XFL Week 7: Birmingham Thunderbolts vs Las Vegas Outlaws

Gridiron America FM Radio

Week seven in the XFL saw the 2-4 Birmingham Bolts vs the Las Vegas Outlaws 3-3. With three weeks to go the Bolts amazingly still had a chance to make the playoffs. Unfortunately they would go on to lose the rest of their games finishing dead last in their division. Twenty two unanswered points ruined Jay Barker's first start in a 34-12 defeat before 23,538 at Las Vegas' Sam Boyd Stadium. Brad Palazzo would score Birmingham's first and last points on a 37 yard field goal in the first and a 21 yard field goal in the third. Unable to score an offensive touchdown, Eric Sloan would score the Bolts lone touchdown in the second on a 70 yard interception return.

Turnovers would prove costly for the visitors resulting in three Vegas touchdowns. Outlaws head coach Jim Criner made some changes by keeping Rod Smart aka "He Hate Me" out of the game due to a sprained right knee injury. Ben Snell started in his place. He also benched defensive back Brandon Sanders for his lack of performance the prior weeks. The Outlaws decided to wear their all black uniforms because Criner thought it could provide some motivation. The Thunderbolts started former Crimson Tide QB Jay Barker in place of Casey Weldon. They went up against the top defenses in the XFL in the Outlaws despite having one of the worst offenses in the league mostly due to turn overs.

By now the ratings were so terrible (in the 1's) that NBC made sure their flagship weekend show "Saturday Night Live" went on time by not televising the last minute and seventeen seconds of the game. The game was well out of hand and the Outlaws won by more than 21 points.