What to know about the Seattle Dragons and the XFL
Jan 20, 2020, 1:55 PM | Updated: Jan 22, 2020, 5:14 pm
(Photo provided by XFL)
There are just two weeks of the 2019 NFL season remaining, but shortly after the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers concludes, the XFL will begin its second installment, which includes a team here in Seattle, the Seattle Dragons.
Seattle Dragons reveal uniforms for inaugural 2020 XFL season
The XFL differs from the football you may be accustomed to in the NFL and the NCAA. There are different rules, different ways of officiating and an entirely different game clock.
So, here’s the need to know about the XFL, its rules and the Seattle Dragons.
What is the XFL?
The XFL is a football league owned by Vince McMahon and Alpha Entertainment. McMahon is known for owning and operating World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
This, as mentioned, is the league’s second installment, having operated once before in 2001, though it appears the league will be operated much differently than its predecessor.
The league has eight teams: Seattle Dragons, Dallas Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, Los Angeles Wildcats, D.C. Defenders, New York Guardians, St. Louis Battlehawks and Tampa Bay Vipers.
The Dragons, Renegades, Roughnecks and Wildcats are in the Western Conference and the Defenders, Guardians, Battlehawks and Vipers are in the Eastern Conference.
All eight teams are owned by the league, rather than the ownership group model the NFL and other major sports use.
Each team plays 10 regular season games. The top two teams from each conference make the playoffs and face each other in the first round. The winners face off in the championship game.
Each team plays five home games and five away games and has no bye week.
The games will be broadcast on national TV, splitting between ABC, ESPN, Fox and Fox Sports 1. There are two games each on Saturday and Sunday through the regular season.
The league’s commissioner and CEO is Oliver Luck, the father of retired Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. He is the former president of the now defunct NFL Europe league, and was the president and general manager of the Houston Dynamo soccer team.
The league has six advisors listed on its website, including former Colts and Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell, former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie and former Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears head coach John Fox.
Meet the Seattle Dragons
Seattle was one of eight cities to receive a team. The Dragons will play their home games at Centurylink Field, which is the home of the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Sounders.
The Dragons are in the first game of the season on the road in D.C. on Saturday, Feb. 8. They have their home opener in Week 2 against Tampa Bay Saturday, Feb. 15.
Former Seahawks quarterback and quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn is the Dragons head coach and general manager. Zorn has head coaching experience, having coached the Washington Redskins.
Coach Zorn. #ForTheLoveOfFootball | #BreathingFire 🔥🐲 pic.twitter.com/F1J2EqS70d
— Seattle Dragons (@XFLDragons) January 20, 2020
Some notable coaches are offensive coordinator Mike Riley, the former head coach of Oregon State and Nebraska, running backs coach Butch Goncharoff, the former head coach at Bellevue High School who won 11 state titles and defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Clayton Lopez, who coached with the Seahawks from 1999 to 2003.
The team also has some names that fans may recognize, such as wide receiver Kasen Williams, who played four years at the University of Washington and had 16 touchdowns. He also spent time with the Seahawks.
“It feels like home.” – Kasen Williams on a ☔️ Monday.
# ForTheLoveOfFootball | #BreathingFire 🔥🐲 pic.twitter.com/Rww4urzjax
— Seattle Dragons (@XFLDragons) January 13, 2020
Quarterback B.J. Daniels also spent time with the Seahawks, but as a receiver.
Running back Lavon Coleman ran for 2,000 yards in four seasons with the Huskies and had 15 total touchdowns.
Taniela Tupou played defensive tackle for the Huskies and later played professional rugby for three seasons.
Each team was assigned a quarterback, and the Dragons got Brandon Silvers, who played collegiately at Troy. A four-year starter, Silvers threw for 10,667 yards, completed 64.4% of his passes and had 71 touchdowns to 29 interceptions. He also had 16 rushing touchdowns.
The XFL Draft was divided into different periods where only players from specific positions could be selected.
The Dragons’ first pick, which was in the skill players period, was running back Trey Williams, who played at Texas A&M and had 1343 yards and 18 TDs in his college career.
Seattle’s first pick for offensive line was tackle Isaiah Battle, who spent time with the Seahawks in 2017.
Stansly Mosponga, a defensive end, was the Dragons’ first pick of the front seven period. He appeared in three seasons in NFL and had one sack and had 15.5 sacks and 23 tackles for loss in three college seasons at TCU.
The team’s first defensive back selection was cornerback Jhavonte Dean. Dean had three interceptions in two seasons at Miami.
For more information on the Dragons’ roster, check out this story from the XFL Draft.
XFL rules
The XFL’s rule differ from that of the NFL or the NCAA in many ways. Here are some of the more notable rules.
After a team scores a touchdown, rather than kicking an extra point, they can run a play from the 2, 5, or 10-yard line, worth 1, 2, or 3 points, respectively. The team must run an offensive play.
A sneak peek at what an XFL 1-point conversion looks like 👀 pic.twitter.com/sRIf1Z3sUl
— XFL (@xfl2020) January 20, 2020
If the defense gets a turnover and returns the ball to the end zone, they get as many points as the offense was trying to get on the point after attempt.
With punts, if the ball is kicked out of bounds inside the 35-yard line or is kicked into the end zone, the ball is placed at the 35-yard line.
If the offense throws a forward pass that is caught behind the line of scrimmage and doesn’t cross the line, the ball can be thrown forward again.
Rather than a time limited overtime period, overtime in the XFL is decided in five “rounds.” Each round will consist of one offensive play per team from the 5-yard line. The game is over when one team has the most points after those five rounds or when one team is mathematically eliminated.
The NFL has a 40 second play clock, but the XFL has a 25 second play clock that runs after the ball is spotted.
The game clock is always running when a team has the ball except for when there is two minutes or less remaining in the first and second halves, even if the ball carrier goes out of bounds or a pass is incomplete.
Inside those two minutes is called the “comeback period.” During that period, on plays that end in the field of play, the game clock will be stopped until the ball has been spotted and five seconds have run off the play clock.
On incomplete passes and out of bounds plays, the game clock will stop completely until the ball is snapped, similar to what the NFL utilizes.
Each team has two one-minute timeouts each half.
There are no coaches’ challenges and all plays will be subject to review from the replay official. That official will be in a booth above the field. Additionally, there is a dedicated ball-spotter official.
Like in college, only one foot needs to be in bounds for a catch.
Halftimes are only 10 minutes long.
For Luck’s perspective on some of the league’s rules, check out this story. For all of the league’s rules, visit this page on the XFL website.
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