The Orlando Rage was an American football team based in Orlando, Florida as part of the XFL, begun by Vince McMahon of the World Wrestling Federation and by NBC, a major television network in the United States.
History
<!-- Deleted image removed: 150px|left|thumb|Orlando Rage helmet -->
The team's colors were scarlet, yellow, navy blue and white with jersey numbers in a unique jagged font. They played their home games at Orlando's Florida Citrus Bowl, which was configured so that the upper deck was closed off and all fans were seated in the lower bowl to give a better appearance for television (a move that was effective, as the Rage had one of the stronger fan bases in the league, with average attendance at over two-thirds of the lower bowl's capacity; the team sold out all 36,000 lower bowl seats for its home opener). The team's General Manager was Tom Veit a former Major League Soccer Vice-president and were coached by former Florida Gators head coach Galen Hall. They were in the XFL's Eastern Division with the NY/NJ Hitmen, Chicago Enforcers and Birmingham Thunderbolts.
The Rage were one of the two teams who opted not to don nicknames on the back of their jerseys. In the Rage's case, the decision was made by a majority vote of the players (despite the objections of starting quarterback Jeff Brohm, who openly embraced the XFL's approach to sports entertainment and wanted to wear "J Bro" on his jersey).
Jeff Brohm, at the time also under contract to the Cleveland Browns, was the quarterback of the Rage for most of the regular season, amassing a 6–0 record as starter during his first time at the helm. The team looked to be the league's powerhouse franchise under Brohm and was on pace for a perfect season (coincidentally, Orlando's next professional football team, the Florida Tuskers, would also win their first six games in a row before losing the seventh). He showed his toughness after he suffered an injury from a devastating hit by at the hands of Memphis Maniax defensive end Shante Carver in Week 5. Despite suffering a concussion in the hit and doctors' advice not to play, Brohm came back a week later against Las Vegas, giving a rousing speech stating that he was returning because it was the XFL and he still had a pulse. In 2022, the league, under new ownership, announced that the New York Guardians would relocate to Orlando as the Orlando Guardians. The team took the field on February 18, 2023. Following the XFL merger with the USFL that was the last season in Orlando
Season-by-season
|-
|2001 || 8 || 2 || 0 || 1st Eastern || Lost Semifinals (San Francisco)
|-
!Totals || 8 || 3 || 0
|colspan="2"| (including playoffs)
Schedule
Regular season
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! style=";"|Week
! style=";"|Date
! style=";"|Opponent
! style=";"|Result
! style=";"|Record
! style=";"|Venue
|-
! 1
|
| Chicago Enforcers
| W 33–29
| 1–0
| Florida Citrus Bowl
|-
! 2
|
| San Francisco Demons
| W 26–14
| 2–0
| Florida Citrus Bowl
|-
! 3
| February 18
| at New York/New Jersey Hitmen
| W 18–12
| 3–0
| Giants Stadium
|-
! 4
|
| Birmingham Thunderbolts
| W 30–6
| 4–0
| Florida Citrus Bowl
|-
! 5
| March 4
| at Memphis Maniax
| W 21–19
| 5–0
| Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
|-
! 6
|
| Las Vegas Outlaws
| W 27–15
| 6–0
| Florida Citrus Bowl
|-
! 7
| March 18
| at Los Angeles Xtreme
| L 6–31
| 6–1
| Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
|-
! 8
| March 25
| New York/New Jersey Hitmen
| W 17–12
| 7–1
| Florida Citrus Bowl
|-
! 9
|
| at Birmingham Thunderbolts
| W 29–24
| 8–1
| Legion Field
|-
! 10
| April 8
| at Chicago Enforcers
| L 6–23
| 8–2
| Soldier Field
|}
Post-season
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! style=";"|Round
! style=";"|Date
! style=";"|Opponent
! style=";"|Result
! style=";"|Record
! style=";"|Venue
|- style="background:#fcc"
! Semi-final
|
| San Francisco Demons
| L 25–26
| 0–1
| Florida Citrus Bowl
|}
Personnel
Staff
Source:
Roster
Standings
Source:
Statistical leaders
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2"| Legend
|-
| style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"|
| Led the league
|}
Passing
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! style="text-align:center;;"colspan="12"|Passing statistics
|-
! NAME !! GP !! GS !! Record !! Cmp !! Att !! Pct !! Yds !! TD !! Int !! Rtg
|-
| Brian Kuklick || 5 || 3 || 2–1 || 68 || 122 || 55.7 || 994 || 6 || style="background:#cfecec;"|10 || 64.7
|-
| Jeff Brohm || 7 || 7 || 6–1 || 69 || 119 || 58.8 || 993 || 9 || 3 || 99.9
|-
! colspan="1"| Totals !! 10 !! 10 !! 8–2 !! 137 !! 241 !! 56.8 !! 1,987 !! 15 !! 13 !! 82.1
|}
Rushing
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! style="text-align:center;;"colspan="8"| Rushing statistics
|-
! NAME !! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD
|-
| Derrick Clark || 94 || 395 || 4.2 || 19 || style="background:#cfecec;"|7
|-
| Michael Black || 83 || 320 || 3.9 || 20 || 0
|-
| Brian Shay || 36 || 198 || 5.5 || 28t || 2
|-
| Brian Kuklick || 17 || 31 || 1.8 || 9 || 1
|-
| Jeff Brohm || 16 || 67 || 4.2 || 33t || 1
|-
| Mario Bailey || 2 || 15 || 7.5 || 11 || 0
|-
! colspan="1"| Totals !! 248 !! 1,026 !! 4.1 !! 33 !! 11
|}
Receiving
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! style="text-align:center;;"colspan="9| Receiving statistics
|-
! NAME !! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD
|-
| Dialleo Burks || 34 || 659 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 19.4 || 81t || 7
|-
| Kevin Swayne || 27 || 400 || 14.8 || 51t || 2
|-
| Mario Bailey || 27 || 379 || 14.0 || 49t || 3
|-
| Derrick Clark || 12 || 109 || 9.1 || 38 || 0
|-
| Lawrence Hart || 12 || 104 || 8.7 || 26 || 1
|-
| Shannon Culver || 10 || 165 || 16.5 || 49t || 1
|-
| Terrance Huston || 5 || 51 || 10.2 || 29 || 0
|-
| Tony Gaiter || 4 || 62 || 15.5 || 22 || 0
|-
| Mike Black || 3 || 31 || 10.3 || 14 || 0
|-
| Brian Shay || 3 || 27 || 9.0 || 12t || 1
|-
! colspan="1"| Totals !! 137 !! 1,987 !! 14.5 !! 81 !! 15
|}
Scoring
12-30 (40.0)% on extra point conversion attempts
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! style="text-align:center;;"colspan="9| Total Scoring
|-
! NAME !! Rush !! Rec !! Return !! XPM !! FGM !! PTS
|-
| Derrick Clark || 7 || 0 || 0 || 5 || 0 || 47
|-
| Dialleo Burks || 0 || 7 || 0 || 2 || 0 || 44
|-
| Mario Bailey || 0 || 3 || <abbr title="Kick return">1</abbr> || 2 || 0 || 26
|-
| Jay Taylor || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 7 || 21
|-
| Brian Shay || 2 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 18
|-
| Kevin Swayne || 0 || 2 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 13
|-
| Shannon Culver || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 7
|-
| Jeff Brohm || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 6
|-
| Omar Brown || 0 || 0 || <abbr title="Fumble return">1</abbr> || 0 || 0 || 6
|-
| Sedric Clark || 0 || 0 || <abbr title="Fumble return">1</abbr> || 0 || 0 || 6
|-
| Bill Duff || 0 || 0 || <abbr title="Fumble return">1</abbr> || 0 || 0 || 6
|-
| Lawrence Hart || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 6
|-
| Brian Kuklick || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 6
|-
| Mike Black || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1
|-
! colspan="1"| Totals !! 11 !! 15 !! 4 !! 12 !! 7 !! 213
|}
Awards and honors
Awards
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:center"
|-
! width="80"| Season
! width="150"| Coach
! width="150"| Award
|-
| 2001
| Galen Hall
| Coach of the Year
|}
Honors
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:center"
|-
! width="80"| Season
! width="150"| Player
! Position
! width="150"| Honor
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2001
| Jeff Brohm
| QB
| rowspan="3" | All-XFL team
|-
| James Burgess
| LB
|-
| Jason Gamble
| G
|}