After a brilliant career at Alabama, quarterback A.J. McCarron never really got on track in the NFL. He hung around for six seasons, but played only sparingly for the Cincinnati Bengals, then-Oakland Raiders and Houston Texans.
In the XFL, though, he’s getting a chance to play. And two games into his career in the reformed league, McCarron is making the most of it.
McCarron led his team, the St. Louis Battlehawks, to a comeback victory in the first game of the season. In the second game against the Seattle Sea Dragons, he did the same thing.
Seattle scored the go-ahead touchdown, but left too much time on the clock for McCarron. The two-time National Champion responded by leading his team down the field and into position for kicker Donny Hageman to try a 44-yard field goal.
The kick was perfect.
McCarron received a lot of praise when the game was over, as did the league as a whole.
https://twitter.com/WonderSpurs/status/1628978535791529987
The XFL has a bit of a checkered past. The 2001 version of the league was a complete flop. It seemed to be gaining traction during the initial reboot season in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic brought an end to that.
But if the league can provide entertaining games like this, that feature well-known guys like McCarron and Josh Gordon in prominent spots, it has the chance to stick around.