Young Isn’t Expected to Play for Express Today : Quarterback’s Knee Injury Hasn’t Healed; Seurer Will Start Against Invaders

Oh boy, it’s time for another Los Angeles Express game at the Coliseum. What do you mean, Steve Young isn’t playing? Oh well, um, what do you say we stay home and clean out those rain gutters? That’s an imaginary conversation from an imaginary Express fan’s family, who just might have wanted to catch today’s game with the Oakland Invaders at 1 p.m.

Today, the Express marketing department will most likely learn that conversations such as that are turning to reality all over Southern California.

The Express’ biggest drawing card, quarterback Steve Young, is out.

He hyper-extended his left knee in last Saturday night’s 27-13 loss to the Arizona Outlaws. The team lists his availability as very doubtful, which is good considering that he’s not expected to suit up for the game. Young was still limping badly Friday.

The Express drew 11,757 fans March 16 for its last game at the Coliseum. That was with Young in the lineup.

Express fans could find plenty of other reasons to stay home today. Their team, the one that was supposed to be so good, is 1-4. Their team will also be facing the 3-1-1 Invaders, a team that was strengthened greatly by an off-season merger with the Michigan Panthers.

The Invaders have a Michigan look on offense, featuring quarterback Bobby Hebert and receivers Anthony Carter and Derek Holloway. Hebert was the most valuable player of the USFL’s first championship game.

In other words, the Invaders are good.

Right now, the Express isn’t, and Coach John Hadl has spent sleepless nights trying to figure out why. This week, he came up with some answers.

Hadl blamed part of his team’s failure on injuries, and there have been quite a few.

Take this game, for instance. Listed as questionable are cornerback Wymon Henderson with a groin injury, receivers LeRoy Campbell and Duane Gunn with injured knees, linebacker Kevin Turner with a knee injury, running back Robert Alexander with a pulled hamstring, defensive end Ray Cattage with a sore elbow, and slotback Tony Boddie with a bad foot. Starting offensive linemen Jeff Hart and Derek Kennard are out for another month at least with knee injuries.

But that isn’t the only reason the Express is losing.

“We’ve lost our intensity as a unit,” Hadl said. “We’ve lost our physical and mental toughness. We’re going to get it back. At times, I think they’ve worried about making mistakes. But we want to get it back physically.”

The Express, with some of the best young talent in football, was pushed around by the Outlaws last weekend. The L.A. offensive line, featuring millionaires Gary Zimmerman, Mike Ruether and Mark Adickes, has allowed their quarterbacks to be sacked 24 times this season. That, even though Young may be the best quarterback in the league at escaping the rush.

Although Young won’t be out there today, that doesn’t mean he can’t play cheerleader.

“Well, last week was a must-win game,” he said. “And so was New Jersey. It’s time for us to stop talking about it and do something.”

Second-year quarterback Frank Seurer will start today for the Express. Backing him up will be Eric Thompson, who was signed this week because of the injury to Young.

Express Notes Today’s game can be heard live on radio stations KEZY (1190), KWNK (670) and KWRM (1370). . . . The Express only had two quarterbacks on the roster for last week’s game, meaning there was no one left on the bench when Frank Seurer entered the game to replace the injured Steve Young. So what if Seurer would have been injured? “I had my shoes on,” said the 44-year-old Hadl, a former All-Pro quarterback. “I was ready. They had a contract and a signing bonus right there on the sidelines.”

It’s been a wild, wacky week in the USFL, the league that swears it’s here to stay. Although the league has announced that it will become a fall league next season, owner John Bassett of the Tampa Bay Bandits, in a mutinous move, declared that his team was staying with the spring no matter what. That presents an interesting scheduling problem, should the other teams actually go through with the move to the fall. Meanwhile, the Birmingham Stallions, once one of the league’s strongest franchises, were scrambling to arrange interim financing in the wake of financial problems confronting owner Marvin Warner, an Ohio-based banker. And the San Antonio Gunslingers said they have squared themselves with the Internal Revenue Service, which filed liens against the team, claiming it owed $404,763 in delinquent federal payroll taxes for the last nine months of 1984.

Anyone remember Novo Bojovic? He was the Michigan Panther field-goal kicker who, in overtime, missed two field goals in last year’s triple-overtime playoff loss to the Express at the Coliseum. That game was the longest in professional football history. Bojovic now kicks for the Invaders. . . . Oakland running back Albert Bentley rushed for 148 yards in 19 carries last week against Memphis.