Tag Archives: detroit lions

Arena, CFL, NFL, usfl, WIFL, WLAF

Davis, Darrell “Mouse”

Card: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991 Helmet card
Acquired: TTM 1992, C/o The New York-New Jersey Knights, TTM 2011, C/o The University of Hawaii Warriors
Sent: 2/14/11     Received: 3/10/11   (24 days)

Mouse Davis is nothing short of an innovator and a career coach with an extensive offensive coaching tree full of acolytes at every stop. Considered of great importance to the evolution of the Run and Shoot offense(- a passing offense that employs four wide receiver sets, no tight ends and a single running back,) the offense itself is also treated as the forerunner to the modern day spread offense. At every stop from the high school level to the professional level, Davis’ offenses have lit up the scoreboard and set team and league records. In college Mouse coached tiny Portland State to explosive levels (guided by future NFL quarterback Neil Lomax and June Jones). Portland State would set 20 NCAA records, and Mouse would briefly make a stop at Berkley before going on to be offensive coordinator of the Toronto Argonauts in the CFL in 1982. In 1984 he’d move to the USFL and be offensive coordinator under coach Jack Pardee and the Houston Gamblers with Jim Kelly, Richard Johnson and Ricky Sanders. His ‘Mouseketeers’ would dominate the offensive scoreboard and Johnson and Sanders would be the first 100 reception tandem in football history on the same team. 1985 would see his first pro head coaching gig, guiding the Denver Gold to the playoffs before the league folded. Soon thereafter Davis was named head coach of the St. Louis Lightning of the WIFL, but the league disbanded before it even took the field. After the failure of the USFL and WIFL, Davis was head coach of the New York-New Jersey Knights of the WLAF where the team in its first season had the league’s leading rusher in Eric Wilkerson and made the playoffs. In one notable game in 1991 the team set a football record for most faked punts in a game, but also set the record for futility in special teams as well. In the 1992 season under Davis’ guidance, quarterback Reggie Slack was the number 2 rated passer in the league with a 6-4 record before it folded.

Mouse has made numerous pitstops in the NFL as well, most notably when he was an assistant with the Detroit Lions during the late 80s – early 90’s building the “Silver Stretch Offense” and also spent time with the Atlanta Falcons. He was influential with Jack Pardee who adopted the Run and Shoot from him utilizing it with both the Houston Cougars to epic proportions in the NCAA level, the Houston Oilers in the NFL, and the Birmingham Barracudas in the CFL.

Davis returned to the college ranks after his stints in the NFL and WLAF. He currently serves with the Hawaii Warriors as their wide recievers coach and was inducted into the Portland State HoF. I sent off for his autograph while he was coaching the Knights in 1992 and then just this year while he was with the Warriors and he responded in under 30 days. His WLAF statistics are below.

W 11   L 9   T 0  Pct .555

NFL, usfl

Saxon, Mike



Cards: Fleer 1990, Score 1992, ProSet 1992
Acquired: In Person 1990, 1992, Dallas Cowboys Training Camp

Mike Saxon, (hailing from Arcadia, Ca) was originally an 11th round draft choice of the Detroit Lions in 1984.After not making the roster, he’d try out for the Arizona Wranglers of the USFL.  Unable to make the team he would end up on the Tom Landry Cowboys in 1985.  Saxon would become one of the underrated punters in Cowboys’ history, pinning more teams inside their own 20 than any other punter during his time on the Cowboys from 1985-1992. Mike would earn a Super Bowl ring with the team in 1992, completing the circle from worst to first with the team, but the team considered his position a ‘budget’ position, so he’d play one season in 1993 for the New England Patriots- where he’d have 3 blocks, contributing to his release from the team. Saxon would finish out his career playing two more seasons for the Minnesota Vikings in 1994 and 1995. For a guy two teams didn’t want, Saxon made it count for the 14 solid and serviceable seasons he was in the NFL. Since football Mike has been involved in roofing and construction for commercial and residential markets and is also involved with Savant Energy providing green alternatives to the market. He occasionally also makes appearances at Dallas Cowboys games as well.

Punts 813   Yds 33887  Avg   41.7    Blk 7

NFL, ufl

Zolak, Scott

Card: StarPics 1991
Acquired: TTM 1993, Patriots Blitz

Scott Zolak is another in a long line of fine Maryland Terps quarterbacks. The school has an absolute knack for locating and putting the best talent on the field at that position. Neil O’Donnell, Stan Gelbaugh, Boomer Esiason, Frank Reich, Shaun Hill, and Mike Tice, are among some of the names over the last 30 years who have played at the pro level in some capacity after graduating from the school. Zolak was no exception. In the 4th round of the 1991 draft, the New England Patriots rolled the dice on the young quarterback while they injected new blood into the aging position. He didn’t take the field that year at all, sitting at #3 behind Hugh Millen and Tom Hodson, but 1992 would prove to be a different story and thus he’d enter into New England lore forever for his actions. After Millen went down and Hodson was inneffective, Zolak would lead the winless team on a two game winning streak- playing respectably in 3 contests before Millen returned to finish out the season. In 1993, Drew Bledsoe would be drafted and another purge would happen at quarterback. Zolak, would survive the purge and remain on the team’s roster through 1998 playing sparingly and slowly moved up the depth chart to #2 behind Bledsoe. He’d also be on the roster through three coaching regimes (Dick MacPherson, Bill Parcells, and the shortlived Pete Carroll era), seeing life on the Patriots from an interesting perspective.

Zolak after 1998 would bounce around. He’d be cut out of Jets training camp and head over to the Dolphins for two unremarkable seasons and then try out for the Detroit Lions, but later opted instead to go up to the booth to become a color commentator. Scott has embraced his life as a sports personality head on and continues to do radio commentary for games and was recently picked up by the fledgling United Football League to do color commentary on the New England Sports Network for the Hartford Colonials games.

G/Gs  55/7   Att 248  Comp 124    Yds 1314   Pct 50%   Td 8    Int 7      Rat   64.8