RADIO
The second week of the XFL is in the books, and it was an interesting week.
On Saturday, offenses tanked, with a pair of games in which one or both teams struggled to move the ball. On Sunday, though, we saw the fireworks we were hoping for, headlined by Landry Jones becoming the league's first 300-yard passer.
Every week, I'll be bringing you some thoughts on how the previous weekend's games went, plus a few fantasy risers and fallers. Let's get going.
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New York Guardians 0 - D.C. Defenders 27
Is the Matt McGloin era over?
In Week 1, Matt McGloin was 15-for-29 for 182 yards and a touchdown against Tampa Bay. Those weren't great numbers, but they weren't horrible numbers.
This week, McGloin took a big step backward. Against an actual good team, McGloin was a disaster, going 8-for-19 for 44 yards and a pair of interceptions before he was benched for Marquise Williams, who didn't throw a single pass until the fourth quarter but still ended up passing for more yards than McGloin.
If last week had seen McGloin lighting it up, maybe the Guardians would have a longer leash for him, but I can't see them running him out there against St. Louis next week, especially with how Williams looked in his place and his ability to run.
Meanwhile, D.C. keeps passing the ball
I love watching Cardale Jones play, but at the risk of this column turning into "Justin talks exclusively about quarterbacks," I want to talk about the rest of the offense in D.C.
Rashad Ross and Eli Rogers get most of the attention when people discuss the pass-catcher for the Defenders, and that's fair -- Ross caught just four passes on Saturday but led the team with 95 receiving yards after catching a touchdown in Week 1, while Rogers continues to rack up the targets.
But D.C. got another boost this week with DeAndre Thompkins, who didn't play in Week 1. In Week 2, though, Thompkins led the team in targets with nine, catching six of them for 92 yards and a score. This team now has three high-caliber receivers on the field, and I expect a lot of winning fantasy lineups to heavily feature Defenders wideouts.
Tampa Bay Vipers 9 - Seattle Dragons 17
That was...a football game
Instead of giving both of these teams their own section, let's just combine this game so we can move past it quicker.
Tampa Bay's quarterbacks, Taylor Cornelius and Quinton Flowers, combined for three interceptions and no touchdowns. Seattle quarterback Brandon Silvers threw a touchdown, but also was just 7-for-18 for 91 yards.
Both of these teams rely heavily on their running games. Seattle had three backs with 10 or more carries, while Tampa's De'Veon Smith and Jacques Patrick combined for 25 carries. But just like in the NFL, running the ball can't be your only source of offense, and until either of these teams figure out how to do something about their quarterback issues, it's hard to see either offense doing enough to not disappoint anyone who's counting on that offense.
Patrick and Smith could both be viable fantasy running backs if Tampa moves to Flowers at quarterback full-time and adopts a Baltimore Ravens-esque strategy -- though Flowers is far from the passer that Lamar Jackson is, so it would be a very store-brand, diet Ravens kind of approach.
For Seattle, as long as Silvers continues to basically only look for Keenan Reynolds, the receiver has some value, but with a full-on committee approach at running back and without an offense that can get those backs in range of the end zone, it's hard to see any of them giving you consistent production.
Both of these teams are messy. Let's just move on.
Dallas Renegades 25 - Los Angeles Wildcats 18
Landry Jones struggled early, but Dallas is in good shape
For the first half of play, it looked like Landry Jones was going to essentially be another chapter in a weekend of forgettable quarterbacking performances.
But Jones put things together late, leading Dallas to three fourth-quarter touchdowns. Landry threw for one of the three scores, and while he tossed a pair of picks, he still ended the game with 305 yards, the most in XFL history. This offense is definitely trending up.
Nelson Spruce SZN
In Week 1, Los Angeles didn't have starting quarterback Josh Johnson, but wide receiver Nelson Spruce still managed to catch 11 passes for 103 yards. In Week 2, he had his quarterback, and while his numbers weren't quite as dominant from a yardage perspective, Spruce finished with six catches for 89 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
L.A. is 0-2 on the year, but their offense should continue to get better, and Spruce will play a big part in that just as he did on Sunday. No, this wasn't Josh Johnson's best game, but he'll get better, and Spruce will contribute to that by being a reliable big-play option for the Wildcats.
St. Louis Battlehawks 24 - Houston Roughnecks 28
Jordan Ta'amu completed 81 percent of his passes
Sure, Ta'amu made a lot of safe passes, but finishing 30-for-37 for 284 yards and three touchdowns is very, very good.
I thought before Week 1 that St. Louis was one of the worst offensive situations in the league, but I was very wrong about that, and Ta'amu has proven that in the XFL, a young and talented passer can be much more valuable than an older player with NFL experience. Will Ta'amu's success change how XFL teams approach the position if the league keeps going for a while? We'll see. But for now, we're seeing a very successful start for a player who can run -- he had a rushing touchdown -- and pass.
The Roughnecks offense was interesting
Houston's June Jones-led offense is supposed to be a pass-heavy offense that wins by racking up the yardage, but they only finished with 238 yards of offense and ran 49 offensive plays to St. Louis's 83. That's not how this offense is supposed to work.
But quarterback P.J. Walker made plays when he needed to -- including three touchdown passes to Cam Phillips -- and Houston made it work. The run game never got going. The passing game saw Walker average just 5.5 yards per attempt. But in the end, Houston moved to 2-0 on the season.
XFL Risers and Fallers
RISER: Cam Phillips (WR, Houston Roughnecks)
This is an easy one. Phillips caught three touchdowns. Last week, he caught a touchdown. Phillips has become an end zone magnet for quarterback P.J. Walker, and while he hasn't finished with the yardage totals of some of the league's other receivers, four touchdowns in two weeks is a very, very good start.
RISER: Donald Parham (TE, Dallas Renegades)
So, you need a fantasy tight end in the XFL? Well, there's not a ton of great options, but Sunday saw Donald Parham stake his claim as the guy to use in season-long and DFS. Parham was targeted 11 times, catching five passes for 76 yards and a touchdown. In a league where tight ends don't produce, Parham and his connection with quarterback Landry Jones might see him finish the season as the overall TE1.
FALLER: Austin Proehl (WR, Seattle Dragons)
Proehl caught two touchdowns in Week 1 and jumped up everyone's boards and rankings, but this week reminded us that wide receivers need someone to get them the football; Brandon Silvers might not be that person. Proehl was targeted four times, catching just one of those passes for a loss of a yard. In Week 1, Proehl was second among all players in targets, but with Keenan Reynolds healthier this week, the Dragons offense shifted its focus, with Reynolds being the target that Silvers relied on and the team running the ball as much as possible to limit how much Silvers needed to throw.
FALLER: Malachi Dupre (WR, D.C. Defenders)
It's not as if Dupre was that good in Week 1 when he caught two passes for 14 yards, but Week 2 dealt a big blow to his value as the Defenders established a firm top-three receiving group that Dupre isn't part of. Rashad Ross, DeAndre Thompkins, and Eli Rogers combined for 22 targets; Dupre was targeted just twice. He's fallen to the role of the fourth receiver, and that's not really a role that bodes well for someone in terms of the whole fantasy thing.
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