"The Beginning of the End" Design Notes for the 1984 USFL (SOM Football v11)

Design Notes for the 1984 USFL (SOM FB V11)

Friday, May 13, 2011 5:24:48 PM

"The Beginning of the End"
1984 USFL Season for SOM Football - Original Publication Date: May 14, 2009 (et. seq.)

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The Beginning of The End

Dedicated to Don Imm, Pesky's Pole, Giant Jeff, and of course Bob Militello. This is is for your son, Bob. En Memento Mori - Reggie White, I wish I could be one tenth the man.

An alternate title might be "Fred's Fifth", since this is the fifth season that I did overall. It was also the first season I did that used every trick I know- a new QB model, RB modeling top to bottom, the full defensive model, a new 3-4 model, modeling passrushing, and the detailed QB starter charts. With only 18 teams and using five years in the making, this is the last teamset I did where I really felt like I had the time to hand craft every runner's card and receiving card, and so I think of this as one of my most personalized efforts. One thing that really helped is that I got Imm's Acta Sports gambling reviews of this season. Unlike sportscasters, gamblers analyze week by week every team's positions and weaknesses, and this data is actually VERY valuable to me as a designer, even if I do not know that "vigorish" is not exactly a type of candy.

The USFL relied on a time tested formula for growth in its second season, bidding hard for good young quarterbacks and runners. In an effort to keep costs down the WFL had not relied on this formula and few high quality QBs really emerged from this league (Danny White is the only WFL QB to have sustained later success in the NFL). The USFL followed the AFL model, and signed high quality players offensive players in its second season, such as QBs Steve Young and Kim Kelly, runners Joe Cribbs and Mike Rozier, linemen Reggie White, Gary Zimmerman, and Nate Newton, and receivers Ricky Sanders and Gary Clark. Holdovers from a similar approach in 1983 also dotted rosters - Arizona's Tim Spemcer, Michigan's Bobby Hebert and Anthony Carter, New Jersey's Herschel Walker, and Tampa Bay superback Gary Anderson.

Along with these superstars came others who starred, but came with less of a pedigree - runners Buford Jordan of New Orleans (214, 1276, 6.0, 8); Kelvin Bryant of Philadelphia (297, 1406, 4.7, 13); Chicago's Larry Canada (169, 915, 5.4, 7), and Oakland's Eric Jordan (143, 744, 5.5, 6) and receivers such as Birminghams' Jim Smith (89, 1481, 8) and Michigan's Derek Holloway (62, 1219, 9) all gave their teams a lift on the ground at bargain basement pricing. Mid-way through the 1984 season it became obvious that the existing financing structure of most teams was not sufficient to allow them to compete unless they could stick to relying on players such as the latter, rather than continuing the emerging bidding war with the NFL.

This difference in approach fractured ownership, but it united long enough to agree to suspend spring operations in 1986 an effort to compete for the lucrative fall TV contracts that would allow them to attract the best talent, and possibly to force a merger with the NFL. This decision was merited, but it also killed the USFL, since its survival now relied on the courts rather than the playing field to survive. This turned out to be a bad choice. With the adverse court decision came the end of the quaint idea (except perhaps in modern day Green Bay) that football could be community-based and could rely on personalities and innovation rather than high finance as its driver.

In football terms this era may have been the high water mark for on-field innovation. The 1984 USFL featured no less than five distinct full time offensive styles and three base defenses. The modern Eagle 4-2-5, the 3-3-5 zone blitz, the run and shoot - all of these schemes were tried during this season. Doug Williams readied himself for Super Bowl history playing for the Outlaws during 1984, and the season gave us Young and Kelly and the Fun Bunch II, but it also eventually established the NFL as the dominant source for Pro Football. No other league has yet challenged its supremacy, a whirlwind that we, as fans, may now be about to reap.

In design terms, the differing styles and varying approaches meet the full range of SOM options here in a season with the kind of team balance that as a designer you can only dream about. Of the NFL seasons only 1975 comes to mind in terms of similar top-heavy performance and individual color. After four seasons of 4-3 defenses and STD pro offenses we have the full range of the simulation finally available to us, and in this season year these flavors are not so much presented as they are unleashed. This is a season in color, finally, rather than in black and white.

The Top Six:

Philadelphia - 16-2, first in the Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference and USFL Champions;
3-4 defense and std pro offense, some blocking back

-Philadelphia had the 1984 USFL's best balance, matching an Excellent - Good defense with a steady offense led by former Buccaneer understudy QB Chuck Fusina and future Redskin runner Kelvin Bryant. The Stars lost twice to New Jersey but taught football excellence to everyone else in the USFL on their way to the top seed in the playoffs. Their run to the championship was also amazing, as they allowed only 20 points in three games. Philadelphia finally trumped the Generals' tough defense in the first round, winning 28-7, and they outlasted the explosive 15-4 Birmingham Stallions 20-10 in the second. The Stars throttled Arizona for the title 23-3 behind all-USFL players William Fuller, Pete Kugler, Sam Mills, Garcia Lane, and Mike Lush.

Fusina, and Bryant were the big names on the capable Philly offense, but the line also featured the Oates brothers, Bart and Brad, T Irv Eatman, and G Chuck Comiskey. Fullback David Riley split time with blocking back Jeff Rodenberger with great effect, as Riley scored ten touchdowns on only 94 touches. Other solid players included former Charger receiver receiver Scott Fitzkee, and punter Sean Landeta, who lasted all the way to 2006 as the last active player in the NFL from the USFL.

Birmingham Stallions - 14-4, first in the Southern Division, Eastern Conference
4-3 defense and std pro offense

The record is a bit misleading, because the Stallions dropped the two games they played at the very start and very end of the season without former Steeler clipboard holder Cliff Stoudt under center. With Stoudt they were 14-2, and they won often enough to outpace the tough Tampa Bay Bandits to win the South. 1983's best running team added former Buffalo all purpose back Joe Cribbs to the backfield, but was Stoudt who gave the team the versatile passer it had lacked the year before. Cribbs held out for two games mid-season but still led the league with 1467 yards rushing, while future Steeler WR Jim Smith set the USFL receiving yardage record with 1481 yards. The line featured all USFL guard Buddy Aydelette and Tackle Pat Phenix, who plowed the lanes open for the league's second best scoring attack. The defense was capable if unspectacular, with linemen Dave Pureifory and Mad Mike Perko applying pressure up front, LB Herbie Spencer roaming sideline to sideline, and the ever dangerous Chuck Clanton in the secondary.

In the first round of the playoffs the Stallions crunched Tampa Bay 36-17 as Danny Miller kicked five field goald and Cribbs raced for 112 yards. But Birmingham suffered a bad case of stage fright in the Eastern Conference Finals, losing two fumbles while Stoudt threw three interceptions in their loss to the Stars.

New Jersey Generals - 14-4, second in the Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference
3-4 defense and TE offense (Thanks Linus!)

The previous year's edition of the Generals had weaknesses up front and had rotated in three signal callers to no avail, and so Donald Trump's new management group sought to improve the defense and the quarterbacking. They made every right move, adding an entirely new linebacking corp (Jim LeClair, Bob Horn, Bobby Leopold, and Willie Harper) to linemen James Lockette and Tim Woodland, and former NFL safety Gary Barbaro. Barbaro immediately added presence to the secondary and the defense rose to a top three unit. On offense the top holdover was mutiple threat tailback and Heisman winner Hershel Walker, and Trump added help for him too, in NFL linemen Kent Hull, Wayne Harris and Doug Mackie, along with former Cleveland QB Brian Sipe.

The Generals sufffered from the loss of speedy wideout Danny Knight to injuries, and Sipe was clearly on the downside of his career, so the team installed a two TE offense featuring Jeff Spek and Sam Bowers and trampled its way to two 1,000 yard seasons from Walker and FB Maurice Carthon. With their dangerous veteran defense and powerful running corps this team could compete with anybody, and they bruised their way to two wins over the Stars in the regular season until finally succumbing to them in the playoffs.

Tampa Bay Bandits - 14-4, second in the Southern Division, Eastern Conference
3-4 Defense and multiple offenses, usually 2 RB 3 WR

The Bandits were the league's attendance leader and they were probably its best run franchise. As the architect of community friendly "Bandit -Ball", owner John Bassett eschewed expensive free agents from the NFL or the college ranks. Instead he built a winner out of replacement parts, such as NFL backups QB John Reaves (4092 yds, 28 TDs) and RB Greg Boone (1009 yards, 8 TDs). One of 1983's breakout stars, WR Eric Turvillion ("E.T") was slowed by injuries, but the emergence of second year man Gary Anderson helped to pick up the slack. Anderson, who would later star for the Chargers, ran for 1009 yards and 19 TDs while catching 66 passes. The line, featuring veterans Fred Dean, Dan Fike and rookie sensation Nate Newton, protected the QBs and made way for the runners well enough for the Bandits to post just under 500 points for the year.

The defense was led up front by NT Fred Nordgren and End Mike Butler, and LBs Kelly Kirchbaum and James Harrell, and the speical teams had Zenon Andrusyshyn as a kicker and punter to help them win the close ones. The Bandits stuffed enemy runners enough to keep pace with the Stallions for the entire year, but if Tampa Bay had a weakness it was in their secondary, and Brimingham exposed this in the first round of the playoffs in a 36-17 torching.

Houston Gamblers - 13-5, first in the Central Division, Western Conference
4-3 defense and run and shoot offense

Mouse Davis and his Run and Shoot offense exploded onto the pro football scene in the Eighties, with its debut coming here, in Houston. The Gamblers drafted Jim Kelly and surrounded him with a talented group of receivers, including the two league leaders in catches, Richard Johnson and Ricky Sanders. Scott McGhee, Greg Moser, Clarence Verdin and Gerald McNeil rounded out a corps that allowed Kelly to reach 5219 yards and 44 touchdowns as a rookie passer. Houston had a pair of bruising runners to run draws and keep teams honest in NFL veteran Sam Harrell and rookie Todd Fowler. Fowler was a particularly good free agent choice, as he tallied 11 TDs and 1000 yards on only 170 carries. In true Jack Pardee fashion, Verdin and McNeil, known as the Ice Cube, bolstered the league's best special teams, as they each posted a TD on a return. NFL vets Toni Fritsch handled the kicking and Dale Walters the punting, while the Gamblers' special teams hunted down and snuffed enemy returns.

The Gamblers started slow, as their young defense took some time to jell. An early season 52-34 blasting by Bobby Hebert and the Michigan Panthers left them at 3-3. Then the defense, led by Cleveland Crosby, Pete Catan and Kiki DeAyala up front and former Saint Tommy Myers in secondary started to put some pressure on enemy passers and the team was able to outscore their opposition enough down the stretch to finish 10-2 and make the playoffs. There they ran into the one matchup that was going to be troublesome - the Arizona Wranglers and their powerful defensive front four. Houston had allowed 82 sacks in the regular season as a by product of their high risk, high reward style of offense, and they could not hold a 16-3 fourth quarter lead against the Wranglers and Greg Landry, losing 17-16.

Arizona Wranglers, second in the Pacific Division, Western Conference, runner up in the USFL Championship Game
4-3 defense and std pro offense

The Wranglers were an enigmatic squad, posting a record of only 10-8 while outscoring their opponents 502 to 284. At their best they could beat anybody. But Arizona found unusual ways to lose early on in spite of their top ranked defense and ferocious pass rush. Linemen John Lee, Karl Lorch, and Kit Lathrop menaced enemy passers while the secondary of Bruce Laird, Frank Minnifield and Luther Bradley snapped up or tipped away enemy passes. With his team missing kicks, fumbling punts, and allowing safeties to start at only 4-6, coach George Allen revved up running backs Kevin Long (1010 yards, 15 TDs) and Tim Spencer (121 yards, 17 TDs) down the stretch.

This would be QB Greg Landry's USFL swansong and he went back to the NFL as a backup QB for the Bears after a great season, throwing for 65%, 3534 yds, 26 Tds, while often catching all-star WR Trumaine Johnson (90 catches, 1268 yards, 13 TDs) behind napping enemy secondaries. Tom Thayer, Gerry Sullivan, and David Huffman kept Landry's jersey clean while opening up holes for the Wrangler runners. The Wrangler offense rose and fell with the talented and explosive Spencer, and he did most of his damage during the stretch drive, averaging more than 150 yards a game in total offense and scoring ten TDs while the team won its last four in a row. Spencer also savaged the Houston Gamblers and the Steve Young-led Los Angeles Express in the playoffs before the Stars wrapped him up completely in the Championship game.

Competitive Design:

If you liked NFL football in 1984 or 1985, this is the set for you. The 1984 USFL team setup is slighly "pass-first", and a it is a wide-open offensive model, at around 5.2 yards per play. But the runners average about 4.3 - 4.4 yds per carry and they can punish you, along with half a dozen passers - Kelly, Young, Stoudt, Collier, etc. who can hurt you with their scrambling. Ed's excellent CMs for this season are set up to be a bit conservative, which can make them tough to score on. This will reduce the offensive balance a bit. The teams tend to run a lot of draws on third and very long if scores are close.

This is not unrealistic, especially for early USFL play, but I recommend for 1984 autoplays that gamers turn off the caps for runners and receivers. Being mostly distributive the CMs do not manage these limits well, like humans would, and the resulting increase in big plays from freeing runners and WRs will raise the scoring by about two points per game while releasing the CMs from the limits a lower score differential imposes. In other words, the offenses open up, and the ball really flies around the field!

The caps should be on for human on human matchups. People will figure out very quickly how to use formations to gain the advantage on their opponents, particularly offensively, and the set should play straight up head to head right down the middle of the stats with no need for any special rules jiggery-pokery.

(One thing I need to point out is the timing here is also different - the USFL had an obscure special rule which we did not have time to incorporate this year. The clock stopped on first downs inside two minutes for each half. This means the average USFL team would run 65-67 plays in a game, as opposed to 62-64 here. That difference, about fifteen yards per team per game, deletes about 250 yards of offense and lowers scoring by about 1.5 points per team per game.)

Visual Design:

The set is visually designed to look and feel like the original SOM set from c. 1985 or so, with its quirky specialty third down backs, big play receivers, thumping TEs, and breakaway runners. The best 1985 backs had big short gain chances defense right, and so we also see these here. The 3-4 defenses live and die with their nosetackles and pass rushing LBs, while the 4-3s apply pressure from powerful sub pass rushing DEs. A lot of teams have these, reserve star rated pass rushers, and when they are on the field you have to choose your blockers and receivers carefully in one back sets.