We briefly touch on week two games, but I have some extra notes below. We do dive deep into the week three slate of games in this latest episode.
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Battlehawks vs. Roughnecks
James Butler continues to be a touchdown machine with one more this week.
Cam Phillips was a slightly more prominent touchdown machine catching all three of PJ Walker’s touchdowns.
De’mornay Pierson-El and L’Dainian Washington are a pretty damn potent 1-2 combination as receivers and might be my favorite combo in the entire league.
Jordan Ta’amu’s stats look better than the performance again, but I have to give him credit that he has still been better than I expected and deserves to keep starting.
Renegades vs. Wildcats
Nelson Spruce is still a stud, not much else for LA since I’m not inspired by Josh Johnson
Fumbles killed them in this game.
Landry Jones is a huge upgrade, but he may be the slowest player in professional football history. Hell, he may just be the slowest human being in history.
Donald Parham was a guy I was very excited about heading into the season and it seems like Landry Jones liked him too as he was targeted 11 times, only came up with 5 catches, but I think he could have big production moving forward this season. Sean Price ain’t bad either outside of the fumble.
Also, I thought Cameron Artis-Payne was a fairly exciting back for this league so I was a little confused when he didn’t get a lot of play in week one, but he made up for it big time in week two. He’s the real deal, but Lance Dunbar is going to take over on third downs and the pass catching duties, so together they might be the best backfield but still might not be as valuable in fantasy due to the split in duties.
The defensive line for the Renegades is interesting. Gerald Rivers got a sack in this game, and Gelen Robinson, son of The Big Dog had two quarterback hits at defensive tackle.
Overall, I still think this team is dangerous.
Vipers vs. Dragons
I’m a bigger fan of Taylor Cornelius than most after watching him at the East-West Shrine Game practices, but it’s Quinton Flowers time. I know he had the bad interception on the screen pass, but this team needs the dual threat quarterback to help them generate offense.
This is especially true since the Vipers seem committed to running the ball and have now been effective doing it for the first two weeks of the season. De’Veon Smith was the lead back last week, but Jacques Patrick took more carries this week, and he’s a guy out of Florida State that I could see getting a shot in the NFL as a big back.
How in the fuck can you kick a 20 yard field goal when you are down by 5 in the 4th quarter? Like, at this point, in WEEK TWO, Trestman is just trying to piss me off.
Also, Jalen Collins might be bad. Another long TD given up by him.
The Dragons won this game on defense as I’m starting to think Brandon Silvers is the worst starting quarterback in the league.
4 sacks and three intercptions were the biggest stories this week.
Guardians vs. Defenders
Man, the Guardians are super bad too. I think McGloin is better than he showed this week, but that offense is not going to inspire much confidence. And the defense doesn’t seem too impressive either.
For the Defenders, I still love what I’m seeing from Cardale.
I wasn’t sure about trading away Bradley Sylve, a corner I was super high on, but Anthony Johnson seems worth it as he had 1.5 sacks in his first game with the team.
Weekly Picks
UPSET SPECIAL: Vipers (home) over Roughnecks
Renegades over Dragons (home)
Battlehawks (home) over Guardians
Defenders over Wildcats (home)
Roughnecks vs. Vipers
Cam Phillips is going to the NFL. He just consistently gets open and made some contested catches as well. Strong hands, and he’s destroying the XFL this year.
James Butler is a very good running back, and that’s not just my Hawkeye bias. He averaged over 10 yards per carry, but they only gave him seven carreis.
DeMarquis Gates is a guy to watch out for. He led the Roughnecks in tackles and had the game clinching interception.
Taylor Cornelius is the better passer, but Quinton Flowers is the more dangerous player. It’s going to look great at times and awful at others, but it’s time to hand the reigns over to him, especially since the Tampa crowd LOVES Flowers. A lot of Cornelius struggles were caused by miscommunication with his receivers.
Renegades vs. Dragons
Battle of scrappy white receivers early on with Austin Proehl and Flynn Nagel getting the first scores for their respective teams.
I still think Seattle is the worst team in the league.
I was big on Landry Jones and Donald Parham before the game, and they both delivered as Jones had three touchdowns, with
Parham caught two of those touchdowns and getting over 100 yards as a tight end. I think he’s already adding a decent amount of separation between him and the rest of the tight ends in the league.
Cameron Artis-Payne looked good again this week with 110 scrimmage yards.
Hau’oli Kikaha got a sack for the Renegades.
Guardians vs. Battlehawks
The Guardians are so boring that I have nothing to say.
Jonah’s boy Christine Michael is getting outshined by former Redskin Matt Jones. I would expect this to continue.
We said it before the year, and this Battlehawks defense is living up to the hype as they are making opponents’ lives miserable. My boy Kenny Robinson had a great interception so defensive player of the year is not out of the question.
If I could trade Tyree Jackson to any team, it would be the Battlehawks. Ta’amu has been fine, but I would love to see the outside weapons be allowed to shine with a cannon-armed QB like Tyree.
Defenders vs. Wildcats
Cardale lost a start; my whole word is shaken to the core. I don’t know what to believe in. But unless you hold Cardale accountable for four interceptions, there is no way this loss can be blamed on him.
Tre McBride and Nelson Spruce are quite the dynamic duo, and Josh Johnson looks like a legitimate XFL QB.
Martez Carter is a little guy with big production, three touchdowns and may have fully passed Elijah Hood on the depth chart.
I kind of thought there were four good teams and four bad teams, but I feel like the Wildcats might join the Defenders, Renegades, Battlehawks, and Roughnecks and create a fifth good team.
PICKS
Wildcats over GUARDIANS
BATTLEHAWKS over Dragons
RENEGADES over Roughnecks
Defenders over VIPERS
