The Monday night United States Football League matchup on
May 9, 1983 featured the New Jersey Generals, with prize rookie RB Herschel
Walker, against the visiting Birmingham Stallions. After a slow start, Walker came
into the tenth week leading the new league with over a thousand yards on the
ground. However, while they had won the previous week, the Generals were only
3-6 thus far under Head Coach Chuck Fairbanks. Other than Walker, the offense
was ordinary and the defense mediocre.
The Stallions, under Head Coach Rollie Dotsch, were 4-5
and suffered with inexperienced Bob Lane and Reggie Collier at quarterback, but
utilized an effective running back-by-committee approach. The young defense
tended to keep opposing teams out of the end zone and had given up a total of
just 21 points over the previous three contests.
There was a crowd of 38,734 in attendance at Giants
Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. After the Stallions were forced to punt on their initial possession, the
Generals took the early lead thanks to a 37-yard scoring pass from QB Bobby
Scott to WR Tom McConnaughey on their second play from scrimmage at 2:22 into
the first quarter. Unfortunately for the home team, that would prove to be the
high point of the evening.
Birmingham came back with an 84-yard drive that
culminated in a one-yard touchdown run by RB Bill White. Two more time-consuming
drives led to field goals by Scott Norwood in the second quarter. The second
came with 18 seconds remaining and made it 13-7 in favor of the Stallions at
the half. But while the score was close, Birmingham had dominated time of
possession by holding onto the ball for just over 22 minutes. As a result, Herschel
Walker had just five carries for 19 yards.
Norwood kicked a 31-yard field goal with just under five
minutes to play in the third quarter to extend Birmingham’s lead to 16-7 and
then recovered a fumbled kickoff return by RB Thomas Lott. That set up his
fourth field goal, from 37 yards.
Norwood booted a league-record fifth field goal in the
fourth quarter from 25 yard but just missed a sixth from 41 yards. It was more
than enough for the Stallions, who won comfortably by a score of 22-7.
Birmingham dominated in total yards (414 to 154), with
242 of that total coming on the ground, as opposed to just 38 yards for the
Generals. The Stallions also were dominant in first downs (24 to 8) and time of
possession (43:28 to 16:32). The visitors didn’t turn the ball over, while New
Jersey did so once.
Four Birmingham runners outrushed Walker – Ken Talton (64
yards on 20 carries), Earl Gant (12 attempts for 56 yards), Bill White (15
carries for 53 yards), and Cornelius Quarles (11 for 47). Bob Lane was
successful on 13 of 19 passes for 182 yards. WR Jim Smith topped the receivers
with 5 catches for 78 yards. Scott Norwood, the rookie placekicker out of James
Madison who had failed to catch on with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, was the
scoring star with his five field goals in six attempts.
For the Generals, Herschel Walker gained just 28 yards on
11 carries. Bobby Scott completed 7 of 16 throws for 121 yards and a TD with
none intercepted while backup Gene Bradley was successful on just 2 of 6 for 11
yards. TE Sam Bowers caught 4 passes for 62 yards.
“They kept the ball the whole game and I just stood back
and watched,” said Herschel Walker. “I reckon I should have brought my rabbit’s
foot – we didn’t have any luck.”
The Stallions went on to finish fourth in the tough
Central Division with a 9-9 record. New Jersey ended up third in the Atlantic
Division at 6-12.
Scott Norwood’s five field goals remained the USFL
record, although it was tied twice – by David Trout of the Stars in 1984 and
Brian Franco of Jacksonville in ’85. For the 1983 season, Norwood was
successful on 25 of 34 field goal attempts and added 34 extra points to total
109 points, which ranked fourth in the league.
Herschel Walker bounced back with 87 yards the next week
on his way to topping the circuit with 1812 yards on 412 carries (4.4 avg.) and
17 touchdowns. He also led the Generals in pass receiving with 53 catches for
489 yards and another TD.
