XFL Week 3 is now behind us and it was a week of ups and downs, to say the least. Saturday’s games were awesome, as the Houston Roughnecks and Tampa Bay Vipers played the game of the year so far. The Dallas Renegades and Seattle Dragons played a hard-fought, competitive game on Saturday, too. Sunday’s games weren’t so competitive. The LA Wildcats surprisingly steamrolled the DC Defenders, while the New York Guardians unsurprisingly got pummeled by the St. Louis Battlehawks. Here is a statistical rundown of what went down in XFL Week 3.
XFL Week 3 Statistical Leaders
Passing
- P.J. Walker (HOU): 24/36, 306 yards, 3 TDs
- Josh Johnson (LA): 18/25, 278 yards, 3 TDs
- Landry Jones (DAL): 30/41, 274 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs
XFL Week 3 was an improved week for quarterback play. P.J. Walker of the Roughnecks once again showed why he is the clear frontrunner for XFL MVP. He has accounted for more touchdowns through three weeks than any other team has. Walker is the leader of the best team in the league, and his play has been unmatched by any other quarterback so far. LA’s Josh Johnson was on fire in the team’s first win of the season. In his second game of the year, Johnson played nearly perfect in a drubbing of the league’s top defense. The Wildcats are definitely a different team when Johnson is taking the snaps. Landry Jones, for the second week in a row, proved to be the Jameis Winston of the XFL. He threw for a lot of yards, a lot of touchdowns, and multiple interceptions. But most importantly, Dallas continues to win games with Jones as the signal-caller.
Rushing
- Matt Jones (STL): 15 carries, 95 yards, 1 TD
- Cameron Artis-Payne (DAL): 13 carries, 80 yards
- Nick Brossette (DC) 8 carries, 75 yards, 1 TD
Another strong week for Matt Jones keeps him on top of the XFL rushing leaderboard. It is clear that St. Louis likes to run the ball. Jones has been a great fit for them so far and has helped establish them as one of the top contenders in the league. Cameron Artis-Payne had another strong week for Dallas after not being used much in Week 1. Dallas hasn’t run the ball a lot, but they have been running it effectively, thanks in large parts to the efforts of Artis-Payne. Nick Brossette is a new name on the leaderboards. He had the best week of any running back on the Defenders, who have the best group of backs in the league. The emergence of Brossette might add a new wrinkle to their offense as they look to bounce back from their first loss of the season.
Receiving
- Cam Phillips (HOU): 8 receptions, 194 yards, 3 TDs
- Tre McBride (LA): 5 receptions, 109 yards, 2 TDs
- Jalen Tolliver (TB): 8 receptions, 104 yards
It was a great week for receivers in XFL week 3. Four guys went over 100 yards on the week, with Donald Parham of the Renegades joining the three leaders in the 100-yard club. Cam Phillips continues to outdo himself, as he has clearly been the best wide receiver in the XFL so far. Tre McBride had a day in his revenge game with DC, going off for over 100 yards and multiple touchdowns. Jalen Tolliver is another new name to the leaderboards. Despite being 0-3, Tampa Bay continues to improve, and their emerging air attack could definitely use the services of Tolliver.
Great Week for Kickers
One of the big questions coming into this XFL season was how the kickers would perform. With the extra point system, kickers are only used for field goals and kickoffs. Those concerns haven’t come to fruition so far, as kickers have been very successful on field goals this year. That was the case again in XFL Week 3. Kickers were a combined 10/11 on field goal attempts in Week 3. Taylor Russolino of the Battlehawks took the prize for the longest field goal on the week, as he was good from an eye-popping 58 yards out. Former NFL kicker Matt McCrane hit from 53 for the Guardians, the only other field goal on the week over 50 yards.
Extra Point Update
There was finally a shift in strategy for extra points in Week 3. Teams finally ditched the mindset of going for one point just because it seemed easier, and failing at a high rate. Of the 23 PAT attempts in Week 3, 14 of them were two-point attempts. Teams were a combined 5/14 on those attempts. Elsewhere, teams were a combined 2/5 on one-point attempts and 1/4 on three-point attempts. So far with a limited sample size, going for two points after a touchdown seems to be the right play. Here is an update on conversion rates so far in the 2020 XFL season.
1 point attempts: 8/27 (29.6%)
2 point attempts: 9/34 (26.5%)
3 point attempts: 2/6 (33.3%)
