The XFL made it through its first week and only one coach, DC Pepper Johnson of the LA Wildcats, won’t make it to the second game. The league kicked off to a promising start. Now, the challenge is to keep it up and keep the interest.
The Wildcats won’t allow 37 points
Winston Moss isn’t messing around. Something happened with Pepper Johnson and Moss, the Wildcats’ head coach, dismissed the multiple-time Super Bowl winner. Could it have been the 37 points allowed to the Houston Roughnecks? Team captain Anthony Johnson also declared his free agency. Not safe to have the last name of Johnson with the Wildcats. The second opponent is the Dallas Renegades, who are 0-1, too. Bob Stoops’ Renegades are looking for their first TD after notching three field goals against the St. Louis Battlehawks. Swapping Landry Jones for Philip Nelson should make a huge difference for the Dallas offense.
A quarterback won’t throw for 300 yards
Unlike the NFL, where it feels the exception rather than the rule when one of the quarterbacks in a game doesn’t throw for 300 yards, no one in the XFL reached the plateau in Week 1. The closest was Houston’s P.J. Walker, who accounted for 272 yards passing. Worth keeping an eye on this week and for the rest of the season. Let’s see if the league has created a tradition.
A running back will rush for 100 yards
So the quarterbacks don’t throw for 300 and the running backs don’t go for 100. Must be that the defenses are ahead of the offenses in the beginning of the XFL season. Matt Jones had 85 yards rushing for St. Louis. Quarterback Jordan Ta’amu rushed for 77 yards on nine carries. Figure the running game will get a bit more untracked as the season unfolds and someone will crack the century mark.
Shawn Oakman will prove unstoppable
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The 6-foot-9, 280-pound Shawn Oakman had one sack in the Wildcats’ season-opening loss. The former Baylor star who found all sorts of trouble with the Bears almost had another of P.J. Walker and nearly knocked the Roughnecks’ QB out of the game. Oakman is going to get better as he shakes the rust of inactivity. He’s going to become impossible to handle and should notch multiple sacks against Dallas.
Quinton Flowers’ role will grow
Aaron Murray’s game in the loss to the New York Guardians was unimpressive, 16-of-34 and two picks. He also injured his foot. It won’t take much for coach Marc Trestman to audible from the former Georgia star to Quinton Flowers, who played college ball at South Florida and gives the Vipers’ offense more options.
June Jones gives Houston a huge edge
It was obvious from the opening week that June Jones is the offensive genius in the league. He was calm, cool, collected calling plays for the Roughnecks. The play names were simple, not a calculus exercise the way some of them sounded on the audion being sent in via helmet to the skill players. The Houston coach is going to match wits with St. Louis’ Jonathan Hayes, whose team did not allow a TD in Week 1.
TV ratings will slip
The league got off to a good start and drew a healthy amount of eyeballs. There will be more competition this week with the Daytona 500 happening Sunday and Tiger Woods playing in the Genesis Invitational. Look for a downward trend and one has to hope there is not the overreaction there was after the first incarnation’s plummet from Week 1 to Week 2 in 2001. That was because the quality of play was abymal. The league doesn’t have that problem … yet.
