2023 XFL Season

[SuperHornet]

Whoodathunk ANY professional league would dump New York, Los Angeles, and Tampa Bay? The XFL has done just that because they had the lowest attendance averages during the 2020 season, the last year they played.

In their place, the XFL is adding Lost Wages, Arlington, and Orlando. HCs have been named, and ten assistants have been assigned to each team. Dr. Jen Welter, the first female coach in NFL history, has been assigned to Lost Wages as an assistant, probably coaching LBers, since that's what she played for 10+ years.

HC and Home Field Assignments

Arlington: Choctaw Stadium HC Bob Stoops
Houston: TEDCU Stadium HC Wade Phillips
Orlando: Camping World Stadium HC Terrell Buckley
Las Vegas: TBA Stadium HC Rod Woodson
San Antonio: Alamodome HC Hines Ward
Seattle: Lumen Field Jim Haslett
St. Louis: The Dome HC Anthony Becht
Washington: Audi Field HC Reggie Barlow

First Game: 18 FEB 23.

All games to be broadcast on Disney owned networks (i.e. ABC, the ESPNs, and Disney streaming services).

The XFL is co-owned by The Rock and his ex-wife Dany Garcia, who also serves as chairwoman.

https://www.espn.com/xfl/story/_/id/342 ... s-join-xfl

[SuperHornet]

First two games today. First one was close. Not much prep, and it showed. One team had two pick sixes. Arlington d. Vegas 22-20. One team (I forget which) had former Raider P Marquette King. I saw one punt from him, but he may have had more.

Orlando and Houston are tied at 6 in the first half.

There's an odd mix of NFL and NCAA rules. One foot down is enough to establish a completion, and there are some situations where college timing rules apply. It's really odd. There is one challenge which can be used for just about ANYTHING, including a challenge of penalties, but those are hard to win. VP Dean Blandino is very aggressive with booth reviews; on the down side is how long he takes at times. There are no PAT kicks; scrimmage plays are run from the two, five, or ten yard line for one, two, or three point conversions. That has affected strategy already. In the ARL-VGS game, when Arlington scored their final TD, the announcers were flabbergasted that they only went for one, which put them up by 8; they figured that gambling for the three-point conversion would seal it. As it happened, it didn't matter, because when Vegas scored, they went for two to force OT, but failed, and then blew the 4th-and-16 replacement for the onside kick (that's a choice, BTW, but people think that it's easier to convert that than to convert an onside kick). The uniforms are garish, but the zebra uniforms are worse. Vegas HC Rod Woodson was complaining that the zebras were completely against the Vipers, and it seemed like he had a point. I'm not seeing much of an officiating issue in ORL-HOU, though one of the touchdowns was ruled a simultaneous catch that Blandino ultimately called "STANDS;" he did admit that had it been ruled a pick on the field, that would have stood, too.

Former Broncos 1st round pick QB Paxton Lynch is in the ORL-HOU game.

This league will take some getting used to, but at least football is still here. It's a bit weird seeing the exact same feed on ESPN and FX, as is the case right now with ORL-HOU. I also can't wait for the USFL, WFA, WTFL, and WNFC to get here....

[SuperHornet]

Standings

North Division

D.C. Defenders 1-0 1-0 22 18
St. Louis BattleHawks 1-0 0-0 18 15
Vegas Vipers 0-1 0-0 20 22
Seattle Sea Dragons 0-1 0-1 18 22

South Division

Houston Roughnecks 1-0 1-0 33 12
Arlington Renegades 1-0 0-0 22 20
San Antonio Brahmas 0-1 0-0 15 18
Orlando Guardians 0-1 0-1 12 33

Week 1 Results

Arlington d. Vegas 22-20
Houston d. Orlando 33-20
St. Louis d. San Antonio 18-15
D.C. d. Seattle 22-18

Week 2 Games

St. Louis at Seattle 1800 PST THU 23 FEB 23 FX
D.C. at Vegas 1600 PST SAT 25 FEB 23 FX
San Antonio at Orlando 1300 PST SUN 26 FEB 23 ESPN
Arlington at Houston 1600 PST SUN 26 FEB 23 ESPN2

[SuperHornet]

Standings

North Division

D.C. Defenders 2-0 2-0 40 24
St. Louis BattleHawks 2-0 1-0 38 33
Vegas Vipers 0-2 0-1 26 40
Seattle Sea Dragons 0-2 0-2 36 42

South Division

Houston Roughnecks 2-0 2-0 56 26
San Antonio Brahmas 1-1 1-0 45 30
Arlington Renegades 1-1 0-1 36 43
Orlando Guardians 0-2 0-2 24 63

Week 2 Results

St. Louis d. Seattle 20-18
D.C. d. Vegas 18-6
San Antonio d. Orlando 30-12
Houston d. Arlington 23-14

Week 3 Games

Seattle at Vegas 1600 PST SAT 04 MAR 23 FX
St. Louis at DC 1000 PST SUN 05 MAR 23 FX
Orlando at Arlington 1300 PST SUN 05 MAR 23 FX
San Antonio at Houston 1700 PST SUN 05 MAR 23 ESPN2