This weekend the XFL returns to America, with the Tampa Bay Vipers playing a road game Sunday at 2 p.m. against the New York Guardians. The season is 10 weeks love, with the Vipers playing their home games at Raymond James Stadium.
The previous XFL league was plagued by being branded as too “gimmicky,” and being almost like WWE if it was a football league. The emphasis on sex appeal and violence was fun for teenagers, but the rest of the country just didn’t dig it. Cheerleaders played a big role, as they went into the crowd to interview fans and were reportedly encouraged to date players as to stir the drama pot. Vince McMahon, the most prominent spokesman for the league, even said in an interview with ESPN The Magazine that if a player was dating a cheerleader and made a mistake on the field, the cheerleader could be asked if the couple “did the nasty” the night before the game. So what will make this time different?
Well, for one, cheerleaders are gone. That takes care of that. In addition, McMahon is the sole investor of the league. He’s in charge, the big man with all the power. So he’s instituted some… interesting rule changes.
One of the rule changes doesn’t have anything to do with football, but it is one of the most controversial. McMahon has been quite vocal about his displeasure with players in the NFL protesting by kneeling during the National Anthem. “People don't want social and political issues coming into play when they are trying to be entertained," McMahon said in an interview with ESPN. "We want someone who wants to take a knee to do their version of that on their personal time."
McMahon’s friendship with Donald Trump may have also provoked this rule change, as Trump has been quite vocal about his displeasure with players protesting during the National Anthem.
The most prominent (and perhaps the most intriguing for the Vipers) football-related rule change is that two forward passes are allowed, as long as they both take place behind the line of scrimmage. Former Georgia Bulldog Aaron Murray has been announced as the Vipers’ starting quarterback, but USF-grad Quinton Flowers has been listed as a running back and a quarterback, suggesting that the Vipers may take advantage of this two-pass rule.
Other rule changes are important, but less dramatic. Kicking extra points is out, instead kicking, teams will have three options for point-after-attempts on touchdowns. The team can opt to attempt a one-point conversion, which will be a play run from the two-yard line, a two-point conversion from the five, or a three-point conversion from the 10. Yes, this means that if a team is down by nine, it is technically a one possession game.
The Florida ties are strong ✊
— Tampa Bay Vipers (@XFLVipers) February 1, 2020
Check out the local guys that will take the field next Sunday when we kick off our season in New York. pic.twitter.com/MJKS1R1iLq
Teams will also have less time between plays, as the XFL will have a 25-second play clock, as opposed to the 40-second clock that the NFL has. Concerns about receivers who run routes down the field and have to come back to the huddle to get the play call have been taken care of, as all skill position players (including quarterback) will have speakers in their helmets for coaches to give play calls directly, similar to the quarterbacks’ helmets in the NFL.
Returns are also making a… well, a return, as the kickoffs and punts have undergone a makeover in the XFL allowing returners more room to run, thus encouraging those explosive returns we all miss dearly (man, I wish Devin Hester was in his prime for this). For kickoffs, the return team will line up five yards from the kickoff team, and neither side will be allowed to move until the returner fields the kickoff. For punts, the punt team will not be allowed to cross the line of scrimmage until the punter boots the ball down the field.
The end of games should also be more fun, as the XFL is instituting more of a college-football-style shootout for overtime. Each team lines up at the opposing team’s five yard line and will try to score. There will be five rounds, and if the teams are tied by the end, single rounds will commence. Plus, in the last two minutes of each half, the play clock will stop after every play. This makes kneeling to kill a play almost pointless, thus trying to make comebacks more possible for teams that are down (although timeouts will become more worthless, as teams will have two in each half).
All of these rule changes are meant to make the game more fast paced and entertaining, according to the XFL, whose motto is “Less stall, more ball.” We’ll see.
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