5 Things To Watch For During XFL Week 1

On 8 February, a professional football league called the XFL will air on national television for the first time since 2001. Of course, a lot has changed in the close to 19 years since we last saw an XFL game, and so has the league bearing its name.

The brashness of the original XFL of old has been replaced by a more subdued and buttoned-down appearance. The backs of jerseys no longer flaunt nicknames like "He Hate Me" or "Deathblow". The league has steered clear of controversial commercials and WWE tie-ins, although the pro wrestling giant's founder, Vince McMahon, is still very much in charge.

In its place, the XFL has promoted a fan-first personality dedicated to the love of football. Eight teams have been fielded, all owned by McMahon, and a new set of rules focusing on quickening the pace of play was created.

Will those changes be enough to save this incarnation of the XFL from befalling the same fate as its predecessor? Only time will tell, but there should be several areas to keep an eye on in the first week of action that can give us some clues as to how the 2020 edition of the XFL will fare.

The most attention-grabbing element of the XFL this time around is the rulebook. The changes the league is poised to make could be innovative or disastrous to the game.

Chief among them is the shortened play clock designed to keep the action pumping. The standard NFL play clock is 40 seconds, more than enough time to call a play and get the team lined up in most cases. The XFL would argue a little too much time in fact, and has cut the play clock down to a slim 25 seconds. Additionally, the game clock only stops during the final two minutes of each half, just to further keep the pace up.

In theory, these could be welcome changes. There's no denying that football has a lot of downtime compared to other popular sports like basketball or hockey. Cutting some of that down might keep fans better engaged.

It might very well put too much pressure on the quarterbacks though. There's a reason NFL teams rarely play under a no huddle offense, yet that might have to be more commonplace under the restrictive play clock in the XFL. Quality of play could easily suffer if penalties become more regular, or rash decisions are made in the heat of the moment.

While those are the most obvious pace of play changes the XFL is making, there's a few other noticeable differences that could sneakily be just as impactful.

For one, there's going to be a dedicated referee for spotting the ball. That may seem like a rather innocuous change, but don't be the least bit surprised if the NFL looks into that to quicken their own games as well.

Additionally, each team will only have two timeouts, and each play will be reviewable by the booth, thus eliminating the coach's challenge. Those are a tad more radical, but may help liven up the end of games and reduce the amount of time debating the increasingly popular challenges on receivers' possession of the ball.

It's rule changes like that which, while less easy to spot from the viewer, could be crucial to the league's success at one of it's key initiatives.

Not every rule change is dedicated strictly to keeping the action moving however. More gimmicky rules, such as the double-forward pass and eliminating the extra point in favor of one, two, or three point conversion plays after a touchdown, have certainly garnered a lot of attention heading into week one. Those seem the most likely to change as the XFL evolves, and could be some of the first areas we see addressed or emphasized if the league stays true to its goal of listening to the fans.

All together, it's not hard to imagine that the rulebook becomes the most talked about part of the XFL's first week depending on the success of these unique changes.