XFL Football – Can it Succeed This Time

by | Feb 6, 2020 | Sports in General

XFL Football XFL Football are you ready?  The 2020 season for the new and improved XFL is about to get underway.  The NFL season is done.  We will be getting a never ending parade of mock drafts.  Not that I have anything against that and will probably be doing one of my own.  But it will be nice to have a game to pop in on.  Just to get in some football.  XFL Football failed before.  Then there was the tease by the AAF.  That was an extreme disappointment.  It has been very difficult to start up alternate football leagues.  None of them have been very successful.  This time if the XFL does it right they could be the one to make it.

What to Expect in XFL Football games

It is difficult to say what kind of play we will get the first week of play in the XFL.  The first game is usually pretty rough.  I am going to guess that game one for each team in the XFL in their first season is going to rough as well.  That in of itself should not be a problem.  The games will at least have to be decent.  Like the way the AAF started out last year.  I am pretty sure that the ratings will be pretty good week one for the XFL.  The important part will be if the league can get the viewers to come back for week two of the season.  To do this the games and the players will have to improve each week.  This will be a difficult question to answer until games have been played.

The XFL has been able to attract some pretty good players that have NFL experience.  They have also attracted some coaches that have name recognition.  Including Jim Zorn who will be coaching the Seattle Dragons and Bob Stoops who will be coaching the Dallas Renegades.  This is a good move to attract coaches that people have heard of and put them in geographic regions where their name recognition will be higher.  Of course this will only be a short term boots with the viewers.  If the product ends up not being that good it will not matter.  But with the name recognition and the product is pretty good then it will be easier to keep those fans watching.

Rule Changes that Should be Interesting

  • Multiple forward Passes

It will be possible in XFL Football to have multiple forward passes.  This could create some interesting plays and help the offense to hide what they are doing.  According to Oliver Luck the reason they decided to put this rule in is because of the amount of times the quarterbacks are now in the shot gun.  Being so far behind the line of scrimmage this pretty much eliminates the lateral pass.  The way the XFL is trying to remedy this is by allowing multiple forward passes.  Once the ball goes across the line of scrimmage any more forward passes would be an illegal forward pass.  I really like this rule and think that it will be a keeper that could one day make it into the NFL

  • Three Point Conversion

This one is to eliminate the extra point kick.  The NFL has been looking at alternatives to the kick as well.  Moving the ball back if you are kicking and putting it at the two yard line if you are going for the two point conversion.

After scoring a touchdown, teams will have three options. A conversion on a scrimmage play from the 2-yard line will be worth one point, a conversion from the 5-yard line will be worth two points and a conversion from the 10-yard line will be worth three points.

The XFL is going to have three different options. After scoring a touchdown a team can decide to try a conversion from the 2 yard line, 5 yard line or 10 yard line. If the try is from the 2 yard line it will be worth one point. If the try is from teh 5 yard line it will be worth 2 points and if from the 10 yard line then it will be worth 3 points. This has the potential to keep teams in a game longer. I would have been fine with it still being a kick but doing the kick from the 15, 30 and 45 with the 1, 2 and 3 point values. The way they chose is fine and should be interesting to see what teams decide to do.

  • Two Minute Drill or the Comeback Period

The two minute part is similar to the NFL where they stop the clock at 2 minutes at the end of the second and fourth quarter.  Then the clock stops if a team is able to get out of bounds on a play.  The XFL is going to have the clock stop after every play regardless if the team is able to get out of bounds.  This will prevent teams from being able to waste large amounts of time at the end of a game.  It will change the strategy for the team that is winning in the final two minutes.  No longer will they be able to run three straight running plays that go no where.   It should also lead to the team that is trailing getting more opportunity to mount a come back.  Of course if the team that is leading keeps getting first downs then it really will not matter.  I do think that this is an  interesting change and to see how it will work out.

XFL Football Teams for 2020

  • Dallas Renegades
  • Houston Roughnecks
  • Los Angeles Wildcats
  • New York Guardians
  • St. Louis BattleHawks
  • Seattle Dragons
  • Tampa Bay Vipers
  • D.C. Defenders

When and Where Can you Find the XFL on TV

Games are going to be on FOX, ABC and ESPN. The games depending on the week will start at 2pm and 5pm or 3pm and 6pm. The games are sprinkled between the main network with a few of them being on FS1.  There are a few other times mixed in with a few prime time games. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. I really think that they should stick to the Saturday and Sunday day time games. I am not a fan of prime time games anyway.  With those start times it looks like they are going to try to keep the games close to 3 hours.  That has always been a sweet spot for games.  If they can keep the games moving along like that they will increase their chances of keeping the audiences

.  It will be interesting to see how this turns out.  It is smart for the XFL to not try and compete with the NFL.  There is zero chance of a team surviving with that model.  In this incarnation of XFL Football where they are tying new things.  Getting some players and coaches with name recognition.  If they can get the games to even a decent level of play they might be able to make it.  In the mean time. Are you ready for some XFL Football?

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