XFL opener entertaining
Roughnecks debut with nice plays, sweet grabs and big hits.
XFL executives have a new answer to the annoyingly repetitive question they have surely tired of replying to.
Is the league here to stay?
If it can be as good as it was on Saturday at TDECU Stadium, it certainly is. And all involved will tell you the XFL can be ever better.
A beautiful spring-like day made for perfect spring football, and the Houston Roughnecks did not disappoint in their debut, scoring 25 unanswered points en route to a 37-17 victory over the Los Angeles Wildcats.
That there was a nice crowd in the tailgate lots hours before kickoff is an indicator that if you build it, allow them to throw meat on a fire and bring alcoholic beverages to it, they will come.
That is at the essence of much of what the XFL will have to sell early on. Until we see enough games to judge the football, the larger experience might have to carry the day.
But the game held its own on this day, which made the 17,815 on hand seem like more, as they had plenty for which to cheer.
There are enough Houstonians who love football for this to be a success here. Those who showed up Saturday were ready.
Spotted in the crowd was a couple dressed in Earl Campbell and Warren Moon Oilers jerseys, and even someone in a red Tom Brady jersey.
Apparently, the Roughneck allegiance is already taking hold, because there wasn’t much Texans gear in the Coogs’ house.
MichaelAngelo Torrez was as ready for the start of the new league as anyone.
A hardcore Houston football uniform collector, who owns game-worn jerseys from every professional team to call the city home since the Oilers were one of the founding franchises of the AFL in 1960, Torrez was decked out in a full Houston Gamblers uniform.
It was fitting in a way, in that Roughnecks’ head coach June Jones was on the coaching staff for that 1984 debut. But Torrez said his look had more to do with the Roughnecks’ complete uniform not yet being available.
Torrez is the kind of fan the
XFL has to grab. A football guy, through and through, who said the XFL season tickets packages pricing for five home games was an automatic draw for him.
“At $100, it is difficult to turn down,” Torrez said. “I don’t have any expectations, but it’s a football game, so it could be good.”
Yep, it was a football game, all right. With tackles and touchdowns, fumbles and interceptions, and a crowd cheering loudly for big plays and booing every call that went against the home team.
As it is at every other stadium in America, they played some music and put fans on the big screen who on cue started shaking what their mamas gave ‘em.
Of course, there was also the shameless pandering to the armed forces which has zero reason to be part of regular sporting events, but, hey, that’s what you do if you want to give fans a reason to cheer during breaks in the action.
As promised, there was plenty of action, and it took only three plays for the Roughnecks to show off their offensive firepower,
P.J. Walker, a former recordsetting quarterback at Temple, lofted a gorgeous pass up the right sideline to a streaking Cam Phillips for a 50-yard score and an early Roughnecks’ lead.
The Roughnecks don’t hide what they’re trying to do offensively. Their Run N’ Shoot was off and running, well, shooting. Of Houston’s first 30 plays from scrimmage, 25 were passes.
Jones’ offense can be worth the price of a ticket, with Walker throwing for 272 yards and four touchdowns, despite the unit not being nearly as crisp as he expects it to be.
Walker is a bit undersized at 5-11, but he is tough, moves around in the pocket with confidence and has touchdown on his mind at all times. His playmaking ability makes Houston a dangerous team in an eight-team league that lacks star power.
Early reviews of the in-game player and coach interviews, and a lengthy chat in the stadium with a coach at the half, were positive. But don’t expect the NFL to adopt these concepts anytime soon.
With as much he loves interacting with fans on the way to the locker room, it would be fun to see Bill O’Brien do an interview on the big screen at halftime of every game. Some of them might be R-rated though.
Other rule differences — kickoff and punt rules that the XFL hopes will lead to more exciting and potentially safer returns, and the elimination of the extrapoint kick – are weird looking, but easy to like.
And if you think there is too much talk of concussions in NFL and college football, there were a couple hits in Saturday’s game that would have drawn flags on Saturdays and Sundays in the fall. The Roughnecks even went so far as to have a “Hit of the Game” featured on the video screen.
When it comes to the quality of play, even casual fans will recognize this isn’t the NFL. But as per one of the XFL slogans, for the love of football, it doesn’t take NFL-quality players for one to be entertained.
Phillips’ race up the sideline for the first touchdown in the history of the XFL wasn’t any lesser of a play because he ran a below-average 40-yard dash coming out of college and wasn’t drafted.
Jordan Smallwood’s not having ever made a game day roster in the NFL didn’t diminish the beauty of Wildcats receiver’s excellent toe-tapping secondquarter touchdown catch.
Nor was it a factor when Cody Brown met the ball at Smallwood and delivered that Hit of the Game to prevent another TD.
Nick Holley’s leaping grab of a Walker pass for a 29-yard gain would have been just as spectacular were it in an NFL game.
It didn’t matter that the Roughnecks’ Sammie Coates averaged 18.2 yards per catch in four NFL seasons, when he was popped by Ahmad Dixon and dropped a fourth-down pass to kill a drive.
Nice plays. Sweet grabs. Big hits.
Entertaining football.
If this is the XFL, it’s going to be a fun spring. And it could be here to stay.