View from the Press Box – Sea Dragons at Guardians

Here are some pre-game, in-game, and post-game notes from covering Seattle at Orlando at Camping World Stadium yesterday afternoon:

*Before the game began, it was notable that Deondre Francois was the backup chosen to be active for Orlando behind Quinten Dormady, leaving former starter Paxton Lynch and Quinton Flowers inactive. I asked Head Coach Terrell Buckley about that decision after the game. “We have a system we’re trying to adhere to. If Dormady is going to be the starter, there are certain plays that we have for the backup guy. A lot of times, you don’t want to put similar guys…you want to have something different for the defense. We didn’t get a chance today to display that because of the game flow.”

*In the Guardians notes package made available to media, they listed Paxton Lynch’s 81-yard bomb to Charleston Rambo as the longest play in the XFL this season. Interestingly, when ranking the longest plays from scrimmage in XFL history, the rankings include all three versions of the XFL  – the longest was listed as 92 yards from Jay Barker to Stepfret Williams for the Birmingham Thunderbolts in 2001.

*The Guardians shuffled around their coaching staff when DL coach Ty Warren left the team to take a position on the Stephen F. Austin staff earlier in the week. Linebackers coach Mark Snyder has moved to defensive line coach; safeties coach Ronnie Lee is now linebackers coach; and defensive coordinator Tony Carter is now coaching all defensive backs as well.

*There were some questions mid-week surrounding the status of Sea Dragons WR Josh Gordon when he did not appear on the team’s depth chart released to the media. While Reid Johnson at The Markcast spoke to someone who noted Gordon would be playing, he did appear as a backup rather than as a starter on the Seattle depth chart supplied to us in the press box.

*Among the 7,000-plus in attendance on Saturday afternoon was a swath of fans decked out in Sea Dragons orange. It was noticeable because they were all grouped together in one section, behind Seattle’s bench area.

*Orlando’s own Jordan Mohr sang the National Anthem before the game. She knocked it out of the park.

*One thing noticeable live, and a change from 2020 and perhaps even 2001 from those who had been there in previous interations: None of the mic’d up aspects of the television broadcast are played over the stadium loudspeakers. So while fans at home are treated to more facets that are “inside the game,” the live fans are not privy to any of it.

*Seattle ILB Emmanuel Smith was injured in the first half and had to be helped off the field. Eventually, he was carted to the locker room and did not return. The Sea Dragons were already without starter Jordan Evans at that position, who was inactive due to injury. Sharif Finch, who is such a deep backup that he doesn’t appear on the depth chart, was forced into defensive duty. Head Coach Jim Haslett was critical of the team’s replacements at the position after Smith went down. “Our linebacker (Smith) got hurt and we had our backup in and he’s got to get better.”

*It was evident how much of a pocket QB Ben DiNucci had to work with for Seattle. In the never-ending debate of rush vs. cover, it appeared Orlando chose to cover rather than focus on the pass rush. They registered just one sack and rarely hurried DiNucci. They seemed satisfied to simply contain him, yet he ran for 43 yards on the ground anyway. Buckley talked about changes made defensively in his post-game press conference. “We switched the coverage up in the back. We disguise, we bail, we play some man, we doubled some guys. We threw everything at them because they are a pretty good team.”

*Najeem Hosein registered Orlando’s first interception since week one when he picked off DiNucci in the end zone to prevent a Seattle score.

*Jahcour Pearson and Josh Gordon, two of the top receivers in the league, were held catch-less on four targets in the first half.

*Notable that Devin Darrington’s 43-yard score came on a 3rd-and-6 run, not necessarily a down-and-distance you’d see a team run. That perhaps indicated Orlando was planning on going for it on 4th down.

*There was definitely a feel when being there live that the punt block by Alijah Holder of Seattle was a turning point that Orlando wouldn’t be able to come back from. In the end, they did have a chance until Darrington’s back-breaking fumble with 1:40 to go.

*This was quarterback Quinten Dormady’s first start of the season, but based on Buckley’s comments post-game, it probably won’t be his last. “Quinten did a very good job,” Buckley said.

*Special teams was a bugaboo for Orlando, from penalties in the third phase to long returns allowed to Seattle’s Kelvin McKnight, to the blocked punt. Buckley also addressed those shortcomings post-game. “We’re trying everything we possibly can do to get the right guys out there,” he said about the special teams units. “We’re trying different combinations to limit this field position they’re getting.” Buckley mentioned a player getting hurt that was a wing on the punt coverage team, requiring someone who had not practiced there to be inserted, leading to the block.

*Orlando used the hurry-up on offense for much of the game and seemed to have success with it. I asked Dormady about that after the game. “Our guys, I would say we’re probably in the best shape of any team in the league. So getting up on the ball, being able to see what they’re doing coverage-wise…that works to our advantage so we try to do that as much as we can. Obviously you get stuck in a personnel and we really like to change up personnel to get guys in different positions. It’s a Catch-22 but I definitely think we’re using it in the right way for sure, it’s just going out and executing.”

*Dormady said Seattle ramped up the pressure to try to get him to get the ball out quickly, hampering their game plan focused on going long. “Some of our deep shots going in that we thought were going to be there just seemed to take just a little bit too long, so I…had to put it up too early so I was missing stuff too deep or too far left.” Orlando went for several long passes on offense in the first half but failed to connect on any of them.

*When asked about what effect the absence of RB Morgan Ellison (knee), at one time the XFL’s leading rusher, had on the team’s offense, Haslett offered some pointed critiques of Ellison’s play. “He’s got issues. He fumbles too much. His protection, he’s gotta do better in protections. That’s probably one of the reasons he wasn’t even here today.” It’ll be interesting to see how much Ellison plays when he returns to health.

*I asked Haslett what effect, if any, the heat (around 90 degrees at game time) had on his team. “I thought they did a great job…by the middle of the game, I was like, ‘holy heck, it IS hot!,’ because we just haven’t been in that heat. We’ve been in cold weather in Dallas.” He said the team had hydrated all week to prepare for this game.

*Haslett also said his long snapper, Thomas Fletcher, is the best snapper he’s ever been around.

*Haslett received a number of questions post-game from the Orlando media. When finished, he joked that it was the most questions he’s been asked as he usually only gets one or two questions at these pressers.