The XFL’s 40-game common season — 4 video games per week for 10 weeks — ended Sunday night time, and it took all 40 to resolve which group obtained the fourth and closing playoff berth.
The Seattle Sea Dragons entered their Sunday night time matchup with the Vegas Vipers figuring out they’d have to at the least win to match the St. Louis Battlehawks’ 7-3 file. The Sea Dragons obtained the win, 28-9, in addition to the ultimate playoff berth, with the deciding issue amazingly coming right down to the fifth level within the XFL’s record of playoff tiebreakers.
The Sea Dragons, who’ve gone 7-1 of their final eight after an 0-2 begin, have had a troublesome week. Defensive lineman Chris Smith, who additionally performed for 5 completely different groups in eight seasons within the NFL, died final Monday at age 31. Seattle wore Smith’s No. 42 on their helmets and had his jersey on the sideline.
Seattle’s win knocked out the Battlehawks, who obtained an absolute monster effort from A.J. McCarron on Saturday (extra on that beneath). First, let’s dive into the playoff matchups.
XFL playoffs set
PLAYOFF SEMIFINALSDATE, TIMETV
Arlington Renegades at Houston Roughnecks
Saturday, April 29, 7 p.m. ET
ESPN2
Seattle Sea Dragons at D.C. Defenders
Sunday, April 30, 3 p.m. ET
ESPN
The championship recreation will function the winners of these two matchups, with the sport kicking off at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 13, on ABC.
Here’s a take a look at the Week 10 scores (try the ultimate regular-season XFL standings right here).
Saturday
St. Louis Battlehawks 53, Orlando Guardians 28
D.C. Defenders 29, San Antonio Brahmas 28
Sunday
Houston Roughnecks 25, Arlington Renegades 9
Seattle Sea Dragons 29, Vegas Vipers 9
Sea Dragons prime Vipers, knock Battlehawks out of playoff image
Seattle led simply 6-0 at half, maybe feeling some nerves in a must-win recreation. But after that it was all Sea Dragons. Seattle scored a landing on 4 consecutive drives from the tip of the second quarter to the beginning of the fourth.
Sea Dragons quarterback Ben DiNucci threw for 339 yards with 3 TDs and a pair of INTs. Former NFL receiving chief Josh Gordon led Seattle with 9 catches for 115 yards. Juwan Green had 5 catches for 88 yards.
Two of Seattle’s three losses this season got here towards the D.C. Defenders — 22-18 in Week 1, and 34-33 in Week 8 — and so they’ll now face one another for a 3rd time within the playoffs.
McCarron units XFL’s all-time TD file
A.J. McCarron could not have been an NFL star, however he is been an absolute beast within the XFL. The Battlehawks quarterback threw SIX landing passes on Saturday, going 28 of 35 for 420 yards. McCarron seems to be the frontrunner for XFL MVP. In a recreation with a playoff berth doubtlessly on the road, all St. Louis did was rating 53 factors.
Granted, it got here towards the Orlando Guardians, who’ve received one recreation all season — inexplicably handing the D.C. Defenders their one and solely loss.
McCarron’s six TDs gave him 24 for the 12 months. It’s essentially the most any XFL quarterback has thrown in any of the league’s three seasons — the opposite two have been the 2020 season that was canceled after 5 video games as a consequence of COVID-19, and the unique a technique again in 2001, when Tommy Maddox threw 18 landing passes.
The query for McCarron: Could he return to the NFL? The fifth-round decide of the Bengals in 2014 — he additionally performed briefly with 4 different groups, totaling 6 TD passes and three INTs within the NFL — could be eligible to take action.
A take a look at who’s in
D.C. Defenders Seattle Sea DragonsHouston Roughnecks Arlington Renegades
The house owners of the XFL’s finest file, D.C. (9-1) received one other nail-biter this previous weekend, beating the San Antonio Brahmas 29-28.
The Brahmas’ loss knocked them out of playoff competition, which implies the Arlington Renegades are in — regardless of a 4-6 file and permitting extra factors than they’d scored after dropping on Sunday. The Renegades and Roughnecks not solely performed within the regular-season finale for every group on Sunday (the Roughnecks received 25-9), they will additionally match up once more within the playoffs subsequent Saturday within the South Division championship — in case you need to observe some soccer because the third and closing day of the NFL Draft involves a detailed.
A take a look at who’s out
Las Vegas VipersOrlando GuardiansSan Antonio BrahmasSt. Louis Battlehawks
The Vipers could not play spoiler towards the Sea Dragons on Sunday night time, however Vegas was extra aggressive in the course of the second half of the season. Rod Woodson’s group picked up its second win over the season in convincing style over the Brahmas again in Week 7, and adopted up that efficiency with shut losses towards St. Louis and Houston.
The Battlehawks led the league in attendance, exhibiting that St. Louis definitely nonetheless desires a soccer group. Of their three losses this season, two got here towards the D.C. Defenders, and one towards the Sea Dragons.
