XFL Seattle Sea Dragons players pause for a moment of silence for teammate Chris Smith prior to the game against the Vegas Vipers at Lumen Field, Sunday April 23.2023. (Twitter)
This was the second meeting between Vegas and Seattle in this XFL season, with Seattle winning a very close contest, 30-26, in Week 3.
The Seattle Sea Dragons began this game by recognizing the recent death of teammate defensive end Chris Smith, which has cast a pall over everyone in the league. “Chris was a powerful presence in the locker room. Loved and admired by his teammates and the coaching staff. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his entire family at this difficult time,” the XFL said in an earlier statement.
It needs to be noted how Seattle can claim a trip to the XFL North Championship Game with a win over Vegas, scoring enough points to overcome complicated tie-breakers set out by the league, and restricting the Vegas Vipers point output. It is all very complicated, and even the broadcast team seem to be unable to understand it.
Bottom line, Seattle needs to win to move on into the post season.
The Vegas Vipers took the opening kickoff and quarterback Jalen McClendon started a drive on his own 34. McClendon ran for 1-yard and fumbled, but he was able to recover the ball. McClendon handed to John Lovett for an 8-yard gain, and then ran 3-yards himself to move the chains. The drive stalled and the Vipers were forced to punt.
Seattle Sea Dragons quarterback Ben DiNucci started deep in his own end on the Seattle 13. A pass to Josh Gordon was good for 13-yards, and then another throw to Gordon made for a pickup of 12. DiNucci kept throwing to Gordon, this time for 5-yards, and then he handed to Lindsay for a 9-yard run that moved the markers. DiNucci spread the ball around passing to Charlie Taumoepeau for 12 yards and handed to T.J. Hammonds for a 7-yard pickup. Another handoff to Hammonds was good for another first down, and then DiNucci passed to Hammonds for a 9-yard pickup to the Vegas 21. On 2nd and 1, Hammonds was dropped for a 5-yard loss, and on 3rd and 6 DiNucci was pressured and passed incomplete. A 39-yard Dominik Eberle field goal attempt was no good.
McClendon started on the Vegas 29-yard line. He passed incomplete to Geronimo Alison, and was nearly intercepted. The Vipers went three and out and had to punt.
Ben DiNucci started a drive on his own 27. He connected to Damion Willis for a 4-yard gain, but Willis was hurt on the play. The drive faltered, and the Sea Dragons punted.
McClendon got the ball on the Vegas 30, and handed to Lovett for a 5-yard gain. McClendon went back to Lovett for 2 more yards, and then he was sacked for a 4-yard loss as the 1st quarter ended.
At the end of the 1st quarter there was no score.
Vegas punted and Kelvin McKnight returned the ball to the Seattle 21. DiNucci could not put together a drive and went three and out. Seattle punted the ball back to Vegas.
McClendon started on his own 35, and could only manage a 4-yard completion to Allison. Again, the Vipers were forced to punt.
Ben DiNucci’s drive started on his own 26. On 2nd down he passed complete to Juwan Green for 5-yards. On 3rd down DiNucci was pressured and threw the ball away. Again, the Sea Dragons failed to get a first down and were forced to punt.
McClendon started on the Vegas 20-yard line and handed to Lovett for 8-yards on the ground. A Seattle penalty moved the markers for the Vipers. On 3rd and 8, McClendon was sacked by Tuzar Skipper for an 8-yard loss. Again, the Vipers had to punt.
From his own 34-yard line, DiNucci passed to Josh Gordon for a 9-yard pickup. Another pass to Gordon was good for a 15-yard gain, but Gordon fumbled. Fortunately for Seattle they retained possession as the ball was recovered by Juwan Green. A 4-yard pass to Green was followed by a 3-yard run by Hammonds. On 3rd down, DiNucci could not find a receiver so he ran it himself for 8-yards and a first down on the Vegas 26. Las Vegas head coach Rod Woodson made a challenge saying there was a holding infraction during the play. His challenge failed and the play stood.
Ben DiNucci handed to Taumoepeau for a 9-yard gain, and then Hammonds ran the ball for just enough to get the first down, just as the two-minute warning was announced.
On 1st down, a pass to Josh Gordon was good for 2-yards, and then on 2nd down DiNucci saw open field in front of him allowing a 14-yard run for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 6-0 for Seattle.
Vegas’s Cinque Sweeting returned the kickoff to the Vipers’ 33-yard line. With about a minute left on the clock Jalen McClendon tried to drive the ball to put some points on the board. A pass to Allison was good for 6-yards, and a McClendon rush was good for 2 more. On 4th down the Vipers punted and the ball bounced out of bounds.
With 0:15 on the clock Seattle took the ball on their own 35-yard line. DiNucci managed to complete a 22-yard pass to Jordan Veasy at the Sea Dragons 43. With 0:03 on the clock, Dominik Eberle attempted a 61-yard field goal and it was short.
At half time, the Seattle Sea Dragons led 6-0.
Seattle took the kickoff in the 2nd half and McKnight returned the ball to the Seattle 20. Ben DiNucci passed to Jahcour Pearson for 3-yards and then connected to Blake Jackson for a 16-yard pickup. On 3rd and 10, DiNucci completed a 30-yard pass to Juwan Green down to the Vegas 33. On 1st down, Ben DiNucci threw 33-yards downfield to Jahcour Pearson for a Sea Dragons touchdown. The 2-point conversion pass to Josh Gordon was good making the score 14-0 for Seattle.
Jalen McClendon started on his own 24 and handed to Burt for a loss of 4 yards. Then, a pass to Travis Koontz was good for a 45-yard gain to the Seattle 35. McClendon could not complete any further passes and the drive stalled. Sam Sloman kicked a 53-yard field goal to make the score 14-3 for Seattle.
After the kickoff Seattle took over on their own 36. On 3rd down, DiNucci passed to Juwan Green who shook off a tackle and extended the catch to a 16-yard gain. On 3rd and 1, Ben DiNucci passed 37-yards down field to Juwan Green for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion pass to Veasy went incomplete, making the score 20-3 for Seattle.
McClendon started deep on the Vegas 13-yard line. Crowd noise affected the Vegas communications and they were unable to get a first down. Vegas was forced to punt.
Seattle fielded the ball with a fair catch on their own 40-yard line. DiNucci passed to a wide open Gordon for a 14-yard catch up to the Vegas 46. On 3rd and 3, DiNucci connected to Blake Jackson for a 13-yard gain and a first down. Then, a pass into the end zone drew a defensive pass interference call putting the ball on the Vegas 1-yard line.
At the end of the 3rd quarter Seattle led 20-3.
DiNucci handed to Lindsay who was dropped for a 2-yard loss. On 2nd down, a pass to a diving Jordan Veasy was caught in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion pass to Blake Jackson was complete, making the score 28-3 for Seattle.
The Seattle kickoff was returned by Sweeting to the Vegas 27-yard line. McClendon passed to Cam Sutton for a 27-yard pickup to the Seattle 46. McClendon was pressured and ran for a short gain, but a holding call against Seattle moved the markers. On 2nd down, a McClendon pass intended for Brandon Dillon was picked off by Qwynnterrio Cole.
With the ball on his own 34, Ben DiNucci handed to Taumoepeau for a 13-yard rush and a first down. On 3rd and 11, DiNucci passed 40-yards to Josh Gordon who caught the ball just inbounds on the Vegas 14. DiNucci rushed 6-yards, and then passed into the end zone for Blake Jackson and was intercepted by Marwin Evans who returned the ball to the Vegas 3-yard line.
Jalen McClendon handed to Mackenzie for a 3-yard run and then went back to Mackenzie for 5 more yards. A pass to Mathew Sexton was good for a 35-yard gain to the Vegas 46. The drive stalled and Vegas was forced to punt.
A Seattle holding penalty on the punt return pushed the ball back to their own 8-yard line. Ben DiNucci was flushed out of the picket and ran 13-yards for a first down. Then, Taumoepeau rushed 13-yards to move the chains again. Dinucci handed to Taumoepeau again, this time for a 9-yard gain. Ben DiNucci passed long down field for Veasy and was intercepted by Jamar Summers at the Vegas 15-yard line.
After the two-minute warning, McClendon passed to Mathew Sexton who ran 84-yards all the way to the Seattle end zone, but fumbled on the 1-yard line. It was ruled that Vegas retained possession on the 1-yard line. McClendon handed to McKenzie for a 1-yard touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, making the score 28-9 for Seattle.
With the ball on the Seattle 17, DiNucci just needed to run out the clock. On 2nd and 6 DiNucci handed to Lindsay for a 11-yard rush and a first down. Then, Seattle was able to kill the remainder of the time on the clock.
The final score was Seattle Sea Dragons 28, Vegas Vipers 9.
With the win, Seattle tied St. Louis in the standings, but due to tie-breakers the Sea Dragons will be the team that continues on to the North Division Championship game against the DC Defenders.
Box scores – Statistics Summary
Scoring
1 2 3 4 F
VGS 0 0 3 6 9
SEA 0 6 14 8 28
------ SEATTLE SEA DRAGONS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Ben DiNucci 26/41 339 8.3 3 2 40 0 - 0
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Charlie Taumoepeau 4 44 11.0 0 13
Ben DiNucci 4 41 10.3 1 14
Phillip Lindsay 6 30 5.0 0 11
T.J. Hammonds 8 12 1.5 0 7
TEAM TOTAL 22 127 0.0 1 14
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Josh Gordon 9 115 12.8 0 40 13
Juwan Green 4 88 22.0 1 37 5
Blake Jackson 5 44 8.8 0 16 6
Jahcour Pearson 3 42 14.0 1 33 6
Jordan Veasy 2 25 12.5 1 22 7
Charlie Taumoepeau 1 12 12.0 0 12 1
T.J. Hammonds 1 9 9.0 0 9 1
Damion Willis 1 4 4.0 0 4 1
Kelvin McKnight 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
TEAM TOTAL 26 339 0.0 3 40 41
Fumbles
PLAYER FUM LOST REC
Josh Gordon 1 0 1
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Niko Lalos 2 3 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Daniel Joseph 2 3 5.0 1.0 - 4.0 1.0 0 0 0
Tre Walker 1 3 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Bryce Thompson 2 2 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Antwuan Jackson 0 3 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Mykael Wright 3 0 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 1 0
Tariqious Tisdale 0 3 3.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Tuzar Skipper 2 0 2.0 1.0 - 6.0 1.0 0 0 0
Antoine Brooks 2 0 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Tyrell Adams 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Qwynnterrio Cole 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 1 0 0
Austin Faoliu 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Shareef Miller 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Elijah Ponder 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 15 22 37.0 2.0 - 10.0 6.0 1 1 0
Interceptions
PLAYER INT YDS TD
Qwynnterrio Cole 1 0 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Kelvin McKnight 6 45 7.5 11 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Kelvin McKnight 3 50 16.7 24 0
Kicking
PLAYER FGM FGA FG% LNG
Dominik Eberle 0 2 0.0% 0
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Cameron Nizialek 3 130 43.3 0 0 50
------ VEGAS VIPERS ------
Passing
PLAYER C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT LONG SCK-YDS
Jalan McClendon 6/21 201 9.6 0 1 84 2 - 10
Rushing
PLAYER CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
John Lovett 7 30 4.3 0 8
Shai Mckenzie 6 11 1.8 1 5
Jalan McClendon 4 9 2.3 0 3
Cinque Sweeting 1 0 0.0 0 0
Brian Burt 1 -4 -4.0 0 -4
TEAM TOTAL 19 46 0.0 1 8
Receiving
PLAYER REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Mathew Sexton 2 119 59.5 0 84 5
Travis Koontz 1 45 45.0 0 45 1
Cam Sutton 1 27 27.0 0 27 2
Geronimo Allison 2 10 5.0 0 6 5
Jeff Badet 0 0 0.0 0 0 4
Brandon Dillon 0 0 0.0 0 0 3
Cinque Sweeting 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
TEAM TOTAL 6 201 0.0 0 84 21
Fumbles
PLAYER FUM LOST REC
Jalan McClendon 1 0 1
Mathew Sexton 1 0 1
TEAM TOTAL 2 0 2
Defensive
PLAYER SOLO AST TOT SACKS-YDS TFL INT FF FR
Keylon Kennedy 8 1 9.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 1 0
C.J. Avery 4 4 8.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Maurice Smith 4 3 7.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Marwin Evans 1 4 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 1 0 0
Jamar Summers 2 3 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 1 0 0
Will Adams 5 0 5.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Deontay Anderson 2 2 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Jah'Sheem Martin 0 4 4.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Cavon Walker 0 2 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
D.J. Calhoun 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Bryant Jones 0 2 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
LaRon Stokes 1 1 2.0 0.0 - 0.0 1.0 0 0 0
Kelvin Pinkney 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Pita Taumoepenu 1 0 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
Destiny Vaeao 0 1 1.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 30 28 58.0 0.0 - 0.0 7.0 2 1 0
Interceptions
PLAYER INT YDS TD
Marwin Evans 1 6 0
Jamar Summers 1 0 0
TEAM TOTAL 2 6 0
Punt Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Mathew Sexton 2 4 2.0 3 0
Kick Returns
PLAYER NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Cinque Sweeting 5 111 22.2 33 0
Kicking
PLAYER FGM FGA FG% LNG
Sam Sloman 1 1 100.0% 53
Punting
PLAYER NO YDS AVG TB IN-20 LONG
Michael Carrizosa 8 363 45.4 0 2 52
------ TEAM STATS ------
TEAM STATS VGS SEA
TOTAL PLAYS 42 63
TOTAL YARDS 237 466
YARDS PER PLAY 5.6 7.4
FIRST DOWNS 8 25
FIRST DOWNS PASSING 4 14
FIRST DOWNS RUSHING 2 10
FIRST DOWNS PENALTY 2 1
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 18.2% 63.6%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 0.0% 0.0%
TOTAL PASSING YARDS 191 339
PASS COMPLETIONS 6 26
PASS ATTEMPTS 21 41
INTERCEPTIONS THROWN 1 2
YARDS PER PASS 9.1 8.3
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 0 3
SACKS ALLOWED 2 0
SACK YARDS LOST 10 0
TOTAL RUSHING YARDS 46 127
RUSH ATTEMPTS 19 22
YARDS PER RUSH 2.4 5.8
RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 1 1
PENALTIES 4 4
TURNOVERS 1 2
FUMBLES 0 0
DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS 0 0
SPECIAL TEAMS TDS 0 0
POSSESSION 40:20 34:40
