Professional Football Researchers Association Forum
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Teo wrote:In 1983, the USFL first season, Chicago Blitz (and former Detroit Lion CB) Luther Bradley intercepted six passes against the Tampa Bay Bandits. Bradley was moved to safety by Gorge Allen.
....bobby dan should have had a 5th...near the sideline, and the official ruled him out of bounds? injured in the game, ending his season with nine interceptions. of all the interception "streaks"....dave baker in a three game stretch intercepted 9 passes.
Totally from distant memory but didn't Chuck Clanton have a huge 1985 USFL season? Maybe 16 picks in the 18 games. Would still be fewer per game than the Night Train, but awfully impressive nonetheless. I believe other USFL records that would've exceeded NFL equivalents were single season Rushing yards (Walker in 85), Receptions (Richard Johnson in 84), Passing Yards (Kelly in 84) Sacks (Corker in 83), etc. Would be interesting to go back and see how many would have been records on a per game basis, or how many would have exceeded the record through 16 games.
I do think if, god forbid, the NFL ever goes to 18 games they'll have to restate records to be on a per game basis. How might Dickerson feel having his rushing record taken away!
Could be misremembering but I think at the time Marino held the single season record for passing TDs, Jim Kelly's single season TD record in the USFL was higher.
mwald wrote:Could be misremembering but I think at the time Marino held the single season record for passing TDs, Jim Kelly's single season TD record in the USFL was higher.
It actually went the other way around. Kelly threw 44 TD passes in the spring of 1984 with Houston of the USFL, and then Marino threw 48 that fall.
Thanks for the clarification. I remember being stunned at Kelly's USFL total at the time, and how little fanfare it received.
It's interesting how Kelly and Marino's careers kind of mirrored each other. Both held TD records in their respective leagues, both ended up playing in the same division in the NFL, both were burdened with defenses that didn't match their offenses (although the Bills had better defenses than Miami), and both were great but didn't quite get over that championship hump.