Million Dollar Game

[1]

Million Dollar Game

"The Big Game at the End"
San Francisco Demons
(6–6)		 Los Angeles Xtreme
(9–3)
6 38
Head coach:
Jim Skipper		 Head coach:
Al Luginbill
1234 Total
SF 0006 6
LA 318107 38
Date April 21, 2001
Stadium Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Location Los Angeles, California
Attendance 24,153
Network NBC
Announcers Matt Vasgersian, Jesse Ventura and Mike Adamle

The Million Dollar Game was the XFL's championship game at the end of its only season in 2001. At first it had no special name, then was going to be called "The Big Game at the End", but eventually received the name it ended up with because a pot of one million dollars was to be split among the players of the winning team (with each team having 38 players, each player would receive approximately $26,316 for winning). The game was played on Saturday April 21, 2001 at the LA Memorial Coliseum.

The game was between the Western Division champion Los Angeles Xtreme and the western runner-up San Francisco Demons. The Xtreme defeated the Eastern Division runner-up Chicago Enforcers 33-16 in the first round while the Demons beat east champs Orlando Rage 26-25. Orlando had finished the 10-game regular season with the XFL's best record, 8-2. Los Angeles was 7–3 while both Chicago and San Francisco each finished 5–5 (Making Orlando and L.A. the only two of the eight teams to finish with winning records in the regular season; the Memphis Maniax were also 5-5 but San Francisco won the playoff berth on a tie-breaker).

The Xtreme, led by regular-season Most Valuable Player Tommy Maddox, won the Million Dollar Game 38–6. The game's MVP was Xtreme kicker Jose Cortez, which was ironic considering the reduced role a kicker had in the XFL, which did not have a point after touchdown (extra point) kick in its rules and also paid kickers the least per game on its salary scale.

After each had been released by National Football League teams earlier in their professional careers, both Maddox and Cortez eventually found themselves back in the NFL. Maddox signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2001. He replaced Kordell Stewart in the 2002 season and led the Steelers into the playoffs. That performance earned NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors. Maddox lost his starting job to Ben Roethlisberger in 2005, and was released in 2006, however still became the first former XFL player to be a part of a Super Bowl champion after the Steelers won Super Bowl XL over the Seattle Seahawks.

Cortez, however, has not enjoyed the degree of success Maddox has. Although he scored over 100 points in the 2001 and 2002 NFL seasons, he has mostly been a journeyman, called in to fill in for a team's injured kicker (For this reason, he played for four teams in 2005).

Box score

Million Dollar Game: Los Angeles Xtreme vs San Francisco Demons
1 2 34Total
Demons 0 0 066
Xtreme 3 18 10738

at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California

Scoring summary
Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score
Plays Yards TOP SFD LAX
1 8:59 9 18 4:10 LAX 37-yard field goal by Cortez 0 3
2 14:22 9 79 4:49 LAX Wilcox 1-yard touchdown reception from Maddox, 2-point {{{2pt type}}} {{{2pt result}}} 0 9
2 9:43 1 73 4:50 LAX Durden 72-yard punt return for a touchdown 0 15
2 0:20 11 40 2:13 LAX 34-yard field goal by Cortez 0 18
2 0:00 1 — — LAX 50-yard field goal by Cortez 0 21
3 9:37 2 25 0:57 LAX Copeland 19-yard touchdown reception from Maddox, 2-point {{{2pt type}}} {{{2pt result}}} 0 28
3 1:31 11 44 6:08 LAX 22-yard field goal by Cortez 0 31
4 3:48 8 30 4:27 LAX Rachal 10-yard touchdown reception from Shehee, 2-point {{{2pt type}}} {{{2pt result}}} 0 38
4 0:25 7 78 3:23 SFD Sampson 21-yard touchdown run, 2-point {{{2pt type}}} {{{2pt result}}} 6 38
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 6 38

References

  1. ↑ http://www.all-xfl.com/xfl/champ/million.shtml
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