Winners and losers from Week 1 of 2023 XFL season: The Rock is omnipresent; new rules add intrigue

Less than a week after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57, the XFL kicked off its third iteration at Choctaw Stadium (former home of MLB's Texas Rangers) in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday.

The first of 10 regular-season four-game slates opened with the Arlington Renegades rallying for a 22-20 win over the Vegas Vipers on Saturday and concluded with the DC Defenders' 22-18 win over the Seattle Sea Dragons on Sunday night.

The league co-owned by entertainer/actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has a number of rule differences from those in the NFL, and those changes added intrigue to the XFL's opening weekend.

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Here are the winners and losers from Week 1 of the 2023 XFL season.

WINNERS

Football fans

Not only do football fans have the treat of spring football, but the XFL is treating them to an entirely new TV viewing experience.

The live feeds of both teams' offensive and defensive coordinators calling plays — and then having announcers break down the terminology — adds a unique dimension for those who monitor the dueling strategies during a game.

It was also interesting to act like a fly on the wall inside the XFL Command Center where Dean Blandino, the league's VP of officiating, relayed a review ruling to the on-field referee.

Football fans who seek greater immersion into all the decisions made by various parties during a game have to be pleased with the XFL television product.

Bob Stoops' defense

The Arlington Renegades didn't score a single offensive touchdown but rode two pick-sixes to a 22-20 win over the Vegas Vipers in the first XFL game of the 2023 season.

The staunch defensive effort also included a critical sack of Vipers QB Luis Perez as Vegas attempted a game-tying, two-point conversion attempt in the final seconds.

Renegades head coach Bob Stoops, who coached at the University of Oklahoma from 1999-2016, said after the game he was pleased with his team's performance rallying from a 14-3 halftime deficit.

Luis Perez

When Perez threw a touchdown pass on the Vegas Vipers' opening drive in XFL version 3.0's inaugural game Saturday, he earned a peculiar place in start-up pro football league history. That's because he also threw the first touchdown pass for USFL version 2.0 last year while as a member of the New Jersey Generals. Perez — who led Texas A&M-Commerce to the 2017 NCAA Division II national championship — also played for the Birmingham Iron of the AAF in 2019.

Wade Phillips

Wade Phillips, the 75-year-old defensive wiz who went 82-64 as an NFL head coach, got back in the win column as his Houston Roughnecks defeated the Orlando Guardians, 33-12. Houston forced four turnovers in the victory.

Trent Harris and Tim Ward

Harris accounted for four of the Houston Roughnecks' seven sacks and Ward had two in the victory over the Orlando Guardians. Orlando lost 28 yards on Harris' sacks and 10 on Ward's.

Retire the onside kick forever

The NFL should look no further than Sunday for why it needs to adopt the XFL's fourth-and-15, got-to-have-it down to replace the onside kick. The St. Louis BattleHawks' offense was anemic in the first three quarters of its comeback victory against the San Antonio Brahmas, but after quarterback AJ McCarron found Hakeem Butler in the end zone and then converted a three-point attempt to cut the San Antonio lead to three, the BattleHawks became the first team in the 2023 season to convert the onside kick replacement.

McCarron extended the play when faced with pressure and found receiver Austin Proehl to convert the first down and keep the St. Louis offense on the field. The play — and subsequent touchdown drive — allowed the BattleHawks to score 15 points inside the two-minute warning to win the game. The NFL loves parity and when games hang in the balance. Adopting this rule would only make thrilling comebacks like this more likely.

The Rock and Dany Garcia

Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia had quite the football-filled weekend. The XFL co-owners managed to attend all four opening weekend games. That is quite an accomplishment. "The Rock" even delivered an impassioned speech before the first game between the Vegas Vipers and Arlington Renegades.

Thankfully, "The Rock" did not revisit his "can you smell what the XFL is cooking" speech from the first incarnation of the XFL in 2001.

LOSERS

DC Defenders fans throwing lemons on the field

Apparently disgruntled over having their precious beer snake confiscated, DC Defenders fans situated in the section behind one of the end zones (the standing-room only supporters' section designed for MLS team, DC United) threw lemons on the field. Play was temporarily halted due to the lemon-throwing. The beer snake was described by ESPN's announcers as a "tradition" for DC Defenders fans (please note that, combined with the 2020 version of the XFL DC Defenders, this was just the fourth home game at Audi Field).

A "free the snake" chant broke out.

Moments later, Seattle Sea Dragons quarterback Ben DiNucci (remember him?) threw a pick-six to Michael Joseph as DC trimmed Seattle's lead to 18-14 en route to victory. Despite that positive on-field moment for the Defenders and their fans, throwing objects on the playing field should not be tolerated.

San Antonio Brahmas D folds when it matters most

For all but two minutes of Sunday's game, the Brahmas dominated. Their defensive line harassed St. Louis BattleHawks quarterback A.J. McCarron and prevented St. Louis from sustaining drives. But then, with the game on the line, San Antonio's defense suddenly played far too conservatively. In the fourth quarter, the Brahmas allowed McCarron to complete 11-of-14 attempts for 133 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning score. The majority of that production came inside the final two minutes of the game.

The final minute

During Saturday's opening game between the Vegas Vipers and Arlington Renegades, some fans watching on TV were caught off guard when the game clock dipped under one minute to play. Instead of the clock running down to two digits (i.e. :59) instead of four, the clock remained at four digits (i.e. 59:59) as it ran down the final 60 seconds.

This tricked some viewers into momentarily thinking there were 59 minutes left in the quarters when there were actually only 59 seconds remaining.

One Twitter user suggested the broadcast should have the numbers appear red in color after dipping under one minute to help viewers make the necessary distinction, but the broadcast went with two digits for the final three quarters of Saturday's game and for the rest of the weekend.

The USFL

If you watched the Super Bowl last week, you might have noticed a commercial for the USFL claiming that there was no more football for eight more weeks. Clearly, that is not true. By the time the USFL finally kicks off on April 15, the XFL's 10-week regular season will be nearly complete. What will the American sports fan's appetite for second-tier pro football be like by then? Let's also point out that the XFL is playing home games in the cities that teams are representing. The USFL — which played all of its games in Birmingham, Ala., last season — will have its eight teams play in four "host cities" this year; only three teams play in the cities they are theoretically representing. If you're a fan of, say, the New Jersey Generals, your team's "home" games will be played in Canton, Ohio.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: XFL Week 1 winners, losers: The Rock, new rules add intrigue