ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Orlando’s Hassan Shamsid-Deen was knocked out before the game even started as the XFL quickly proved it is far removed from any football league seen before.
The XFL got off to a ragged, yet successful start Saturday night, as the Rage beat Chicago 33-29 before a crowd of 35,603.
It looked like any other football game during the hours before the XFL began its inaugural season, with tailgate parties, ticket scalpers and traffic jams outside the Citrus Bowl.
But from the opening sprint for the ball –where two players run 20 yards then fight it out for the pigskin instead of the traditional coin toss — it was clear that the sport had taken a turn for the extreme.
For the record, the Enforcers won the dash and elected to receive. Shamsid-Deen not only suffered the embarrassment of losing badly to Chicago’s Troy Saunders, but also separated his left shoulder in the scrum.
The Rage wasted no time giving the crowd something to cheer, scoring on their first play from scrimmage. Orlando lined up in a double-tight end formation on its own 49, then sent receiver Kevin Swayne deep on a post pattern, where Jeff Brohm found him in stride for the XFL’s first touchdown. Brohm finished with four TD passes.
The quality of football was spotty, with numerous penalties slowing the game’s pace. Also, the fans were largely ignored during the game, other than repeated shots of the cheerleaders on a video screen erected by the XFL.
But the fans seemed not to mind the league’s rough beginning.
“It’s been excellent,” said Will Fowler of Orlando. “I didn’t really know what to expect, but there hasn’t been anything disappointing. I like it. The cheerleaders, everything. And I’ll be back.”
Summary
XFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
CHICAGO 10 6 6 7 29
ORLANDO 6 15 6 6 33 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: ORL - TD, KEVIN SWAYNE 51 YD PASS FROM JEFF BROHM (PAT
FAILED), 3:34. Drive: 1 play, 51 yards in 0:12.
ORLANDO 6-0
CHI - FG, ANDY CROSLAND 35 YD, 8:54. Drive: 10 plays, 62
yards in 4:20. Key plays: Bailey 42-yard run to
Orlando 20. ORLANDO 6-3
CHI - TD, TIM LESTER 3 YD RUN (LESHON JOHNSON RUN FOR
CONVERISON), 11:31. Drive: 3 plays, 32 yards in
1:36. Key plays: Ivy interception return to
Orlando 32. CHICAGO 10-6
2ND QUARTER: ORL - TD, DERRICK CLARK 4 YD RUN (PAT FAILED), 3:08.
Drive: 12 plays, 72 yards in 6:34. Key plays:
Brohm 13-yard pass to Bailey to Chicago 23;
Brohm 11-yard pass to Houston on 3rd-and-2 to
Chicago 4. ORLANDO 12-10
ORL - TD, DIALLEO BURKS 3 YD PASS FROM JEFF BROHM (PAT
FAILED), 12:53. Drive: 11 plays, 95 yards in
5:37. Key plays: Brohm 26-pard pass to Hart to
Chicago 39; Brohm 34-yard pass to Bailey to
Chicago 1. ORLANDO 18-10
ORL - FG, JAY TAYLOR 47 YD, 13:37. ORLANDO 21-10
CHI - TD, JOHN AVERY 68 YD PASS FROM TIM LESTER (PAT
FAILED), 14:01. ORLANDO 21-16
3RD QUARTER: ORL - TD, DIALLEO BURKS 30 YD PASS FROM JEFF BROHM (PAT
FAILED), 5:38. Drive: 3 plays, 31 yards in
1:23. ORLANDO 27-16
CHI - TD, JOHN AVERY 64 YD PASS FROM TIM LESTER (PAT
FAILED), 6:44. ORLANDO 27-22
4TH QUARTER: ORL - TD, DIALLEO BURKS 11 YD PASS FROM JEFF BROHM (PAT
FAILED), 8:32. Drive: 1 play, 11 yards in 0:08.
Key plays: Banks 24-yard interception return to
Chicago 11. ORLANDO 33-22
CHI - TD, WILLIE TATE 16 YD PASS FROM TIM LESTER (LESHON
JOHNSON RUN FOR CONVERISON), 13:57. Drive: 10
plays, 80 yards in 3:00. Key plays: Lester
21-yard pass to Avery to Chicago 48; Lester
14-yard pass to Yarborough to Orlando 38.
ORLANDO 33-29
TEAM STATISTICS
CHI ORL
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 16 19
Rushing 7 8
Passing 7 9
Penalty 2 2
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 3-10 4-11
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 2-2 0-1
TOTAL NET YARDS 342 335
Total plays 54 59
Average gain 6.3 5.7
NET YARDS RUSHING 210 129
Rushes 32 36
Average per rush 6.6 3.6
NET YARDS PASSING 132 206
Completed-attempted 13-21 14-22
Yards per pass 6.0 9.0
Sacked-yards lost 1-7 1-11
Had intercepted 2 1
PUNTS-AVERAGE 5-33.2 4-41.8
RETURN YARDAGE 154 176
Punts-returns 4-29 5-28
Kickoffs-returns 6-109 6-120
Interceptions-returns 1-16 2-28
PENALTIES-YARDS 8-57 9-78
FUMBLES-LOST 1-1 0-0
TIME OF POSSESSION 29:05 30:51
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: None.
Chicago rushing: John Avery 25-157, Aaron Bailey 1-40, Tim Lester
3-12, Leshon Johnson 3-1.
Orlando rushing: Clark Derrick 16-62, Black Michael 15-52, Shay Brian
3-12, Brohm Jeff 2-3.
Chicago passing: Tim Lester 12-20 for 134 yards, 2 INT, 3 TD, Paul
Failla 1-1 for 5 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
Orlando passing: Brohm Jeff 14-22 for 217 yards, 1 INT, 0 TD.
Chicago receiving: John Avery 3-93, Ryan Yarborough 3-22, Willie Tate
3-minus 3, Roell Preston 1-10, Junior Lord 1-8, Leshon Johnson 1-6,
Tyji Armstrong 1-3.
Orlando receiving: Burks Dialleo 5-53, Bailey Mario 3-60, Swayne
Kevin 2-56, Huston Terrance 2-15, Hart Lawrence 1-26, Shay Brian 1-7.
Chicago tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Jamie Baisley 8-0-0, Ray
Austin 6-0-0, Jason Chorak 5-1-0, Aaron Humphrey 4-2-0, Casey Dailey
5-0-1, Kerry Cooks 4-0-0, Matt Finkes 3-0-0, Corey Ivy 3-0-0, Don
Sasa 3-0-0, Dorian Brew 2-0-0, Larry Fitzpatrick 2-0-0, Junior Lord
2-0-0, Chike Egbuniwe 1-0-0, D. Anderson 1-0-0, Charles Wiley 1-0-0,
Kevin Mccullar 0-1-0.
Orlando tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Gilliard Cory 6-1-0,
Brown Omar 4-2-0, Burgess James 5-0-0, Banks Shawn 5-0-0, Anderson
Ken 4-0-0, Huff Ben 2-1-1, Duff Bill 2-1-0, Alexander P. 2-1-0,
Cummings Joe 2-1-0, Young Rich 2-0-0, Fisher Stephen 1-1-0, Shay
Brian 1-0-0, Roberson James 1-0-0, Culver Shannon 1-0-0, Malveaux
Kelly 1-0-0.
Interceptions: Chicago (Corey Ivy 1 for 16 yards); Orlando (Fisher
Stephen 1 for 28 yards, Team 1 for 0 yards).
Fumbles lost: Chicago (Lovett Purnell).
Opponent's fumbles recovered: Orlando (Banks Shawn).
Officials: Referee-David Witvoet, Umpire-Ray Ellison, Head
linesman-Dana Mckenzie, Line judge-Tony Hoffman, Back judge-Gregory
Steed, Side judge-David Chesney, Field judge-Paul Engelberts.
A: 35,603; T: 3:25.
