Lets get ready to rumble!

Miami Nemesis @ Oakland Outlaws (-8)
Gridironfan vs Privatesnowflake

Texas Hold'em (-3) @ Pittsburgh Blitzkreig
Dyluckyguess vs ArmchairQB

Memphis Maniacs @ Gem City Gansters (-2)
Greyghost1225 vs Raidergreg69

Philadelphia Slayers (-3) @ Arizona Wranglers
Wayne110 vs Wieczoreks

Game breakdowns coming soon....

Miami @ Oakland

Miami

Grindiron fan makes his 2nd straight playoff appearance. Last year, he went to Buffalo and lost a close game 22-25 and will look to use that experience to win his 1st playoff game.

Offense

Ranked 10th overall, a balanced attack ranked 14th in passing yards and 9th in rushing yards.

Defense

Ranked 23rd overall but 2nd against the pass while near the bottom against rhe run at 29th.

Oakland

Privatesnowflake is making his 5th straight trip to the playoffs. The 2 time champ is a perennial power in the XFL with a career 8-2 playoff record. He has never lost in the first round of the playoffs and is 6-1 at home.

Offense

His offense is ranked 7th overall, 12th in passing and 4th in rushing.

Defense

He has the 3rd ranked defense overall, 6th vs the pass and 2nd vs the run.


Oakland hosted Miami in week 6 and won a low scoring game 16-10

Prediction

Miami has been a team on the rise and should benefit from last years playoff experience but Oakland is at home where they are extremely hard to beat.

Oakland wins a close game

Texas @ Pittsburgh

Texas

This is Duckyguess's 3rd playoff appearance in the last 4 seasons. He is 0-2 in the playoffs and looking to take that next step by advancing. All 3 appearances were on the road as a wildcard.

Offense

Texas has the 6th overall offense, they have a nice balance at 10th in passing and 7th in rushing.

Defense

Texas has the 7th ranked defense anchored by the 3rd best rush defense and the 17th ranked pass defense

Pittsburgh

After 3 seasons, ArmchairQb is making his first trip to the playoffs by winning the AXC North. Pittsburgh hung on to win the division over Cincinnati despite being swept by them in the season series. Although Cincinnati went 6-0 in the division, they fell short by going 2-8 outside the division allowing Pittsburgh to grab crown.

Offense

Pittsburgh has the 22nd overall offense with them ranking 23rd in passing and 16th in rushing

Defense

Thier defense finished 13th overall with it ranked 18th in passing and 11th in rush defense


Prediction

Pittsburgh has the homefield advantage and will look to turn that into a trip to the divisional round but Texas is ranked in the top 10 in both total offense and defense. Texas wins and covers the spread

Memphis @ Gem City

Memphis

This is Greyghost1225 2nd playoff appearance in 4 years of ownership. His record is 1-1 overall with all the games being on the road.

Offense

Memphis has the the 12th overall offense on the strength of the 4th ranked passing offense coupled with the 19th ranked rush offense.

Defense

They have the 2nd overall defense which is balanced between the top ranked pass defense and the 8th ranked run defense

Gem City

Raidergreg69 is the defending XFL Champion and makes the playoffs for the 2nd straight season. After a dominate 15-1 season last year, the Gansters struggled at times this season especially 2-time XFL Champion QB Mervin Couture.

Offense

The 4th overall offense was ranked 2nd in passing and 10th in rushing

Defense

Like the offense, the defense is ranked 4th overall with the 8th ranked pass defense combined with the 6th ranked rush defense.

Prediction.

Memphis made the playoffs behind a great defense especially the #1 ranked pass defense. Gem City is at home and coming off winning it all last season plus they have a Championship quarterback with two titles under his belt. Memphis wins an upset as their top pass defense causes a few turnovers from Gem City's QB.

Philadelphia @ Arizona

Philadelphia

This is Wayne110's first playoff appearance in his first full year of ownership

Offense

Philly has the 8th ranked overall offense led by the 3rd ranked pass offense paired with a 12th ranked rush offense.

Defense

Their defense is ranked 10th overall anchored by the 4th best run defense coupled with the 20th ranked pass defense.

Arizona

Wieczoreks makes his second straight playoff appearance and is looking for his first playoff win. While losing his only previous playoff game on the road, this year he has the game at home.

Offense

Arizona has the 5th overall offense on the strength of the 6th ranked pass offense and 4th ranked rush offense.

Defense

They are tied for 10th overall on defense with Philadelphia with the 14th ranked pass defense and the 10th ranked rush defense

Prediction

Philadelphia will look to take its high flying pass offense on the road while Arizona enjoys the homefield advantage and a balanced offensive attack. Arizona wins at home with a more balanced team while Philly gives up some big plays to seal the deal

One thing interesting in my matchup was that I chose the person I played based on if I won my week 16 game or not. I sat several starters and still came away with the win so I feel like fate wanted Pitt in the playoffs. Doesn't bode well for me if that's true.

Predictions went 3 for 4.....not bad

Congratulations to the winners for advancing to the divisional round

4 picks and 2 holding calls on my 2 biggest plays of the game will do that. My QB blew that game. Nonetheless, GG armchairqb. Your defense made my qb look like an amateur

Wildcard recap

Oakland 29
Miami 3

Oakland scored on their first 3 possessions and never looked back as they defeated Miami. Oakland controlled the clock with 43 rushing attempts for over 37 minutes time of possession. Miami's offense stalled out throwing 3 interceptions including a pick 6.

https://xfl.myfootballnow.com/watch/1938#335789

Pittsburgh 9
Texas 3

Pittsburgh wins a knockout, dragout defensive battle highlighted by 6 combined interceptions and 4 combined field goals. Pittsburgh's defense got 2 interceptions and a turnover on downs which gave them short fields to kick fieldgoals. Texas's offense could never get it going with the longest drive being just 23 yards.

Memphis 16
Gem City 10 (OT)

The best game of the 1st round was a back and forth affair with defense ruling the day. Gem City took a 7-0 lead into halftime only to see Memphis grab a 10-7 lead in the fourth quarter with consecutive scoring drives. Then with 7:19 left in the game, Gem City's Mervin Couture pieced together an 11 play 56 yard drive that took 5:47 and ended with a game tying fieldgoal. Memphis got the ball first in overtime but the first three possessions in overtime were alternating 3 and outs. On Memphis second possession in overtime, QB Raymond Dunning hit Carlos Tierney for this:

https://xfl.myfootballnow.com/watch/1941#336167

Arizona 19
Philadelphia 6

Arizona was too much for Philadelphia as the difference in the game was the 5 turnovers committed by Philly. Arizona used a balanced ball control offense to eat up the clock and capitalized on the turnovers by hitting 4/5 fieldgoal attempts. Arizona hit on this play in the 2nd quarter for the only TD of the game.

https://xfl.myfootballnow.com/watch/1942#336226

Good luck to the teams still fighting to be the new XFL Champion. We had fun with it, and we want it back, but we'll have to wait until 2024.