Will He Still Hate Me? The XFL Game Thread

Bozo Texino

still hates Dave Kerpen
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This is surprisingly fun football.

I'm now hoping that it does SO well that Vince McMahon chooses to abandon his interest in the WWE.
 

ilol@u

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I wonder if Vince ever opens up in having a someone do dual duty in both the XFL and WWE. Especially since the XFL season is only a few months long.
 

KingPK

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Apr 13, 2006
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Has LA even practiced? They seem to be completely oblivious to the shorter play clock.
 

steveluck7

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I think this would be prefect for a 4 year college player on the draft “bubble” to use to prove himself for teams. I’m surprised there aren’t many younger FCS or D2 “seniors.” on rosters
 

j-man

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I like this league but long term they gotta find a way to let either the teams practice squads in or be a haven for undrafted guys
 

Awesome Fossum

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I think this would be prefect for a 4 year college player on the draft “bubble” to use to prove himself for teams. I’m surprised there aren’t many younger FCS or D2 “seniors.” on rosters
I agree. It could be like the combine on steroids, plus you can make a little change in the meantime.

They didn't really make any headway with it this season, but I'd be all over the transfer portal if I were the XFL. I believe the only player who would have been an underclassman in Fall 2019 is St. Louis's Kenny Robinson, an All Big 12 safety (hold your jokes, please) at West Virginia who became academically ineligible.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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Its fun. Good natured, or something like that. For the love of the game kind of thing. A palette cleanser after the SB which really rubbed me the wrong way. So f’n overwrought and self-serious.

I’m in.
 

Bowhemian

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It’s funny, but I really liked the stand-still punts and kickoffs. It’s amazing how fast the gunners can get downfield on a punt even when they don’t leave until the ball is kicked.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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It’s funny, but I really liked the stand-still punts and kickoffs. It’s amazing how fast the gunners can get downfield on a punt even when they don’t leave until the ball is kicked.
Agreed. Seems like it will keep guys from getting killed too.
 

Bowhemian

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Are the ticket prices why these crowds seem fun?
That, plus I’m sure beer helps.
Seriously though, my best guess is that no one is taking this seriously yet. Sure, I’d root for the home team. But I wouldn’t really care if they lost. But that’s just me.
We had an arena football team in Manchester for a couple years. Had season tix, so saw almost all the home games. It was just fun.
 

PseuFighter

Silent scenester
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Dec 22, 2003
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love that they just went to the replay booth and the dude admits he doesn't know what to do.

legitimately makes me wonder how often this happens in the nfl.
 

Awesome Fossum

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I'm referring to the audio. (Microphoning?) This is the biggest crowd all weekend, but you can't hear them.

The cheese and mice levels seem fine to me.
 

CFB_Rules

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love that they just went to the replay booth and the dude admits he doesn't know what to do.

legitimately makes me wonder how often this happens in the nfl.
The XFL replay guys are NFL replay guys. So probably pretty often.
 

HomeRunBaker

bet squelcher
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Jan 15, 2004
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Seeing the spread and the over under on the scoreboard is most certainly going to happen in the NFL next few years.
Let’s only hope that the NFL can improve the accuracy. I cashed both Overs on Sat and lost both on Sun (based on reported number of plays the new rules yielded in the unreported exhibition games) yet had to hear repeatedly how all 4 Unders cashed.
 

steveluck7

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Let’s only hope that the NFL can improve the accuracy. I cashed both Overs on Sat and lost both on Sun (based on reported number of plays the new rules yielded in the unreported exhibition games) yet had to hear repeatedly how all 4 Unders cashed.
What # did you get for the total in the DC game? ABC’s score bug had 51.5 listed and the FG that Seattle pulled off the board kept that over from hitting
 

HomeRunBaker

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Jan 15, 2004
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Watching this mostly to see the rules departure from the NFL.
This was a HUGE win for not only the XFL but for football in general as the kickoff rule is nothing short of brilliant while addressing all of the NFL’s injury concerns without taking away the excitement of the kickoff......while eliminating the touchback without severe penalty. I expect the NFL to adopt this kickoff rule or a very close similarity of it.

Watching these games with a :25 play clock makes one realize that a :40 clock that the NFL currently utilizes is tremendously wasteful. I expect the NFL to reduce the clock at least to :35 in the immediate future.

I’d probably tweak the PAT rule to make kicking a part of the game but that’s just my personal preference. It was however painful to see teams on Sat go for 1-pt from the 2 only to stop back the QB while throwing a pattern that would have yielded 2 and in one case 3 points had they chosen that yardage. I’d expect to see more 2’s run moving forward.

Being taken inside the replay booth is another pure genius move. So awesome to hear what actually occurs during this period rather than hearing Collinsworth look at 6 different angles. Blandino running this show only adds to its credibility.

All in all this product was worlds better than the AAF and unlike that league the XFL is well capitalized to be sustainable. I do not think ratings will drop off as the product and its rules are compelling. I’m betting the product (post my Guardians pick in the Port Cellar wagering thread prior to seeing this one) and looking forward to watching each weekend.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Jan 15, 2004
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Impressive that Vegas nailed both without ever having seen so the new rules, etc. would impact things.
The broadcasters somehow were ridiculously uninformed on the point spreads.

* All 4 games opened at 40.5 and quickly moved to 44. (Edited to correct to 40.5)

* Once word leaked that the private exhibition games/scrimmages yielded 140-150 plays per game (20-30% greater than an NFL game) under the new rules they moved all to 48.

* Bettors began reacting to this news and began betting it up to 51-51.5 on Sat.

* Bettors then reacted to number of plays and similar yardage per play as an NFL game and bet the Sunday games up to 53-53.5.
* The late game Sunday closed at 52.5 likely due to some additional wind and potential rain.

Offenses moved the ball pretty consistently but struggled in the red zone and in opposing territory scoring TD’s where execution is crucial with the defenses defending the goal line. Now that we have some data to work with we’ll see variance in the totals of each game rather than opening them and betting them based almost solely off expected pace.
 
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CFB_Rules

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Watching these games with a :25 play clock makes one realize that a :40 clock that the NFL currently utilizes is tremendously wasteful. I expect the NFL to reduce the clock at least to :35 in the immediate future.
This is interesting because there is potential for competitive advantage here based on referee influence. The XFL rule is "25 seconds from when the ball is spotted". This is similar to the original NFL rule when play clocks became a thing. The reason it got changed is because the time it takes the officials to spot the ball is not static. It might take 2 seconds on a run up the middle and 12 seconds on a deep incomplete pass, and the difference gives the offense more or less time to get a play in or run time off the clock. So the NFL changed it to 40 seconds, starting as soon as the previous play ended.

No reason they couldn't reduce it to 35 though.
 

Awesome Fossum

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I've seen 3.3 million viewers for the first game and a 2.3 rating for the second.

Obviously, Year 1, Week 1 is the easy part. It's really about what they can draw in like Year 3, Week 9. But certainly an encouraging start.