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| 2008
Miscellaneous 2007 season recap playoffs
2006 season recap playoffs
2005 season recap
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BULL RUN
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--History was made Sunday night at AT&T Park, this time it had nothing to do with Barry Bonds.
The Jacksonville Bulls, who played their first game ever (as the Jacksonville Predators) in 2002 at the then-named Pacific Bell Park, and had never won there in four previous tries, finally took care of both and defeated the Las Vegas Outlaws 30-27 to bring home their first X-Bowl and deny the Outlaws a chance at history of their own, which would have becoming the first three-time champion in league history.
Tyler Palko completed just 20 of 41 passes but threw for 281 yards and two scores, including the game-winner to Troy Edwards with 1:43 left. Then, Tony Okanlawon picked off a Derek Anderson pass at the JAC 13 with just 10 seconds left to seal the win. The Bulls used three LV turnovers, including two Anderson fumbles, to help their cause.
Anderson finished strong, going 31 of 49 for 395 yards and a pair of scores himself but was done in by three turnovers. The first of which came with LV leading 10-9 with 5:24 to go in the second quarter. Anderson, who had just completed a 15-yard screen to Tony Hollings to get the Outlaws out of the shadow of their own endzone, scrambled for five yards but was decked by JAC LB Gerris Wilkinson and lost the ball, which was recovered by Robaire Smith, his second recovered fumble of the playoffs. The Bulls needed just four plays, ending up with a 14-yard pass from Palko to Mike Hart, giving the Bulls their first lead of the game at 16-10. Then after the ensuing kickoff, Anderson fumbled again, this time it was DE Jamaal Green with the forced fumble and the recovery, but it would not lead to any points.
The Bulls took a 23-10 lead right out of the gate, as Palko hooked up with his big-play target Chad Jackson for 59 yards down to the LV 1, and two plays later Joseph Addai bulled in for the score. After a FG by Kris Stockton cut the lead to 23-13, the Outlaws used a turnover of their own (JAC's lone turnover of the game) when Jamaal Brimmer picked off a Palko pass. Anderson then directed a seven-play drive and threw his second TD, a one-yarder to Jason Hill, to bring the Outlaws to within three at 23-20 with 3:18 left in the third. Then after Mason Crosby missed a 45-yard FG for JAC, Anderson went to work again, as the Outlaws marched 65 yards for the lead, capped off by a two-yard burst by Hollings.
The Bulls though, took a page from LV's book and came up with the big plays on D when they needed it. The Outlaws were driving down the field trying to add to their lead when Green busted through the line for his second sack. It threw LV off balance and into a 49-yard attempt by Stockton, which he missed wide right, giving the Bulls the ball back at their 39, in which they went 10 plays, converting both a third and a fourth down along the way.
Las Vegas had the game's first score just 2:32 into the first quarter, as Anderson threw a 10-yard pass to Hill. The Bulls scored on each of their first three possessions, all ending in Crosby FGs. The Bulls once again had a successful ground game, as Hart carried 21 times for 96 yards and Addai finished with 46 yards and a TD on ten carries. The defense, much-maligned over the regular season, ended up forcing six turnovers in the postseason while Palko threw just the one INT.
NEWS AND NOTES: Also, Ford Field was announced as the site of X-Bowl IX, Aug. 30, 2009. The other sites under consideration could still host the 2009 All-XFL Game as it doesn't look likely that the league will continue with the previous year X-Bowl site for a second year, the 2009 game would have been at AT&T Park. Instead, that may go to either KC (Arrowhead Stadium) or DAL (Cotton Bowl). The game is tentatively scheduled for September 6, 2009. The league also announced the following awards:
MVP: KC QB Anthony Calvillo, the veteran pivot who will be 36 in October, threw for 3774 yards and 31 TDs, both led the league; Coach of the Year: NY HC Romeo Crennel, who led the Hitmen to ten wins for the second straight year, including nine straight. Rookie of the Year: NY QB Chad Henne, won nine of his 11 games as starter and compiled a league-best 103.9 QBR. Defensive Rookie of the Year: JAC ILB Dan Connor, had 84 tkl and 3 sk in the regular season (then he followed it up with a fabulous postseason).
............Also the occasion was doubly festive for the Mustangs, they hired Mike Jones as their new head coach, replacing Al Lugenbill, the veteran head coach retired after DET's season-ending 37-13 loss to DAL on August 10. Jones was 45-34 in his seven years as ORL Rage head coach, including an X-Bowl appearance in 2006. Jones was WR coach as well as offensive coordinator under Galen Hall when the Rage lost to Lugenbill's Xtreme in the 2001 X-Bowl............Jones declared that re-signing star OLB Michael Boley before he hits FA is a priority. Actually it's going to be a priority for many teams going into FA to re-sign their own. If not, this has the makings of the biggest FA class in league history. Even so, some teams are even prepared to break the bank if needed to keep their stars, one example being DAL, who is about to offer WR Rashaun Woods possibly up to $10 million to stay in Big D. The Lonestars were burned by a mass FA exodus last year, which included TE Chris Cooley (WAS), LB Demorrio Williams (LA), and FS Erik Coleman (KC) among others. Woods, along with KR extraordinaire Will Pettis, K Josh Brown, MLB Lance Mitchell are the Lonestars top potential FAs this time around. It is expected that DAL won't keep them all, but they'll likely retain two or three of them. KC is expected to have their contracts approved by the league this week in which they'll keep three players who will play in the all-XFL game Saturday night in JAC: LG Jason Brown, TE Teyo Johnson, and LB Kevin Burnett, as well as RG Evan Mathis.........With DET's coaching situation taken care of, now LA and MEM are on the clock, and MEM could have theirs by the end of the week. JAC OC James Lofton's stock has definitely gone up after the Bulls averaged 36 points per game and over 450 yards per game in the postseason, and is almost a lock for either job. In LA, he'll have an offense led by RB Maurice Jones-Drew, who led the league in rushing for most of the year and Tim Rattay at QB, not nearly as flashy as Palko was but a steady veteran nonetheless. In MEM, he would have QB Bart Hendricks, who led the league with a 69.4% completion rate and was sixth with a 92.1 passer rating. Both teams would like to have their search wrapped up well before FA starts in November, but it could be over well before then............Slow out of the gate, fast finish: Last Sunday marked the second time in three years a team started 1-3 and won the X-Bowl, and was the first time that both teams started 1-3. Five teams total have started the season 1-3 and played in the final game: the 2002 CHI Enforcers, the 2005 NY Hitmen, the 2006 LV Outlaws, and both the Bulls and the Outlaws of 2008............Speaking of Palko, this week the Bulls will be hard at work finalizing a new contract for the former undrafted FA, who is still playing on that contract. The number could reach $5 million. Palko comes off a record-setting year which he had six 100-yard games, and in the postseason he was even better, throwing just one INT while thowing for 834 yards and seven TDs............The regular season schedule won't come out until December, but the speculation already began about whom the Bulls will open the season with on May 23. The Bulls will host both teams that they beat on the way to the X-Bowl, PIT and KC, but ORL could be the most likely opener. The Bulls' week 12 win at ORL was a playoff game in itself with the division winner in and the loser out. While the Bulls and Outlaws will play at Sam Boyd Stadium, the rematch won't likely come until either midseason or even late season, as the CHI/DAL and BIR/CHI rematches were in 2004 and 2005. The Outlaws/Rage X-Bowl VI rematch came in week five of the 2007 season in ORL with the Rage winning 32-17. The practice of the defending champion hosting a week one game was made official in 2006, but the defending champion has hosted a game in week one going all the way back to 2003, when the Hitmen hosted the Outlaws. Only the 2002 Xtreme opened on the road (also at NY, the Xtreme won 32-21). The runner-up has opened up on the road twice since 2003 (DAL at JAC, '04; ORL at LA '07).
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2008 PLAYOFF STATS PASSING Calvillo (KC) 64.0%-248-1-2, 106.8 Palko(JAC) 60.4%-834-1-7, 105.8 Anderson (LV) 62.7%-1140-5-7, 89.5 Clausen (BIR) 55.2%-145-0-1, 80.4 Henne (NY) 46.5%-364-1-1, 74.2 Carter (PIT) 48.3%-173-1-0, 52.8 Leak (JAC) 66.7%-43-0-0, 109.7 Olson (PIT) 11-4-64-0-1, 86.9 RUSHING Hart (JAC) 48-249(5.2)-1 Addai (JAC) 42-198(4.7)-4 Hollings (LV) 50-192(3.8)-1 White (KC) 20-130(6.5)-0 Slaton (BIR) 15-86(5.7)-0 Rice (NY) 20-70(3.5)-0 Williams (PIT) 9-39(4.3)-0 Cobbs (BIR) 5-34(6.8)-0 Jackson (JAC) 2-31(15.5)-0 Anderson (LV) 10-27(2.7)-0 Harrison (LV) 3-25(8.3)-0 Brown(KC) 2-14(7.0)-0 Barlow (JAC) 1-12(12.0)-0 Vincent (PIT) 3-10(3.3)-0 Edwards (JAC) 2-7(3.5)-1 Lewis (JAC) 3-7(2.3)-0 Matthews (NY) 1-5(5.0)-0 Clausen (BIR) 2-5(2.5)-0 Powers-Neal (BIR) 1-4(4.0)-0 Anderson (PIT) 1-3(3.0)-0 Henne (NY) 1-2(2.0)-0 Ferguson (PIT) 1-0(0.0)-0 Williams (KC) 1-0(0.0) Tapeh (JAC) 2--2(-1.0)-0 Frederick (LV) 1--5(-5.0)-0 RECEIVING Hollings (LV) 21-211(10.0)-0 Burleson (LV) 20-208(10.4)-1 Hill (LV) 17-294(17.3)-2 Sweed (JAC) 13-174(13.4)-2 Hart (JAC) 13-140(10.8)-1 Webb (LV) 8-118(14.8)-1 Jackson (JAC) 8-101(12.6)-2 Edwards (JAC) 7-110(15.7)-2 Monk (LV) 6-136(22.7)-1 Olsen (JAC) 6-70(11.7)-0 Frederick (LV) 5-55(11.0)-0 White (LV) 5-44(8.8)-0 Slaton (BIR) 5-28(5.6)-0 Darling (KC) 4-99 (24.8)-1 Hughes (NY) 4-71(17.8)-0 Natkin (PIT) 4-69(17.3)-0 Williams (KC) 4-54 (13.5)-0 Johnson (NY) 3-86(28.7)-1 Terrell (PIT) 3-68(22.7)-0 Jackson (PIT) 3-47(15.7)-0 Urrutia (BIR) 3-46(15.3)-1 Johnson (KC) 3-39(13.0)-1 Rice (NY) 3-39(13.0)-0 Murphy (LV) 3-34(11.3)-0 Stuckey (PIT) 3-32(10.7)-1 Moss (BIR) 3-29(9.7)-0 Moore (KC) 2-29(14.5)-0 Copper (NY) 2-28(14.0)-0 Addai (JAC) 2-20(10.0)-0 Day (LV) 2-20(10.0)-0 Edwards (NY) 2-20(10.0)-0 Cobbs (BIR) 2-14(7.0)-0 Williams (PIT) 2-9(4.5)-0 Matthews (NY) 2-6(3.0)-0 Stubblefield (NY) 1-63(63.0)-0 Williams (JAC) 1-34(34.0)-0 Blythe (NY) 1-21(21.0)-0 Hannon (JAC) 1-17(17.0)-0 Lee (NY) 1-15(15.0)-0 McKnight (NY) 1-15(15.0)-0 Brown (KC) 1-12(12.0)-0 Harrison (LV) 1-10(10.0)-0 Watkins (LV) 1-10(10.0)-1 Moulds (JAC) 1-9(9.0)-0 Parmele (PIT) 1-9(9.0)-0 Chiaverini (KC) 1-8(8.0)-0 Felton (JAC) 1-8(8.0)-0 Tapeh (JAC 1-7(7.0)-0 White (KC) 1-7(7.0)-0 Stevens (BIR) 1-4(4.0)-0 Smith (PIT) 1-2(2.0)-0 Ferguson (PIT) 1-1(1.0)-0 TACKLES Claridge (LV) 27 Connor (JAC) 24 Seward (LV) 21 Okanlawon (JAC) 18 D.Long (LV) 16 Wilkinson (JAC) 16 Brandon (LV) 15 Brooks (PIT) 13 David (LV) 11 Kelly (LV) 11 Nattiel (JAC) 11 Scott (JAC) 11 Zbikowski (LV) 11 Burnett (KC) 10 Jefferson (JAC) 10 Davis (BIR) 9 Barnes (KC) 8 Brimmer (LV) 8 Canty (PIT) 8 Fox (PIT) 8 Singleton (JAC) 8 Bennett (BIR) 7 Faulk (LV) 7 Fuller (JAC) 7 Gooden (KC) 7 Hawkins (BIR) 7 Hodge (PIT) 7 McCoy (NY) 7 Reid (NY) 7 Woodley (BIR) 7 Coleman (KC) 6 Green (JAC) 6 Orr (NY) 6 Rubio (LV) 6 Woodyard (NY) 6 Addae (NY) 5 Banks (PIT) 5 Browner (LV) 5 Dumervil (BIR) 5 Smith (JAC) 5 Watson (BIR) 5 Bowie (LV) 4 Cole (NY) 4 Goff (NY) 4 Harrell (JAC) 4 Hand (PIT) 4 Howard (PIT) 4 Lay (NY) 4 Marshall (KC) 4 McClover (JAC) 4 Moore (LV) 4 Mozes (JAC) 4 Prather (BIR) 4 Vasher (KC) 4 Wheeler (BIR) 4 Carroll (JAC) 3 Durden (KC) 3 Geathers (BIR) 3 Hill (NY) 3 Merkerson (NY) 3 Williams (JAC) 3 Zenon (PIT) 3 Acholonu (PIT) 2 Blades (JAC) 2 Bowman (KC) 2 Bullocks (KC) 2 Carriker (NY) 2 Haggan (LV) 2 Harris (PIT) 2 Hawthorne (BIR) 2 Holloway (LV) 2 C.Johnson(BIR) 2 Johnston (JAC) 2 Maxey (JAC) 2 McCray (LV) 2 Mihlhauser (LV) 2 Minter (JAC) 2 Moss (KC) 2 Smith (LV) 2 Tarver (LV) 2 A.Thomas (KC) 2 Tuck (KC) 2 Adams (NY) 1 Arnold (PIT) 1 Bannister (BIR) 1 Barber (PIT) 1 Brown (LV) 1 Curry (NY) 1 Demps (BIR) 1 Gay (NY) 1 Gilberry (BIR) 1 Harrison (NY) 1 K.Hall (BIR) 1 Mangold (NY) 1 Mitchell (BIR) 1 Patterson (JAC) 1 Rice (LV) 1 Salley (PIT) 1 Sanders (LV) 1 Smith (NY) 1 Spanos (BIR) 1 W. Thomas (KC) 1 Youboty (PIT) 1 Washington (PIT) 1 Weddle (PIT) 1 Wheeler (NY) 1 SACKS Green (JAC) 4 Kelly (LV) 4 Dumervil (BIR) 2 Barnes (KC) 1 Brandon (LV) 1 Faulk (LV) 1 Hand (PIT) 1 Long (LV) 1 McClover (JAC) 1 Nattiel (JAC) 1 Seward (LV) 1 Wilkinson (JAC) 1 Zbikowski (LV) 1 INTERCEPTIONS Hill (NY) 2 Brimmer (LV) 1 Connor (JAC) 1 McCoy (NY) 1 Reid (NY) 1 Okanlawon (JAC) 1 Seward (LV) 1 Singleton (JAC) 1 KICK RETURNS Webb (LV) 26.4 Drummond (BIR) 24.8 Lewis (JAC) 24.2 Forsett (KC) 23.9 Hicks (NY) 20.2 Parmele (PIT) 19.9 Datish (KC) 13.0 Smith (LV) 10.0 PUNT RETURNS Lee (NY) 41.5-1 Jackson (PIT) 14.7 Bradford (JAC) 10.8 Burleson (LV) 10.0 Parrish (BIR) 10.0 Hester (KC) 5.0 KICKING Crosby (JAC) 3/4 FG, 19 PTS Stockton (LV) 5/6 FG, 19 PTS Jones (NY) 4/5 FG, 13 PTS Duval (PIT) 2/2 FG, 7 PTS Hughes (BIR) 1/1 FG, 4 PTS Andersen (KC) 0/0 FG, 4 PTS PUNTING McBriar (LV) 47.1 gross, 31.9 net Fredrickson (JAC) 41.9 gross, 34.2 net Colquitt (PIT) 46.3 gross, 37.5 net Brooks (BIR) 44.0 gross, 39.0 net Larson (NY) 42.8 gross, 35.3 net Morton (KC) 38.3 gross, 31.7 net |
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