The Las Vegas Outlaws were an American football team in the XFL. They played in the Western Division with the Los Angeles Xtreme, San Francisco Demons and Memphis Maniax. They played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium. On February 3, 2001, The Outlaws hosted the first nationally televised XFL game on NBC against the New York/New Jersey Hitmen.[2][3]
 | |
| Established | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 2001 |
| Based in | Whitney, Nevada |
| Home stadium | Sam Boyd Stadium |
| Head coach | Jim Criner |
| League | XFL |
| Division | Western |
| Colors | Red, black, sand[1] |
| League titles | 0 |
| Division titles | 0 |
History
editBefore the 2001 season began there was already question if Las Vegas could support a professional sports team due to past failed attempts with: Las Vegas Americans (Soccer-MISL- 1984-85), Las Vegas Dustdevils (Soccer-CISL-1994-1995), Las Vegas Posse (Football-CFL-1994) Las Vegas Quicksilvers (Soccer-NASL-1976-1978), Las Vegas Seagulls (Soccer-ASL-1979), Las Vegas Sting (Football-Arena Football League-1994-1995) and Las Vegas Thunder (IHL-1993-1999)[4] The Outlaws were sponsored by Cox Communications, New York-New York Hotel & Casino, Station Casinos, PacifiCare Health Systems and Findlay Toyota. Just like the Posse (and the later Locomotives), the Outlaws had a difficult time selling tickets. For the home opener against the Hitmen 13,700 tickets were sold for a stadium that seats 36,000. There were only 7,000 estimated season ticket holders. Compared to the rest of the league, the Outlaws' attendance was about average, at 22,000 fans per game. They were one of two teams (the league-leading San Francisco Demons being the other) to consistently play in a stadium that was more than half full. The league-leading defense, led by Defensive Coordinator Mark Criner, was nicknamed "The Dealers of Doom."
Players
editAmong the team's players were the XFL's most well-known, Rod Smart (later with the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, and the Oakland Raiders), who went by the nickname of "He Hate Me", which appeared on the back of his jersey. (He was originally going to put "They Hate Me", but there wasn't enough room.) Coached by former Boise State and Scottish Claymores head coach Jim Criner, the Outlaws competed in the XFL's only season, held in the spring of 2001. The team encouraged their fans to come up with a nickname. They selected the "Dealers of Doom Defense". After a strong start, the Outlaws suffered repeated injuries to their quarterbacks (by the midpoint of the season they were on their fourth-string quarterback) and lost their last three games to finish in last place in the division with a record of 4-6-0, just one game out of a playoff spot.
Despite having a two-year contract, NBC announced shortly after the season that it was getting out, as the season's later games had garnered the lowest ratings for a major American television network since the Nielsen ratings had begun tracking them, and the league folded shortly afterwards.
The team was the centerpiece of the 2003 book about the XFL, Long Bomb: How the XFL Became TV's Biggest Fiasco. It was written by Brett Forrest of Details magazine.
Notable Las Vegas Outlaws players
edit- 87 Werner (Verne) Hippler, a German-born tight end who played 11 years in the NFL Europe League and has also been on the practice squads of the San Diego Chargers and Detroit Lions.
- 10 Mike Cawley (James Madison) - The quarterback played in the NFL for five seasons with four teams, a season in the CFL with two teams, a season in NFLE with the Amsterdam Admirals, and one year with the Af2 Quad City Steamwheelers.
- 81 Todd Floyd (UNLV) - The wide receiver played for the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFLE and was on the preseason rosters of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills.
- 22 Chrys Chukwuma(Arkansas) -The running back was briefly on the Dallas Cowboys' roster.
- 30 Rod Smart (Western Kentucky) - "He Hate Me" would go on to become the first former XFL player to appear in a Super Bowl: Super Bowl XXXVIII for the Panthers.
- 82 Mike Furrey (Ohio State/Northern Iowa) - Like Smart, the receiver has enjoyed a long NFL career.
- 17 Paul McCallum - Kicker who played for NFLE's Scottish Claymores. Most recently played in 2016 as a member of the BC Lions franchise, in the Canadian Football League; McCallum was the last active former XFL player in any professional league.
- 92 Kelvin T.G. Kinney (Virginia State) - The defensive end has spent time with the Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins.
- 31 Kelly Herndon (Toledo) - The cornerback later landed with the Seattle Seahawks. In Super Bowl XL, he returned an interception for a then record of 76 yards. Since then it has been broken by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison.
- 16 Mark Grieb - The quarterback would go on to win two ArenaBowls with the San Jose SaberCats. In the XFL, Grieb only got his chance when the starting quarterback Ryan Clement was injured.
Season-by-season
edit| Season | W | L | T | Finish | Playoff results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4th Western | Out of playoffs |
Schedule
editRegular season
edit| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | February 3 | New York/New Jersey Hitmen | W 19–0 | 1–0 | Sam Boyd Stadium |
| 2 | February 11 | at Memphis Maniax | W 25–3 | 2–0 | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium |
| 3 | February 17 | Los Angeles Xtreme | L 9–12 | 2–1 | Sam Boyd Stadium |
| 4 | February 25 | at San Francisco Demons | W 16–9 | 3–1 | Pacific Bell Park |
| 5 | March 4 | at Chicago Enforcers | L 13–15 | 3–2 | Soldier Field |
| 6 | March 10 | at Orlando Rage | L 15–27 | 3–3 | Florida Citrus Bowl |
| 7 | March 17 | Birmingham Thunderbolts | W 34–12 | 4–3 | Sam Boyd Stadium |
| 8 | March 24 | at Los Angeles Xtreme | L 26–35 | 4–4 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum |
| 9 | April 1 | San Francisco Demons | L 9–14 | 4–5 | Sam Boyd Stadium |
| 10 | April 7 | Memphis Maniax | L 3–16 | 4–6 | Sam Boyd Stadium |
Personnel
editStaff
edit| 2001 Las Vegas Outlaws staff | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
| |||||
Roster
editQuarterbacks (QB)
Running backs (RB)
Wide receivers (WR)
Tight ends (TE)
|
Offensive linemen (OL)
Defensive linemen (DL)
|
Linebackers (LB)
Defensive backs (DB)
|
Practice squad
Reserve
Rookies in italics
, 7 practice squad |
Standings
edit| Western Division | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | ||
| Los Angeles Xtreme | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 235 | 166 | W1 | ||
| San Francisco Demons | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 156 | 161 | L1 | ||
| Memphis Maniax | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 167 | 166 | W2 | ||
| Las Vegas Outlaws | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 | 169 | 143 | L3 | ||
Team leaders
edit| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led the league | |
Passing
edit| Passing statistics[a] | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rtg | |
| Ryan Clement | 7 | 6 | 3–3 | 78 | 138 | 56.5 | 805 | 9 | 4 | 83.2 | |
| Mark Grieb | 4 | 3 | 1–2 | 37 | 78 | 47.4 | 408 | 3 | 4 | 54.9 | |
| Mike Cawley | 2 | 1 | 0–1 | 17 | 38 | 44.7 | 180 | 1 | 2 | 45.9 | |
| Totals | 10 | 10 | 4–6 | 132 | 255 | 51.8 | 1,393 | 13 | 10 | 68.6 | |
- ^ Guliford threw one incompletion
Rushing
edit| Rushing statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| Rod "He Hate Me" Smart | 146 | 555 | 3.8 | 31 | 3 | ||
| Ben Snell | 31 | 123 | 4.0 | 24 | 0 | ||
| Chrys Chukwuma | 20 | 104 | 5.2 | 34 | 1 | ||
| Ryan Clement | 10 | 19 | 1.9 | 20 | 0 | ||
| Mike Cawley | 8 | 41 | 5.1 | 15 | 0 | ||
| Mark Grieb | 2 | -2 | -1.0 | -1 | 0 | ||
| Yo Murphy | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jim Ballard | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | -1 | 0 | ||
| Mike Furrey | 1 | -3 | -3.0 | -3 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 220 | 836 | 3.8 | 34 | 4 | ||
Receiving
edit| Receiving statistics | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | |||
| Yo Murphy | 27 | 273 | 10.1 | 35 | 3 | |||
| Rod "He Hate Me" Smart | 27 | 245 | 9.1 | 46 | 0 | |||
| Mike Furrey | 18 | 242 | 13.4 | 41t | 1 | |||
| Rickey Brady | 15 | 158 | 10.5 | 25 | 5 | |||
| Eric Guliford | 9 | 100 | 11.1 | 23 | 0 | |||
| Corey Nelson | 9 | 80 | 8.9 | 18t | 1 | |||
| Brett Bech | 7 | 95 | 13.6 | 20 | 0 | |||
| Nakia Jenkins | 7 | 74 | 10.6 | 27t | 1 | |||
| Ben Snell | 6 | 37 | 6.2 | 15 | 1 | |||
| Todd Floyd | 3 | 71 | 23.7 | 37 | 1 | |||
| Chrys Chukwuma | 3 | 12 | 4.0 | 8 | 0 | |||
| Werner Hippler | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | |||
| Totals | 132 | 1,393 | 10.6 | 46 | 13 | |||
Scoring
edit7-21 (33.3)% on extra point conversion attempts[7]
| Total Scoring | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | Rush | Rec | Return | XPM | FGM | PTS | ||
| Paul McCallum | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 36 | ||
| Rickey Brady | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 32 | ||
| Rod "He Hate Me" Smart | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | ||
| Yo Murphy | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | ||
| Chris Bayne | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Chrys Chukwuma | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Todd Floyd | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Mike Furrey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Kurt Gouveia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Nakia Jenkins | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Jason Kaiser | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Corey Nelson | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Ben Snell | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Jamel Williams | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Mike Cawley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Lonnie Palelei | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Totals | 4 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 169 | ||
References
edit- ^ "Las Vegas Outlaws Logo Sheet". SSUR.org. Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
- ^ Las Vegas Outlaws still working to corral ticket buyers. Las Vegas Business Press [serial online]. January 29, 2001;18(5):6.
- ^ "EXTINCT / NBC, WWF pull the plug on XFL after just one season of anything-goes football". SFGate. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
- ^ Las Vegas Outlaws still working to corral ticket buyers. Las Vegas Business Press [serial online]. January 29, 2001;18(5):6.
- ^ 2001 Las Vegas Outlaws Media Guide. XFL. pp. 4–11.
- ^ "XFL Standings". USA Today. May 12, 2001. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
- ^ "2001 Outlaws Final Regular Season Stats".
