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Philadelphia 43 at Birmingham 11


1984 Week 11 - Sunday, May 6, 1984
Philadelphia Stars(9-1) at Birmingham Stallions(9-1)(-3.5)
Attendance: 49,500, TV: ABC

BIRMINGHAM, Ala (AP) - All season long, the Philadelphia Stars have been subjected to test after test.

For the most part, they have passed those tests and moved toward the head of the class.

On Sunday, the Stars perhaps passed their stiffest test.

And while they made it look easy, It wasn't.

You see, the Stars netted only one yard on their first four rushes from scrimmage.

That was bad - for the Birmingham Stallions.

"They did a good job against our running game early and we had to switch to the pass," said Philadelphia coach Jim Mora, after the Stars shackled the Stallions, 43-11, Sunday in a game between the United States Football League's top two teams.

With Philadelphia unable to run at the start, Mora said, "We hit a couple of play actions and that seemed to open things up " Chuck Fusina passed for two touchdowns and David Trout kicked five field goals after the Stars got on track.

Mora said he thought the game would be a lot closer but after the lopsided margin, he refused to speculate on whether he has the league's best team.

That, he said will be decided in the playoffs.

"However, I think we re a pretty good team", Mora said, "I'm pretty confident."

Birmingham coach Rollie Dotsch said the Stars "quite beat us in all areas "

He said he would feel worse if the Stallions, who were slightly favored, had lost a close game.

Philadelphia had 25 more plays than the Stallions and held the ball more than 16 minutes longer than Birmingham, the league's best club in time of possession.

The victory, before an announced crowd of 49,500, moved the Atlantic Division-leading Stars to 10-1 and left them as the only team with a single loss.

The Stallions fell to 9 2 but remained atop the Soutnern Division.

The Stars piled up 270 yards rushing and 244 passing against the second-best defense in the USFL.

David Riley scored from the seven yard line in first period and the Stars iced the game with 23 second-period points including scoring catches by Herbert Harris and Scott Fitzkee.

Trout collected three of his field goals in the second quarter, two of them after Stallions fumbles -- the first by Joe Cnbbs and the other by Von Mansfield.

Trout's five field goals tied a league record held by two other players.

Harris catch first bounced off his hands then off defender Dennis Woodberrv and back to Harris, who juggled it momentarily while running to the end zone. The play covered 51 yards.

Complete Game




Highlights




Highlights




	1	2	3	4	F
PHI	7      23     	3      10   -   43
BIR	0	3	0	8   -   11

Scoring

PHI:Riley 4 yd run (Trout kick) - PHI 7, BIR 0

PHI:Trout 29 yd field goal - PHI 10, BIR 0

PHI:H. Harris 51 yd pass from Fusina (Trout kick) - PHI 17, BIR 0

PHI:Trout 29 yd field goal - PHI 20, BIR 0

PHI:Trout 25 yd field goal - PHI 23, BIR 0

PHI:Fitzkee 12 yd pass from Fusina (Trout kick)- PHI 30, BIR 0

BIR:Miller 47 yd field goal - PHI 30, BIR 3

PHI:Trout 26 yd field goal - PHI 33, BIR 3

PHI:Trout 26 yd field goal - PHI 36, BIR 3

BIR:Jones 44 yd pass from Lane (Smith pass from Lane) - PHI 36, BIR 11

PHI:Thomas 39 yd run (Trout kick) - PHI 43, BIR 11

Box Score

                             PHI            BIR
First Downs                   26             10
Rushes-Yards              46-270          21-90
Passing (A-C-Y-I)    27-16-244-0    28-10-161-1
Sacked-Yards Lost           3-25           2-16
Total Plays-Yards         76-489         51-235
Fumbles-Lost                 1-1            3-2
Penalties-Yards             5-34           6-50
Turnovers                      1              3
Time of Possession         38:06          21:54

Attendance = 49,500

PHILADELPHIA				     BIRMINGHAM
Passing     Att Cmp Yds In Td  Rate          Passing     Att Cmp Yds In Td  Rate
Fusina       26  15 227  0  2 112.2          Stoudt       18   6  68  0  0  45.6
Riordan       1   1  17  0  0 118.8          Lane         10   4  99  1  1  70.4

Rushing     Att Yds  Ave TD                  Rushing     Att Yds  Ave TD
Bryant       18  84  4.7  0                  Cribbs       12  57  4.8  0
Thomas        7  69  9.9  1                  Perry         4  25  6.3  0
Riley         6  62 10.3  1                  Stoudt        3   7  2.3  0
Harvin        8  32  4.0  0                  Gant          2   1  0.5  0
Rodenberger   5  17  3.4  0                  
Fusina        1   3  3.0  0                  
Riordan       1   3  3.0  0                  

Receiving   Rec Yds  Ave TD                  Receiving   Rec Yds  Ave TD
Harris H      3  74 24.7  1                  Jones         2  65 32.5  1
Collier       4  66 16.5  0                  Cribbs        4  54 13.5  0
Bryant        4  42 10.5  0                  Smith         2  21 10.5  0
Fitzkee       3  40 13.3  1                  Toler         1  16 16.0  0
Riley         1  18 18.0  0                  Perry         1   5  5.0  0
Folsom        1   4  4.0  0                  

Kick Returns   No Yds  Ave TD                Kick Returns   No Yds  Ave TD
Dunek           1   0  0.0  0                Gant            2  42 21.0  0
                                             Mansfield       2  20 10.0  0

Punt Returns   No Yds  Ave TD                Punt Returns   No Yds  Ave TD
Lane            4  36  9.0  0                None

Kicking          Fg  Lg   Xp  Pts            Kicking          Fg  Lg   Xp  Pts
Trout           5-5  29  4-4   19            Miller          1-1  47  0-0    3
                miss: --                                     miss: --

Punting        No Yds  Ave                   Punting        No Yds  Ave
Landeta         2  90 45.0                   Parsons         8 299 37.4

Sacks          Sk Yds                        Sacks          Sk Yds
Mills           1   8                        Bohannon      1.5  12
Cooper          1   8                        Boren         0.5   5
                                             Gentry        0.5   4
                                             Murphy        0.5   4

Interceptions  No Yds  Ave TD                Interceptions  No Yds  Ave TD
Howard          1   0  0.0  0                None

Archived news report

Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn


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