XFL Discussion Thread

I have not seen a thread on this, and I didn’t want to clutter the wrestling thread by talking about a Vince McMahon owned football league, so here we are.

Have you guys been enjoying the XFL?

I thought the opening weekend was pretty great football. I was impressed by the level of play, and the transparency of replay and officiating is such a relief from the nightmare of the NFL.

I watched about 10 mins and had enough. It seemed fine, but after six months of NFL and college football, I don't think I have room in my life for an off-brand league.

I watched some of the games. I'd be interested to see if any of the players make it to the NFL.

@billmcneal:

I definitely think PJ Walker and Jordan Ta’amu will have a good chance of joining a NFL roster if they continue playing the way they have. I could definitely see the XFL becoming a place where undrafted players go to get a second chance and actual play tape for NFL scouts. With the odds of having a draft bust significantly higher, NFL teams will definitely be looking for unpolished gems.

KAKAWWWWW

Well, it was better than I expected, although that evaluation comes with a lot of caveats:

• I'm old enough to remember the original XFL, which was all about EXTREEEEEEMMMMMMEEE SPOOOOOOORRRRRTSSS!, so the relative restraint of the new version was a nice change, but I wonder how people without that history feel.
• I like the idea of more mics on the field, but the sound mixing was really bad. You couldn't hear anything the booth was saying - until the booth cut off something more interesting that was being said on the field.
• I like some of the rule changes, but I wonder if I will still like them in a few weeks when the novelty has worn off.

Ultimately, it was . . . fine. I'm not sure how I feel about it being so soon after the NFL season. I'm very football-ed out at this point. Given the shorter length of the season, they might have been better off waiting until sometime in the Spring to start it up (although I get they would want to avoid the Olympics).

I think the best case scenario for the XFL is if it becomes a less-popular but still established alternate form of football, sort of like how there is both Rugby League and Rugby Union. The more likely scenario is that it becomes a developmental league for the NFL or just collapses altogether once soccer and spring baseball start up and people have other stuff to watch.

To be honest, I would rather have women's NFL (WNFL?) on TV rather than this XFL stuff. Women suffered through that stupid demeaing Lingerie Football League, and later rebranded as the Legends Football League. So, they paid their dues, so now they should just have normal American Football League to play in. In 20 years they can fold the women into the NFL, but for now let's give the women a chance to play. The damn owners make MORE than enough to swing a women's league the proper way.

The reason I am saying connecting it to current owners is that is the BEST way to make sure the NFL and owners don't try to kill the women's game. Give owners the 'right of first refusal' to create a women WNFL franchise, so that the NFL and owners have buy-in from the start. The current owners have deals for stadiums and other things, so ist woudl be the best way to "spin up" a women's league. Then if an owner does not opt for a women's team one "franchise spot" opens for another investor.

• New England Lady Patriots (or Lady Patrioteers)
• Green Bay Skinners
• Pittsburgh Steelstresses
• Denver Fillies
• Miami Mermaids
• Dallas Cowgirls (of course)
• San Francisco 69ers

@billmcneal: there are several players that are former NFL players.

@therealturk: I am also old enough to remember the original XFL. Was decent enough. Grateful for the spider cam in the NFL.

I enjoyed the games, go Battlehawks! I really liked the kickoff idea. I wasn't sure if I would like it in practice when I heard about it, but I did. I'm not sold on any of the punt ideas. Downside to the short play clock is that I can't as easily skip ahead 30 seconds at the end of a play and be right in time for the next step when watching on DVR. I like the XP ideas, but think some tweaks are needed. Just didn't feel quite right. I do like the idea that a touchdown isn't an almost guaranteed 7 and the extra points are truly extra. The only other rule I remember is you only need one foot in bounds. I think the NFL should stick with two, because it should be MOST difficult to succeed.

IMO, the NFL NEEDS a developmental league. The NHL, NBA & MLB all have them. I think the XFL could be a developmental league in addition to being an experimental league. This league can also help develop officials.

@frytup: yeah, I definitely was feeling football fatigue, and I love football. NFL and NCAA. But a break is nice too. Off season is when I find more time for gaming.

@paliv: I'm going to blow your mind. Second tv right next to the football tv. I saw a friend with this setup 16 years ago and I will never go back.

He Hate Me

I watched the Sunday games and it was totally fine,

Thoughts:

- Behind the scenes on reviews is welcome

- Mic’ing the coaches is NOT welcome. Too many coaches use similar play-calling, which allowed me to predict the play from my couch before it happened. I knew who was getting the ball, where they’d be going, and GENERALLY what the route was.

- Shorter play clocks are welcome

- Overtime “shootouts” sound cool, in theory

- Special teams rules are surprisingly thoughtful AND safer

- Extra points are a decent wrinkle

Overall, it’s WAY better than XFL1.0. The player quality isn’t there and I saw some woeful decision making. The defense generally looked impressive and I dig the changes. This is a totally fine product to watch, if you want more football. It’d probably be better served running in the summer, when the appetite for football is higher than immediately following the NFL season.

@nutter: Summer idea is a good one, but I think the goal here is to interfere with the NFL as little as possible. I think I read somewhere that the players in the XFL had been in camp since November and committed to the XFL season even if the NFL came calling in the last few weeks. If it's run in the summer, you hurt these players' chances of getting into an NFL training camp. The XFL championship is the day after the NFL draft ends (so assume we'll see a bunch of ads during the draft for the championship). This means that teams can assess their rosters from the draft, then go watch film from the XFL to find players competing against reasonable competition to also bring into camp. Considering that non-QBs are making $50,000 for the season, having the opportunity to jump to the NFL is a decent bonus.

On the subject of XFL players to the nfl, I always think there is the possibility of XFL players getting signed during the NFL season because of injury.

I could definitely see less exciting positions, like offensive guards getting called up if a team is in a jam. It would be huge news if say Houston Renegades quarterback PJ Walker would get signed and automatically start for a NFL team in the future, but if all else fails and a team gets a injury bug, there’s a wide field of opportunity after April ends for XFL players.

It could even be in reverse, for example, if Josh Rosen or Baker Mayfield were to step down and play a season of XFL to warm up, if they were to continue to not have success in the NFL. It would give players with potential a bridge gap to rebuild their careers.

I can look at a wide receiver like Nelson Algohor as a prime example. The guy had one good year for Philadelphia, but he is going to have a hard time getting playing time if he gets signed. If he gets cut from the NFL, it would be better for him to play in the XFL during the spring than sit and wait.

@ginormous76: hahaha, unfortunately that isn’t happening. I have a little Kindle Fire that is more conducive to a harmonious marriage. But, it still doesn’t solve the football fatigue.