This is season number 13 of USFL/WFL football, over 3000 total games and Bob Marley just did something only done once before. The New Jersey nickel back is a 2 time All Pro despite not starting because he has a nose for the football. He has 35 career INT's on only 291 passes thrown his way, but had never scored a TD.
That all changed in a big way in Week 7 as Marley returned two INT's for a TD, tying Monte Cherry, who did it in 1978 for the Cleveland Thunderbolts against Georgia. Marley's first TD gave New Jersey a 17-3 lead in the 2nd qtr while his second TD was the icing on a victory cake.
Generals 38 Hornets 6
Bob Marley wasn't the only General to have a big TD day, New Jersey's other 3 TD's were Ric Flair passes to free agent signee WR Marcus Medina. The first one was the longest, a 44 yarder, leading to 24 second quarter points. It was smooth sailing on the scoreboard but the blue medical tent on the Generals sideline saw even more action than the end zone.
Federals 23 Sun 17
Southern California traveled across the country to play the unbeaten Federals in Washington D.C. and almost came away with a victory. Sun QB Christopher Kimbrough's 2nd TD pass with 4:25 left in the game made the score 20-17 Federals and the defense forced a 3 and out. Southern California had 2:44 left for a game tying FG or game winning TD, but Kimbrough giveth and Kimbrough taketh away. His 3rd INT of the day killed that drive. Following a quick Washington FG to up their lead to the final margin, the Sun got the ball back with 1:45 left but turned it over on downs.
The Sun had a better stat day than the Federals other than the turnovers, but that is enough to keep Washington's loss column empty.
Gamblers 26 Gold 16
Denver played a pretty good first half against the 2 time defending champs, leading 16-10, but the 2nd half was a different story. Denver had 5 first half drives, resulting in a FG, TD, FG, punt, and FG with 16 minutes of possession. The second half drives ended on a punt, punt, punt, punt, downs, INT, the first 3 punts all three and out. This was not Houston's best game (maybe looking ahead to next week's showdown with Memphis?) but they won, as champions do, to stay undefeated.
Showboats 35 Gunslingers 21
Speaking of Memphis, the Showboats jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter thanks to two long TD passes from David Allen to Willie Howland. That first TD went for 79 yards, the second TD went for 66. The third TD of the opening quarter was also a big play, 75 yards from Allen to Jerome Betancourt. San Antonio could have packed up and went home but instead they fought back thanks to a couple of dead singers putting up over 100 yards receiving. Freddie Mercury caught 7 for 129 while Chris Cornell broke out of his rusty cage with 10 catches, 107 yards and a TD. The Gunslingers had to settle for too many FG's however, and they never got closer than 10 points, despite putting up 429 yards of offense.
That leaves us with 4 teams 7-0, though barring a tie next week, Houston or Memphis is going to lose.
Stallions 29 Thunderbolts 26
Birmingham won the battle of first place teams, scoring the last 13 points of the game to send the Cleveland faithful home disappointed. Birmingham sits atop the South Division, one of the 2 best, most competitive divisions in the league and they couldn't afford a loss to a 2-4 team. Cleveland is no normal 2-5 team though, as their 5 losses are by 4,7,4,2, and 3. While the Thunderbolts aren't lucky on the scoreboard, they are lucky to be in a division that is 2-16 vs the rest of the league.
Will we see our first sub-.500 playoff team?
All but one of the rest of the games were decided by 9 or more points, and I'm tired so I won't rehash the scores.
Hall of Fame Bios are still a work in progress, I haven't forgot about them. I'm kind of like Andy Reid when it comes to time management, I apologize.
We have a new owner for the San Jose SaberCats, Danny-G96. Danny was the original owner of the Southern California Sun and had them their first 9 seasons.
