XFL Rewind: Week 3 Blog
Three weeks in, and the standings look like a waterfall in each of the two divisions. A cascading 3-2-1-0 in the win columns of both the XFL North and South, leaving the two cities who share a Florida baseball spring training site as the lone undefeated entities. Houston keeps on rolling, D.C. keeps on rolling, and the rest of the league is forced into catch-up mode 30 percent into the season.
Week 3 was notable for more close games, and finally a torrent of offense unleashed in places like Vegas, D.C. and Houston. (Things stayed much tamer in Arlington.) The beer snake was back with a vengeance at Audi Field in Washington. Battlehawks fans are still gearing up for their first Ka-Kaws of the season, having opened with three games on the road. From the Vipers’ Snake Pit to the Brahmas’ Bull Pen, supporter groups are emerging as a big, fun part of the fabric of this league. (And let’s not forget those Houston Hard Hats imploring their team to “drill down,” which they certainly did Sunday night, beating back in-state rival San Antonio to cap Week 3.)
Let’s drill down ourselves and explore the oil that lubed our engines this past weekend…
Saturday, March 4: Seattle Sea Dragons 30 Vegas Vipers 26
A 9-9 halftime score gave way to a 38-point volcano of action and mayhem in the final 30 minutes at Cashman Field. The Vipers are now officially snakebit in the Snake Pit, having let another late lead melt away. Vegas and its fans are unpleasantly surprised to be 0-3, having yet to trail at halftime. Seattle’s fans can exhale, finally trusting the universe doesn’t hate their guts.
The Sea Dragons snuck out of the desert with a come-from-behind four-point win on the road, sealed by a fourth-down 65-yard catch-and-run that was more of a catch-and-salsa from Josh Gordon in the game’s final minute. Having soared above Vegas defensive back Antonio Phillips to haul in Ben DiNucci’s deep ball, the former NFL star zigzagged home for a 30-26 lead, forcing the Vipers to work for a miracle of their own.
The way things have gone for Jim Haslett’s Seattle team so far, no one would have blinked if right at the final gun Brett Hundley would have executed a hook-and-ladder play involving Tony Nathan, the 2006 Boise State Broncos and the Stanford Band. Instead, Hundley’s final pass fell untouched at the 10, and the Dragons had their first win of the season.
“Our coaches have put in a fairly sophisticated scheme on both sides,” said Randy Mueller, Seattle’s director of pro personnel. “It might have taken our guys a little longer to grasp it, which is to be expected when you’re putting things together from scratch in a short amount of time. So mistakes happened Weeks 1 and 2. But in the end, we have no ceiling on these schemes and we’re gaining traction. In another couple weeks, we’ll be hopefully hitting on all cylinders.”
Enough cylinders were humming Saturday night to fly home with that eagerly anticipated first win. Seattle had 519 yards of total offense, despite converting only 3 of 11 third downs. DiNucci, despite another fumble and pick, completed 29 passes for 377 yards and four scores. Wide receivers Jordan Veasy and Jahcour Pearson combined for 11 catches and 162 yards. Gordon had his breakout game with a total of six catches, 118 yards and two touchdowns, including the electric winner.
As for Vegas, the Vipers remain stuck in the middle seat of coach on this flight, despite some A-list talent. Hundley has made nine NFL starts and was a record-setting quarterback at UCLA. Martavis Bryant was a fourth-round pick of the Steelers, owns 18 NFL touchdowns and still runs a 4.3 40. The head coach, Rod Woodson, is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But after the game, it was a sullen Snake Pit; the coach fielded only two questions at his news conference and spoke a total of 53 words in response. The first seven of those summed it up: “We didn’t make the plays. They did.”
Hundley completed 13 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns and was the team’s best runner as well, going for 66 yards on eight carries. There was a 50-yard touchdown pass to RB John Lovett. Defensively, there was a sack by Stephen Roberts. But to Woodson’s succinct point, those plays weren’t enough to move the needle.
Additional notes from the Saturday night thriller:
- Cashman Field needs a dome. Immediately. After the chilly rain pelted the fans in their Week 2 opener, Week 3 was nice enough to supply 63 degrees and sunshine but a gusting 30-40 mph wind that conjured up images from “The Wizard of Oz.” (In an upset, the fantastic top-heavy hair of the Dragons’ Pearson stayed intact; the 24-year-old South Florida native looks like a cross between Sideshow Bob and an asparagus and somehow makes it work.)
- Vegas kicker Bailey Giffen had missed his first three field goal attempts of the year but on a 39-yard attempt with that wind at his back, he nailed one that almost landed in Pahrump.
- Seattle’s Morgan Ellison has some vintage 2012 Arian Foster in him the way he runs. He had a memorable 35-yard gain in the second quarter, pinballing off both defenders and one of his own offensive linemen. For the game, he ended up with 103 yards on 17 carries. Brenden Knox missing the game due to injury was a pregame concern; Ellison stepped into the void and was top shelf.
- The teams’ respective social media departments had varied reactions to the finish: The Vipers posted “Heartbreaker in Vegas.” The Sea Dragons posted: “A thriller in Vegas.” They were both right.
- WR Jeff Badet sparkled again for Vegas, with four catches, 93 yards and a score. He will make it back to the NFL. He is featured on this week’s “XFL Week In Review” podcast, by the way, available as they say, “wherever you get your podcasts.” (Which is a nonsense sentence, by the way. Where else would it be available? Wherever you get your fruit? Wherever you get your dry cleaning?)
- DiNucci went viral when ESPN captured his mic’d up reaction to the Gordon catch-and-merengue touchdown for the win. Let’s just say his high-pitched laughter may have caused garage doors to randomly fly open in the greater Vegas area. Or dogs to cower under couches. His unbridled joy will hopefully live forever as an emblem for what’s so great about this league and about this sport: Sometimes, such wonderfully unexpected things happen, all you can do is giggle. Loudly, apparently.
Sunday, March 5: D.C. Defenders 34 St. Louis Battlehawks 28
The beer snake is back… and it’s glorious. ESPN’s Stormy Buonantony reported the snake got to 1240 cups deep by halftime, meaning 20,000 ounces of consumed beverage just from sections 135 through 137 at Audi Field. By halftime. (Somewhere Homer Simpson is emerging from a vat of Duff’s Beer and tipping his hat.) By the end of the sunny afternoon, twin beer snakes materialized and eventually combined forces. Oh and also, the Defenders stayed undefeated with a punishing 34-28 win over previously undefeated St. Louis.
The game began as a bit of a Wild West shootout: Defenders QB Jordan Ta’amu found tight end Ethan Wolf for an early touchdown and 2-point conversion. D.C.’s pick machine Michael Joseph punctuated a pick six with a flip into the end zone. For St. Louis, A.J. McCarron helped generate 234 yards for St. Louis in a first half that saw the Battlehawks keep the ball for nearly 20 minutes. (The Defenders being 1-of-5 on third down helped in that regard.) Self-inflicted wounds by each team were cutting deep enough to hold the score to 14-14 at the break.
The Defenders’ Matthew McCrane opened the third quarter scoring with a 41-yard field goal right towards the beer snake, and the Defenders led 17-14. St. Louis answered with a 23-yard McCarron TD pass to tight end Jake Sutherland, and when the two-point conversion failed, it was 20-17 for the visitors. Sutherland, a Michigan native, hadn’t caught a touchdown pass at any level since he was at Morehead State back in 2017. Battlehawks head coach Anthony Becht was a tight end in the NFL for 11 seasons, so forgive him when he beamed like a proud father from the sidelines.
But then Ta’amu engineered a 12-play, 81-yard drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by the quarterback himself. With 3:00 left in third, that toggled the Defenders back on top, and when the two-point conversion was completed to Lucky Jackson, D.C was ahead 25-20 (despite being down to a third string center due to injury.)
Eighty seconds later Devin Bellamy stripped McCarron of the football and the Defenders were in business again at the St. Louis 24. The drive led by D’Eriq King failed to gain much ground, and McCrane came on for another successful field goal to make it 28-20 as the teams headed to the fourth.
The final quarter of this particular game had been circled all week as the flashpoint of the XFL weekend. Fourth quarters to date had seen no points at all allowed by the Defenders, and St. Louis had produced two miracle late-strike comebacks.
With King on the field for D.C., everyone in the stadium expected run, run, run. But it was King passing to Chris Blair for the critical insurance score with 6:02 to play. The two-point conversion attempt was delayed in order to clean thrown lemons off the field (only in the XFL, kids) and when it failed, the score stayed 34-20. The now-expected Battlehawks battle-back would need at least two touchdowns, and Darius Shepard’s second long kick return of the afternoon made it possible; McCarron was able to start the next ‘Hawks drive at the D.C. 30. But on a fourth-and-2, a sideline pass to the towering Hakeem Butler never made it to the receiver’s back shoulder. From there, the Defenders wrapped it up, having netted 231 second-half yards to the Battlehawks’ 82.
McCarron voiced frustration with the officiating in the postgame presser, noting his team has yet to draw a defensive pass interference penalty three games into the season. “I’ve never played football in my entire life and had (a stretch of three games) without one pass interference (call),” he said.
The only hiccup at the end was a Ta’amu fumbled snap with 22 seconds left. McCarron quickly found Steven Mitchell Jr. for a touchdown, and the two-point conversion to the same player made it 34-28. That meant the ‘Hawks, the only team so far to have converted a fourth-and-15 in lieu of an onside kick, had a shot at Road Miracle #3. But Davin Bellamy sacked McCarron and that was that (other than an episode of the Jerry Springer Show breaking out in the final seconds meriting three ejections.)
St. Louis standouts included McCarron (26-for-42, 262 yards, four touchdowns) and Butler (nine catches, 105 yards). For D.C., Ta’amu threw for 196 yards, Jackson had four catches and both Abram Smith and Ryquell Armstead rushed for 50+ yards. (Those two are emerging as a dynamic duo along the lines of, well, pick your favorite. Jordan and Pippen. Beavis and Butthead. Farley and Spade. Fey and Poehler. Harold and Kumar. Newman and Kramer. Have you guessed the author’s age yet, by the way?)
Defenders punter Daniel Whelan was a weapon, averaging 53.5 yards including a long of 61. And maybe more than anything else, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ second-half adjustments were on point. Even though the Defenders had four takeaways, the veteran defensive coordinator told ESPN in the game’s final minutes he was disappointed it hadn’t been more. The final tally of two picks, two fumble recoveries, four sacks, a third win and a near-3,000-cup beer snake have helped make the Defenders the talk of the league so far. The victory punctuated the highest-scoring game in the league to date this season – an intense staredown of the teams that share practice facilities in Mansfield, Texas.
The loss won’t dim the enthusiasm for the Battlehawks’ first home game this Sunday at The Dome at America’s Center. The team just announced it’s opening the 300-level of the stadium due to the huge demand for tickets. Oh, and the game that awaits St. Louis six days after its long-awaited home opener? Their rematch with D.C. Buckle up, buttercup.
Sunday, March 5: Arlington Renegades 10 Orlando Guardians 9
After two high-scoring bonanzas to start the weekend, Orlando and Arlington turned the volume knob down considerably at Choctaw Stadium. The score through three quarters was a tepid 3-3, and once it ended, the bulbs on the scoreboard hadn’t brightened much from there.
Coming into this one there was plenty of off-field intrigue: For Arlington, a change at quarterback, with Drew Plitt (arguably the best two-syllable QB since Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Trent Green, Dave Krieg, Dan Fouts, Steve Young, Jeff Blake, Phil Simms, Bert Jones, Jim Zorn, Norm Snead, Jack Kemp or Bart Starr) sent to the bench and former USFL star Kyle Sloter elevated to a starting role.
For Orlando, what did Quinten Dormady know and when did he know it? Right now, it’s a lot of rumor but very little in terms of hard facts; those will be harvested by the league and everyone will go from there. That rumor, that Dormady shared proprietary team information with opponents, swept like a brushfire across the internet. The XFL’s official statement allowed everyone to settle down: “(We are) actively reviewing a personnel issue regarding a player on the Guardians. The league has reinstated the player while it conducts a formal investigation into the issue. The situation is under review, and we will share more details regarding the findings as appropriate.”
For the moment, former Denver Broncos QB Paxton Lynch is trying to seize the job, and he’s doing it with a completely revamped and reshuffled offensive line. Four players from the offensive side of the ball had been released in the previous few days by Orlando, and the hope was that a hard reset would change their fortunes. (Like when you have to shut down your laptop, wait five minutes, power it back up and hope that all of your writing about a Guardians-Renegades game wouldn’t be lost forever. Not that the author knows anything about such a thing.)
Lynch and Arlington’s Sloter had both been with the Broncos in 2017; in fact, Sloter got an extended look in preseason once Lynch got hurt against Green Bay and put up some dazzling numbers (31-of-43, 413 yards, three touchdowns, a passer rating of 125.4). Alas, he was released as the Broncos committed to Trevor Siemian.
Sunday’s game trudged along, and for Orlando turnovers and penalties had been the sludge in the system early this season. This game would prove to be no exception with nine infractions, although at least the turnover well dried up.
Orlando did take a brief lead. The Guardians opened the fourth quarter with a quarterback draw that found the 6-foot-7 Lynch sprinting in for the game’s first touchdown. The one-point conversion attempt was suboptimal as Lynch ran around like a toddler on a candy high before getting decked for a nine-yard sack.
Sloter responded by going 6 of 7 on the next Arlington drive, finding former USC speedster Tyler Vaughns for a 17-yard touchdown. The one-point conversion run by De’Veon Smith pushed the home team in front 10-9.
That Orlando defense continues to be difficult to run against, as the Renegades ended up with only 64 yards on 27 carries (only one of which was longer than seven yards.) The Guardians have the highest graded safety per Pro Football Focus; the former Mississippi State star, Marcus Murphy, Jr.
With 5:39 to go, the Renegades’ D’Andre Bausby appeared to intercept Lynch and take it home for his second pick six of the young season, which would have clinched Orlando’s fate. Dean Blandino took a look in the Van Nuys control center and the call was overturned. But on the next play, Willie Taylor, still draft eligible, followed with a crunching sack of Lynch and eventually the punt team trotted out for Orlando. Matt Brown ballooned his kick to the Arlington 11, and it would be up to the Guardians defense to get the ball back. With 1:52 left and one timeout, the Orlando front seven stood strong and forced a punt from longtime Raider Marquette King.
The Guardians began what they hoped would be a march to glory from their own 25. As Renegades head coach Bob Stoops was interviewed on the sideline, a key sack by his linebacker Will Clarke slowed their roll and left them with a third-and-13. (Fun with language: Bob Stoops. Will Clarke?)
With the sand running out of the board game timer, the veteran Lynch promptly delivered a dime to a leaping Lance Lenoir, but the receiver failed to secure it as he hit the ground. Josh Hawkins, the highest graded defensive player for Arlington, hurt his right knee in coverage. Hawkins, with 32 games of NFL experience, had stepped away from football for a while to pursue an acting career. He limped off the field leaving the rest of the Arlington secondary to rally in his absence.
Finally, on fourth-and-13, Lynch targeted Hawkins’ replacement, Darren Evans, but a deep ball to Dallas native Charleston Rambo was caught barely out of bounds on the right sideline. Ballgame.
No one likes moral victories (except moralists), but certainly a 10-9 loss is better than the 33-12 and 30-12 losses that had punched Coach Terrell Buckley in the nose the first two weeks.
For what it’s worth, the 10-9 win by the hosts in the converted former home of baseball’s Texas Rangers was the first win by that score for a home team in that stadium since the Rangers beat the Mariners in May of 2019 thanks to a pair of Asdrubal Cabrera home runs. I looked it up. (A more famous 10-9 loss by the Rangers occurred in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series in St. Louis, but that’s a whole different blog.)
So, the Guardians and Defenders – two teams named for basically the exact same concept – are now at opposite ends of the spectrum (0-3 vs. 3-0). The Renegades, still scrapping for an offensive identity, are 2-1. Their hard-hitting defense has surrendered just 52 points in three games, so even if the offense never ignites, they may end up OK. Next up: The Renegades go to St. Louis (where David Freese will not be in uniform). The Guardians will try, try again at home against Houston. Speaking of which…
Sunday, March 5: Houston Roughnecks 22 San Antonio Brahmas 13
The Texas Showdown brought the XFL Weekend to a close at TDECU Stadium just after the No. 1 college basketball team arrived home from Memphis following a hard-fought win. The Astros have a freshly minted World Series title. The Cougars will get a 1-seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament. The Roughnecks have bolted out 3-0. High times in Houston if you don’t include the Texans or Rockets.
Roughnecks Coach Wade Phillips won’t win on “Dancing With the Stars” as San Antonio’s Hines Ward famously did, but at 75 years old, he’s still as sharp as he was when he was an NFL coordinator and head coach of some renown. It made sense for him to hit the restart button in H-Town. Houston is where Phillips played college ball for the Cougars. It’s where he was on his father’s coaching staff with the Oilers. It’s where he was defensive coordinator for the Texans. When asked by a New York Post reporter recently if a return to the NFL is in his future, he said, “I hate to say it, but I think it’s age. It’s hard to beat my record as a coordinator so there’s got to be another reason. But that’s OK. I’m glad to be doing what I’m doing.”
As the Post pointed out, winning has followed Phillips. The Oilers made back-to-back AFC title games when he was on the staff. The Eagles won the 1988 NFC East title when he was Buddy Ryan’s defensive coordinator. The following season, the Broncos made the Super Bowl when he was on Dan Reeves’ staff. There were more playoff appearances as a member of the Texans, Broncos, Falcons, Chargers and Rams staffs and as a head coach of three different teams. But in October 2020, he took to Twitter looking for a job.
“Watching and waiting the League, not one team,” he wrote. “Just looking to see if I can get an opportunity to help someone win.” And in January 2021, he tweeted, “I am ready to retire from retirement! I am ready and available. Let’s win.” Now, as Roughnecks coach, he’s doing it. (Even if his social security number is in single digits.)
On a pleasant night in South Texas, the home team actually started in a 7-0 hole. San Antonio’s initial drive was a masterpiece: Jack Coan ended it by zipping a 9-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Vasher, and Vasher then caught a 1-point conversion.
The Roughnecks volleyed back with a scoring drive of their own. Brandon Silvers delivered a 7-yard dart to Jontre Kirklin and then the Silvers/Kirklin tandem one-upped Coan and Vasher with a two-point conversion: 8-7, ‘Necks. (The author is reminded of “The Simpsons” once again. When Homer joins the Stonecutters secret society, he is handed a card to call in case of emergencies, even better than 9-1-1. It’s 9-1-2.)
Kirklin had a monster first half that included a second touchdown on a shovel pass from Silvers. An additional Roughnecks touchdown came with 4:54 left in the second quarter when the former Troy Trojans quarterback found former USC Trojans receiver Deontay Burnett in the back right side of the end zone. The successful 2-point conversion made it a 22-7 romp. Hunter Duplessis, a former UT-San Antonio Roadrunner, had a chance to add to the lead just before halftime, but his 53-yard attempt sailed wide right.
At that halftime gun, Silvers had already accumulated three touchdown passes and 225 yards through the air, 77 of them distributed to Kirklin. Max Borghi had provided the perfect mix of brawn and ballet running the ball eight times for 44 yards. Eight San Antonio penalties through two quarters didn’t help, but it appeared Houston was headed for victory no matter what. After all, the Brahmas’ final five drives of the half had amassed a grand total of one first down.
San Antonio did move the ball better coming out of the locker room. Jacques Patrick rambled in from two yards out on the team’s second drive, and the lead was sliced to 22-13 although the 2-point conversion failed.
Early in the fourth quarter, Houston’s Ajene Harris, a wide receiver turned defensive back, made a tremendous play on a deep ball intended for Vasher, ripping it away for the interception.
The Brahmas defense forced a three-and-out, and when a short Race Porter punt wobbled dead at the San Antonio 45, Coach Ward’s team was still in range. A push from Coan on a fourth-and-1 sneak kept the drive alive and two plays later, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Roughnecks’ Kary Vincent moved the ball near the Houston 20. On third down, pass interference on Harris, his second of the quarter, leveled out his acrobatic pick and put Coan at the 1-yard line. Kalen Ballage tried to hurdle on a handoff, but leaped into a handful of blue jerseys instead. On second down, Ballage tried again, and was stopped short. Coan was stuffed on third down as well so it came down to a fourth-and-inches with four minutes left. Incredibly, Ballage was slammed backwards one more time, with Harris among the Roughnecks that katy-barred the door.
The Brahmas swam against the current all night on offense: No wide receiver had more than two receptions for 14 yards, and the powerful Ballage ended up with only 35 yards rushing. Houston remained the King of the Castle in-state, getting to 3-0, with the Brahmas and Arlington now a combined 3-3.
Next up: Houston finally heads out on the road and will do so three straight weekends. Orlando (0-3) is the first stop, then it’s off to Seattle for a Thursday night showdown that features plenty of former Roughnecks personnel now working for the Sea Dragons. By the time they get another home game on the first day of April, they’ll have also played at Audi Field in D.C. That Week 6 Monday night matchup has the yellow sharpie treatment since -- for the moment -- those two teams, the Defenders and Roughnecks, are indeed the class of the league.