Officiating overshadows Roughnecks comeback
Houston were impressive once again in their win against Seattle and they remain the league’s only undefeated team at the midway point in the season. Despite a poor start, the Roughnecks staged a brilliant comeback, putting up 18 unanswered points to take the win. Cam Philips was back to his best, with ten catches for 122 yards, and their offense was averaging 5.3 yards per play.
Despite giving up a tonne of points once again, their defense played well too. Both of Seattle’s touchdowns came from short fields and they held the Dragons to just 201 yards of offense all game. The takeaway here should clearly have been the epic comeback by the Roughnecks, but unfortunately the result was overshadowed by an officiating gaffe to end the game.
Running out the clock on the final play of the game, P.J. Walker knelt on 4th down at Houston’s 22 yard line. Yet there were two seconds left on the clock, meaning Seattle should have got the ball for one last play and the chance to tie the game. The officials didn’t spot it and the game clock expired to secure Houston’s victory. Even after the officiating supervisor acknowledging the error, he said that the game was over and that nothing could be done, despite the teams and the officials having walked off only moments before. Officiating has been great so far across the league and the XFL will learn from mistakes like these, but only time will tell how important that error really was.
Disarray in Dallas
Dallas have impressed at times throughout the season but now sit at 2-3, without a home win all season. Their defense has been good, but their season has been derailed by turnovers. The Renegades’ offense has turned the ball over 11 times in their last three games and there is no way a team can win with that sort of record.
With Landry Jones out, Philip Nelson stepped in at quarterback for their Week 5 matchup against the Guardians. You might have expected Bob Stoops and his coaching staff to lean on their running game as a result but for some reason they felt the need to put this game on the shoulders of their backup quarterback. Nelson never looked ready to step up to the challenge. He set an XFL record with 49 passes, but managed just 210 yards and two picks, with no touchdowns. Their three turnovers all came in New York territory and this team is consistently leaving points on the table.
Coming into the game Cameron Artis-Payne was averaging 5.3 yards per carry and they had been impossible to defend in the second half of games when they put the ball in his hands. New York were doing their best to stop the running game but Dallas still managed to average four yards per carry. Despite all of this, the Renegades ran just ten designed run plays all game and just two in the second half. It is often said that the definition of madness is doing the same thing again and again whilst expecting different results and this typifies Dallas right now. Their unwillingness to deviate from their offensive philosophy even when it is failing to deliver is mind-boggling and if they continue in the same vein next week, they will struggle to get the win they desperately need.
Defense in back in DC, but offensive struggles continue
After losing their last two games by a combined total of 64-9, the Defenders had serious questions to answer on both sides of the ball after an initially promising start to the season. Coming up against arguably the most complete team in the XFL, I wasn’t alone in foreseeing another loss this weekend.
Pep Hamilton and his team will be delighted with their 15-6 win against the BattleHawks and their dominant defensive performance. Coming into the game St. Louis were averaging 22.8 points per game but they held them to just two field goals all game. They dominated up front, with four sacks, seven quarterback hits, and six tackles for loss. The BattleHawks were constantly behind the chains as a result and despite being the best third down team in the XFL coming into the game they were 4-16 on third downs and 0-9 on third-and-long.
The Defenders should obviously be delighted with the victory, but the surprise win and dominant defense masked the fact that their troubles on offense continued. Despite a good running game that saw them rack up 229 yards and 5.6 per carry, Tyree Jackson was not convincing at quarterback when he came in for Cardale Jones after DC’s opening two drives. The team had 27 net passing yards all game and Jackson was averaging just 2.4 yards per pass. Despite the win, the Defenders made it to the red zone only twice all game and they cannot continue to rely solely on their running game in future. It looks like Jackson has supplanted Cardale Jones as their starter moving forward and the team will need more from him if this week’s win is to be something more than a flash in the pan.
Josh Johnson goes off
After a disappointing loss to New York last weekend, the Wildcats bounced back in spectacular fashion with a 41-34 win over Tampa Bay. It was the highest scoring game in XFL history and LA has their quarterback to thank for this one.
The game didn’t start well for the Wildcats though, with Johnson throwing an interception on the first play of the game and the team falling behind 24-6 in the second quarter. Johnson then proceeded to take control, ending up with 288 yards passing at 8 yards per attempt with four touchdown passes. Their offense was sensational, scoring a touchdown on all of their trips to the redzone and at one point put up 27 unanswered points. Johnson looks to be the most obvious candidate to challenge P.J. Walker in the MVP debate right now, ranking second in yards and touchdowns and leading the XFL in both passer rating and yards per attempt after Week 5.
Tempers flared between Johnson and his offensive coordinator Norm Chow in this game, which has predictably dominated the headlines, but this shouldn’t take away from the team’s brilliant performance. Whether or not Johnson has a defense capable of helping the team to the playoffs is questionable, but with a favourable matchup against Seattle in Week 6, the Wildcats will be hoping to see a repeat performance from their quarterback.
