Rainstorm dampens local XFL debut as Vegas Vipers lose at Cashman Field

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023 | 2 a.m.

The bleachers had filled in nicely, the fans had gotten louder and the Vegas Vipers headed to the locker room at halftime energetically.

Then the rain started. It started raining hard during the break, and it didn’t stop for the rest of the game.

The XFL’s hope of a triumphant return to Las Vegas for the first time in 22 years, since the league’s first iteration, washed away with the storm. The announced attendance of 6,023 people at Cashman Field diminished the rest of the way, and the Vipers’ play dissipated.

The Vipers fell to an 18-6 loss to the D.C. Defenders despite leading 6-0 at halftime, and Vegas coach Rod Woodson fumed in his post-game news conference.

“They’ve got to believe in the process and they have to want it more in the second half than the other teams,” the Pro and College Football Hall of Famer said of his players. “It’s irrelevant of the weather, irrelevant of the field, irrelevant of what city you’re in. If you don’t play two halves of football, you lose.”

Vegas has blown first-half leads in back-to-back games — it also led before an eventual 22-20 loss at the Arlington Renegades last week — to fall to last in the now-twice revived league. The XFL seemed to have developed some momentum this time around, with Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson as the public-facing leader, with five of the first six games delivering exciting finishes.

A wet slog of a second half in Las Vegas skidded the early success. It’s a bad stroke of luck and not particularly anyone’s fault, but the makeshift field at Cashman Field was not prepared for an unceasing downpour.

Defenders kicker Matt McCrane lost his footing and fell flat onto his behind when attempting a kickoff early in the second half to draw a gasp from the fans that remained. That moment might have made for the biggest blooper and noisiest roar, but it was far from the only slip.

The offensive and defensive players struggled to stay upright too. Well, at least the Vipers’ offensive and defensive players.

“I didn’t have to change my cleats,” D.C. quarterback D’Eriq King said after the game. “It was cold and rainy. You’ve just got to deal with it. It was cold and rainy for both teams. Our guys found a way to deal with it.”

King, most known for his days at the University of Miami, didn’t start but rather came in to relieve Jordan Ta’amu, an Ole Miss product, for spurts in the second half. King sparked the Defenders’ run game, much to the chagrin of Woodson who bemoaned that the visitors ran only “two plays” the whole second half and the Vipers still couldn’t stop it.

King estimated the Defenders must have called an outside zone rush play “probably 15 times” as they racked up 231 rushing yards on 42 attempts. The Vipers had 179 total yards, on 48 plays.

“Every time it rains like that, it does change things up especially when you want to throw the ball a little bit and push it down field,” Vegas quarterback Brett Hundley said. “First half, we were able to do it a little bit, but once the second half hit, that was a lot of rain.”

King rushed for the go-ahead touchdown and conversion early in the fourth quarter after McCrane made a 47-yard field goal for the Defenders’ first points in the third quarter. Abram Smith, who had 69 yards on 11 carries, scored the final touchdown.

Like King, Hundley was the second quarterback to enter for the Vipers after Luis Perez started the game. Perez was behind center for the Vipers’ only score — a two-yard run by running back DeAndre Torrey at the start of the game.

Vegas got to D.C.’s goal line via a strip sack by edge rusher Maximilian Roberts that teammate Pita Taumoepenu recovered. Perez finished with a stat line of zero passing yards while completing one of five attempts.

Hundley didn’t excel either with only 98 yards on 11-for-18 passing, but the former UCLA signal caller and one-time Aaron Rodgers’ Green Bay Packer backup looked like Vegas’ best option going forward.

“Every position is fluid now when you haven’t won your first two games, not just the quarterback position and I know that’s the glamour position in all of football,” Woodson said. “We’re trying to figure out a way to score points on a consistent basis, whoever can be the leader of the offense and which quarterback can take the helm and show that they want to be the guy can take that position.”

Vegas’ offense didn’t do much even while the team controlled the game early on. The Vipers were entirely driven by their defense, which forced and recovered three fumbles including one by Roberts that former Las Vegas Raider Vic Beasley recovered deep in Defenders’ territory right before halftime.

But kicker Bailey Giffen suffered his first of two missed field goals as time expired from 39 yards out. Neither the field nor the atmosphere would be the same when the Vipers came back out.

“They have to figure out who they want to be, what type of team they want to be and do they want to do it every single down for a complete game?” Woodson said. “If they do that, they win. If they don’t, they will lose again. We will lose again.”

Woodson scoffed when asked for overall thoughts and positives on the game but did offer that he felt Cashman Field was “a great atmosphere.” It did start to feel that way for a moment.

The good news of the home opener was that the fans appeared to be having a blast on the cheap. Tickets were as cheap as $5 to get in, and a decent amount of tailgating filled the parking lot leading up to kickoff.

The Vipers surely sold some merchandise via their slick logo and overall aesthetic. It’s just a shame they couldn’t put on more of a show, and that the XFL’s product suffered from the ultra-rare prolonged shower in the desert.

“It did change things up,” Hundley said. “We had to run the ball more, we had to try, but then with the situation we got ourselves into, we had to throw. So it hurts but at the end of the day we’ve got to find a way to win.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or