XFL Los Angeles Xtreme Press Release 28
 
 
 
 
 
Press Release 28
Los Angles Xtreme A Win Away From First Division Title

March 24, 2001

For the LAX of XFL it’s one down, one to go with two to play. The Los Angeles Xtreme (6-2) needed a win over the Las Vegas Outlaws Saturday night in front of 20, 132 at the Los Angeles Coliseum to clinch its first playoff birth in team history. The Xtreme did just that handing the Outlaws a 35-26 defeat to sweep the season series with its division rival.

This Sunday afternoon (4/1) in Memphis, the Xtreme can also clinch the fist Western Division title in league history with a win over the Maniax (3-5) or with a loss by the San Francisco Demons (4-4) to the Outlaws (4-4) next Sunday night in Las Vegas.

The Demons, who beat the Xtreme 15-13 in the season opener, come to Los Angeles April 7 to face the Xtreme on the final weekend of regular season play. If the Demons win Sunday and the Xtreme lose, that regular season finale would be to decide the Western Division Title.

In the next two weeks, the Xtreme wrap up the regular season with a chance to avenge its only two losses of the season against the only two teams in the XFL LAX has yet to beat-the Maniax and the Demons. The Xtreme lost to the Maniax in Week Three 18-12 in the “Monsoon Bowl” at the Coliseum.

X-Notes and Quotes from Saturday’s 35-26 Win over the Outlaws

-With Saturday’s win, the Xtreme have won four straight and six of its last seven. The Xtreme’s last loss came in Week Three, an 18-12 defeat at the hands of this week’s opponent -the Memphis Maniax- in the pouring down rain at the Coliseum. In that game, the Maniax and the rain held the Xtreme to a team season low 151 total yards in offense.

--Tommy Maddox could very likely become the first player in XFL history to be named Offensive Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks. Maddox, who one that award last week while leading the Xtreme to a convincing 31-6 win over the previously undefeated Orlando Rage, tossed an XFL record four touchdown passes in the first half alone Saturday night in the Xtreme’s win over the Outlaws and its top-ranked defense.

--Saturday night, Maddox completed 25 of 36 passes for 252 yards and those four first half touchdowns to extend his league leading total in touchdown passes to 17 and passing yards to 1,867. In those categories the rest of the league’s quarterbacks pale in comparison to the former first round NFL draft choice. Maddox, who directs the Xtreme’s top-ranked passing offense, has six more touchdown passes than the next best in the league, the Demons Mike Pawlawski (11). Palawski is also second to Maddox in passing yards by 496 yards.

--Maddox has thrown at least one touchdown pass in his last five games and in every game through eight weeks of the season except one. Ironically enough, the last time Maddox failed to throw a touchdown pass in a game was against the Outlaws in Week Three.

--At 10:21 in the second quarter, Tommy Maddox threw his first interception in 107 attempts spanning the last four games. Maddox was picked off by the Outlaws’ Joe Tuipala. Maddox, who leads the XFL in interceptions with seven, had not thrown an interception in his last three games.

--Maddox has thrown touchdown passes to six different receivers this season. Saladin McCullough and Frank Leatherwood each made his first touchdown catch of the season tonite against the Outlaws. Maddox has also connected with Darnell McDonald (8); Jeremaine Copleand (4); Josh Wilcox (1) and Damon Gibson this season.

--With his 2 yard touchdown catch Saturday night in the second quarter against the Outlaws, Darnell McDonald has now caught a touchdown pass in six of the seven games he has played this season. McDonald has caught a touchdown in his last three games. The only team McDonald has failed to score against was the NY/NJ Hitmen in Week Five.

--McDonald leads the XFL in both touchdown receptions (8) and touchdowns (8).

--Xtreme receiver Jeremaine Copeland continues to distinguish himself as the most dependable receiver in the league. Saturday night against the Outlaws, the XFL’s leader in receptions (52) made a team high seven catches for 91 yards and one touchdown. The TD, Copeland’s third in his last three games, came on a 10-yard strike from Maddox just 1:24 into the game following an Outlaws fumble on the opening kickoff.

--The Xtreme scored its first 12 points of the game off of Outlaw turnovers. Ricky Parker recovered the a fumble on the opening kickoff to set the Xtreme’s first touchdown of the game-a 10-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Maddox to Jeremaine Copeland.

--The Xtreme’s next touchdown-a Maddox to McCullough 24-yard touchdown pass play-was set up by Shawn Stuckey’s interception. The McCullough TD gave the Xtreme four straight touchdowns off an opponents turnover. The Xtreme’s final two touchdowns in Week Seven against the Rage came off of two Xtreme interceptions.

--The Xtreme have scored 60 points off of 19 takeaways this season. The Xtreme rank second it takeaways with 19, just one behind the Outlaws who have 20.

--Xtreme kicker Jose Cortez has been simply unconscious the last five weeks. Saturday night Cortez made al three field goal attempts-each coming in the second half to seal the win for the Xtreme. Cortex connected from 42, 32, and 44 yards. Cortez has now made a remarkable 15 of his last 16 field goal attempts after missing 3 of his first 4 to start the season. Cortez leads the league in field goals made and accuracy hitting on 17 of his 21 attempts (81%). Perhaps most outstanding, Cortez is 7 for 8 from 40 yards and beyond.

--Like they did in Week Three, Xtreme linebackers Shawn Stuckey and Juan Long each had a message on the back of their jerseys for the Outlaws Rod Smart a.k.a “He Hate Me.” Respectively, Stuckey and Long each had “Still Hate He” and “Still Hate He2” as nicknames on the back of each of their jerseys. In the Xtreme and the Outlaws first meeting in Week Three, Stuckey and Long had “I Hate He” and “I Hate He Too” on the back of their jerseys.

--Stuckey also showed displeasure with the Outlaws quarterback Ryan Clement. Stuckey made his first interception of the season off Clement in the first quarter setting up the Xtreme’s second touchdown of the night.

--Give it up for the offense line. Against the league’s most feared defensive line -the Outlaws lead the league in sacks with 32- the Xtreme yielded just one sack all evening vs. Vegas allowing Maddox and his quick release enough time to pick the Outlaws secondary apart. The Xtreme are first in the XFL in sacks allowed, yielding just 13 sacks through eight games.

--Pasadena’s own Saladin McCullough continues to provide the Xtreme with the rushing attack it was apparently missing the first five weeks of the season. Including his 19-yard touchdown catch from Maddox in the second quarter Saturday night against the Outlaws, Sali has now scored four touchdowns in his last three games. The play-a dump pass over the middle upon which Sali broke three tackles to eventually make into the end zone was technically McCullough’s first touchdown catch of the season.

--McCullough , who spent four of the first five weeks of the season on the practice squad, has gained 233 yards on 57 carries and four touchdowns as the Xtreme’s starting running back the last three weeks.

--For the fourth straight week the Xtreme lost the scramble for the ball and still managed to win the game. Saturday night The Xtreme’s Damon Dunn lost the scramble to the Outlaws Jamel Williams. Dunn has yet to win a scramble this season (0-4) but the Xtreme have yet to lose a game when Dunn is the scrambler. The Xtreme is a remarkable 5-1 when the Xtreme have lost the scramble.

--Latario Rachal’s 48-yard kickoff return in the second quarter set an Xtreme record for kickoff returns. The previous record was a 37-yard kickoff return by Damon Dunn in Week Two against the Enforcers.

--The Xtreme scored a team record 20 points in the second quarter vs. the Outlaws. The 20 points is the most the Outlaws, the top-rated defense in the XFL, has allowed in a quarter all season.

--In fact, the Outlaws have allowed over twenty points in a game just once this season, a 27-15 loss to the Orlando Rage in Week Six.

--The Outlaws entered the game allowing a league low of just 11 points per game. The Outlaws left LA having had that average balloon to 19 points per game.

Coach Luginbill
There are no ugly wins in professional football. Las Vegas was fighting for its life.

This is the finest offensive effort I’ve been involved with in my coaching career. Defensively, we tackled horribly. We had two bad pass interference penalties and didn’t cover the tight end all night.

For us, the next goal is to go to Memphis and win. The next goal is to play a playoff game at home.

We were a different offensive team from the first time we played Las Vegas with McCulough and McDonald not playing the last time.

Tommy Maddox had an outstanding night. He’s playing much better. This was a huge game for us to have the tie breakier with Las Vegas. We’re now 2-2 in the division.

We’ve stuck with everything we started the season with except we’ve narrowed our offense some to do what we do best. Maddox had to give up some individualism for the team and he’s done that. The difference between quarterbacks is not statistics but wins.

QB Tommy Maddox
RE: The Game
“It was a good effort. We played hard. It was nice to clinch a playoff berth at home. We do have momentum, but it is easy lose that momentum. We get better each week.”

RE: Receivers
“Its evident that this is the best receiving corps I’ve ever had. That’s why it fun to play with these guys. I can choose to toss the ball to three to four different guys every down. It’s fun to play in that kind of offensive system. Also, each receiver can make a big play - that’s important.”

RE: The line
“The line played unbelievable. They do not get enough credit. The line allows me to stand in there and get the late ball off.”

WR Jeremaine Copeland
RE: Lethal offense
“High power. Best in the league. Trust me.”

RE: Maddox scrambling
“Max has got leg power. He is vicious and can run a 4.2 in anytime.”

WR Latario Rachal
RE: Game
“That’s the way we play!”

WR Darnell McDonald
RE: Explosive offense
“Its all about teamwork. We have five to six playmakers. If I can’t make a play, Copeland makes a play. If Copeland can’t make a play, Sally makes a play. And if Sally can’t make the play, Maddox’s legs will get the job done. By the way, he did get a first down.”

LB Shawn Stuckey
RE: INT
“I give all the credit to the defensive line. The ball was coming right at me. Its like Rico Mack says, ‘We are in a war, we got to make plays to win.’ Luckily, that was a play to win.”

RE: Defense sparking the offense
“We have a good defense. The only reason we are where we are defensivly is because we’ve given up good plays. If you take away those plays, we are on top. We are No. 1 in the XFL.”

S Jeff Russell
RE: Safety points
“I should have done that last week. Jeremaine and I have a thing going on. Tonight I was going to leave it up to him, but he made a decision at the last second to let me go for it.”
 
 
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