By Will Freeman
Tampa Bay Bandits 27, Houston Gamblers 26
This was a great back and forth game. Though I will say that Tampa had a few miscues with fumbles and bad O-line play that caused Ta’amu to use his legs often, he passed for 255 yards with most coming from his favorite target wideout Derrick Dillon with 124 receiving yards and a touchdown, and then TB gets the victory with the FG in the final minutes of the game. TB needs their defense to play better in the future, especially with that run defense. Mark Thompson ran for 147 yards in 24 attempts for his season-best, combined with the passing game of QB Clayton Thorson with 240 passing yards 2 TDs and an interception for the Gamblers.
Birmingham Stallions 22, New Orleans Breakers 13
It was a defensive game in the first quarter, but the undefeated Stallions got to 3-0 thanks to their defense causing turnovers, especially with a strip-sacked safety. This was the second straight game with the Stallions as the visiting team. They will continue to play as the home team due to Birmingham being the hub city until the playoffs go to Canton, Ohio. I still see the Breakers still making an impact in the very competitive South Division.
Michigan Panthers 24, Pittsburgh Maulers 0
How to describe this game? Everything went right for the Panthers, and everything went wrong for the Maulers. Maulers had turnovers and many missed field goals. Panthers started out with Paxton Lynch until he was injured and Shea Patterson went in. The running game from Reggie Corbin, Stevie Scott, and Cameron Scarlett with the combined rushing of 244 yards helped the Panthers to a blowout victory. Maulers’ head coach Kirby Wilson also did not help matters with his post-game press conference. Never thought anyone would outdo Jeff Fisher’s post-game press conferences while he was in St. Louis, but Kirby Wilson did it in the most Jeff Fisher way possible.
New Jersey Generals 24, Philadelphia Stars 16
It looks like the Generals should consider a change in QBs from Luis Perez to De’Andre Johnson. Johnson’s dual-threat skills gave the Generals more offensive firepower to complement the running game of Trey Williams and Darius Victor had 270 yards combined. The Stars had to put their backup QB Case Cookus in after their starter QB Bryan Scott got injured during the second quarter and scored a TD on his first play with a 47-yard pass to WR Jordan Suell. Cookus played well throughout the rest of the game so the QB battle for the Stars should be interesting in the near future.
Overview for Week 3:
The USFL should strongly consider expanding the number of active players on the roster. Especially with multiple injuries to quarterbacks and offensive linemen in Week 3. Kicker woes continue with multiple missed extra points and field goals. The chip in the ball can no longer be used as an excuse for missed kicks. Also, there were some technical difficulties at times with the commentary, but overall good.