TheMeInTeam
If A implies B...
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2008
- Messages
- 27,994
The newest iteration of spring leagues is upon us. So far, the XFL has been mixed for me but about as good as I'd ever expect a startup spring league to be.
The good:
The good:
- Officiating: this is one area where the XFL 2.0 has been straight up better than the NFL so far. The process is more transparent, the calls have been pretty solid, and this was accomplished while being faster itself in a faster-paced game. Regardless of whether XFL succeeds the NFL should poach this, similar to how it poached a few things from XFL 1.0.
- Pacing: games are faster w/o being onerous, owing to playclock and the use of tech that makes it viable for teams to operate on shorter play clocks.
- Rule changes: better kickoffs, better overtimes, better PAT plays (much higher % of them matter), more encouragement to go for it rather than punting. This is all stuff that I would welcome in the NFL too.
- Long-term outlook: Attendance has been pretty good compared to past experiments and has held up better after opening week than previous spring experiments, but there's still reason to doubt long-term viability. This is a question mark right now.
- Quality of players/play: Predictably, there won't be the same level of elite play in the XFL. That said, they're at least looking like professional teams at most positions, with some names fantasy players will recognize thrown in there like Lance Dunbar. There's also the occasional nice surprise like PJ Walker beating out former NFL backup Connor Cook in camp (was with Oakland) and looking like the XFL MVP so far. Some NFL team will probably pick him up though, at least as a backup.
- Aside from Walker, the dearth of viable QBs has been a significant problem for the league however. Rule changes have favored offense, and maybe teams just need more time to gel. Regardless, most teams don't have a signal caller that does well on game day with any consistency. I hope college QBs that aren't prototypical find their way into this league to try to refine their play. There should be enough desperation that some teams will adjust how they tailor offenses to QBs.
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