Jack Coan: “I dislocated my pinkie but I popped it back in.” (ESPN)
Ranking the games
Battlehawks 21, Vipers 17 – It’s only appropriate that the XFL’s first overtime game under the current format earns the game of the week honors. It was a gutsy call to sit AJ McCarron, who believed he could play, but Nick Tiano paid off Anthony Becht’s confidence in him.
Defenders 34, Sea Dragons 33 – As has become the norm around the league, a lot of late scoring in this one. DC showed they can win it even when their running game doesn’t ball out.
Renegades 18, Guardians 16 – Another overtime game, but these two squads stumbled into this one. A combined eight turnovers from two flailing offenses.
Roughnecks 17, Brahmas 15 – San Antonio’s offense is borderline unwatchable. And for all the hype Houston’s run-and-shoot gets, they’ve only cleared 20 points once in the last four games.
Free football
The big story of the weekend’s games were the two that went to overtime, the first to reach that point in the modern XFL. The overtime setup is based on hockey or soccer shootouts, where each team gets an opportunity for two-point plays from the five-yard line. It’s a best-of-three format and if the teams are tied after three rounds, it would go to a second overtime and a second set of three tries. Given the XFL’s tiered extra point system, it shouldn’t be a surprise that no game had gone to OT yet – in theory, it’s much more difficult to end up with a tie ballgame in the XFL because teams have a choice of three different post-touchdown scoring options. Overtime was really the last frontier the XFL had yet to cross in terms of rules implemented either in 2020 or 2023. Positive feedback on the format, and viewership numbers, have fans, the XFL, and ESPN all rooting for more OT games in the future.
All-Access Moment of the Week, Part One
Luis Perez took over as Arlington’s starting quarterback this week, and while the offense didn’t exactly go on a scoring binge with him at the helm, he certainly looked more comfortable than either Drew Plitt or Kyle Sloter had for most of the season. The veteran immediately took on a leadership role that was evident during the game. Late in the first quarter, WR JaVonta Payton committed the team’s second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to that point, this one for taunting. It turned what would’ve been a 2nd-and-3 into a 2nd-and-18. Arlington couldn’t dig out of the hole and was forced to punt. Perez was livid on the sidelines, telling his teammates, “We cannot be doing that shit to ourselves.” The Renegades were able to overcome 13 penalties and edge Orlando to stay one game in front of San Antonio for the second XFL South playoff berth.
First to clinch
The XFL South has taken a beating in some corners of XFL fandom for its perceived weak lineup of teams compared to the XFL North, to the point that some are clamoring for rule changes in the future to allow the four best teams in the playoffs regardless of what divisions they come out of. At least for this year, each division will carry two teams into the postseason, and the Houston Roughnecks were the first to clinch a playoff berth thanks to their 17-15 victory over the San Antonio Brahmas. The Roughnecks have not wrapped up the division crown yet – Arlington remains a game behind with two to go – and the teams meet in week ten for what could be a home playoff game on the line. The DC Defenders’ Sunday evening defeat of the Seattle Sea Dragons also allowed them to prepare their playoff plans, though like Houston, they’re only one game ahead of second place in the division.
St. Louis speed
Before the season began, the XFL and Catapult announced a partnership in which XFL players and coaches would utilize Catapult’s wearable technology to enhance on-field performance and athlete safety. Included in that data is the ability to measure speed, in miles per hour, that players reach during a game. As revealed on the ESPN broadcast during the Battlehawks vs. Vipers game this week, St. Louis has three of the top four fastest XFL players in WR Gary Jennings (first – 22.20 mph), CB Tim Harris (second – 22.12), and LB Carson Wells (fourth – 21.88). The announcers marveled at Wells, a linebacker, being included on that list. It’s also no wonder the Battlehawks targeted Jennings on the fake punt: His speed was on display as he raced away from his pursuers to reach the end zone on the play.
Buckley’s unusual call
Armchair quarterbacking is alive in well in the XFL thanks to the tiered extra point system. Fans can question their favorite team’s decision to go for one, two or three points after touchdown, opening coaches to a whole new level of second-guessing. The announcers got in on the act in Orlando when Guardians Head Coach Terrell Buckley opted to go for one with the team down by three and less than four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Following a Quinten Dormady-to-Eli Rogers touchdown that pulled the Guardians within three at 18-15, Buckley sent his offense out onto the field for a one-point conversion attempt. “Wait a minute, are you serious?” asked ESPN play-by-play announcer John Schiffren when he realized Orlando was going for one. “I think it’s really, really sketchy,” said his partner, Tom Luginbill, about the call.
Jah-Maine Martin ran the ball in for the conversion, making it 18-16. To defend Buckley a little bit, had Dormady not fumbled at the end of the game, the Guardians were in a position to make their head coach look like a genius: They were just yards away from getting into the range of kicker Jose Borregales, and a field goal would’ve won them the game. Had they gone for three and not gotten it (three-point conversions are only successful at a 20% clip league-wide, while one-point conversions have a 40% success rate), a field goal would’ve only tied the game. In the moment, it seemed like an odd decision, but with hindsight and looking at the data, I can see why Buckley made the call.
All-Access Moment of the Week, Part Two
I don’t think anyone doubts the toughness of football players. They put their bodies on the line each week as modern-day gladiators. It’s no surprise, then, when players gut out pain and injuries. San Antonio QB Jack Coan did just that on Sunday. In his first game back after missing two starts with a bum ankle, Coan suffered another ailment that viewers wouldn’t have even known about had it not been for his mic picking up the comment. “I dislocated my pinkie but I popped it back in,” Coan matter-of-factly told a trainer during a timeout with 20 seconds left in the first half. He made it seem as if it was no big deal. Makes you wonder how many other, similar injuries happen over the course of a game that fans are never privy to.
