The 1988 USFL Championship Game<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It has been building to this since Week 1. The unstoppable force against the immovable object. The 17-1 Los Angeles Express are set to face off against the New Jersey Generals in what promises to be an instant classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Express have been a machine. They led the league in scoring (33.8 PPG) and total offense (352.6 YPG). Steve Young<\/strong> is coming off an MVP-caliber campaign, throwing for over 4,200 yards and 41 touchdowns. He has weapons everywhere, from the explosive JoJo Townsell to the bruising Eric Dickerson<\/strong>, who rushed for nearly 1,500 yards. They dismantled Houston in the Conference Championship, proving they can win a shootout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Generals don’t play shootouts. They play suffocating, punishing football. New Jersey boasted a top 5 defense in the league, allowing an astounding 16.1 points per game. They just held the explosive Birmingham Stallions to 7 points in the Conference Championship. They have ballhawks in the secondary, a ferocious pass rush, and an offense built around Herschel Walker<\/strong>, who is peaking at the exact right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steve Young might be the MVP, but New Jersey’s fate rests on the arm (and legs) of Doug Flutie<\/strong>. When Flutie is good, he’s a magician extending plays and finding open receivers. When he’s bad, he turns the ball over. Against a high-powered LA offense, every possession counts. Flutie cannot afford to give Steve Young extra chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Express are the favorites. They’ve been the best team all year, and Steve Young is playing out of his mind. But there’s an old saying in football: defense wins championships. The Generals have the blueprint to slow this game down, keep Dickerson contained, and let Herschel Walker grind out the clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Will the 17-1 juggernaut complete their destiny, or will the defending champs expose them on the biggest stage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kickoff is Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT: LA EXPRESS VS. NEW JERSEY GENERALS The 1988 USFL Championship Game It has been building to this since Week 1. The unstoppable force against the immovable object. The 17-1 Los Angeles Express are set to face off against the New Jersey Generals in what promises to be an instant classic. The Unstoppable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[84,89,88],"class_list":["post-9291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-1988-playoffs","tag-playoff-preview","tag-usfl-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9292,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9291\/revisions\/9292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/usfldr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Unstoppable Force<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Immovable Object<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The X-Factor: Doug Flutie<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Verdict<\/h3>\n\n\n\n