Demons face Bolts without the League's Leading QB

By NStarz Ha - Demons Team Reporter

San Francisco - The Bay Area - (02 March 2001) -- The XFL's leading quarterback is Mike Pawlawski. He leads the XFL in many passing categories such as yards (1,023), touchdowns (7) and completion percentage (64.5%). Unfortunately, he could be out of the game for three weeks after a neck injury on last Sunday's game against the Outlaws.

In place of Pawlawski, former California product, Pat Barnes, will start Saturday night against the Birmingham Bolts.

"I just had a feeling something wasn't right with Mike,'' said Demons coach Jim Skipper said. "I am confident Pat will play well as our starter.''

The only other quarterback on the Demons' roster is Oteman Sampson, a two-year Canadian Football League veteran, with little actual playing time, who has been in the Demons' camp for two weeks.

My thoughts:

The Demons lost their first home game against the Outlaws last Sunday. But the fans are still coming, and it is now known as the Hell Hole. So bring on the cheer as the Demons' 12th man.

The Bolts havn't scored a single point in the first quarter. And this is the perfect chance for the Demons to get into a early lead. The Demons has jumped ahead against the Outlaws 9-6 at the half. But to win this game without Pawlawski, they need to have at least a two touchdown cushion. Why? James Bostic is the third leading rusher in the XFL with 234 yards. Though it may not seem much, but the Demons haven't totally stopped the run. Jermaine Copeland is the 2nd in most reception. Though the Demons have great passing defense, they may commit some bad penalties like they had in the past. Also, it has been reported that the bump-and-run rule has been taken out. This means that it will be harder to defend receivers.

Another thing is that the Demons has yet to find a good running game. This is surprising because Demons Head Coach Skipper use to coach Tiki Barber and Ron Dayne. The good thing is that the Demons are tied for second place, and they still have a lot to improve. From getting use to the XFL faster play clock, to reading the runs better, or the wait for Pawlawski to get well soon.

NStarz Ha (nstarz@xflboard.com)