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Birmingham Americans vs.
Houston Texans
Thursday, September 19th,
1974
Attendance 33,619
Legion Field
Birmingham
It was quite a
week for the Houston Texans. First they move to Shreveport, then they have their
coach, Jim Garrett, suspended by the League office for “comments detrimental to
the league”, referring to his retort that Shreveport was a “rinky-dink” town. He
was replaced by WFL Director of Football Operations Henry Lee Parker. Then
starting QB Mike Taliaferro refused to go to Shreveport, citing personal
reasons. Parker promptly suspended him, and went to Birmingham without his
starting signal-caller. To make matters worse, Houston/Shreveport was coming
into Legion Field catching the Ams fresh off a dismantling at the hands of
Memphis accounting for their first loss after starting the season at 10-0. The
hosts of Legion Field did not play the part of the sympathetic league brother.
They smashed the Texans/Steamer, whatever they went by, 42-14, sending them back
to Louisiana wondering what had hit them, and not certain what the future weeks
beheld.
Birmingham QB George Mira threw for a WFL record 380 yards, as the air
assault never let up, with Birmingham only rushing for 82 yards on the evening.
Alfred Jenkins and Dennis Homan had stellar evenings catching the ball.
Jimmy Edwards started the scoring in the first quarter with a one-yard run,
that was set up by his 28-yard catch & run of a Mira pass. The action point was
no good and the Ams had a quick 7-0 lead.
Shreveport reserve-now-starting QB David Mayes hit John Odom with a 33-yard
TD on the ensuing drive to tie the score. The AP was no good, 7-7.
In the second quarter, Mira found Jenkins alone for a 33-yard TD, and then
passed to TE Bob Brown for the AP, the Ams now led 15-7.
Shreveport would make things interesting for a short time by scoring again
before halftime, Jim Nance scoring on an 11-yard run. The AP failed and
Birmingham carried a 15-14 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, Birmingham kept the throttle to the floor offensively
with Mira keeping a hot hand, and the Ams defense maintained a stranglehold on
the Shreveport offense. Earl Sark kicked a 27-yard field goal to open up the
second half scoring.
Later in the third quarter Mira found the elusive Jenkins alone again for a
44-yard score. Mira then threw to Art Cantrelle, out of the backfield, for the
AP, Ams lead was now 26-14.
After a Jim Teal interception Birmingham started out the fourth quarter
rolling towards the end zone again. This time Charley Harraway did the honors
from one yard out. Mira threw to Jenkins for the AP, and the score stood at
34-14.
It appeared that things might end that way, however, the Birmingham defense
held the Shreveport offense again, and this time Willie Smith took the punt and
sailed 78 yards for the TD. Matthew Reed, following Mira’s example, passed to
Jenkins for the AP and the 42-14 score stood.
Mira was 22 of 36 for 380 yards, two TDs and no interceptions. His passing
yardage surpassed So. Cal. Sun QB Tony Adams by four yards, and Mira maintained
this record for the remainder of the WFL’s existence.
The only sour note to the evening was the loss of starting defensive tackle
John “Tiny” Andrews to a knee injury. Andrews sustained torn ligaments and was
lost for the season. Andrews contributed seven tackles and a QB sack before
going down to injury. On the brighter side, LB Teal had two interceptions, 10
tackles, and a QB sack to lead the defense. Larry Estes had seven tackles and a
sack, and Butch Brezina contributed three tackles and a sack for the evening as
well.
Joe Profit was the Ams leading rusher with 45 yards on nine carries on this
air-attack oriented evening. The leading receiver for the home team was Jenkins
with seven catches for 153 yards and two TDs and two action points. Homan added
four catches for 70 yards, Cantrelle caught three for 26 yards, Edwards caught
two for 35 yards, Bob Brown caught three for 52 yards and Ted Powell had a
single 27 yards reception.
The Ams now looked towards the West, embarking on a tour that would take them
to Portland and then on to Hawaii before their return home.
Alfred Jenkins catches a George Mira pass for a TD
Jimmy Edwards gets sandwiched
between two defenders
Dennis Homan gets “blindsided”
Jenkins makes another catch behind the defense
Willie Smith returns a punt en route to a TD
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