Parks’s Pulse: On throwbacks, redemption, and pumpkins

Ranking the games

1. Vipers 35, Guardians 32: This matchup surpassed expectations, even by those who thought it could be the sleeper game of the week. If you like offense, this one was for you. If you like defense…maybe not so much.
2. Defenders 28, Battlehawks 20: DC sure looks like the class of the XFL after going into St. Louis’s home and beating them for the second time in three weeks.
3. Sea Dragons 21, Roughnecks 14: A disappointing game in that the top two offenses in the league sure didn’t look like it for most of this one. Two of the best QBs in the league were neutralized by the opposing defense (and turnovers, and dropped passes…)
4. Renegades 12, Brahmas 10: A San Antonio win here would’ve made next week’s rematch more interesting. Alas, the Brahmas will have to pull out a miracle to stay in the playoff hunt. Their offense showed some life until QB Reid Sinnett went down with a foot injury.

And then there was one

Heading into the weekend, we knew there would be just one winless team emerging from the games when 0-4 Vegas took on 0-4 Orlando. After Seattle’s Thursday night victory over Houston, there’s now just one undefeated team as well. The Defenders moved to 5-0 with their win over the Battlehawks. Looking ahead, Orlando has a couple of winnable games left against Arlington (they lost 10-9 to the Renegades in week three) and San Antonio. DC is likely to be challenged the most by Houston this Monday night, and by Seattle in week nine.

Wayback Weekend

It was a reunion of sorts this past weekend, as a number of prominent players and coaches were matched up against the team they were with in 2020. Seattle offensive coordinator June Jones not only played the team he led to a 5-0 record as head coach in ’20, the Houston Roughnecks, but he also faced off against his mentee, AJ Smith, for the very first time. While neither offense looked as crisp as at other times during the season, Jones’s Sea Dragons won out over Smith’s Roughnecks. In the same game, QB Brandon Silvers was back at Lumen Field where he played as a member of the then-Seattle Dragons. In addition, QB Jordan Ta’amu of the DC Defenders squared off against his old team, the St. Louis Battlehawks, in The Dome at America’s Center, and came out with the “W.”

All-Access Moment of the Week, Part One

If ESPN+ offered a live feed of audio from just DC defensive coordinator Gregg Williams during Defenders games, that viewership may outdraw those watching on linear television. Alas, so much of what Williams says is not fit for broadcast. He did turn in a gem in week five, however, telling a linebacker over the headset before a play, “go down there, pat him on the ass, and shift him to a three-man front.” This was in reference to his preferred alignment of the defensive front seven given a particular look from the offense.

Redemption is spelled D-o-r-m-a-d-y.

A few weeks ago, Quinten Dormady’s football career was hanging in the balance. He was accused of sharing Orlando’s plays with a player from another team, a cardinal sin in football. Had it been true, it would’ve gotten him released from the Guardians and likely blackballed from the sport. After a thorough investigation, no wrongdoing was found and Dormady was back with the team. It was unclear what role he’d have moving forward. An injury to Deondre Francois opened the door for Dormady to back up starter Paxton Lynch against Vegas (even though Dormady was the third QB to enter the game behind Quinton Flowers, who saw a few goal-line snaps).

With their potential first win achievable, Orlando wasted no time in pulling the plug on an ineffective Lynch in the second quarter. Enter Dormady, who had been dormant for the previous three weeks. All he did was breathe life into the Guardians’ offense, to the tune of 22-25 passing for 256 yards and two touchdowns. Most importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over. It wasn’t a win, but it was a step in the right direction. Dormady gets the starting nod for Orlando against Seattle on Saturday afternoon.

MVP front-runners turn to pumpkins

Houston vs. Seattle was supposed to be a battle between the two MVP front-runners in QB Brandon Silvers of the Roughnecks and QB Ben DiNucci of the Sea Dragons – in fact, I had them at #1 and #2 in my MVP rankings through week four. Perhaps it was the short week, perhaps it was the strength of both defenses, but with an opportunity to pull ahead of the other in that race, neither could do so. In the team’s first loss of the season, Silvers completed just over 50% of his passes with just 4.8 yards per attempt. He turned the ball over twice. On the other sideline, DiNucci won despite tossing three interceptions and completing 53% of his passes. Their performances opened the door for players like Battlehawks QB AJ McCarron and Defenders RB Abram Smith to close the gap on them as we reach the midway point of the regular season.

All-Access Moment of the Week, Part Two

There’s something about teams wanting to throw the ball when they should be running out the clock. In week four, it was Ben DiNucci throwing an ill-advised interception with 1:44 remaining and the team up by nine points. Last weekend, on 4th-and-1 with 44 seconds left and the ball at the Orlando 10 yard-line up by three points, Vegas opted to pass it rather than try to run it or kick a field goal. The reasoning used by Vipers Head Coach Rod Woodson? “We need a first down. We can’t put it back on our defense…no frickin’ way.” He made this remark to himself (or to an unidentified assistant), but it was caught on a hot mic. Not a ringing endorsement of his “D,” but a reasonable position to take given how often Vegas’s defense was gashed against Orlando.

Who’s watching?

Much like the ratings for week five in 2020, the ratings came in for week five in 2023 well below expectations, despite it being arguably the best weekend of overall on-field play. The league was hurt by the timeslots (three of the four games finished at midnight or later on the east coast) as well as the competition from March Madness. Week six will be a big test for viewership as two of the four games will be broadcast on ABC, the first ABC games since week one. The league and ESPN should be heavily marketing those games during the week in an attempt to stanch the bleeding of viewers. If they don’t, it could be a long rest of the season for those who believe the ratings to be a barometer of whether or not the league returns for a second season.