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Houston 36 at Denver 20
1984 Week 15 - Sunday, June 3, 1984
Houston Gamblers(9-5)(-7) at Denver Gold(8-6)
Attendance: 50,057, TV: ABC
Denver (AP) - The Houston Gamblers possess the United States Football League's most productive offense, and they do it with a potent passing attack. But those who ignore the Gambler running game, as the Denver Gold did on Sunday, are courting disaster.
Rookie running back Todd Fowler, taking advantage of a Denver defense which overplayed the pass, rushed for a league-record 208 yards and scored two touchdowns in the Gamblers' 36-20 rout of the Gold.
Fowler, a tight end at Stephen F. Austin University, was converted to running back by the Gamblers in the preseason, but his primary duties were expected to be blocking. With his fourth 100-plus-yard game, he's proved to be more than just a blocker.
"My offensive line knocked out some big holes in the defense Denver was playing, and all the credit should go to them," said Fowler, whose 208 yards ecliped the previous USFL single-game standard of 200 yards set by Houston's Sam Harrell earlier this year.
"What a worker he is," said Houston Coach Jack Pardee of Fowler. "He does a heck of a job blocking for Jim Kelly and carrying the football. I didn't realize he had that many yards."
Kelly completed 20 of 31 passes for 216 yards and two TDs, tying the all-time pro football record for most TD passes in a season.
A record Gold crowd of 50,057, boosted by a pre-game concert by the country group Alabama, was on hand to witness, and occasionally boo, the Gold's poor performance.
"I don't know what the motivational factor is when we have a championship to play for, then come out and play the way we did," said Denver Coach Craig Morton. "The playoffs right now are a dream for us unless we find some kind of spark."
1 2 3 4 F
HOU 7 13 3 13 - 36
DEN 0 7 0 13 - 20
Scoring
HOU:Fowler 7 yd run (Fritsch kick) - HOU 7, DEN 0
HOU:Fritsch 36 yd field goal - HOU 10, DEN 0
DEN:Sydney 28 yd pass from Penrose (Speelman kick) - HOU 10, DEN 7
HOU:Sanders 19 yd pass from Kelly (Fritsch kick) - HOU 17, DEN 7
HOU:Fritsch 43 yd field goal - HOU 20, DEN 7
HOU:Fritsch 49 yd field goal - HOU 23, DEN 7
HOU:Fowler 46 yd run (Fritsch kick) - HOU 30, DEN 7
HOU:McGhee 23 yd pass from Kelly (kick blocked) - HOU 36, DEN 7
DEN:Bailey 12 yd pass from Hobart (Speelman kick) - HOU 36, DEN 14
DEN:Matthews 1 yd run (pass failed) - HOU 36, DEN 20
Box Score
HOU DEN
First Downs 23 15
Rushes-Yards 30-244 20-78
Passing (A-C-Y-I) 37-23-251-0 36-12-217-4
Sacked-Yards Lost 4-30 2-16
Total Plays-Yards 71-465 58-279
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties-Yards 10-70 8-74
Turnovers 0 4
Time of Possession 35:23 24:37
Attendance = 50,057
HOUSTON DENVER
Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate
Kelly 31 20 216 0 2 106.4 Mortensen 6 0 0 0 0 39.6
Dillon 6 3 35 0 0 68.1 Sydney 1 0 0 0 0 39.6
Speelman 1 0 0 1 0 0.0
Penrose 17 5 61 2 1 22.1
Hobart 11 7 156 1 1 99.6
Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Rushing Att Yds Ave TD
Fowler 21 208 9.9 2 White 6 28 4.7 0
Kelly 3 21 7.0 0 Hobart 3 25 8.3 0
Clark 3 12 4.0 0 Mortensen 3 11 3.7 0
Sanders 1 4 4.0 0 Sydney 3 6 2.0 0
Dillon 1 1 1.0 0 Williams 1 4 4.0 0
Verdin 1 -2 -2.0 0 Matthews 3 3 1.0 1
Johnson R 1 1 1.0 0
Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD
Sanders 8 91 11.4 1 Bailey 2 79 19.5 1
McGhee 3 56 18.7 1 Sydney 2 31 15.5 1
Johnson R 4 48 12.0 0 Harris 1 20 20.0 0
Moser 2 31 15.5 0 Johnson B 1 20 20.0 0
Fowler 4 18 4.5 0 Hicks 1 16 16.0 0
Barousse 1 6 6.0 0 Williams 1 15 15.0 0
McNeil 1 1 1.0 0 White 2 13 6.5 0
Preston 1 12 12.0 0
Arnold 1 11 11.0 0
Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD
Verdin 2 30 15.0 0 Harris 2 63 31.5 0
Preston 1 29 29.0 0
Bailey 1 11 11.0 0
Sydney 1 1 1.0 0
Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD
McNeil 3 31 10.3 0 White 2 19 9.5 0
Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts
Fritsch 3-4 49 3-4 12 Speelman 0-0 -- 2-2 2
miss: 41 miss: --
Punting No Yds Ave Punting No Yds Ave
Walters 5 207 41.4 Speelman 7 331 47.3
Sacks Sk Yds Sacks Sk Yds
Fitzpatrick 1 14 Turner 3 19
Lewis L 1 2 Stalls 0.5 7.5
Bungartz 0.5 3.5
Interceptions No Yds Ave TD Interceptions No Yds Ave TD
Lewis W 2 16 8.0 0 None
Myers 1 27 27.0 0
Mitchell 1 0 0.0 0
Archived news report
Archived news report
Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn
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