Week 4 saw a few upsets like Philadelphia over New Jersey and Oklahoma over Pittsburgh, but none bigger than Denver handing the Champs their 2nd consecutive defeat. For Philadelphia and Oklahoma, that was their first victories of the season and Georgia joined them in getting off the schneid by blowing out Boston 44-7. Honolulu won their game by 30 points, Denver beat Portland by 21, Shreveport won by 20 and Florida won by 33. Baltimore had been blowing people out but they "only" won by 14 this week while San Jose posted an 18 point win over previously undefeated Michigan. These were the first TDs the Panthers defense has given up all season. Our last undefeated teams are the Denver Gold, Florida Blazers and Baltimore Stars, while we have 4 teams still seeking their first W of 1992: Los Angeles, Southern California, Chicago and Arizona.
Gold 34 Storm 13
Portland has already doubled the number of losses from last season as the offense has hit a 2 game slump. The Storm defense played well in last week's loss to New Orleans but Denver shredded them today. The Gold amassed 452 offensive yards, 250 of that on the ground, as the Gold turned a 10-10 halftime tie into a blowout of the defending champs. The big blow was a 91 yard TD run by Brian Thornton to put Denver up 14 points in the 3rd qtr, and the Gold defense allowed nothing but three three and outs in the final 15 minutes as they take early control of the West.
Portland didn't turn the ball over but only gained 267 yards on offense. All Pro RB Timothy Roquemore was bottled up all game long, gaining 0 yards on 8 carries with 11 yards on 2 receptions. Jose Moses did have a combined 149 yards as the Storm's lone bright spot. Denver only passed for 202 yards but that's plenty when you get 250 on the ground. The Gold had big games from both Thornton (8-109-1) and Jake Peralta (17-102), plus 39 yards and a TD from 3rd string RB Raymond Caviness.
Stars 27 Hornets 13
Baltimore doubled the yardage (427-209) and points of Charlotte despite losing the turnover battle 4-0. Jon Snow threw for 356 yards, 3 TD and 2 INT and John Warkentin had 107 receiving yards on 3 catches to lead the Stars to victory. The Baltimore defense made sure the turnovers didn't cost the game as they held the Charlotte offense in check as the Hornets only had 2 drives longer than 23 yards and 5 plays. Despite all of that, the Hornets hung around, trailing 10-7 at the half and 20-10 after 3 but just couldn't get over the hump as they lose their 3rd straight game.
Blazers 39 Express 6
Florida remains unbeaten as they crush the Express, out gaining them 554-249. The Blazers ran for 148 and had 406 passing on just 21 completions. The only thing that didn't go well for Florida was red zone offense, as they kicked 5 FGs with just 1 TD in 6 trips. The Blazers had 4 players with 100 combined yards or more: WR Ray Parker (6 rec. 141 yds 1 TD), WR Freddy Jones (2-110-1), RB Kevin Forester (16 rushes 93 yds, 1 TD, 2 rec 9 yards) and RB Ronald Kirby (16-58 rushing, 3-70 receiving).
SaberCats 21 Panthers 3
Michigan came into this game 3-0, having only given up 8 points on the season, 2 field goals and a safety. That defense would be tested by 3rd year WR Mark Hsu, who is known for having huge statistical games. In 27 regular season games prior to today, Hsu had 10 games of at least 150 receiving yards, including a pair of 200 yard games and a pair of 300 yard games. Make that 11 after today's 7-184-1 line as QB Jake Plummer fired 3 TD passes in all for 289 yards, the first touchdowns allowed this year by Michigan. The Panthers can't have that happen too many more times unless their offense can figure a way to score 20 or more themselves, as their high water mark is 17.
Outlaws 24 Maulers 17
Oklahoma rarely scores 20 points in a game, as it happened just once in 1991 and 1990, and twice in 1989. When they do score 20, they win however, and today was no exception. Pittsburgh led at halftime 10-3 and after a 75 yard TD from Will Allison to William Cox, most people probably thought 17-3 was enough for the Maulers to coast to victory. Will Allison threw an INT deep in his own end, setting up the Outlaws with a 1st and goal from the 5. One play later, John Crisp found Eric Hollar for a TD to cut the deficit to 17-10. More importantly for Oklahoma, that turnover/TD seemed to flip a switch, as the defense forced punts on the next 2 Pittsburgh drives and having 2 scoring drives on offense of 80+ yards and all of a sudden, they're leading 24-17 with 6 minutes to play. Pittsburgh would get within long FG range on their last 2 drives but down 7 points, opted to go for it on 4th down both drives and failed, allowing Oklahoma their first win of 1992.
Force 44 Breakers 7
Boston came into the game with a 2-1 record and had to like seeing Georgia and their 0-3 record on the schedule. The Breakers have had their troubles stopping the run in recent seasons but their pass defense was top notch a year ago, although it's middle of the pack so far in 1992. Rookie QB Milton People fired 4 TD passes for the Force today, finding a different receiver each time. People finished 24/37, 291 yards, 4 TD and 1 INT. Georgia had a big game from RB Ricardo Thomas (20-110) and WR Mathew Taylor (5-116-1) as the Force built a 24-0 halftime lead and never looked back. The Force grab their first win of the season while Boston lost it's 2nd straight to fall to 2-2. That's still good enough for a tie atop the division nobody wants to win, otherwise known as the East, and the Breakers play New Jersey next week and the winner will be 3-2 and in sole possession of first.
Gamblers 20 Showboats 14
Houston and Memphis have been battling it out for division supremacy for the last decade as they have been 1-2 since 1982. They are still battling for the Southwest, but San Antonio is also playing well so we may have a 3 team race. Houston and Memphis usually have close, down to the wire games, and while there were no 4th qtr points today, it still came down to the wire with Houston needing a couple late defensive stops to preserve the win. Memphis WR David Austin was the only skill player to have a 100 yard game as he caught 4 passes for 122 yards. Neither QB topped 300 yards but both played decently, with Tony Dean completing 34/40 passes for 282 yards and 2 TD with an INT.
VooDoo 19 Renegades 14
Orlando's rookie QB Emory Howard threw 2 first half TD passes to help the Renegades to a 14-10 halftime lead over New Orleans but the second half was a different story. The VooDoo defense held the Renegades scoreless over the final 30 minutes. Bruno Wilson threw 2 TD passes of his own, a 75 yard TD to Nicholas Dorey and a 3 yard score to Thomas Thomas. That TD to Thomas was the only TD of the second half and Orlando RB Can Dalton was tackled in the end zone for a safety. The VooDoo won the second half 9-0 to give us our final of 19-14 New Orleans.
Federals 28 (NY) Stars 15
Washington rode a pair of Scott Bieber TD passes to a 14-0 halftime lead and the Federals added a 45 yard James Dunn TD run early in the 3rd for a seemingly commanding 21-0 lead. New York's defense finally held Washington for a bit and the next 3 scores were all by the Stars. Despite two red zone trips, all of those scores were just field goals, so New York still trailed 21-9 early in the 4th. With 3:10 left, Bieber found Andrew Favela for his 3rd TD of the day to give the Federals a 28-9 lead. Stars QB Willie Bust finally got New York into the end zone with a 53 yard pass to Joel Davis but it was too little too late.
Gunslingers 13 Blitz 9
San Antonio wins ugly again, could they be this year's Pittsburgh Maulers? This game featured 5 turnovers, 3 missed FG attempts and a late game defensive call only Gregg Williams, formerly of the NY Jets would love. Leon Rupe's 3 field goals (in 5 tries) had Chicago in the lead late, 9-7. San Antonio wasn't generating much offense all game long when they took possession of the ball at their own 16 with 0:16 on the game clock. Chicago tried living up to their nickname by blitzing and it cost them the ball game. Peter White beat coverage at the line of scrimmage and Peter Fanelli hit him in stride, resulting in an improbable 84 yard game winning TD. The Gunslingers are now 3-1, tied with Houston for the lead in the Southwest.
Hawaiians 36 Sun 6
Honolulu had a balanced attack, rushing for 209 yards and passing for 203 while holding Southern California to just 136 yards as the Hawaiians crushed the Sun. Scott Stillings ran for 178 yards and 2 TDs to lead the Hawaiians offense as they score 22 unanswered second half points to turn a close game into a rout.
Bell 24 Generals 13
For years, New Jersey dominated Philadelphia when they were winning the East every season but this isn't the 1980's anymore. The Bell defeat the Generals for the 2nd time in a row dating back to last season, and today QB Robert Hernandez threw a pair of TD passes in the first half as Philadelphia held a 21-10 halftime lead. The Generals defense held Philadelphia to just 3 points after halftime but the offense never got untracked. RB Sam Beckett returned for this game after a leg injury but he suffered a knee injury and will miss significant time, which means we'll see more of backup QB James Wright at RB. Not only was this Philadelphia's first win of the season, but they are also just 1 game out of first place as New Jersey and Boston currently lead with 2-2 records.
Invaders 22 Thunderbolts 7
There seems to be a lot of winning ugly going on, not that there's anything wrong with that. Add Oakland to that list as they have the 19th ranked offense, but 7th ranked defense, and thanks to the Storm slump, their 3-1 record is good for 2nd place in the West. Oakland only had 278 offensive yards but they held Cleveland to 155 and almost half of that total was their last 2 drives, already down 15. The Invaders also got 2 points on a running play by Cleveland that didn't make it out of the end zone for a safety.
Bandits 20 Stallions 13
Tampa Bay won a back and forth, turnover filled game thanks to 2 TD passes from rookie QB Thomas Lawson. It wasn't all good for Lawson as he also threw 3 INTs and the Bandits lost 1 of their 3 fumbles. The Stallions were just as careless with the ball as Ric Flair threw an INT and Francis Schultz lost 2 fumbles. Neither team ran the ball well and Birmingham sacked Lawson 3 times. The Bandits had a 13-3 lead late in the 3rd when Ric Flair tossed his TD pass to Justin Gilbert but the next drive stalled deep in Tampa Bay territory, forcing a short FG to tie the game from Gerald Hinton. Lawson then led a 10 play, 75 yard drive, culminating in an 8 yard TD pass to Luis Dean. Birmingham would turn it over on downs around midfield and the Bandits drained the clock for the 20-13 win.
Wheels 22 Wranglers 10
Who starts at QB for Arizona this game? What about next game? If you want to be the next Arizona Wranglers QB, send a video to the team at Sun Devil Stadium, 500 E. Veterans Way, Tempe, AZ 85287. For the 4th game of the season the Wranglers start their 4th different QB, Danny Nash. The Wranglers got the opening kickoff and marched down the field for a TD but it was all uphill for Arizona from that point. Nash threw 4 INTs, no TDs, about the same as the other 3 QBs who've started. At first glance, Detroit seems like a team with a weak to average offense, but they could be a dangerous team if they learn how to run the ball. They are 18th in overall yardage, 32nd in rushing, 5th passing, and today they had to settle for a bunch of field goals. Gabriel Flanagan was 21/29, 296 yards and a TD for victorious Detroit.
Steamer 23 Bulls 3
Shreveport QB Shane Falco completed 20/23 for 270 yards and a TD to lead the Steamer to victory. Jacksonville was coming off a win and a season high in yardage, but today they went back to struggling, generating only 129 yards and having 11 drives end in 3 or 4 plays and a punt, not including the 3 play, 9 yard "drive" before halftime. Shreveport enjoyed an almost 39-21 edge in time of possession and were in control throughout. WR Richard Wise caught 6 passes for 139 yards and a TD for the Steamer.
