XFL came back and it’s quite different

This year the XFL announced they are starting their season right after the Super Bowl. Last year after the NFL season, the USFL started back up again, and personally, it was bad and the whole game was not fun to watch, but this year the XFL started and it’s very different from the NFL and USFL. It’s not as exciting as the NFL, but it’s good to watch football again.

 

The XFL, a minor league for players who didn’t make it to the NFL after college, is owned by Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, and Gerry Cardinale.

 

With some of the players having been on practice squads for an NFL team, the XFL and USFL both have eight teams cut into two divisions.

 

On February 18, I watched the first games of the XFL, and it was very different from the NFL.

 

An XFL game is like watching a bad NFL game with random teams that no one really cares about, but it’s still football.

 

The XFL changed a lot of the rules. For kickoff returns they have the players wait farther down the field for more returns. XFL also made a rule that, if the kicker kicks it out of bounds for no return, instead of it being placed at the 25 yard line it is placed at the 35 yard line.

 

It makes watching kickoffs much more fun because there is rarely a ball not returned.

 

After players return the ball, mostly everything is the same as the NFL except that players can go for it on fourth down twice. The first time players go for it, as is normal if the team makes it it’s a first down, but if the team doesn’t make it then they can go for it again.

 

Instead of giving up the ball the team can go for it on fourth and 15 at your own 25 yard line. If they make it then they can keep going but from their 25 yard line.

 

This makes it less exciting because they should only have one chance to make it for the first down and not two chances.

 

The rules of the XFL and NFL are similar with penalties and rules but there is one thing that is college and high school rules. Instead of needing two feet in like in the NFL in the XFL the players only need one foot in with maintaining possession which is just like college rules for a catch.

 

Once a team scores a touchdown there are no more extra points, there are only conversions. There is a choice to go for one point at the two yard line, two at the five yard line, and then three at the ten yard line.

 

Though the conversions are a little strange, extra points is almost always a guarantee, but having conversions and no extra points it gives less of a percentage for extra points.

 

A small difference also is that the play clock is lowered to 35 seconds with it being 40 in the NFL. This doesn’t really change much, it’s only five seconds on the play clock, which isn’t a lot.

 

A bigger difference is that coaches can challenge not just plays but also penalties. If a coach thinks there was a penalty that should have been called that could help them, the coach can challenge it.

 

Being able to challenge anything makes it so a penalty can be reviewed, which is very helpful and awesome.

 

In the end the XFL and NFL are not the same at all. I hope that the XFL becomes better so that I and football fans have something good to watch after the NFL season.