USFL, XFL or bust: Will a spring pro football league ever actually work?
The USFL kicks off this weekend while the XFL released a list of head coaches for its restart next spring. Andy Nesbitt breaks down whether a spring football leagues will ever actually work.
USA TODAY
Week 2 of the 2023 XFL season is in the books.
After another round of action, three teams remain undefeated. Two of those teams — the St. Louis Battlehawks and San Antonio Brahmas — will face off next week.
But let’s break down Week 2 before we get ahead of ourselves.
The unbeaten BattleHawks pulled off a wild, fourth-quarter rally en route to a dramatic win. Meanwhile, the Houston Roughnecks prevailed in a territorial battle against the Arlington Renegades.
Elsewhere around the league, the San Antonio Brahmas took care of the Orlando Guardians, while the Vegas Vipers experienced a slip-up.
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Here are the winners and losers from Week 2 of the 2023 XFL season.
WINNERS
The cardiac kids from St. Louis
St. Louis BattleHawks games are turning into must-see TV (or, must-stream if you’ve queued up ESPN+).
Last week, the BattleHawks pulled off a frenzied late fourth-quarter rally by scoring 15 points in the final minute and a half of an 18-15 win over the San Antonio Brahmas. That comeback was made possible by the XFL giving teams the option to go for three-point conversions after touchdowns.
On Thursday, the BattleHawks won another thriller, a 20-18 victory over the Seattle Sea Dragons at Lumen Field. Quarterback AJ McCarron, who led Alabama to back-to-back national college football championships, deftly put his team into position for the winning field goal. A 9-yard pass to Austin Proehl — son of former NFL receiver Ricky Proehl (who happens to be the BattleHawks’ receivers coach) — set up Donny Hageman for a 44-yard game-winning field goal as time expired.
McCarron might have found his happy place in the XFL.
“Ever since I came out of college, I’ve been counted out a little bit,” McCarron said in a postgame interview with ESPN. “It’s just fun to come out here and play. I miss playing. Not always just being a backup, and that’s a great living. It really is, and I absolutely love it. I love playing. This is special and I can’t thank the XFL enough. It’s been awesome.”
Territorial triumph
Former NFL coach Wade Phillips and the Houston Roughnecks emerged victorious from an intra-state tussle with the Arlington Renegades on Sunday.
The game featured a healthy amount of trash talk and bragging-rights stakes — as evidenced by the live mics on the field — but Houston kept its head down in the second half to keep Arlington in the rearview mirror.
After an Arlington end- zone interception was reversed due to illegal contact, Houston took advantage of the second chance and hit paydirt to build a 9-point lead. The Renegades’ last-ditch effort fell short, giving the Roughnecks a 23-14 win and moving them to 2-0 on the season.
Both teams got familiar with one another during the preseason due to the relatively close proximity of the cities, and it feels as though the bad blood isn’t going away soon.
The unbeaten DC Defenders
The DC Defenders improved to 2-0 on the season with an 18-6 road comeback win against the Vegas Vipers. Quarterbacks Jordan Ta’amu and D’Eriq King, along with running backs Abram Smith and Ryquell Armstead, ran for a combined 231 yards and two touchdowns on 42 carries. Smith turned in an individual effort of 69 yards on 11 carries.
The Defenders pitched a second-half shutout of the Vipers and scored all 18 of their points after the break. Playing through wet and slippery conditions, the Defenders took advantage of Vegas’ missed opportunities and did just enough to move to the top of the North division standings.
The Defenders match up against the St. Louis BattleHawks (2-0) in a showdown of unbeaten squads on Sunday (1 p.m. ET on FX).
A Winning(ham) play
The Central Arkansas product and former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver had a prolific sequence in the first half of Sunday’s game between the Arlington Renegades and Houston Roughnecks.
Winningham forced a fumble on special teams and caught a touchdown pass on the subsequent possession, giving the Renegades a huge push of momentum into the half.
The 24-year-old was an undrafted signing by the Jaguars prior to the 2022 season but was waived in August.
Winningham had 53 receptions for 840 yards and five touchdowns in his final nine games at Central Arkansas last season, and he’s making a big impact on Arlington in the 2023 XFL season.
LOSERS
Woeful Orlando Guardians
The Orlando Renegades have endured two blowout losses so far, and head coach Terrell Buckley was not having it.
During Sunday’s 30-12 defeat against the San Antonio Brahmas, Buckley was visibly frustrated with his team’s play (or, lack thereof) throughout the contest. Much of it was caught on his hot mic. During an in-game interview with ESPN, Buckley further berated his players.
“We got guys out there who are not competing, not making plays,” Buckley said. “So, we got to get people in there who want to play, who want to compete and make plays.”
Buckley’s Guardians team features two former NFL first-round draft picks (quarterback Paxton Lynch and safety Matt Elam) and a second-round NFL pick (wide receiver Cody Latimer).
Turnover-prone Ben DiNucci
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Ben DiNucci made one NFL start, a 23-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 1, 2020. In that game, he lost two fumbles.
His turnover trend has continued into his XFL gig with the Seattle Sea Dragons. In Week 1, DiNucci fumbled the ball on a second-and-goal situation with 19 seconds remaining and the D.C. Defenders won the game, 22-18. That wasn’t the only turnover for DiNucci against D.C. He also threw two interceptions, including a pick-six.
Against the St. Louis BattleHawks on Thursday night and facing a third-and-1 at the opponent’s 18-yard line, DiNucci fumbled the ball on what appeared to be an attempted quarterback sneak. The turnover spoiled a potential opportunity to score points.
DiNucci did put his team in a position to win the game, throwing a fourth-down touchdown pass to Jordan Veasy with under a minute and a half to play. The moment was spoiled when Donny Hageman made the winning field goal for St. Louis in the final seconds.
Bad slips in Las Vegas
En route to a second loss in as many weeks, Vegas was victimized by poor playing conditions on their home field.
Rainy weather produced a slippery surface at Cashman Field that felled Vipers kicker Bailey Griffin, who lost his footing on a 23-yard field goal attempt.
Las Vegas is one of the driest major cities in the country, so it seems unlikely the Vipers will be regularly contending with a wet field. Still, it didn’t help their chances on Saturday.
Vegas went on to lose 18-6, falling to 0-2 on the season.
Hot mics
Given the sheer amount of players, coaches and referees that are mic’d up during each XFL game, it was only a matter of time before some explicit language snuck through.
Sunday’s game between the Orlando Guardians featured multiple such incidents.
Orlando Guardians QB coach Shane Matthews tripped himself up during a play call against the San Antonio Brahmas on Sunday, yelling an obscenity that made it through on air.
Later in the game, during a mic’d up Guardians huddle, one player told another to “shut the (expletive) up as the play call was being relayed.
ESPN has typically done an effective job censoring swear words uttered by individuals wearing live microphones — as is inevitable in a live sports environment — but these expletives obviously slipped through the cracks.
