St. Louis Battlehawks @ San Antonio Brahmas
Sunday, 2/19, 2pm Central
Battlehawks -2.5, O/U 36
I don’t know what’s going to happen. No one does. I have things I’d certainly like to see though.
Don’t Be Scared
Back in 2020 when the XFL gave this thing a shot, there were only 20 total games that were played. Of those 20 games, 11 were 2-score games (55%, I didn’t even have to use a calculator for that). Blowouts aren’t fun.
This is directly related to the blowout thing, I don’t want coaches and quarterbacks to coach and play scared, and that can happen to a team when they are getting gutted.
Here’s an issue with this league: Some of these quarterbacks and coaches are trying to make a name for themselves so they can move on to bigger and better stuff. Coaches aren’t going to want to embarrass themselves when things are going poorly. That turns into punts on 4th and short from the other team's 40, field goals from inside the 5, and things of that sort to avoid a Turnover on Downs.
Or you have a quarterback who plays scared, and by not wanting to make a mistake, they don’t pull the trigger and then you see videos on Twitter later where people show how they had someone open deep down the field and never threw it. It’s dumb and I hate it.
Luckily for the Battlehawks, AJ McCarron is the oldest quarterback in this league. Yeah, the experience is great, but I’m more excited that he’s using this as an opportunity for his kids to watch him play. He’s not a guy trying to get another shot in the NFL, he’s just having fun with it.
Give me chill vibes over panic vibes.
Anthony Becht went out and said that he’s going to run a “Hybrid west coast style offense”. One thing about that offense is that it’s not an easy offense to learn or run. He wants to call plays like Sean McVay does with the Rams in LA.
Here’s an example of a Sean McVay play call:
“Lense to Deuce Right Claw Z Short Lander Z Strong X Revo Z Lockback can 2 Jet X Monday Astro Read Alert Money Deacon Flow F Panama on the Omaha”
Here’s an example of an Andy Reid play call:
“Corndog”
My point is that there might be a loading phase for this offense. It’s complicated, but when it works, it looks pretty sweet.
On defense, all I want is for Donnie Abraham’s calls to play to his early season strengths.
For an offensive line to play well, they need time and reps playing with each other. That cohesiveness just aint gonna be there just yet. You know that you got big guys on your defensive line who can play bully ball, so do just that. Make Jack Coan (Brahma’s QB) throw good balls under pressure.
Again, I don’t know what’s gonna happen here. I would very much hate being a player on this Battlehawks team because for some reason fans have this weird memory of the 2020 Battlehawks being a powerhouse.
My dudes, they were 3-2 and they had a pretty electric quarterback who could make plays with his legs.
That’s not gonna be the case here. I’m not gonna tell you to coddle them or anything. Rip them to shreds when they mess up, but you have to celebrate them when they do well.
My prediction for the game:
The offensive line is going to show that they are uncomfortable with each other early and often. AJ McCarron’s ability to shift in the pocket will help for a while, but pressure builds through the game and he shows that he has trouble with scrambling effectively.
But again: new team, new coaches, new players; It’s a blind date, so who knows?