XFL DC Defenders #81 Josh Malone and #11 Lucky Jackson celebrate. (Twitter)
When: Saturday, Feb. 25 at 7 pm ET
Where: Cashman Field, Las Vegas, NV.
How to watch: FX/ESPN+
Betting
VGS -3.0
O/U 34.5
Odds via Caesars Sportsbook
Injury Report
Probable:
DB Kentrell Brice (oblique) – DC
CB Michael Joseph (adductor) – DC
TE Briley Moore (ankle) – DC
DE Jacub Panasiuk (knee) – DC
WR Martavius Bryant (illness) – LV
LB PJ Dawson (elbow) – LV
WR Cinque Sweeting (shoulder) – LV
RB DeAndre Torrey (ankle) – LV
DT Destiny Vaeao (leg) – LV
OG Isaiah Williams (knee) – LV
Questionable:
LB Vic Beasley (concussion) – LV
Out:
DE Fadol Brown (hamstring) – DC
C Mike Maietti (lower leg) – DC
Overview
Reggie Barlow and the D.C. Defenders (1-0) travel to the Sin City to take on Rod Woodson’s Vegas Vipers (0-1) on Saturday, Feb. 25. Though different outcomes, both teams are coming off Week 1 games that went down to the wire.
The Defenders defeated the Seattle Sea Dragons 22-18 in their electric home opener at Audi Field. The game was one of the inches, as it saw Dragons QB Ben DiNucci fumble on the one-yard line on the second-to-last play of the game. D.C. LB Jordan Brooks came up with the fumble recovery, returning possession to the Defenders and securing their victory. Now would it be fair to say that 12,438 D.C. strong in attendance had an impact on the game? Definitely. The enthusiastic fans even went as far as throwing lemons from their alcoholic beverages onto the playing field in protest of their iconic Beer Snake getting confiscated by Audi Field security. The phenomenon blew up on social media, trending under the hashtag “Lemongate” and “FreetheSnake.”
stadium security took away the beer snake from the defenders fans so they threw lemons on the field. then DC gets a pick 6 pic.twitter.com/3VRiZfyiZa
On the other hand, the Vipers are coming off a heartbreaking 22-20 loss against the Arlington Renegades on Saturday. The game saw Vegas leading 14-3 at halftime before they struggled offensively in the second half. Late in the fourth quarter, QB Luis Perez led his team on a miraculous 37-second drive that ended in a Cinque Sweeting receiving touchdown, but a failed two-point conversion ruled out all hopes of a win.
D.C. Defenders
The Defenders will be the road adversary for the first time this season on Saturday as they travel to Cashman Field, which holds a capacity of 10,000. Their offense will once again be led by starting signal-caller Jordan Ta’amu who struggled last week against Seattle, going 8/19 passing with 86 yards and an interception. Like we saw last week, expect occasional appearances from D’Eriq King, the scrambling backup quarterback.
The rushing production will also need some improvement, as Abram Smith and Ryquell Armstead struggled to break free from the line of scrimmage against the Sea Dragons in the last game. Poor run blocking, a common theme amongst these XFL teams, could be attributed to this.
On the other side of the ball, the Defenders looked stout. After getting down 9-0 early in the first quarter, D.C. held Seattle to just nine (one touchdown + three-point conversion) for the rest of the game. Two picks from DB Michael Joseph, including a pick-six in the second half, and a late-game fumble recovery by LB Jordan Brooks propelled D.C. to victory in Week 1. The heavy blitzing from D.C. only increased as the game went on and really hindered the Dragons offense. Expect Defenders DC Gregg Williams to continue to dial up the pressure against Vegas.
No doubt that the Defenders need that same defensive production against the Vipers, but the offense will need to step up if they want consistency in terms of winning.
Las Vegas Vipers
Though he had some trouble last week, Luis Perez will remain the starting quarterback for Vegas going into Week 2 against the Defenders. As I touched on before, Luis Perez had the Vipers up early via two passing touchdowns to Jeff Badet before two thrown pick-sixes in the second half allowed Arlington to pull in front. In addition, Perez was sacked thrice throughout the game for a combined yardage loss of 13.
The run game also wasn’t pretty, as 15 carries only yielded 25 yards. John Lovett, the lead back, only had 10 yards on four carries. Establishing the run game against D.C. will be a key to victory.
Vic Beasley headlines the Vipers defensive unit. Though his status is uncertain due to a concussion, he had three total tackles, including two for loss and half a sack against the Renegades last week. Losing the 2016 first-team All-Pro linebacker would be a tough blow for the Vipers. Middle linebacker D.J. Calhoun led Vegas in total tackles last week with eight, including one for a loss.
Final Thoughts
The Defenders have historically struggled on the road, and we’ll see just how much that comes into play today. As for the Vipers, they’re looking for their first win of the season, as dropping to 0-2 would not be ideal. Both teams visually struggled in certain aspects of their games last week, and hopefully, the week gave them the opportunity to fix things.
If the score of these two teams’ last games tells us anything about what the score will look like today, expect a close one. Fun fact: the XFL team to draw first blood in each game thus far is 0-5.
