The Seattle Sea Dragons head back to Lumen Field to take on the D.C. Defenders who currently have the best record in the XFL and are the division leaders of the XFL North. Seattle played D.C. in the season opener, but fell short of a victory due to a last second offensive fumble. The Sea Dragons entered this game on a five game win-streak, the longest current win-streak in the XFL. In the first quarter, QB Jordan Ta’amu found WR Chris Blair streaking downfield for a 46-yard grab to set the Defenders up in scoring position. RB Abram Smith cleaned up the drive and punched in a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Defenders an early 8-0 lead following the successful 2-point conversion to Lucky Jackson.
Transitioning into the second quarter, the Sea Dragons offense answered with a 2-yard touchdown by RB Phillip Lindsay (his first TD of the season) to cut the score to 8-6 after a failed 3-point conversion attempt. Lindsay joined the Sea Dragons earlier this week and made his XFL debut today. Just before the break, Ta’amu connected with RB Ryquell Armstead for a 11-yard touchdown pass to increase the lead to 16-6 after a successful 2 point conversion run by Jackson.
Heading into the third quarter, Ta’amu continued his marvelous play from the first half and converted his third touchdown pass of the game to WR Alex Ellis, widening the score to 22-6. On the Defenders 2-point conversion attempt, DE Niko Lalos forced Ta’amu to fumble and was recovered by LB Tyrell Adams, leading to a two-point conversion return for the Sea Dragons special teams unit and trimming the lead to 22-8. On the next offensive series for Seattle, QB Ben DiNucci spotted WR Juwan Green downfield for a 46-yard touchdown pass, bringing the lead down to 22-15 after the completed 1-point conversion attempt to WR Blake Jackson. Shortly after, QB D’Eriq King fumbled on a rush attempt and was scooped up by DE Austin Faoliu. The Sea Dragons looked to shift the momentum completely, but fell short after DiNucci’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and was intercepted by DT Joe Wallace.
As the game moved to the final quarter, K Dominik Eberle, continued his hot streak from this season and banked in his 13th field goal in a row from 29-yards, shortening the gap to 22-18. The Defenders took some time off the clock on their next series and put together a 13-play, 73-yard drive for a 5-yard touchdown pass to WR Brandon Smith from Ta’amu, expanding the lead to 28-18 after the missed 2-point conversion pass. Soon after, DiNucci found Green for the second time this game for a 56-yard touchdown pass (his longest TD reception of the season). After an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called on Seattle, DiNucci converted a 3-point conversion attempt to Jackson from the 25-yard line to bring the lead down to 28-27.
The Defenders responded with a long touchdown pass of their own after WR Chris Blair broke off for a 70-yard run from Ta’amu (his fourth TD pass of the game) to extend the lead to 34-27 after the missed two-point conversion. On the final drive for Seattle, DiNucci threaded the needle to WR Jahcour Pearson for a 14-yard touchdown pass, shedding the lead to 34-33 after an unsuccessful 2-point conversion try. With one last effort to convert a 4th & 15 and to keep the hopes alive for the Sea Dragons, the Defenders came up with a big defensive stand and forced an incomplete pass, sealing the victory for the D.C. Defenders and ending the 5-game winning streak for the Sea Dragons.
The Seattle Sea Dragons will fly to St. Louis next week to take on another divisional rival, St. Louis Battlehawks, in another pivotal Week 9 matchup.
POSTGAME NOTES
The Sea Dragons fell to 5-3 with a 34-33 loss to the D.C. Defenders. Coming into the game, Seattle was on a five game win streak.
On their third drive of the game, the Sea Dragons defense showcased their bend but don’t break ability, stopping the Defenders on 4th down after giving up two third down conversions earlier on the drive. LB Clarence Hicks notched a key sack on this possession. This was his second sack of the year.
The offense followed this up with their first scoring drive of the game, capped off with RB Phillip Lindsay’s first XFL touchdown on a two yard run.
This was his first professional score since September 19th, 2021 as a Houston Texan.
QB Ben DiNucci converted a 4th and 2 on this drive with his legs. Seattle finished the game at 60% on 4th down for the season, ranking second in the league.
LB Tre Walker earned his first sack of the season in the second quarter, ending a Defenders drive and bringing Seattle’s sack total to 16. He finished the game with a team-high eight tackles (tied with DB Qwynnterrio Cole).
The first two quarters weren’t clean for either team, with ten total penalties called in the half. Over the course of the game, four Seattle 3rd down penalties resulted in three scoring drives for the Defenders (all touchdown drives).
In the second half, the Sea Dragons forced a fumble on a Defenders two point attempt and returned it to the opposite end zone by LB Tyrell Adams (his first FR) for two Seattle points. The FF was also DL Niko Lalos’ first of the season. On the next possession, the defense earned another fumble recovery, this time by DE Austin Faoliu (his first of the season). Seattle has forced eight fumbles on the season and recovered four.
K Dominik Eberle nailed his 13th FG in a row with 12:37 left in the 4th quarter. He is now tied for the most makes in the XFL.
Late in the second half, QB Ben DiNucci connected with WR Juwan Green for a 56-yd TD, his second score of the day. He now leads the Sea Dragons with five touchdown receptions. He is also tied for second in the XFL in this category.
Green finished with a game-high seven receptions for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
This was Dinucci’s 5th touchdown of 40+ yards, to four different receivers.
DiNucci surpassed the 2000 yard mark with this touchdown pass, and continues to lead the league in passing yardage. He finished the game with 28 completions for 301 yards and 2 touchdowns, with one interception. He also connected with eight different receivers on these passes.
Seattle scored the ensuing conversion (from 25 yards out after penalty), bringing their season total to a league-leading four successful 3 point tries.
The St. Louis Battlehawks are the only other team to even convert one of these tries.
The defense finished with nine tackles for loss to go along with two sacks, two forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries.
Seattle lost by one point, but rallied back from a 10 point deficit at the half (16-6). Next week’s battle with St. Louis will be a crucial game to decide what the playoffs may look like.
