XFL 2020 season (topic updated)

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David
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I switched on the Tampa Bay-Seattle game in the 4th quarter and in the first two plays witnessed a QB miss an open receiver in the endzone on 3rd down, immediately followed by a botched snap field goal attempt on 4th down. 14-9 final.

Marc Trestman is now 0-2 in the XFL. Chicago Bears fans would rather forget his tenure. He was fired after a short stint as OC with the Ravens, then was a bust in Toronto....I am starting to think that his success with the Als had much more to do with a lot of on-field talent and a Hall-of-Fame QB.


DH :cool:
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The 4th game this weekend can be found with the FS1 feed (complete with US ads) on the TSN app (even though they are not showing it on any of the TV channels due to the NBA All-Star game).

It looks like they are committed to showing all the XFL games one way or another
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cromartie
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David wrote:
Sun Feb 16, 2020 9:08 am


Marc Trestman is now 0-2 in the XFL. Chicago Bears fans would rather forget his tenure. He was fired after a short stint as OC with the Ravens, then was a bust in Toronto....I am starting to think that his success with the Als had much more to do with a lot of on-field talent and a Hall-of-Fame QB.


DH :cool:
Popp is nothing without Trestman, and Trestman is nothing without Popp.

Hall of Fame caliber QBs make a lot of coaches better.

I actually liked the old XFL, the problem was you had to wade through the carnival barker atmosphere to get to the talent ( a lot of which was imported from Canada).

While I think the rules make the game better (and borrowing from the CFL will do that), the QB play is not good and in general defensive talent is better than offensive talent, which is a drag on the games. I'd expect a 15% drop off in attendance between Weeks 1-3 and a 30% drop overall by the conclusion of the season. The tv ratings might sustain themselves until March Madness kicks in in the US; then, I suspect crickets.

The good news, unlike the AAF, is that there's enough money here to sustain an eight team league for three seasons. Being centrally owned helps this.

But guys aren't making $80k for that much work; likely closer to half of that.

Now, let me give you one thing the XFL does that I am impressed with, that I wish the CFL would do in some form or fashion.

https://www.xfl.com/en-US/teams/team9/t ... m-9-dallas

This is a great idea. Rather than individual team practice squads, there's a single leaguewide practice squad from which teams must call players up from after Week 2. It would benefit the CFL greatly to do this either with Canadians who are out of CIS eligibility or Americans. Or both.
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David wrote:
Sun Feb 16, 2020 9:08 am
I switched on the Tampa Bay-Seattle game in the 4th quarter and in the first two plays witnessed a QB miss an open receiver in the endzone on 3rd down, immediately followed by a botched snap field goal attempt on 4th down. 14-9 final.

Marc Trestman is now 0-2 in the XFL. Chicago Bears fans would rather forget his tenure. He was fired after a short stint as OC with the Ravens, then was a bust in Toronto....I am starting to think that his success with the Als had much more to do with a lot of on-field talent and a Hall-of-Fame QB.


DH :cool:
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cromartie wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 5:00 pm
Now, let me give you one thing the XFL does that I am impressed with, that I wish the CFL would do in some form or fashion.

https://www.xfl.com/en-US/teams/team9/t ... m-9-dallas

This is a great idea. Rather than individual team practice squads, there's a single leaguewide practice squad from which teams must call players up from after Week 2. It would benefit the CFL greatly to do this either with Canadians who are out of CIS eligibility or Americans. Or both.
Great idea? Did you notice who the coach of Team 9 is? One time CFL
HC Bart Andrus who was disast-Andrus in his one year in the CFL leaing the Argos to a 3-15 mark in 2009. That season may have been the straw that broke the camel's back for the Cynamon and Sokolowski ownership as Braley took over 2 months later.
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DanoT
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Hambone wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:32 pm
cromartie wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 5:00 pm
Now, let me give you one thing the XFL does that I am impressed with, that I wish the CFL would do in some form or fashion.

https://www.xfl.com/en-US/teams/team9/t ... m-9-dallas

This is a great idea. Rather than individual team practice squads, there's a single leaguewide practice squad from which teams must call players up from after Week 2. It would benefit the CFL greatly to do this either with Canadians who are out of CIS eligibility or Americans. Or both.
Great idea? Did you notice who the coach of Team 9 is? One time CFL
HC Bart Andrus who was disast-Andrus in his one year in the CFL leaing the Argos to a 3-15 mark in 2009. That season may have been the straw that broke the camel's back for the Cynamon and Sokolowski ownership as Braley took over 2 months later.
Players on individual team's Practice Roster actually get to practice with and get familiar with teammates and learn the plays, while with a league wide PR this does not happen.

So the XFL might as well pull PR players from off the street which is pretty much how the whole league is set up.
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cromartie
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Hambone wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:32 pm
cromartie wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 5:00 pm
Now, let me give you one thing the XFL does that I am impressed with, that I wish the CFL would do in some form or fashion.

https://www.xfl.com/en-US/teams/team9/t ... m-9-dallas

This is a great idea. Rather than individual team practice squads, there's a single leaguewide practice squad from which teams must call players up from after Week 2. It would benefit the CFL greatly to do this either with Canadians who are out of CIS eligibility or Americans. Or both.
Great idea? Did you notice who the coach of Team 9 is? One time CFL
HC Bart Andrus who was disast-Andrus in his one year in the CFL leaing the Argos to a 3-15 mark in 2009. That season may have been the straw that broke the camel's back for the Cynamon and Sokolowski ownership as Braley took over 2 months later.
I said the concept was a great idea, not the coach. :rotf:
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Hambone
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DanoT wrote:
Tue Feb 18, 2020 3:20 am
Players on individual team's Practice Roster actually get to practice with and get familiar with teammates and learn the plays, while with a league wide PR this does not happen.

So the XFL might as well pull PR players from off the street which is pretty much how the whole league is set up.
That's one part that confuses me about the idea but with teams having backups anyways I suppose guys promoted from Team 9 won't be expected to replace injured starters but rather to backfill at the bottom end of the depth chart. It's interesting when applied to pro sports and perhaps much more realistic for a league that operates a schedule 55% to 62.5% the length of the CFL or NFL. With such an abbreviated schedule for a league trying to be cost effective it's a lot tougher to justify the financial investment in having something like 10 man PRs for 8 teams vs maybe a 40 man auxiliary roster for the league.

The idea is not unlike many rec hockey or curling leagues where there's a spares list of players who can be called to fill in when somebody will be away.
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cms22
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haven't thought it through, but i too like the idea of a centralized league-wide taxi squad.
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B.C.FAN
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An XFL trade of two ex-CFLers: Marc Trestman has traded ex-Lion (and ex-Seahawk) Korey Toomer from Tampa Bay to Seattle for ex-Alouette and Argo receiver S.J. Green.

https://www.tsn.ca/marc-trestman-s-tamp ... -1.1444977
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Hambone
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Tue Feb 18, 2020 7:32 pm
An XFL trade of two ex-CFLers: Marc Trestman has traded ex-Lion (and ex-Seahawk) Korey Toomer from Tampa Bay to Seattle for ex-Alouette and Argo receiver S.J. Green.

https://www.tsn.ca/marc-trestman-s-tamp ... -1.1444977
I guess that gets Toomer back in the neighbourhood and a bettec case for David's "Toomer Rumour" thread.
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Murdoch
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June Jones is kicking butt and taking names once again with a potent passing game leading the way. He seems to have the purrfect touch.

Did not see Sj in the lineup for the Vipers. Seemed to be improved play from week one.

Looks to me that there will be plenty of players to pick from to fill out CFL rosters come May.
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gotta wonder how many players can play a full xfl season and cfl back to back.
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Murdoch
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Hopefully the CFL is watching to see what works with the XFL rather than to dismiss them as a novelty. Maybe a tweak here or there can come of it that makes for a better CFL experience.

One thing I do like is having the $100,000 up for grabs each week to the winning team. Even though they are pros it still adds to each game. Fun and good for morale imo. Not that much in the overall scheme of things.

Not minding the kickoff either.
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Murdoch wrote:
Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:06 am
Hopefully the CFL is watching to see what works with the XFL rather than to dismiss them as a novelty. Maybe a tweak here or there can come of it that makes for a better CFL experience.

One thing I do like is having the $100,000 up for grabs each week to the winning team. Even though they are pros it still adds to each game. Fun and good for morale imo. Not that much in the overall scheme of things.

Not minding the kickoff either.
That $100K is huge as that accounts for a large chuck of player salaries. QBs do stand to earn more but for the rest the pay structure says if they are on an XFL roster they get $2080 base pay every 2 weeks or $1040/week. If they are activated for the game that week they get another $1685 bringing it up to $2725/week. If their team wins they get an additional bonus of $2222 for a max weekly salary of $4947. Go undefeated and a guy can make $49470. Go winless and it's $27250 for the season.
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