up the highway to Baltimore to face the Blitz. This week also pits the Maulers against the 7-4 Generals in the Meadowlands. Down south we have Tampa Bay hoping to gain ground on Birmingham but facing a tough task as they head to Legion Field. Orlando will try to get their third win as they face an erratic Jacksonville Bulls squad in the Gator Bowl. In the Central we have two regional rivalries as Chicago heads to Michigan to face the Panthers and Houston hosts the Texas Outlaws in the dome. The big game in the Pacific Division is Arizona, coming off their close win against Denver, they are now facing the division leading Oakland Invaders. Denver will try to get back to .500 with a win at St. Louis. Out of division we have two surprising teams when New Orleans faces the Stars in Philadelphia. Portland travels to Memphis in the final game of the week with both teams fighting to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Divisional games start to unravel the cluster of teams hanging around the .500 mark as home teams have a distinct advantage this week. We got an unexpected thriller in Portland, an old-school war of attrition in Philadelphia, an upset in Michigan, and a shocking blowout in Baltimore. All reasons why the USFL has captured the hearts of so many football fans. Portland hosting St. Louis did not look like a potential GOTW going into this Sunday, and, in fact, only a small number of households got the game on ABC because it was expected to be a dud, but the Knights and Thunder played a true shootout as both teams were unable to contain their opponents. Webster Slaughter returned from injury to catch 7 balls and 2 TDs for the Thunder, while Rocket Ismail racked up 107 through the air and Darrell Thompson rushed for 118 for the Knights. Up early 14-6 on the strength of a Robert Drummond TD run and an Adrian Cooper TD reception, it looked like Portland was ready to break the game open as the 2nd quarter began, but when Roman Lewis stepped in front of a pass intended for Clint Didier and ran it all the way back, the momentum shifted, and St. Louis was in this game for good. They would get TD runs from both Flagler and Thompson, and late in the 4th it looked like the game would go to overtime as Archer hit Greg Scales for a game-tying TD with only 1:33 left to play. But, the St. Louis defense had struggled to contain Jack Trudeau and the Thunder passing game all day, and with their 1:33, Portland moved the ball effectively down to the St. Louis 21 yard line, setting up Al Del Greco for the game winner. His kick sailed right down the middle and once again St. Louis would taste defeat. Portland moved to 5-5 and among the pack in the Pacific, while St. Louis boarded the plane for the long flight back and yet another disappointing result. NJ 13 PHI 14 This is exactly the type of game we all wanted to see between these two Atlantic Division rivals. Defenses hitting hard, big performances from big players, a close game down to the end, and a fantastic finish. NJ got 134 on the ground from Walker, but Philly picked off Flutie 3 times and was down only 13-8 after 3. Two final quarter field goals gave them the win, the last one coming with 1:20 left in the game. PIT 16 WSH 38 Don Majkowski’s 4 TD day won him POTW honors, but it could have easily gone to the Federals defense as well. They limited Mike Rozier to 47 yards rushing and despite giving up 375 in the air to Alan Risher, the Maulers were stymied time and again in the red zone. Rookie LB Michael Barrow was huge, with 9 tackles and a sack, fumble & recovery to kill one redzone drive. JAX 14 MEM 22 Memphis showed some grit, despite a poor offensive performance that saw them gain only 248 all day. Jacksonville outgained them but costly mistakes and missed opportunities kept Memphis in the game. Down 14-13 the Showboats got a 2-yard Agie run to take the lead, and then added a late field goal to pull their record back to .500. ORL 17 TBY 26 Orlando played hard and kept it close, but in the end there just was not enough there to steal a win in Tampa. Troy Aikman tossed 2 TDs and Eric Truvillion again topped 100 yards as the Bandits moved to 5-5 amid the Southern Division cluster. HOU 23 MGN 26 Michigan came out blazing in this game, and the defense helped keep Jim Kelly in check with 5 sacks of the Houston signal caller as the Panthers got a key home win to move to .500. Joe Montana threw for 2 scores and Marcus Allen gained 96 yards on the day as the Panthers controlled the clock for 35 minutes and kept the ball out of the hands of Thurman Thomas to get the win. NOR 31 TEX 21 The Breaker are beginning to find their way as TDs from DuPree and Reuben Mayes helped them pull away from the Outlaws. Brett Pease was conservative but effective, throwing for 295 yards on the day. The Breaker D picked off Kelly Stouffer 3 times, including a Gene Atkins pick-six, which boosted him to among the league leaders with 6 on the season. OAK 16 DEN 18 Denver pulled out a gritty win at home over their division rival as Natrone Means grinded out 70 yards on 11 carries and Dave Krieg found TE Demetrius Davis for a key score late. Bobby Hebert was chased all game by the Denver D and Siran Stacy simply could not find running room as Denver crowded the line of scrimmage against the Invaders. ARZ 6 BAL 39 The Baltmore Blitz shocked the world with a huge offensive performance against the #1 defense in the league as Arizona seemed absolutely flat on Sunday. Chris Miller threw 3 TDs and the combo of Barry Foster and Reggie Brooks combined for 135 yards on the ground as the Blitz simply overpowered the Wranglers on their way to 6-4. CHI 17 BIR 37 Scott Zolak has done yoeman’s work these past few weeks, but asking him to keep pace with Brett Favre was simply too much. Favre threw for 3 scores and James Joseph ran one in as Birmingham turned a 17-14 lead at the half into a route by game’s end. The win puts them at 6-4 after their rough start and they now sit atop the Southern Division. Don Majkowski had a rough first week back against Jacksonville, but this week, at home against the Maulers he proved he was ready to make a playoff push with the Federals. In a game that saw both QB’s go over 300 yards, Majkowski’s production was more impactful than that of Pittsburgh’s Alan Risher, and that helped the Federals get the decisive 22-point win. Majkowski found 7 different receivers, hitting three of them for scores, including a pair of TD’s to reliable Joey Walters. Completing 73.5% of his throws, Majkowski’s best traits shone through as he made big plays when big plays were needed. It was a controlled game, with a lot of dinking and dunking, but every once in a while Majkowski would find Walters, Moore or Gunn in man coverage and he exploited those opportunities. Washington is now 5-5, and a game behind the rest of the division, but with so many division games left, they could easily recover and find themselves deep in the thick of a playoff run. For fans who struggled as the Feds struggled under Mike Hohensee and Walter Lewis, the return of the Majik Man was a sight for sore eyes. Let’s do this the easy way. Orlando and St. Louis appear to be out of the running. Other than that it is just a huge cluster of 6-4 and 5-5 teams. Someone needs to break off a 3 or 4 game winning streak, because this level of parity will drive the NY office crazy with tiebreakers. With several divisional games over the next 6 weeks, expect this to sort out a bit, but as we look at the current “if the season ended today” we have some weirdness in place. Just the fact that Baltimore would be the #1 seed in the East is enough to make us all question whether there is order in the universe. Fans in Atlanta finally got their chance to check out their newest pro sports franchise as the Atlanta Fire revealed their uniforms and formally introduced their head coach to the Atlanta fanbase. Dan Reeves was on hand to reveal the new navy, orange, and gold uniforms. Atlanta will don "fire orange" jerseys with blue sleeves to go with their blue flame-licked helmets. The jerseys feature the team's "stand alone" logo, the letter A set ablaze with orange and gold flames as well. The team will have both white and blue pant sets to go with the home and away jerseys. With the orange home jerseys, Atlanta becomes the only team in the league with an orange primary look, perhaps fitting of a state known for its peaches. Chicago was hit hard this week, with both HB Johnny Johnson and WR Wendell Davis out for the year. That is not what they want as they head to Houston for a big divisional game. New Jersey will have to win down the stretch without their starting LT, William Israel, who is also done for the year. Philly CB James Hasty is likely to miss at least a month with a ruptured disc in his back, and Oakland Center Mike Devlin could also be out that long with a broken wrist (not good for a center, you can imagine.) Jacksonville has to face the Stallions without their top receiver as Brian Blades will miss 1-2 weeks with a stress fracture in his foo, while New Orleans HB Erric Pegram could be out that long due to a deep thigh bruise. QB Timm Rosenbach is also listed as doubtful this week after injuring his throwing hand last week. Arzona lists Trumaine Johnson as “questionable” but many in Tempe believe he will play. Expected back this week we have Texas DE John Bosa and T Eugene Chung, Portland WR Webster Slaughter, Arizona G Jim Wahler, and Chicago FS George Teague. Another good divisional week ahead, with so many playoff implications since everyone is bunched up at 6-4 or 5-5. We start in the Pacific, where 5-5’s battle in both games. It is Denver going south to Tempe to face the Wranglers, while Oakland heads north to Portland to face the Thunder. Two teams will end up tied atop the division after these two games. In the Central, the only Western team with 6 wins, Houston, will try to put some distance between themselves and Chicago as they face the Machine in the AstroDome. Meanwhile in New Orleans, the Breakers are an unlikely 5-5, and face another upstart in Michigan, both with a chance to grab a piece of 1st place if Chicago can upset Houston. In the South it is Memphis with the chance to gain ground as they face the 2-8 Renegades in the Liberty Bowl. In the other matchup, it is 6-4 Birmingham hoping to go up 2 games on Jacksonville with a win at the Gator Bowl against the 5-5 Bulls. And in the East, where everyone seems to be 6-4, we have the Maulers headed to Philly to face the Stars in the traditional Keystone Clash, while Baltimore is in New Jersey hoping their Cinderella season can continue. That leaves 4 teams in non-division games. 2-8 St. Louis heads to Tampa Bay and it is a battle of 5-5 squads as Texas heads to RFK to face the Federals.

The second half of the season saw the return of Don Majkowski, the moxie of the Chicago Machine, and the possible ascension of the Birmingham Stallions. The wheat is beginning to separate from the chaff as teams try to put distance between themselves and the cluster of 5 and 4-win teams. Parity still seems to be the name of the game, but we may be looking at a home stretch where the cream will rise to the top. Bobby Hebert did his part for the Invaders, but two late scores from Chicago spoiled the day for Oakland. The Machine survived 11 penalties, and combined the deep ball from backup Scott Zolak with a decent rushing game to upend the Invaders. It was not always pretty, but the Machine will certainly take the win. Chicago built up a 6-0 lead in the first on two short drives that gave John Carney the chance to put points on the board, but it was quickly wiped out when Bobby Hebert found Mark Duper in the endzone as the quarter winded down. The Invaders looked like they might pull away for good in the 2nd as Hebert hit Henry Ellard with a 29-yard scoring strike, and then Siran Stacy scored to put Oakland up 21-6, but Chicago would not quit. The Machine added a third field goal to go into the half down 21-9, but opened the second half with a long, slow, 15-play, 82-yard drive that ended when Johnny Johnson crashed through the Invader line and scored from 4 yards out. Oakland would once again pull ahead, with Hebert hitting Duper again, this time from 27 yards out, and the 3rd quarter ended with Oakland up 28-16. In the 4th, it was again Johnson who put Chicago on the board, as his 9 yard corner run got them back within 5 at 23-28. Oakland would score its final points of the day on the next drive, a Matt Bahr field goal that boosted the lead to 8. With time running out in the 4th, Chicago had a chance to tie after Zolak hit Wendell Davis for a 32-yard score. The 2 point conversion would have tied the game, but Zolak threw too high for TE Wessley Walls and the Machine were still down by 2. They opted to kick the ball deep with 3:14 left in the game. The gambit paid off as the Machine defense shut down the Invaders and forced a punt with a full 2:03 left to play. That was more than enough time for Zolak to get the ball into position for John Carney, and the veteran kicker connected on the 47-yard kick to give Chicago it’s first lead since the 1st quarter. The Machine would bend but not break in Oakland’s last ditch effort to get into field goal range. With only 1 time left, Oakland was out of range and had to go for a Hail Mary. When SS Anthony Prior swatted the deep ball to the ground, the game ended and Chicago found themselves at 5-4 and well in the playoff hunt despite playing nearly the entire season without Bernie Kosar at QB. BAL 10 MEM 3 Monsoon-like conditions in Memphis depressed both attendance and offensive production as the Blitz edged the homestanding Showboats in horrible conditions on Saturday. The game was 3-3 until a late Memphis fumble gave Baltimore great field position, leading to a Barry Foster 1 yard plunge (splash?) that gave the game to the visitors. NJ 31 ORL 14 No rain in Orlando, unless, of course, you count the storm of points the Generals put up in the 4th to blow the game open. What had been a 14-10 Orlando lead after three fell apart as Flutie found Lam Jones twice and Herschel Walker added a third score all in the span of about 10 minutes in the final period. PHI 23 TBY 10 In Tampa Bay it Chris Snyder’s 104 yard kickoff return highlighted a solid win for the Stars. Philly’s defense continued to feast on the opposition, holding Tampa Bay to 10 points. David Trout did most of the rest, putting up 3 second quarter field goals to help Philadelphia build up a 16-3 lead they would never relinquish. PIT 30 BIR 38 Playing on Sunday, this game avoided the rain that hit the region the day before, allowing for a wide open game between the Maulers and Stallions. Brett Favre threw for 4 scores and 350 yards, while Pittsburgh got a 112-yard day from Mike Rozier to keep it close. Two late Lawrence Dawsey touchdowns helped Birmingham pull out to a 15 point lead, which Pittsburgh narrowed late in the game, but could not erase. WSH 21 JAX 30 Don Majkowski returned for the Feds, but Jacksonville had the answer, blanketing Herman Moore and frustrating the Federal offense. Meanwhile, Tony Eason and the Bulls O-line handled the Washington pass rush, throwing for 394 and 3 scores as the Bulls got a key win to move over .500. HOU 28 POR 18 Houston got a strong game from Thomas and Jim Kelly threw for 2 scores with no picks as the Gamblers outpaced the Thunder in Civic Stadium. Thomas rushed for 113 and opened scoring in the first quarter, but also caught a late TD to help the Gamblers pull away from what had been a tight game through three. MGN 34 STL 24 The Panthers offense once again showed signs of growth as they feasted on the uncoordinated St. Louis defense. Joe Montana completed 82% of his passes for 259 and 3 scores on a day when the pass rush never really threatened him. St. Louis kept it close (tied at 24 after 3) but the 4th quarter was owned by the Panthers, who used a clock-killing run game to keep the ball out of the Knights hands. NOR 16 ARZ 10 The Wranglers offense came out for the second half of the season flat as James and Lester combined for only 35 yards rushing, allowing Breaker backup QB Brent Pease to get his first win as a starter, hitting Herman Fontenot for the game winning TD early in the 4th in a game dominated by both defenses. TEX 17 DEN 16 Texas eked out a win in Denver as the Outlaws held the Gold to only 188 total yards. Dave Krieg looked rusty and inaccurate against the Outlaws, throwing 2 costly picks. While Texas hardly lit the game up, Kelly Stouffer was able to offset 4 interceptions with 2 scoring tosses and helped set up the Outlaws for a last-second game-winning Boniol field goal by connecting on 2 key third down passes during the game’s final drive. We are going to do something a bit unorthodox this week and give the POTW award to a player on a losing side. Cornerback Bruce Pickens had a monster game for the Denver Gold, and while he could not stop Texas from scoring on a game-ending kick, he kept Denver in the game, and provided the only TD of the day for the Gold. Pickens had the unenviable assignment of covering Texas #1 receiver Eric Metcalf all day. Metcalf was targeted 16 times, and while he did catch 9 of those, Pickens allowed almost no YAC yardage, and twice cut off Metcalf and picked off the Kelly Stouffer pass. The first of the two big picks was in the first quarter, and resulted in a 32-yard return touchdown for the Gold. The second occurred in the 3rd quarter, killing a promising Outlaws drive. Pickens’s success in covering and tackling Eric Metcalf forced Stouffer to look elsewhere, and that helped to produce 2 more picks by the Denver secondary. Had the Gold offense done their part, the game could have easily swung their way, but we certainly cannot blame the Gold D for the loss this week, and Pickens, in particular, deserves kudos for how he handled the tough chore of minimizing the damage that Eric Metcalf could do for the Outlaws. USFL LEAGUE OFFICE: So we now know the 4 expansion clubs, their names and head coaches have been revealed, and the league has outlined the expansion and college draft processes. This week we got another piece of the puzzle as the league office in New York revealed the divisional alignment and schedule format for the league’s first season as a 24-club organization. As expected, the league will maintain the 4 current divisions, with each division now hosting 6 franchises. The Atlantic and Southern Divisions just have a basic addition, with Ohio joining the Atlantic and potential rival Pittsburgh, while Atlanta, as most predicted, joined the Southern Division with good local rivalries with both Jacksonville and Birmingham. In the West, a bit more movement was needed, with St. Louis moving over to the Central Division, and a potential home & away series with Chicago each year. That created 2 spaces in the Pacific Division, spaces to be filled by Seattle and Los Angeles. The schedule format was also released, and here we found a bit of a twist. Most pundits expected the league to move to 10 division games (home and away for all division rivals) and to leave only 6 non-division games in the schedule, but the USFL owners wanted more national games and were willing to sacrifice some division games to make It happen. So, the league will have a more balanced schedule, with each team playing 8 games in division and 8 games against inter-division and inter-conference foes. The schedule will see each club play 3 division foes in home & away series of 2 games, but play the 2 remaining division foes only once, one away and one at home, to create 8 division games. Teams will then play 4 games against clubs in the other division within their conference and 2 games each against foes from the 2 divisions of the opposing conference. This means opportunities for some great inter-conference and inter-division games, but could lead (as schedules rotate year to year) for possible loss of some key divisional games each year. We would hope that pairings such as NJ-PHI, BAL-WSH, PIT-OHIO, MGN-CHI, TBY-JAX, BIR-MEM, HOU-TEX, SEA-POR, and OAK-LA will be retained year to year, but this may not always be possible. In theory, once every 4 years it might be the case that the Generals would only face off against the Stars once, as would be the case with all other rivalry pairings. We hope the league figures out a way to avoid this, as they could certainly do if the will is there. Coming out of Week 9, we saw a few more tough injuries, including broken ribs for Breakers S Mark Kelso, a broken collarbone for DT Pio Sagapolutele in St. Louis, and another Knight down, CB Ron Pitts is likely to miss up to 2 months with a torn quad. Pittsburgh will be without safety Kyle Kramer at least a month with a stress fracture in his left foot, while Tampa will be without the services of TE Ben Coates due to a dislocated elbow. And, we should not forget the broken index finger of Timm Rosenbach, the QB of the Breakers, as he is likely to need at least 1 week or 2 before he can properly grip the ball. Some great intra-divisional rivalry games this week, headlined by New Jersey at Philadelphia, with only 1 game separating these two bitter rivals. Pittsburgh also has a big matchup against a Washington Federals team that is hoping for a big second half hot streak. In the South it is a battle of playoff hopefuls when Jacksonville heads to the Liberty Bowl to face the Memphis Showboats. Orlando will be in Tampa, where the Bandits hope to get back to .500 with a win. In the Central, recent success for Michigan faces a big test with Houston in town, while 4-5 New Orleans faces off against 5-4 Texas in San Antonio. Out in Denver we have a key Pacific Division clash between the Invaders and the Gold. Portland is hoping to even their record at home against the St. Louis Knights. In inter-divisional games, we see Arizona flying cross country to face the Blitz in Balltimore, while the Chicago Machine will have to try to contain the Birmingham Stallions in Legion Field, a tall order to be sure.

USA Today, May 12, 1994 Two months into the 1994 USFL season and the dreams of the preseason are now settling into the realities evident in each week’s games. What can we say about the 1994 season so far? Well, there is certainly a good deal of parity around the league with 11 of the league’s 20 teams sitting at 4-4, and another 6 teams 1 game off that mark. Only Pittsburgh is more than 2 games over .500 while only St. Louis and Orlando find themselves more than 2 games below that mark. What does this mean for USFL fans? It means that for most fan bases the season is still wide open, that any team that can get hot now can make a move, and that we are likely to need all 16 weeks and a bunch of tie-breakers to determine who is going on to the postseason and who is going home. That is good for the league, and good for fans, but it does not help anyone’s blood pressure as teams seem unable to put together win streaks. Las Vegas has to be popping Tums trying to keep their stomachs settled as week to week it is nearly impossible to know who will come out on top. As we look around the league, let’s explore the best case scenario and worst case scenario for each club over the final 8 weeks of the season. ATLANTIC DIVISION: PIT 62, NJ 5-3, PHI 4-4, BAL 4-4, WSH 4-4 The Maulers have the best record in the league, but New Jersey is right on their heels, and the rest of the division is not far behind. Baltimore has been surprisingly good, Washington has suffered without Don Majkowski, but he will be returning soon. While we like the Maulers’ chances to take the division, there is serious competition in this division. PITTSBURGH: The Maulers have looked good on both sides of the ball. They currently rank 6th in points scored, 4th in yards, and the defense is top 5 in both yards and points allowed. That combo is a tough one to crack because it means the Maulers can win in a variety of ways. It is no longer Rozier, Rozier and Rozier, and that is a good sign for things to come in the Steel City. Looking at the rookie class, C Kevin Mawae has been a great upgrade at center, and Dorsey Levins, in limited action, has shown that he can be a solid contributor with a 4.3 yards per carry average in 45 carries. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 11-5, good enough to take the division title. NEW JERSEY: Sam Wyche has the Generals’ offense looking good, currently 3rd in scoring, and the defense has had its moments and currently ranks 7th in PPG allowed. The key has been balance, and a reduced load for Herschel Walker. Rookie Bam Morris has yet to find his stride, averaging only 2.7 yards per carry behind the Generals’ main man, but Doug Flutie is having a strong year again under Wyche, currently with a 91.8 QBR, 1755 yards and 13 TDs. The defense has also had its moments, though last year’s defensive MVP Dino Hackett is finding it tougher sledding as teams gameplan to minimize his impact. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 10-6 and a Wild Card seems likely, though catching the Maulers is certainly possible. PHILADELPHIA: The Stars are making very good progress under Coach Berry. They still have some work to do on offense, though being in the middle of the pack (11th in PPG, 12th in YPG) is often enough when you have a shut-down defense. The Stars are living off that defense which is 2nd in the league in both PPG and YPG allowed, enough to make them the #1 overall defense. And it is not all on one guy in Philly. They do not have a single player with more than 3 sacks, but have 8 players with at least one. Their secondary is making big plays, with both Lorenzo Lynch and James Hasty each with 3 picks. Their rookie class is still struggling to contribute, though Charlie Garner has flashed some talent backing up Kelvin Bryant. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 9-7, a possible Wild Card, and if that D gets into the post season, they could upset some folks. BALTIMORE: The Blitz have been a pleasant surprise, but there remain a lot of doubters. This is a team that is 19th in passing yards and 16th in rushing. Despite their pedestrian offense, the Blitz have still pulled off some big wins, including a Week 3 win at Pittsburgh and wins over both Philly and the Birmingham Stallions. They have given up major yardage, but have been able to avoid giving up points (6th in the league in points allowed), so they are able to hang in games, but can this last? The Blitz need more out of the rushing combo of Reggie Brooks (513 yards) and Barry Foster (167 yards) to keep pressure off of Chris Miller. They also could use more impact from rookie LB Jason Gildon, who has seen his snaps per game increase, but so far without game-altering impact. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 7-9. We just don’t see enough from the Blitz to expect .500 or better. WASHINGTON: This team is too talented to be at .500, though everyone and their uncle points to the QB position as the reason for that. It is true that Mike Hohensee (and in some moments Walter Lewis) has struggled to avoid mistakes and keep Washington in games. Hohensee’s 74.3 QBR is among the worst among players with 3 or more starts, and his 6 picks have not helped. But, with Majkowski expected back either in Week 9 or 10, there is still hope in DC that the Feds can make a late run. Barry Word and Terry Kirby are both above 4.0 yards per carry without the threat of a passing game, so if Majkowski can spark the aerial game, then the Feds could be a tough out the rest of the way. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 9-7 but possibly missing out on the playoffs, which would be a major disappointment for a team that had its eyes on a title this year. SOUTHERN DIVISION BIR 4-4, TBY 4-4, MEM 4-4, JAX 4-4, ORL 2-6 Other than the Renegades, this division is about as even as it can get. Birmingham’s up and down performances have been an unpleasant surprise for Stallion fans. Most still believe their club will put it together and eventually win out in the division, but with 4 of 5 clubs at .500 right now, there is certainly a lot of incentive for the others to push each week. We love the resurgence of the Bandits under Jerry Glanville, and Memphis is discovering that maybe Mike Kelley is not done yet. If Birmingham cannot recover their 1993 form and rip through the next 8 weeks, this division could be wide open. BIRMINGHAM: The Stallions absolutely did not see themselves being in a 4-way tie, or at .500 at this point in the season. They have had some inexplicable losses (@ St. Louis? Home vs. Baltimore?) and have simply been unable to play consistent ball. When they are on, they are really on, as was evident in their record setting 66-34 win over Orlando, but they have simply not been consistent enough on defense to avoid being upset. The Stallions are first in most important offensive categories behind Brett Favre’s arm (PPG, YPG, Passing), but the defense is 19th in yardage allowed and 16th in points allowed. A weak defense means they have to be in the zone on offense every week, and so far that has been too much to ask. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 10-6, with a tiebreaker win to get the division. We see improvement for the Stallions, and they are 4-1 in divisional games, so they likely only need to be tied atop the division to take the title and get the bye week. TAMPA BAY: The Bandits have responded well to the arrival of Coach Jerry Glanville, improving to 3rd in the league in yards gained. A big piece of the puzzle has been the much-needed arrival of a legit #1 rusher in rookie Errict Rhett. Rhett’s 530 yards and 5 TDs may not be leading the league, but they are a huge leap over past years for the Bandit rushing game. On defense there are still some issues. Tampa still struggles to get pressure on the QB, but there has been enough improvement to believe that a playoff appearance is not out of the question. Even finishing 8-8 would be a solid first step for the Glanville era in Tampa. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 9-7 with a 50-50 chance of a Wild Card, depending how the rest of the 4-4 teams in the conference finish. MEMPHIS: This was not the plan. Sure, 4-4 is a welcome improvement over last year’s debacle, but the expectation was that Kelley would start a couple of games and then pass the torch to rookie and local hero Heath Shuler. That has not happened as Kelley has been more than solid in the first 8 weeks. The veteran has over 2,000 yards and a 12-8 TD-INT ratio. That said, the Showboats are still having issues. They rank 17th in total yardage, though the return of a healthy Greg Boone could help there, and their defense has some issues with pass defense. The key for Memphis may not be replacing Kelley but adding some more diversity to the pass rush, to take pressure off of Reggie White. The key in our view is the performance of Santana Dotson across the line and Eddie Simmons coming on blitzes. If they can force teams to adjust away from White, they can be dangerous on defense. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 8-8. We just don’t see enough on either side of the ball to predict Memphis as a playoff team. JACKSONVILLE: With Birmingham failing to live up to expectations, many would expect Jacksonville to be taking advantage and to have a lead in the division, but they too have been struggling to meet the expectations set last year. They are hovering around the 9th-11th position in the league in most statistics, with an offense that has been inconsistent (they still struggle to establish the run) and a defense that has shown a problematic tendency to give up big plays far too often, leading to their ranking as the worst pass defense in the league. We want to believe that the Bulls are playoff material, but the quality has not been there. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 7-9, We have to believe that the defensive issues will continue to haunt the Bulls, and without a reliable run game to eat up clock, they just depend too much on a defense that has not proven to be good enough. ORLANDO: Do we have to say it? The Renegades are not good. Last in points per game, and last again in points allowed. That is a horrible combination. Coach O’Leary has a lot of work to do to get this team to be competitive again. Reggie Collier simply does not have the arm, or the legs, he used to, so a QB change may be down the road for the club. Their leading rusher, Todd Fowler, has only 373 yards and a 3.1 average, and their defense is just not good enough to be aggressive and take chances. We don’t see a lot of bright spots ahead for the Renegades, though their recent win at Philadelphia shows that they are still willing to play hard for their new coach. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 4-12. A bad year to need a new QB, because the draft does not have a lot of talent, though Steve McNair out of Alcorn State would be a popular choice. Perhaps fix the defense first and then hope there is a trade available for a “transitional” QB. We expect Collier to be offered up in the expansion draft, so O’Leary can have a fresh start. CENTRAL DIVISION: HOU 5-3, CHI 4-4, TEX 4-4, NOR 3-5, MGN 3-5 Houston was expected to take the division, and they have a slight lead over the pack at the midway point, but Chicago, who most wrote off when Bernie Kosar went down, has relied on their defense to stay in the race, and Texas has enough talent to make a challenge as well. Even New Orleans, who many picked to be the league’s weakest team in Mike Ditka’s first year, has started to show a lot of fight, mirroring their coach’s tough attitude. Michigan has not had the immediate impact from the arrival of Montana and Marcus Allen that they have hoped for, but both have had moments and if they can put that together with an improved defense, they could still make a run. HOUSTON: The Gamblers are who we thought they were, a solid team across the board, with a couple of dynamic offensive stars in Kelly and Thomas, and a solid team defense concept. 5-3 is about what we expected, so there have been few surprises here. The Gamblers are 2nd in both PPG and YPG and Thomas has moved into the top 5 of rushers again, so we expect Houston to hold on and keep hold of the division lead. They have a shot to become the first club to win 3 titles, especially if Birmingham’s D proves to be as bad down the stretch as they have been so far. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 11-5 and the #1 seed again in the West. TEXAS: Of the two teams trailing Houston, the Outlaws are healthier and have their starting QB in the fold. The surprise this year has been how effective the Texas defense has been. They are currently in the Top 6 against both the run and the pass, and #3 in the league in scoring defense. That is a bit of a shocker, but much needed as their offense has not performed up to expectations. Quinn Early has not lived up to the need to replace Dokie Williams, and that has led to Texas being easier to defend. If the Outlaws can get more receivers into the game, they can be dangerous, possibly even challenging Houston for the division. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 10-6 and a solid Wild Card team. CHICAGO: That the Machine are 4-4 without Bernie Kosar is a credit to the work that Coach Schottenheimer has put in. Blair Kiel has not been impressive, Scott Zolak even less so, and now, after signing Dan McGwire, there are rumors he could start out the second half of the season with the QB job. That chaos has been an issue, as has the inability of Ricky Watters to live up to his potential. Chicago is doing it with smoke and mirrors, and we just don’t think that is sustainable in the long haul of the year. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 7-9 and out of contention. NEW ORLEANS: While 3-5 is hardly a record to boast about, wins over Texas, Houston and Portland are not flukes. The Breakers can still be dangerous, and are an upper half offensive team when Rosenbach and DuPree are on their games. The defense is still pretty shaky, giving up over 270 yards a game passing and 360 overall. We were really hoping to see more contributions from the rookie class, but so far only DeWayne Dotson at LB has really been a factor. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 6-10. We see a repeat of the first half of the year as very likely. Spoiler may be the best the Breakers can hope for. MICHIGAN: Fans were likely a bit to pie-eyed over Montana and Marcus Allen to see that the Panthers still had major issues to deal with. The roster is just not there yet for this to be a playoff contender. Of the two new arrivals, Allen has flashed more, which makes sense in Coach Holtz’s scheme and with the other talent the Panthers have. They need to improve at WR to help Montana, and they need to improve on pass defense. Wins over the Generals and Outlaws were solid, but when they lose it is often by 20 points or more, and that is not a good omen for the rest of the year. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 6-10 and looking for a lot of help in free agency again. PACIFIC DIVISION: OAK 5-3, ARZ 5-3, DEN 4-4, POR 4-4, STL 2-6 Oakland has started to see the real Bobby Hebert showing up, and that is bad news for the rest of the division, but Arizona can always rely on that defense to keep them in games, Denver and Portland have been more erratic, but both have enough talent to make a move if they can play to their abilities. Robert Drummond is having a career year for the Thunder, and with Dave Krieg coming back for the Gold, the Denver offense could start to impact games on a regular basis. All that said, we still see this as a race between the Invaders and the Wranglers, offense v. defense. And yes, St. Louis also has a pro football team, though the Knights have struggled on both sides of the ball all year and likely will continue to do so. OAKLAND: It took a season, but we are finally seeing the Bobby Hebert that fans in the Bay Area hoped we would see last year. Bobby Hebert is over 2,200 yards passing at the midway point of the year, with a 22-6 TD/INT rate, one of the league’s best. Henry Ellard is on pace for one of his best years as well, and already has 12 TDs to his name. Siran Stacy is a little off pace, but that makes sense with the success Oakland has had in the passing attack. The defense is nothing to write home about, solid in yards against (4th) but not getting enough takeaways or QB pressure to keep scores down. Still, this looks like a solid contender as long as they can keep Hebert in the zone. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 11-5 and a possible division title. ARIZONA: The Wranglers look like the team most likely to challenge Oakland in the division, largely due to their #1 scoring defense. Al Noga is benefiting from Charles Haley drawing double-teams, and leads the team with 7 sacks. Broderick Thomas and NFL ex-pat Bill Romanowski are gobbling up running backs and making TE’s fear the big hit. It is a defense that can shut teams down when they are on their game. The offense, well, it isn’t horrible, but it is not exactly blowing the doors open either. Tim Lester and Lionel James are splitting carries, and both are averaging just over 4 yards a carry, so that is good, but unless the Wranglers can get more out of receivers other than Trumaine Johnson, they may have difficulty with teams that can handle their defense. Rookie Darnay Scott has simply not made an impact yet, but needs to. With Arizona, expect a lot of close wins, and close losses down the stretch. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 10-6 and a possible #3 seed and a bye, if they can hold off the 4-4 clubs. DENVER: A 4-4 first half is not the worst record when your starting QB goes down. Mark Brunell has been “adequate” in replacing Dave Krieg, but, as we seem to say every year, Denver’s offense is just not the kind that will scare anyone. They rank last in the league in yards but somehow are 8th in scoring. That is largely thanks to a defense that is #1 in yardage allowed and provides lots of short fields to the offense. Leslie O’Neill has had an immediate impact with 8 sacks, and the takeaways have been there for the Gold, with 12 fumble recoveries and 15 interceptions as a team. If Krieg can provide just a bit more on offense than Brunell has, Denver could sneak up on some folks. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 9-7 and a dangerous Wild Card team to face. PORTLAND: We look at the stats and we think the Thunder should be 3-5 or 2-6, not 4-4. They are in the bottom quartile in scoring and have a sub-par defense, especially (once again) against the run. They have virtually no pass rush (Anthony Pleasant leads the team with only 3 sacks) and they are not getting turnovers. So how have they won half their games? We honestly don’t know. Admitedly they have gotten 2 wins against St. Louis and Orlando, so there is that. They seem ripe to take a second half slide as teams tighten up for a playoff push. Their Week 8 51-3 lambasting by the Michigan Panthers may be a troubling sign of what is to come. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 6-10 and in need of a talent infusion, especially on defense. ST. LOUIS: After going 7-9 and 6-10 the past two seasons, St. Louis seems ready to bottom out this year. That is bad news for Coach Jack Elway, but with a squad that is 2nd to last in both offensive production and defense, there is not a lot of upside to the Knights. David Archer has been less than average, with 12 interceptions to only 8 TDs. Admitedly he has a receiving corps that might qualify for AARP membership with Eric Martin and Gary Clark well past their primes. They need more around Rocket Ismail to be able to compete. On defense, the Knights seem to be able to stop the run or the pass, but never both in the same game, so it is all about offenses picking which option they prefer. Their win over New Orleans this week (their first in 2 months) was a bit of a pick-me-up for the club, but they have a long road ahead of them and not a lot of games they can circle as win opportunities. PROJECTED FINAL RECORD: 3-13 and a fond farewell to Coach Elway at season’s end. Looking at our preseason predictions, we think we might have been doing OK. We clearly did not see Pittsburgh being quite this strong, and we missed on Birmingham’s defensive issues, but other than that I think we are largely on target. Tampa is perhaps the only real surprise, but a pleasant one. So, do we want to adjust our preseason picks? Not a lot. Let’s look. SUMMER BOWL: Our original pick was leaning towards a Houston-Birmingham rematch, and that seems totally viable at this time. What we would say now is that both Oakland and Pittsburgh seem strong enough to derail that rematch and mix things up a bit. MVP: We, like everyone, thought it would be Brett Favre’s year, after being edged by Thurman Thomas last year. Favre looks like a good contender, but Jim Kelly and Bobby Hebert are still very much in the mix. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Errict Rhett was the easy pick as a premier college back coming to a team that really needed the help. He is proving us right by helping Tampa achieve a solid 4-4 start and a real shot at a playoff spot. Others in the mix include, of all things, a kicker. Chris Boniol has been lighting it up for the Outlaws, but there is no way a kicker wins this award. So, it is Rhett or, perhaps ironically, his teammate, LB Kevin Mitchell, who has a legit shot at a 100 tackle season for Tampa. Eight weeks down. Eight more to go to reach the playoffs. Let’s get back to it!

This is one the Washington Federals had to have, but one few expected them to get. After losing Dan Majkowski for over a month to injury, the Federals had lost 4 of 5 games, and now they would face Brett Favre and the defending league champion Stallions. The Vegas oddsmakers had Birmingham as an 8 point favorite on the road, but the Federals stepped up and got a win that could define their season just as Majkowski seems ready to return. Mike Hohensee would be the rallying figure for the Federals. After several rough performances, he stepped up, completing 74% of his passes despite a ferocious Birmingham pass rush designed to fluster him. He found Herman Moore for 135 yards on 7 catches, found Joey Walters 6 times, and distributed the ball to 10 different receivers over the course of the day, even hitting FB Sam Gash a couple of times for rare touches. The defense would also do their part, picking off Favre twice and disrupting a passing game that had been bullying teams for a year and a half. Yes, Favre would end up throwing for 323 and 2 scores, but he threw the ball 50 times, completing 30 and he missed on some key plays that helped Washington stay in the game. Washington owned the first quarter, scoring twice to take a 10-0 lead. Birmingham would even things up in the 2nd, but a TD toss from Hohensee to Moore and a half-ending FG from Doug Pelfrey gave Washington a 10-point halftime advantage, 20-10. They would add two field goals in the 3rd, equalizing the lone TD from Birmingham, a 6-yard James Joseph run. In the 4th, Birmingham would pull back to within 2 points on a Danny Knight TD reception from Favre, but when Doug Pelfry connected on his 5th field goal of the day, the lead was back to 5 and would force Birmingham to go for a touchdown on their final drive. The final drive was a testament to Washington’s tenacity. After taking the kickoff from Pelfry to the 32 yard line, Favre came out poised to march the Stallions down the field, but on 1st down Richmond Webb was called for a chop block on LB Winston Moss, creating a 1st and 25 right off the bat. Moss would make things even tougher on the repeat of 1st down as he easily avoided a chip by Joseph and found Favre for a 6-yard loss on his first sack of the day. Faced with 2nd and 31, Favre tried to hit Givens on an out route, but the ball was just outside and Givens could not bring his feet down. Third and 31, and Favre completed to Sharpe for 14, leaving a 4th and 17 with the game on the line. With several deep receivers covered well by the Feds secondary, and with pressure coming from both Moss and Manley, Favre had to dump the ball to Sharpe on a shorter route, and the Federals defense converged, keeping Sharpe well short of the 1st down. Turnover on downs and a key victory for the Federals, who even their record at 4-4 as they prepare to welcome Majkowski back next week. For Birmingham, they too find themselves at 4-4, a record that baffles USFL pundits and fans alike. JAX 30 BAL 31 Another great South v. Atlantic matchup saw Baltimore edge the Bulls by 1 as Blitz HB Reggie Brooks had a career day against the Bulls defense. The 2nd year back rushed 13 times for 139 yards, including an electric 41 yard TD run. Chris Miller also fared well against a beleaguered Bulls D, completing 19 of 29 and tossing 3 TDs on the day. Add in a Leslie Frazier pick-6 and you have enough for Baltimore to even their record at 4-4, sending Jacksonville to the same record. MEM 24 NJ 14 The Generals could have taken command of the division with a win, but Memphis was also fighting to stay in the Southern dogfight, and with Greg Boone back from injury, the Showboats had the added firepower they needed to take out new Jersey. In a game that saw 6 interceptions (3 each), it was the ground game that proved essential. Memphis’s Boone returned with a big game, 123 yards and a TD on the day, while the Memphis D held Herschel Walker to only 64 yards. ORL 16 PHI 10 Philly got caught looking ahead at future games in a classic trap. They came out flat, and Orlando took advantage. They held Philadelphia to only 3 points in the first half, and when Todd Fowler caught a 3rd quarter TD from Collier, the 16-3 lead pushed the Stars out of their usually conservative playcalling. Philly would draw closer thanks to a late Gerard Phelan TD catch, but it was too little too late against an Orlando squad trying to gain respect. TBY 3 PIT 17 Pittsburgh put together a brilliant defensive scheme to both contain HB Errict Rhett and frustrate QB John Fourcade on their way to a 14 point win. Despite being outgained 362-242, the Maulers kept Tampa out of the red zone most of the day, and forced Tampa into long 3rd downs repeatedly, leading to a 5 of 15 conversion rate. The win, paired with a New Jersey loss, gives Pittsburgh a solid 2 game lead over the division and the best record in the league at 6-2. ARZ 17 TEX 14 Arizona’s defense once again proved capable and Robbie Bosco connected with both Richie Anderson and Courtney Hawkins as the Wranglers edged the Outlaws on a late Mick Luckhurst field goal. The loss drops Texas to 4-4 (along with most of the league it seems) while allowing Arizona to keep pace in the Pacific. DEN 24 CHI 10 Scott Zolak struggled with Denver’s complex zone scheme, and containing the Gold run game, which used 3 backs and QB Dave Krieg to rack up 128 yards rushing. Krieg was a bit rusty as a passer, throwing 4 picks, but the Gold still managed to overcome the turnovers by forcing Zolak into a lot of incomplete passes, hitting only 15 of 38 pass attempts. OAK 14 HOU 29 The Gamblers are a tough out in the Astrodome, especially when Thurman Thomas is on his game. He was, rushing for 83 yards and playing a big role in the pass game as well. Kelly connected with 3 different receivers for scores, and the Houston D sacked Bobby Hebert 5 times on the day as Houston improved to 5-3 and forced Oakland into a 3-way tie atop the Pacific. POR 3 MGN 51 Joe Montana went 24 of 29 and Marcus Allen delivered with 147 yards and 2 scores as Michigan just exploded on offense for the first time all year. 5 rushing touchdowns and 479 total yards created a 30-3 halftime lead, and Portland had nothing all day against the blitzes of the Panthers. Sean Salisbury cleaned up for Michigan, playing most of the 4th quarter once it became clear that no Portland comeback was coming. STL 38 NOR 19 The St. Louis defense knocked Timm Rosenbach out of the game and took advantage of Brent Pease’s lack of experience to gain their second win of the year. It was a battle of Ismails with the Knights’ Rocket catching 7 balls for 106 while the Breakers’ Qadry had 9 for 90. Steve Israel of the much-maligned Knights defense had himself a POTW game, with a pick-6, a key fumble recovery and solid coverage on Henry Fontenot all day long. Can we give the award to an entire team? Because what the Panthers did to Portland was both stunningly effective and surprising from a team that has struggled with its identity all year. The Portland D was scattered and mistake-prone all day, but a lot of that was due to an aggressive Michigan gameplan that saw Joe Montana connect twice with Weegie Thompson on deep balls, and which saw Marcus Allen go off for 8.6 yards per carry. If we hadto name one individual as the Player of the Week, it would likely be Allen, who has had some flashy games and some mediocre ones so far this year. This time he was at his best, with 4 different runs over 20 yards, and a shiftiness that often caught the Thunder defenders flat footed. The return of Jim Reynosa on defense also proved huge for the Panthers, as the feisty DE had 2 sacks a forced fumble, and a recovery on the day. In what has to be described as a full team victory, Allen and Reynosa shone, but this was just one of those games where everything worked, and the game was quickly and decisively won. An interesting tidbit out of the league offices this week as the USFL big wigs announced a new uniform policy. The league office annoucned that beginning in 1995 teams would be allowed to have, in addition to a standard home and away uniform set, an alternate uniform set which could be worn up to 2 times per year. This includes an option for a 2nd helmet, a 3rd jersey and a possible 3rd pant set as well. The league did put limits on the freedom teams had to design this alternate uniform, declaring that the third helmet had to be within the team's color scheme, black or white, and that the alternate jersey had to be a home or dark jersey, with white remaining the primary road jersey (though so many teams where white at home in the late summer games that there really is not a correlation between home and away when it comes to dark v. light jerseys). While there are several possible reasons why the league (and NIKE) would be interested in allowing for a 3rd option for teams, the inclusion of a 2nd helmet option is intriguing, especially in light of the NFL's plans for a 1994 "retro" uniform celebration of the league's history, but required that teams use their primary helmets, creating some weird designs in which NFL teams use retro logos on helmets which are now a different color than in their history (picture the Namath-era JETS logo on a green helmet, or Buffalo's standing buffalo on a red helmet). It is rumored that several teams have requested the option to create a third jersey, but one unnammed team has also petitioned for an alternate helmet. No one is quite sure who that team is, but the potential is interesting. The USFL does not have a long history, so the idea of "throwback" or retro uniforms seems unlikely, although it is possible that we might see a team like Washington pull out their founding logo and white helmets for anniversary seasons. More likely we will see teams create a look using a secondary color from their existing palettes. I could imagine a Denver Gold helmet that is actually gold, or a Blue New Jersey Generals jersey. While some teams may be obvious, Baltimore using a red "retro" jersey 2 times a year instead of their usual red one, or Portland developing a navy jersey instead of the electric lime one they usually wear, it will be exciting to see what teams come up with as they take advantage of this rule and the new alternate uniform craze in sports. It was a good week overall, with few long-term injuries. Pittsburgh Free Safety Pat Terrell’s prognosis has him likely out for the rest of the year with a hip injury and Orlando LB J.D. Fuller could miss 6 weeks with a fractured jaw, but for the most part we saw only short-term issues. The most noteworthy is the injury to Timm Rosenbach’s throwing hand, but with no fractures detected in his thumb, hurt when it awkwardly connected with the helmet of a defender, he is only expected to miss a game, maybe two. Of greater interest are the players expected back next week, with Washington’s Don Majkowski leading the pack. Along with Maj, we have Troy Aikman expected back, NJ Safety Eric McMillian, Birmingham rookie back James Bostic, Chicago safety George Teague, and Arizona guard Todd Kalis. Texas gets back two important pieces in tackle Eugene Chung and DE John Bosa. The second half of the season kicks off with a second consecutive week of South v. Atlantic and Pacific v. Central. Birmingham, fresh off the loss at Washington, get a chance to equalize things as they host Pittsburgh, while Washington travels to Jacksonville to face the Bulls. New Jersey is hoping to take advantage of their matchup in Orlando, while both Philadelphia and Tampa Bay come into their clash at 4-4. Surprising Baltimore will be in Memphis, with both of those clubs also at 4-4 and hoping to get on the good side of .500 this week. Out west it will be Oakland hosting the Chicago Machine. Houston will be in Portland and Michigan are hoping to make it 2 in a row as they face off with the Knights in St. Louis. New Orleans has a tough matchup in Tempe against the Wranglers while Texas heads to Mile High to face the Denver Gold.

While many looked at the divisional games this week as potential barnburners or slobberknockers, it was an interconference clash that gave us the best battle of the week. Jacksonville and Denver don’t have much of a history, but with both clubs coming in at 3-3 and hoping to reach the midway point of the season with a winning record, there was a lot on the line, and both clubs played like it. Denver fans were hoping to see Dave Krieg back under center (funny how losing makes your backup seem less like a future star), but still nursing an injury, Krieg was not ready to go, so once again Denver turned to Mark Brunell in this key road game. For Jacksonville QB has not been the issue, with Tony Eason steadily at the helm, but with Hilliard lost for several more weeks, the issue for the Bulls has been an anemic run game, with both Vince Workman and Jamie Morris not tantalizing fans. So, what did we get in this game? We got a decent game from Brunell, with 258 yards passing, 2 scores, 2 interceptions, and a lot of pressure, sacked 5 times. For Jacksonville we saw better than anticipated runs from the dual backs, with Workman rushing for 49 yards on 6 carries and Morris going for 31 also on 6 carries. We also got 41 pass attempts from Eason, producing a TD and an interception. But the box score stats don’t tell the whole story, and in this game it was all about timing. Denver started strong, with Brunell finding Mark Carrier for the only score of the 1st quarter. They added that score with an Elam field goal and another Brunell to Carrier toss in the 2nd to build up an early 17-0 lead. But, this being the USFL, something was sure to change, and that change came when a Domingo Bryant interception of Brunell set up Jacksonville in Denver territory. Vince Workman would eventually dive in from 2 yards out, and a clear momentum shift was in the air. Jacksonville added a Pete Stoyanovich 40-yarder as the first half ended and Denver was seeing its lead slip away, 17-10 at the half. The third quarter was a battle of attrition, with neither team able to get into scoring position, and when Denver got another Elam field goal at the opening of the 4th, there were some thoughts that perhaps the tide was turning back to Denver. That hope lasted about 8 minutes as Denver and Jacksonville traded punts, but then with 6 minutes left in the game Jacksonville once again found their mojo. The comeback started with a Stoyanovich kick to pull Jacksonville back to within 7. After a quick 3-and-out by Denver the Bulls were back in business, and when Eason hit Robb Thomas with 1:00 on the clock the Gator Bowl erupted. The score was tied and it looked like we might see overtime. But, Denver was earnest not to let that come to pass, perhaps too earnest. Brunell tried to will Denver down the field for a game-ending field goal, but in doing so, he rushed one too many passes, and a 2nd and 8 pass found Vaughn Johnson instead of Keith Jackson, giving Jacksonville its own shot at pulling out a late game winner. Eason was more accurate with his throws, and quickly moved the Bulls into field goal range for Stoyanovich. The former Hoosier kicker came through, knocking in the winning kick as time expired. The Bulls had scored 13 points in the final four and a half minutes to shock Denver and steal a home win. Denver would return home at 3-4 and looking up at most of their division, while Jacksonville now finds themselves right in the thick of the tough Southern Division. PIT 15 BAL 13 Pittsburgh and Baltimore put on an old school defensive slugfest on a rainy Saturday in the Charm City. Each club forced 3 turnovers as both offenses struggled to turn takeaways into points. In a game that saw a safety for Pittsburgh, and a fumble return TD by Baltimore’s Ben Apuna, the offenses had a rough day, but Pittsburgh did just enough to get Rafael Septien into range for the game winner with 47 seconds left. WSH 3 PHI 19 The rain also played a big part in the Feds-Stars game in Philly, though not as big a part as the Philly defense. Walter Lewis started for Washington and completed only 13 of 33 passes, with two picks as the Stars D showed up big. Chuck Long did not find the endzone, but proved to be a solid bad-weather QB, completing 33 of 40 passes for 257. The lone TD of the day belonged to Kelvin Bryant as Philadelphia slogged their way to 4-3. ORL 20 BIR 37 Birmingham raced to a 34-10 lead before easing up and allowing Orlando to make it look closer than it really was. Brett Favre threw for 285 and 4 TD’s including 2 to Ernest Givens, and the combo of Joseph and Fullwood rushed for 105 yards as Orlando simply had no answer for the Stallions until backups started to play. TBY 20 MEM 6 Tampa Bay got it’s first 100 yard rushing day in several years as rookie Errict Rhett rushed for 123 and 2 scores against a sloppy Memphis D. John Fourcade struggled, but avoided costly turnovers and Tampa Bay turned in one of their best defensive games of the year, limiting Mike Kelley to 46% passing and no scores on the day. NOR 12 CHI 17 Another defensive gem helped Chicago move to 4-3 despite a lackluster performance by Blair Kiel. Ricky Watters and Johnnie Johnson combined for 129 yards against an overmatched Breaker run defense, while the Chicago D. held DuPree and Pegram to only 39 combined yards on the day. Qadry Ismail got his touches, 7 catches for 98 yards, but they did not translate to TDs for New Orleans and Chicago got the needed divisional win. TEX 14 MGN 34 Michigan came to play at home, and Joe Montana had his best game in garnet and champagne, as he passed for 3 TD’s and completed 76% of his passes against the Texas secondary. The defense did their part, picking off Kelly Stouffer 3 times and forcing a Reggie Cobb fumble in the red zone. The Outlaws also committed 9 penalties on the day as they helped Michigan obtain their second win of the season. ARZ 24 POR 10 Arizona found a way to contain Robert Drummond, and got a monster game from Tim Lester (103 yards on only 10 carries) to outpace the Thunder. Robbie Bosco also hit both Lionel James and Courtney Hawkins with 2nd half scores as the Thunder pulled away from a 10-3 halftime score to down Portland in Civic Stadium, leaving both clubs at 4-3 after 7 weeks. STL 22 OAK 34 The Knights put a scare into Oakland early, but the quality of the Invaders won out in the end. It was another strong week for Bobby Hebert, who seems to really be finding his rhythm, throwing for 376 yards and 3 scores against the suspect Knights defense. Add in 93 yards from Siran Stacy, and the Invaders pull away in the second half to take the home win. HOU 20 NJ 23 Houston came into the game relishing the chance to play an Oliver-Luck-led Generals team, but it was the New Jersey defense that won the day, picking off Jim Kelly twice, including a Kirby Jackson pick six that proved pivotal in a tight game between two very solid teams. Herschel Walker was largely contained, gaining only 64 yards, but got some good support from Bam Morris (5.7 average on the day) and a solid day from both Irving Fryar and Lam Jones helped Luck get the W. For this first time this season we are going to give the POTW to a rookie, Tampa Bay halfback Errict Rhett. Rhett has been consistent but not flashy all season, but with John Fourcade needing all the support he could get, and despite numerous 8 or 9 man fronts, Rhett came through. He scored both Tampa touchdowns in the game, one on a whirling, juking, straight-arming 21 yard run that had the few Tampa supporters in attendance screaming. The 123 yard day, which included another 38-yard run that probably should have been called a TD, but led to a 1 yard dive on the next play, was electric for the Bandits. Rhett is already a solid Rookie of the Year candidate, on pace for a 1,000 yard, 10 TD season, and with the closest competitors being kicker Chris Boniol of Texas (leading the league in points) and St. Louis safety Rodney Harrison (41 tackels and a sack), a solid second half may lock up the award for what may be the first 1,000 yard rusher Tampa has had since the departure of Gary Anderson. A solid pick to fill a clear need for the Bandits, and a player who is helping to keep Tampa very much alive in a competitive Southern Division. OHIO—We expected news on the coaching front from the Glory this week, and that is exactly what we got. The Glory did not stray far from home, snatching up their new head coach from the nearby Cleveland Browns. Nick Saban, who has served as the Defensive Coordinator for the Browns these past 3 years, was introduced as the first head coach for the expansion Ohio Glory. Saban, who has extensive coaching experience on defense in both the NFL (Houston) and in college ball (Michigan State, Navy, Ohio State and West Virginia) will have the challenge of helping Ohio avoid the usual rough first years of an expansion club. With Saban on board, expect Ohio to go heavy on defense, and possibly look for a bruising back to center the offense around as they build their roster in both the Collegiate and Expansion drafts. SEATTLE—The Dragons become the third of the league’s four expansion clubs to reveal their inaugural uniforms. The Dragons, as expected, will use a deep green as their primary color, both on the helmet (revealed earlier this year) and in the uniforms. A green jersey has white numbers trimmed in red, and black, red, and yellow stripes on each sleeve. The white jersey reverses the white and green, but adds a shoulder and sleeve yoke in green, with the same black, red and yellow sleeve stripes. There is a white and a green pant set to finish off the look. The colors, which closely parallel those of the Seattle Supersonics (who share an owner with the Dragons’ ownership group) seem a good fit for the Emerald City and certainly distinguish the Dragons from the NFL Seahawks, whose silver, royal, and Kelly green look is well known to football fans. Here is the uniform template revealed by the club this week as they displayed their new look: USFL—And more news related to expansion as the USFL’s NY Headquarters revealed the format for both the Collegiate Draft and the Expansion Draft. As expected with the boost to 24 clubs, the USFL will be eliminating the territorial draft established when the league began with only 12 clubs. With growing disparity between the “College rich” teams such as Birmingham and Texas and the “College Poor” teams, mostly in the North East, as well as the confusion of how to handle so many southern teams (Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Birmingham, Memphis, New Orleans) the league is opting to move to an 8-round open draft, but still wishing to retain an emphasis on local player, they are adjusting how players count towards the league’s salary cap structure. Beginning with next year’s rosters, teams will be assessed only 67% of the value of contracts on any players within each team’s 4 “territorial” schools. Each school can be used by 2 different teams, allowing a club like New Jersey to share Ohio State with Columbus, or for Portland and Seattle to both get a cap discount with Washington players. Just how influential this new format will be is unknown, and hard to define as most teams will not turn over rosters just to find savings on the cap. It may hit veteran free agents the most, with teams looking to release those who count heavily on the cap while seeking to sign regional players who count only 2/3rds. The other big news about the Collegiate Draft was the placement of the 4 expansion clubs. It has been announced that the expansion clubs will occupy places 3, 5, 7 and 9 in each round, with the 4 clubs rotating twice into each slot. The team with the #3 pick in round 1 will not have #3 again until round 8, while the team with #3 in the 2nd round gets the same pick in the 7th, 3rd round paired with 6th, and 4th round with 5th round. It is another experiment that may or may not benefit one team over another. Of course, with USFL signings still averaging about 50% of those drafted, it remains more about the ability to sign than the ability to draft early. Finally, looking specifically at the Expansion Draft, once again we will see each existing team have a protected cohort, this time of only 12 players, and then be able to protect one player more for each player taken from their roster by the 4 expansion clubs. The order of picks will be determined by lottery later this year, but if the 1987 draft is any indication, expect the current 20 clubs to protect their young talent still on rookie contracts, their quarterbacks, and their 2-3 top linemen, with d-line and the secondary being the richest pools for the new clubs. Of course, with so many clubs potentially losing their backup QB’s we could be seeing several solid backups getting the chance to start in new cities. This may be very good news for players like Kerwin Bell, Erik Kramer, Scott Zolak, or Jeff Hostetler. Could this mean that Cliff Stoudt might again start in the USFL? What about Brunell in Denver or Mike Kelley? Surely their clubs would not protect both on the initial roster lists. Lots of intrigue all around as we consider the possibilities. A rough week saw several more players possibly lost for the year. Pittsburgh FS Pat Terrell suffered a fracture to his hip, always a slow heal and is likely to miss at least 12 weeks, ruling out even a playoff return. A similar situation in St. Louis, where CB Ron Pitts suffered a torn quad that will put him on IR. Jacksonville was also struck with a big defensive loss as DE George Hinkle suffered a mid-back injury that is likely to require several months to rehab. Among those looking at a week or two of inactivity we find Baltimore DE Mike Piel, Texas CB Najee Mustafaa (who always seems dinged up), Oakland CB Tory Nixon, Generals safety Eric McMillian, and, as already reported, General QB Doug Flutie expected to miss at least one more game. Possibly returning this week are Memphis HB Greg Boone, Birmingham DE Jon Carter, Tampa DE Fred Stokes, Houston LB Pat Swilling, and Chicago CB Derrick Burroughs. Our Week 8 slate marks the end of the season’s first half, and we do so with a full slate of Atlantic v. South and Pacific v. Central games. Among these games, we have a lot of 3-4 v. 4-3 battles, including Birmingham at Washington, Jacksonville at Baltimore, and Denver at Chicago. Two 4-3 clubs face off as Arizona is in Texas, and in Pittsburgh we have 4-3 Tampa coming to face the 5-2 Maulers. Our best game of the week may be in Oakland, where the 4-3 Gamblers host the 5-2 Invaders. In New Orleans the Breakers are hoping to ruin the visit of the St. Louis Knights, while Portland is hoping to move to 5-3 with a win in Michigan. New Jersey, again without Flutie, hosts the Showboats, and Philadelphia hopes to move to 5-3 with the 1-win Renegades in town.

Orlando finds their first win of the year, Portland steals one in Denver, and the Generals get the road win in Pittsburgh in a wild week of USFL action. Add in another monster week from Bobby Hebert, Thurman Thomas returning to form, Mike Kelley making a statement, and Brett Favre going off against the Bandits’ defense and you have a lot to talk about this week in the USFL. All that and a USFL coach returns to the sideline for expansion Seattle. Portland snags a share of first in the Pacific with a big win against the Gold in Denver. In a game that saw both defenses make life tough for quarterbacks, it was Jack Trudeau’s savvy and experience that got Portland in a position for the Al Del Greco game winner with :01 on the clock. The game that would end with an Del Greco kick began with one as well, as Portland took advantage of a good kickoff return to play the short field. Their drive stalled on the 27, but well within Del Greco’s range. The defenses largely took over after that, with neither team able to score until late in the 2nd. Mark Brunell hit the Gold’s free agent signee, TE Keith Jackson, for a score with 1:45 on the clock in the 2nd. Portland, in a vision of what was to come later, used an effective no huddle 2-minute drill, and with 25 seconds left in the half it was Trudeau to Didier for the lead. Portland up 10-7 at the half. Denver regained the lead in the 3rd quarter, when a Trudeau interception set them up deep in Portland territory. They moved the ball on the ground, before Brunell found Natrone Means on a well-designed screen play for the score. Portland would have to wait until the 4th quarter to regain the lead for themselves. Trudeau and Drummond moved the ball down the field, but it was little-used scat-back Derick Loville who would get the score to move Portland to a 17-14 lead. Denver would respond 2 drives later, when they maneuvered the ball into Portland territory, kicking a game-tying field goal with 2:59 left. That would prove to be too much time to leave Trudeau and the Thunder. The Thunder began the game’s last drive on their own 17, and needed pretty much all of the 2:59 to get Al Del Greco into position. With no time outs left, Trudeau hit Hart Lee Dykes for 7 yards to get the ball to the Denver 22. The Thunder raced to the line and just got the spike off with 1 second left. Del Greco came out, lined up his shot, and connected on the field goal as time expired. A tough loss for the Gold, but an elated Thunder bench raced out onto the field. Portland, now 4-2, shares first place in the division with Oakland. NJ 22 PIT 17 New Jersey had to rely on backup Oliver Luck to get a win against a stingy Pittsburgh defense. Flutie was knocked out just after the half, and Luck, playing with a 15-3 lead, managed to lead New Jersey on a key drive, ending with a TD to Lam Jones. That score proved the game winner as Pittsburgh scored 14 in the 4th, but could not get over the hump. BAL 29 WSH 31 Baltimore again proved to be a lot to handle, but the Federals, led late by Walter Lewis who came in for Hohensee, had just enough to hold them off. Barry Word rushed for 93 yards and 3 scores to power the Feds to a 31-19 lead after 3. Baltimore owned the 4th quarter, but simply could not get enough to overcome the deficit. JAX 21 ORL 24 The Renegades played inspired football at home to avoid going 0-6. Reggie Collier threw for 337 yards and 2 scores, and the Orlando D snagged two Bulls turnovers to help their squad upend Jacksonville. Whlie John Jefferson had a good game with 99 yards and a score, it was the 111 yards and 7 receptions by Wamon Buggs that put Orlando over the top in this close in-state rivalry game. BIR 44 TBY 20 Tampa Bay was feeling pretty good about their chances against the league champs, building up a 17-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter, but then Brett Favre caught fire. He would end the game with 4 scoring tosses, including 2 to Lawrence Dawsey, who returned from injury to a big day. The combo of Joseph, Fullwood, and rookie James Bostic contributed 109 yards on the ground, as Birmingham used a 44-3 run to blow past the overwhelmed Bandits. NOR 17 HOU 34 Houston got revenge for their earlier loss to the Breakers, showcasing Thurman Thomas in the process. Thomas rushed the ball 18 times for 112 yards and 2 scores, then added another 64 yards in the air, with a 3rd score for good measure, as the Gamblers doubled up on the Breakers at home. CHI 17 TEX 30 Blair Kiel started for Chicago, but after two early interceptions, including a pick-6 on a horrible QB decision, Coach Schottenheimer turned the ball over to Scott Zolak. Zolak was 21 of 27 for 220 yards, but it was not enough as Reggie Cobb and the Outlaws outpaced the Machine. Cobb finished with 96 yards and a score to help Texas score their 4th win and a share of first in the Central. STL 14 ARZ 21 St. Louis’s defense played well, limiting Arizona to only 248 total yards, but the Knights offense simply could not get enough done against Arizona’s D to get the win on the road. For Arizona it was all Trumaine Johnson, as the veteran wideout caught all three TD’s in the game for the Wranglers. MGN 20 PHI 37 The Stars thrilled the home crowd as Kelvin Bryant scored twice and the Philly secondary picked off legendary NFL QB Joe Montana 4 times on the day. Neither Montana nor Allen had an answer for the swarming Philadelphia defense as CB James Hasty picked off 2 balls and deflected another 4 to lead Philly’s defense on the day. OAK 27 MEM 33 Bobby Hebert had a big day for Oakland (3 TDs) but was also sacked 5 times by the Showboat defense. Mike Kelley had an even bigger day, throwing for 4 scores finding Jo-Jo Townsell twice as he led the ‘Boats to the overtime victory. Tied at 27 after 4 quarters, Memphis took the first drive and ended the game on a Kelley to Townsell scoring toss. We are going to give our POTW to Mike Kelley of the Showboats. Memphis was horrible last year, with Kelley injured, and the team went out and spent a lot of draft capital (and actual capital) to sign Tennessee QB Heath Shuler. That did not sit well with Kelley, who vowed to fight for his starting job. The result, a solid start to the season that has Memphis at 3-3, and this week, against a good Oakland defense, a 4-TD game, just to remind everyone that this is not Heath Sherman’s team yet. Fans may be buying up #5 Shuler jerseys. But #12 for Memphis is in no hurry to grab a clipboard and root for the kid. SEATTLE—We have the third of our four USFL Expansion coaches, and the new team leader in Seattle is a familiar figure to USFL fans. After LA signed former USFL QB Rick Neuheisel to be the youngest head coach in the league, and Atlanta snagged former Denver Broncos coach Dan Reeves, it was Seattle’s turn, and they opted to go with a coach who has experience building a team from scratch in the USFL, former Oklahoma and Texas Outlaw head coach Woody Widenhofer. Widenhofer, who spent 4 years as coach of the Outlaws, first in Tulsa and then, with a revamped roster, in the San Antonio/Austin area, has a USFL coaching record of 28-36, leading Oklahoma to a 4-12 expansion season before having 3 straight 8-8 years in Texas. Known for his defensive schemes and a blue collar work ethic, Widenhofer will help the Dragon front office to craft a roster and set up a new franchise in the Emerald City. OHIO—The Ohio Glory now stand as the only expansion club not to name a head coach yet. They have been interviewing finalist, including former Mauler Head Coach Joe Pendry, current Cleveland DC Nick Saban, and Bowling Green Head Coach Gary Blackney. The Glory expect to make an announcement in the next week to announce their first coach. Whoever it is, he should expect to have only limited player personnel responsibilities as Ohio has already committed to a strong role for GM Ron Hughes, formerly the Director of Player Personnel in Detroit of the NFL. USFL—Speaking of coaches, we thought it would be a good time to look at the current USFL coaching ranks and consider who may be on the hotseat and who is not. Looking first at the 4 new head coaches, it seems clear that both Mike Ditka in New Orleans and Jerry Glanville in Tampa have made strides with their teams, and will certainly have a couple of years to build what they want. Skip Holtz in Michigan and George O’Leary in Orlando are off to rougher starts, each 1-5, and in Michigan the signing of Montana and Marcus Allen seems to be putting immediate pressure on Holtz to start turning the Panthers around soon, but even if neither Holtz or O’Leary can produce immediately, we have to believe they will have at least another year to put their plans into place. Then we have our group of coaches who, largely due to their success in recent years, are under no pressure to preserve their jobs. In this group we have the two longest-tenured coaches in the league, Washington’s Sam Rutigliano (76-58 record) and Oakland’s Dick Vermeil (85-64-1 record). Add to that “safe” group Birmingham’s darling, Ron Erhardt, Houston’s Ray Willsey, Pittsburgh’s Tom Marchibroda, and Texas’s Gene Stallings (though the Texas trend of late season swoons might be an issue for Stallings.) Our middle group consists of coaches whose teams tend to play mid-level ball, or who have, as coaches, a .500 record. Believe it or not, after 6 weeks this season we have 6 coaches whose records are exactly .500. The list starts with Ted Tollner in Arizona (43-43), the same record as Galen Hall for the Bulls. Dennis Ericson in Portland sits at 35-35 but seems off to a good start this year. Among newer coaches we have Buddy Ryan in Memphis (19-19), Raymond Berry in Philadelphia (11-11), and Wade Phillips in Denver (also 11-11). So who is at greatest risk, well, coaches with losing records of course. Though, even in this group there are a couple who seem to be on the right path towards fixing that. Sam Wyche (17-21) seems to have the Generals headed the right way, and Marty Schottenheimer (17-27-1) had Chicago in the playoffs last year, so we expect his job is secure for now. Not so lucky are Lindy Infante in Baltimore (12-26) who needs to show progress this year, and, our most likely candidate to be dismissed, St. Louis’s Jack Elway, whose 18-16 record is not what fans in the Gateway City or ownership want to see. Our odds have Elway in deep trouble, and off to a 1-5 start does not help. Next up we look at Infante in Baltimore, Buddy Ryan in Memphis, and possibly either Holtz or O’Leary unless their first-year jitter turn into late season growth. Doug Flutie was the biggest name player to leave a game this week, and he may miss next week’s game against Houston, but his shoulder did not sustain significant damage, so we expect him back on the field Week 8 against Memphis. The same cannot be said for Philly LB Robert Gooch, who will be out 4-6 weeks with a torn meniscus, or for Arizona DE Dale Rogers, expected to miss a month or more with a stress fracture. Expected back this week are Scott Schwedes (NJ-WR), Bruce Hill (POR-WR), Jim Reynosa (MGN-DE), Marcus Cotton (STL-LB), and Bennie Blades (MEM-SS). We are edging closer to the mid-point of the year, and some more good divisional games on tap this week. Let’s start in the West, where Portland and Oakland will try to remain in 1st with home games. Portland has the Wranglers coming to town, while Oakland gets an easier task with 1-5 St. Louis coming to the Bay. In the Central the question is who will start at QB for Chicago when they face the Breakers in Soldier Field. Michigan hopes to get a home win as they host the Outlaws. In the south, it is Memphis hosting Tampa in a battle of 3-3 teams, while Birmingham hosts Orlando, fresh off the Renegades’ first win of the Year. And in the Atlantic it is 3-3 Philadelphia hosting 3-3 Washington, while Baltimore hopes home cooking can get them a win over 4-2 Pittsburgh. That leaves 4 teams out of division. New Jersey will host Houston and may be playing with Oliver Luck at QB. Denver travels to Jacksonville, and with Dave Krieg cleared to play, it will be a judgement call on who will QB the Gold in this battle of 3-3 teams.