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Denver 29 at Michigan 21
1983 Week 5 - Monday, April 4, 1983
Denver Gold(2-2) at Michigan Panthers(1-3)(E)
Attendance: 11,279, TV: KUSA
PONTIAC (AP) - Denver's play of the week turned out to be the play of the game.
"Everything went right," reserve quarterback Jeff Knapple said after he scampered for two points on a fake kick conversion attempt to help the Gold defeat the Michigan Panthers 29-21 in a United States Football League game Monday night.
Knapple's seven-yard jaunt up the middle with just 2:42 left in the game gave the Gold a 22-21 lead and deflated the Panthers, who had pulled ahead 21-14 on the strength of two one-yard touchdown runs by quarterback Bobby Hebert and a 36-yard TD pass from Hebert to wide receiver Derek Holloway.
"It was the play for this week," said Denver Coach Red Miller. "It's a play we built on the way the defense lines up.
"They covered the kicker and he (Knapple) took it in."
It was the second trick play of the game to work for the Gold, now 3-2 with three straight victories and a share of the USFL Pacific Division lead. Michigan slips to 1-4, including four consecutive losses.
1 2 3 4 F OAK 0 0 7 0 - 7 LA 7 0 0 3 - 10 Scoring LA: Ellis 17 yd pass from Rae (Abbott kick) - LA 7, OAK 0 OAK:Whittington 2 yd run (Shea kick) - OAK 7, LA 7 LA: Abbott 19 yd field goal - LA 10, OAK 7 Box Score OAK LA First Downs 8 23 Rushes-Yards 19-36 31-98 Passing (A-C-Y-I) 28-22-213-0 38-24-215-0 Sacked-Yards Lost 4-34 4-32 Total Plays-Yards 51-215 73-281 Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-1 Penalties-Yards 5-40 3-20 Turnovers 1 1 Time of Possession 25:47 34:13 Attendance = 17,139 OAKLAND LOS ANGELES Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Besana 28 22 213 0 0 98.4 Rae 22 18 170 0 1 114.0 Ramsey 16 6 45 0 0 45.8 Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Whittington 12 27 2.3 1 Harrington 8 40 5.0 0 Torosian 5 6 1.2 0 Barnett 10 40 4.0 0 Banks 1 3 3.0 0 Boddie 10 12 1.2 0 Besana 1 0 0.0 0 Haslip 3 6 2.0 0 Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Chester 7 100 14.3 0 Ellis 9 88 9.8 1 Whittington 8 48 6.0 0 Haines 3 34 11.3 0 Banks 3 44 14.7 0 Boddie 4 34 8.3 0 Torosian 3 21 7.0 0 Haslip 2 17 8.5 0 Barnett 2 16 8.0 0 Harrington 2 13 6.5 0 Williams, K 2 13 6.5 0 Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD James 2 64 32.0 0 Turner 1 32 32.0 0 Fox 1 19 19.0 0 Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Banks 2 15 7.5 0 Byers 1 1 1.0 0 Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Shea 0-0 0 1-1 1 Abbott 1-1 19 1-1 4 miss: none miss: none Punting No Yds Ave Punting No Yds Ave Talley 5 225 45.0 Partridge 5 217 43.4 Sacks Sk Yds Sacks Sk Yds Liles 1 14 Scoggins 2 23 Quinn 1 13 Dimler 1 6 Moore 1 5 Seawell 1 5 McClain 1 0 Interceptions No Yds Ave TD Interceptions No Yds Ave TD None None ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 2 3 4 F DEN 7 0 7 15 - 29 MIC 0 6 8 7 - 21 Scoring DEN:Choate 58 yd run (Speelman kick) - DEN 7, MCH 0 MIC:Hebert 1 yd run (kick failed) - DEN 7, MCH 6 MIC:Hebert 1 yd run (Hebert run) - MCH 14, DEN 7 DEN:James 11 yd pass from Johnson (Speelman kick) - DEN 14, MCH 14 MIC:Holloway 36 yd pass from Hebert (Bojovic kick) - MCH 21, DEN 14 DEN:Sydney 2 yd run (Knapple run) - DEN 22, MCH 21 DEN:Sydney 2 yd run (Speelman kick) - DEN 29, MCH 21 Box Score DEN MCH First Downs 17 17 Rushes-Yards 20-166 37-115 Passing (A-C-Y-I) 38-18-164-4 29-14-161-3 Sacked-Yards Lost 4-29 2-15 Total Plays-Yards 62-301 68-261 Fumbles-Lost 3-1 0-0 Penalties-Yards 14-131 13-105 Turnovers 5 3 Time of Possession 27:22 32:28 Attendance = 11,279 DENVER MICHIGAN Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Johnson 38 18 164 4 1 28.7 Hebert 29 14 161 3 1 37.4 Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Sydney 7 63 9.0 2 Miller, C 19 57 3.0 0 Choate 1 58 58.0 1 Lacy 16 56 3.5 0 Canada 3 20 6.7 0 Hebert 2 2 1.0 2 Miller, T 6 20 3.3 0 Matthews 3 5 1.7 0 Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Niziolek 5 47 9.4 0 Holloway 3 60 20.0 1 Ballage 2 46 23.0 0 Cobb 3 42 14.0 0 James 2 38 19.0 1 Lacy 3 33 11.0 0 Phea 2 29 14.5 0 Echols 3 21 7.0 0 Sydney 3 6 2.0 0 Carter 2 5 2.5 0 Canada 3 -1 -0.3 0 Miller, T 1 -1 -1.0 0 Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD Phea 3 56 18.7 0 Holloway 5 86 17.2 0 Ballage 1 0 0.0 0 Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Martin 3 65 21.7 0 Carter 1 7 7.0 0 James 2 13 6.5 0 Holloway 1 -2 -2.0 0 Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Speelman 0-0 0 3-3 3 Bojovic 0-1 0 1-2 1 miss: none miss: 39 Punting No Yds Ave Punting No Yds Ave Gortz 5 203 40.6 Greenwood 7 305 43.6 Sacks Sk Yds Sacks Sk Yds Gerken 1.5 12 Tipton 1 11 White 0.5 3 Paggett 1 8 Edwards 1 8 Interceptions No Yds Ave TD Interceptions No Yds Ave TD Martin 2 0 0.0 0 Arnaud 1 3 3.0 0 Dumars 1 29 29.0 0 Borland 1 0 0.0 0 Greenwood 1 0 0.0 0 Osborne 1 0 0.0 0
Archived news report
Archived news report
Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn
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