XFL playoffs set to kick off Saturday as 2023 NFL draft reaches its conclusion
The playoff field is set for the first season of XFL version 3.0.
The eight-team league is down to its final four, as the Houston Roughnecks will host the Arlington Renegades in the South Division championship game on Saturday, April 29 and the DC Defenders will host the Seattle Sea Dragons in the North Division championship on Sunday, April 30.
This marks the first time since the original incarnation of the XFL that the league will have playoff games (for you deep-dive pro football trivia buffs, it was the Los Angeles Xtreme that defeated the San Francisco Demons in the 2001 XFL championship game). Fast forward 19 years, and the 2020 season of XFL 2.0 was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Arlington Renegades at Houston Roughnecks
Game time and TV/streaming info: Saturday, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2 (streaming on ESPN+), which should be just about when the 2023 NFL draft reaches its a conclusion.
Regular season matchups: Houston swept its two matchups against Arlington, winning 23-14 in Week 2 and 25-9 in Week 10.
Head coaches: Bob Stoops, Arlington Renegades; Wade Phillips, Houston Roughnecks. While Stoops led the Oklahoma Sooners to the 2000 national championship, Phillips led three different NFL teams (Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys) to five playoff appearances (1-5 playoff record).
How they got here: The Roughnecks (7-3) paced the South Division all season after jumping out to a 4-0 start (their 2020 predecessors opened 5-0 before COVID-19 shut down the season). After a three-game losing streak against the top teams in the South Division, Houston won its final three games of the season, all against division opponents, to cruise into the playoffs. The Renegades (4-6), meanwhile, narrowly made the playoffs after finishing a game ahead of the San Antonio Brahmas (3-7) in what was clearly the weaker division in the league.
Seattle Sea Dragons at DC Defenders
Game time and TV/streaming info: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET on ESPN (streaming on ESPN+).
Regular season matchups: DC swept the season series, but the two victories came by a combined five points. The Defenders won in Week 1, 22-18, then pulled out a 34-33 win in Seattle in Week 8.
Head coaches: Reggie Barlow, DC Defenders; Jim Haslett, Seattle Sea Dragons. Barlow — a former NFL wide receiver/return specialist — is in his first season as a pro football head coach. Haslett, who was an NFL linebacker for eight seasons, also was an NFL head coach for seven seasons, directing the New Orleans Saints to the playoffs in 2000, earning a wild-card victory over the "Greatest Show on Turf" St. Louis Rams.
How they got here: The only defeat of the regular season for the DC Defenders (9-1) came in Week 7 against the previously winless Orlando Guardians. The Seattle Sea Dragons (7-3) took a more circuitous route to the playoffs after finishing the regular with an identical record as the St. Louis BattleHawks. However, dropping a 50-burger in their season finale wasn't enough for the BattleHawks to make the playoffs, as the Sea Dragons reached the postseason by virtue of the league's fifth tiebreaker — best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed in all games.
When is the XFL championship game?
The winners of the North and South Division playoff games will meet in the championship game on Saturday, May 13. The game will be held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The game will be broadcast by ABC — with Spanish-language broadcast available on ESPN Deportes — and kickoff is slated for 8 p.m. ET. The game also can be streamed on ESPN+.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: XFL standings, playoff picture: Game times, TV and streaming info
