May 1, 1983
New Jersey Generals at Denver Gold
Box Score (from the 1984 Media Guide)
Game Summary (from the New York Times, May 2, 1983)
Coming Soon
WALKER GAINS 172 IN GENERALS' VICTORY
The New Jersey Generals, who had played well in portions of some of their first eight games, put together four quarters of power football today and defeated the Denver Gold, 34-29, before 47,940 at Mile High Stadium.
Herschel Walker, who had perhaps his most impressive game as a professional, rushed for 172 yards on 29 carries and scored on an electrifying 80-yard run in the fourth quarter.
Walker's rushing total not only strengthened his league lead over Kelvin Bryant of the Philadelphia Stars but made him the first United States Football League runner to go over 1,000 yards. He has 1,023.
''Our offensive line kept taking it to them,'' said Walker. ''We knew we'd have to wear them down, and that's what we did.''
Scott Has Good Protection
The offensive line also provided for the quarterback Bobby Scott, allowing only one sack. Scott, whose play has been criticized the first half of the season, responded with his best game as a pro, passing for 282 yards and completing 21 of 29 passes, including 13 straight from the second quarter to the middle of the third.
Five of those passes went to Walker, who has emerged as a receiving threat out of the backfield. ''He's a lot better receiver than folks realize,'' Scott said. ''He can do it all, catching passes from the 'I' or from the split-back formations. He gives us a whole new dimension on offense.''
The Gold, alternating three running backs - Larry Canada, Harry Sydney and Terry Miller - dominated the left side of the Generals' defense in the first quarter, going 60 yards on its first possession to take a 7-0 lead on Sydney's 3-yard run.
Field Goal Is Blocked
The Generals, who threatened early in the first quarter but failed to score when Dave Jacobs's 15-yard field goal was blocked, tied the score on a 1-yard run by Maurice Carthon, who rushed for 37 yards.
New Jersey made an adjustment with the left outside linebacker Maurice Clemmons and shut down the Gold's running attack. The Gold then went to tricks. On fourth down, with three minutes remaining in the half, the punter Steve Gortz threw a pass to Glenn Ford, who ran 75 yards for the touchdown. Then Denver faked an extra-point attempt and threw instead for a 2-point conversion.
But on the next series, Scott continued to work on the Denver secondary, hitting Walker with short passes underneath the Gold zone, and the tight end Sam Bowers with medium-range passes in the seams.
''The middle was open all day,'' said Bowers, a former Fordham player who caught seven passes for 138 yards despite taking several hard hits. ''The linebackers went with the offensive backs when they flared out; that's what opened things up.''
Generals Seize Momentum
The Generals dominated the Gold at the beginning of the second half. Scott connected with Bowers on a 49-yard pass play, and Carthon scored from the 1 on the next play.
The Generals threatened to make it a rout midway in the third quarter when the linebacker John Joyce stripped the ball from Canada and the strong safety Eric Johnson ran 43 yards with the fumble for the score.
The Gold cut the margin to 27-22 in the fourth quarter on a 7-yard run by Canada. But on the Generals' next offensive play Walker, running a misdirection play between the left guard and tackle, shot into the Gold secondary and was off on an 80-yard touchdown run, the longest run from scrimmage in the league so far.
''When I looked up and saw Herschel 8 yards into the secondary,'' said the Generals coach, Chuck Fairbanks, ''I knew all of the angles were right and no one was going to get a bead on him.''
Denver scored one more time on a quarterback sneak by Ken Johnson, who completed 14 of 27 passes. The Generals are now 3-6 and Denver is 4-5.
OK. The league was a little under half way through the first season, and I was finally getting to see some real quality. The New Jersey Generals were coming to town. Or more accurately, THE NEW JERSEY GENERAL, was. Lets face it, in 1983, the USFL was Hershel Walker. If he performed poorly, it was news. If he did well, it was news. The rest of the league had to scrape for coverage, but Walker was the poster boy. And he was finally in Denver.
The Generals had the worse record, and I expected Denver to win. All they had to do was stop #34. Unfortunately, they did not. Walker ran all over the Gold. I was not surprised when I read the next day that he had 172 yards. His 80 yard run in the fourth quarter was amazing. Just a simple run to the outside (away from where I was sitting), he ran over the defenders then out ran the safety. I understood why he was a Heisman trophy winner.
The Gold was fun to watch, though. A fake punt and a fake extra point. Pretty entertaining for a team that was slowly coming apart.