Coach Jim Zorn and the Dragons celebrate their first win of the XFL season. (Credit: XFL.com)
This was the XFL game of the year so far and I feel like that is fairly undebatable. It was the closest game of the year and the environment was top notch. The Dragons attracted the largest attendance by far, 29,172, and the environment at CenturyLink was crazy. The play on the field was a little sloppy but it got exciting towards the end of the game and the fans were into it. The Dragons offense left a lot to be desired but the defensive effort was spectacular. There were positives and negatives for every position group so lets dig in.
QB Play: Sloppy
Brandon Silvers would be the first to tell you that he did not play well at all. Silvers completed 7 of 19 balls for 91 yards a TD and an INT. 68 of those 91 yards also came on a single TD pass to Keenan Reynolds. I made some excuses for Silvers last week but there really was not any to be made this week. Silvers missed a ton of open receivers and left a lot of yards on the field. That one interception could also have easily been multiple. The fans were not happy with Silvers performance either as “BJ” chants filled the stadium. Zorn stuck with his young QB though, saying that he did not ever consider switching QBs. Silvers made no excuses for his performance and was not bothered by the chants. “They were right I wasn’t playing good enough”, said Silvers, “Play good and that won’t happen.” It is good that Silvers acknowledges his performance but it will be tough to win games with that type of offense so hopefully it improves tremendously. Silvers does get a full week of practice this week as opposed to only one day this past week so that should help a little bit
Run Game: Fine
The run game was a big part of this offense but I don’t think that was a huge testament to their success because the offense was so lackluster. There was a lot of volume but the efficiency was not anything special. Williams had 11 carries for 45 yards, Farrow had 10 for 45 and Gardner had 10 for 27 for a total of 117 yards on 31 carries. The run game did start to get going more as Williams and Farrow both had some big first down runs in the second half but I think where we were really missing them was in the passing game. A big part of the week one offense was passing to the RBs and we only saw one target between the three of them this week. That is something I would like to see early and often next week.
Receiving Corps: Blameless
I do not think this receiving corps played a bad game at all. In fact, I think they played better than last week. There was not a lot of opportunities for them to shine and when they did pass, Silvers did not hit them. The possible addition of Kasen Williams should help, though. The week one star, Austin Proehl was quiet and took a backseat to Keenan Reynolds who paced the team in targets (8) and got wide open on the 68 yard game-changing TD. I think these guys were fairly blameless and their production should improve as this passing game matures
Offensive Line: Alright
I do not think this offensive line was to blame for this performance. They kept Silvers clean for the most part and were alright in run-blocking. They did not dominate or even perform as well as last week in my opinion, but they went out and had a respectable effort. I think in the XFL, where we have seen some bad O-Lines, the Dragons have one of the better O-Lines. Top OT Isaiah Battle and OG Cyril Richardson are also both injured right now and should provide a tremendous boost when they return.
Defensive Front: Swarming
I called these guys swarming last week because they were fast and around the football but once again there was some missed tackles. However, missed tackles or not, I was pleased with this performance. The pass rush was happy that they did not have to tackle the monstrous Cardale Jones and actually hit home with 4 sacks (even though 2 came from the secondary). Vipers RBs Jacques Patrick and De’Veon Smith both had some big runs as the Vipers but did not take over the game. The big success was containing the electric Quinton Flowers who only had 15 yards on 5 carries. Steven Johnson was once again the tackles leader with 10 and had 2 TFL as well. You also can’t forget about Marcell Frazier’s Pick 6 which was the best play of the year for the Dragons. This unit is a definite strength of the team and I can’t wait to watch it continue to develop.
Secondary: Sterling
This secondary played an amazing game. The Vipers only had 172 passing yards and a lot of those came on the last drive in prevent defense. CB Jeremy Clark played a fantastic game with his interception and 2 pass breakups as well CB Steve Williams who had 1.5 sacks and 2 TFLs. Dan Williams, the XFL’s leading receiver in week 1, was held to only 22 yards, which was a huge testament to this secondary. While the Viper’s offense is not a powerhouse, a strong showing like this is still a great sign. This defense is hot and when they play like this, the Dragons always have a shot
Special Teams: Improved
By no means did the Dragons dominate on special teams but compared to their week 1 performance, it was a huge upgrade. John Santiago and Austin Proehl both had some solid returns and the Dragon’s coverage team held the Vipers in the return game. Punter Brock Miller had some punts downed inside the five and had a very underrated performance. Ernesto Lacayo badly missed an early field goal but responded to hit a huge field goal in the final minutes to put the Dragons up 8. Of course, the big positive was no punts blocked for a TD, which was the killer in week 1. Overall, this unit put together a much better performance and coach Chip Garber should be happy with his unit.
Coaching: Solid
Zorn did not go out there and dominate Trestman but he coached a solid game and led our guys to a win. The big question mark was the QB situation but Zorn sticking with Silvers did lead to big TD. Their was not too many 4th down decisions but one positive was that Seattle started going for 2 after TDs instead of 1, which is the better call. Zorn did what he could and won this hard fought game and I believe he should get credit for it.
Fans: Loud
This was the largest crowd by far at an XFL game and the fans were loud, especially late in the game. Both HC Trestman and QB Cornelius both said that the crowd did not affect their performance but there was some false starts and miscommunications. This stadium was packed and I really hope we see this at the next four home games.
Overall Performance: Resilient
This performance wasn’t amazing by any stretch of the imagination but the guys hung in there, fought it out and came out with the win. There are a lot of things this team needs to work on but I think this team will get better (as will all the XFL teams) and start putting everything together.
