Defense/special teams rankings for XFL Week 2

Welcome to the Week 2 XFL rankings. Thankfully we have some snap and usage numbers to help guide us this week, so if there isn’t a ton of turnover, we should be a little more honed in for Saturday and Sunday’s games.

There were a few good defensive teams in Week 1, with the Roughnecks and Guardians getting to the quarterback early and often. The Roughnecks allowed the fewest yards per play at 3.9 and had 16 QB hits and five sacks. The Guardians had eight QB hits and five sacks as well to go along with two interceptions and a fumble returned for a touchdown, but did give up 5.5 yards per play, which only the LA Wildcats gave up more at 5.6 yards per play to the Roughnecks.

The Roughnecks faced the Wildcats without Josh Johnson and it looks like they may be without Johnson again this week, If that’s so, the Dallas Renegades could also get to their quarterback Charles Kanoff.

Tampa Bay was able to put up a lot of yards on the Guardians, but QB Aaron Murray threw two interceptions and tight end Nick Truesdell had a fumble returned for a touchdown. They did get to the quarterback though, which bodes well for them. I expect their defense is good, but not as dominant as the three points the allowed make it look.

The Roughnecks got after the quarterback and have an offense that will put the opposing offense behind and in pass mode. St. Louis ran the ball a ton in a close game with Dallas, but they might not be able to do that in Houston. I like this matchup for the Roughnecks D/ST.

The Tampa Bay/Seattle game could be a good one to find some D/ST upside, as two teams that have quarterback trouble face each other. If Aaron Murray is out, Quinton Flowers or Taylor Cornelius might end up passing more than the team wants, which could help Seattle with some turnovers.