luis perez

Top 5 XFL New York Guardians players from last season

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New York Guardians

The XFL New York Guardians had a lot of ups and down in their five games played in the 2020 season. They had a mix of good and bad players during the season, which impacted the outcome of the games they played. Here are the top 5 Guardians’ players this season that made a positive impact:

5. RB Darius Victor

Victor, at first, struggled to get the Guardians running game going, as he rushed merely under 50 yards the first two games. In the next three games, he boosted the backfield as the lead running back and helped the running game achieve over 100 yards per game. Victor finished the season fifth in the league in rushing yards with 238. Although he never scored a touchdown, his boost at the end of the season will be something the Guardians and their fans will look forward to next season.

4. K Matt McCrane

This man was not recognized well enough for what he did on the field for the Guardians. When the offense (most of the time under Matt McGloin) struggled to get to the end zone, McKrane saved their bottoms and put three points through the goal post. His field goal made the difference in the game vs. the LA Wildcats. He was 8 for 8 with field goals on the season, which was 5th in the league. If this were the NFL, he would have likely made a Pro Bowl. 

3. WR Colby Pearson

Colby Pearson was ultimately the number one target for the Guardians last season. Most people expected Mekale McKay to be the number one target, knowing how successful he was in the AAF with the San Antonio Commanders. However, many would say McKay underachieved and Pearson took the spotlight. 

Pearson caught 16 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns. One of them was the remarkable 80-yard pass from Luis Perez against the Renegades that likely sealed the game. With more games next season, it will be interesting to see if Pearson could thrive more as the Guardians’ number one target.

2. QB Luis Perez

Before taking over for the Guardians in Week 3 for the injured Matt McGloin, we knew what Luis Perez was capable of outside of the NFL. Perez did well for the Birmingham Iron of the AAF before the league disbanded in April of 2019. The offense seemed to be bland when McGloin was the quarterback and the offense struggled to put points up on the board. With McGloin starting the team went 1-2. 

Once Perez started Week 4, Guardians’ fans had playoff hopes again, as Perez would lead the team to two more wins before the close of the season due to the coronavirus pandemic. Perez in three games (two started) tossed three touchdowns, 418 yards, one interception and finished 6th in completion percentage (62%) in the league. If the league would have gone on, it was best to say that Perez would have been the starter through the remainder of the season.

1. DT Cavon Walker

This player had a major role in Jim Hermann’s defense and is arguably the team’s best player from 2020. The team’s secondary drowned in a lot of games, giving up most of the yards in the passing game. But when the secondary covered well, you often saw Cavon Walker force pressure or get a sack. Walker led the league at the end of five games with 4.5 sacks. Unfortunately, the Guardians won’t see him next season, as he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers a couple of weeks ago.

Alex is on Instagram (@alexgajovich) and Twitter (@AlexProtich)

His “Bleeding Big Blue Podcast” is coming soon!!

XFL Guardians: Some Improvements to make for next year

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New York Guardians

The New York Guardians were something to watch during the new XFL’s first season. Unfortunately, the season was cut short due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Their final record was 3-2. In conclusion, there are some things the Guardians need to improve on going into 2021:

Stopping the Run

One of the many weaknesses on the Guardians’ defense was stopping the run.  At the end of the season, the Guardians ironically graded out as the 2nd best run defense in the XFL. The run-stopping was not consistent. In Weeks 1-3, the Guardians gave up an average of 138 rushing yards per game. That was last in the XFL. However, during the stretch of Weeks 4-5, their defense allowed 48 rushing yards per game, which were 1st in the XFL. That is one less game, but there is definite improvement during that stretch. The stats below will show.

Rushing Yards Allowed (Weeks 1-5)

Week 1  vs. Vipers: 150

Week 2 vs. Defenders: 108

Week 3 vs. Battlehawks: 156

Week 4 vs. Wildcats: 40

Week 5 vs. Renegades: 56

This is one of the areas the Guardians will need to improve on next year consistently. Though, the last two weeks are a positive note to take into 2021.

More Passing Yards

The passing game was another thing that was a weakness in the beginning. Like stopping the run, the passing game was inconsistent. Here are the passing yards from each week this season for the Guardians:

Rushing Yards (Weeks 1-5)

Week 1 vs. Vipers: 182

Week 2 vs. Defenders: 66

Week 3 vs. Battlehawks: 195

Week 4 vs. Wildcats: 128

Week 5 vs. Renegades: 229

A lot of fans believe this was mostly due to Matt McGloin being the starter. In the first two weeks, there was a raw feeling to the offense. That would be considering Matt McGloin only had one touchdown and completed 52% of his passes.  Week 2’s blowout made it worse when McGloin threw two interceptions and completed under 50% of his passes. Mind you, this is not the NFL, but a 44% completion is not good at all. He got hurt the next week.

The offense saw a boost when Luis Perez replaced him vs. the Wildcats in Week 4. The passing yards may have decreased, but the Guardians blew fewer opportunities. Against the Renegades, the Guardians passed for a season-high 229 yards.

Luis Perez is clearly the answer at quarterback for the future of the Guardians’ offense. The improvement later in the year shows promise for 2021.

Allow less total yards

Allowing total yards was a problem on the defense in 2020. The defense ranked 6th in the league in yards allowed per game with 329.2. But whether it was the opposing running game or passing offense that gave them trouble, the total yards were above 300, three of the five weeks. Here is the number of total yards allowed each week:

Total Yards Allowed (Weeks 1-5):

Week 1 vs. Vipers: 394

Week 2 vs. Defenders: 372

Week 3 vs. Battlehawks: 273

Week 4 vs. Wildcats: 345

Week 5 vs. Renegades: 260

The Guardians were one of the better playmakers in 2020. That means tackles at the line, interceptions, fumble recoveries and sacks. Unfortunately, that never made much of an impact on how many total yards they allowed. That gives a feeling to the opponent that even if the defense makes a play, they can still rebound from it.

Alex is on Twitter @AlexProtich and Instagram @alexgajovich

XFL 2020: New York Guardians Season Evaluation

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New York Guardians

The New York Guardians of the remastered XFL debuted on February 9, 2020, vs the Tampa Bay Vipers. They won their inaugural game 23-3. Ever since then they have been a mixed bag.

The next two weeks they lost horribly to the DC Defenders and the St. Louis Battlehawks by blowouts. Many fans started to feel like it was a tradition to lose in New York (New Jersey) football since the New York Giants and New York Jets have not had a winning season in a while.

Anyway, since Luis Perez had taken over for Matt McGloin as the starting quarterback, their record improved to 3-2. That was until the coronavirus outbreak spread and caused multiple sports leagues to suspend their seasons, including the XFL.  Here’s the Guardians’ 2020 season in review:

Offense

The offense at times looked great when it came to scoring points, but stale on the stat sheet. The first week the Guardians won against the Tampa Bay Vipers 23-3. What may have looked like a 20-pt deficit should have been a lot closer. That game Matt McGloin had an average game, only passing for one touchdown and completing just over 50% of his passes.

McGloin’s play dropped against the Defenders in a blowout 27-0 loss. He threw 2 interceptions as the running game did not get much accomplished. The total offense totaled 137 yards. McGloin during the game and after criticized the offensive gameplan.

The offense improved when it came to the yards vs the Battlehawks, but only 9 points showed up on the scoreboard. As Matt McGloin got injured, backups Luis Perez and Marquise Williams saw some playing time.

Perez replaced the injured McGloin the next week and the offense saw an improvement. Darius Victor rushed for a season-high 82 yards, as Perez completed 69% of his passes and threw a touchdown. The Guardians won a nailbiter 17-14.

The offense saw their best game vs the Renegades in Week 5, scoring 23 points (7 on the pick-six by Ryan Mueller) in a 30-12 win. Though intercepted once, Perez still guided the offense to a much-needed win on the road. The Guardians totaled 373 yards that game.

The offense was 7th in total offensive yards, 5th in average rush yards, 6th in average passing yards and last in points for and average points for.

Defense

The defense was best known for its playmaking abilities at certain times this season. The defense also was known for giving up a lot of yards.

Week 1 vs Tampa Bay was a prime example of that. The Guardians only gave up 3 points but gave up 394 yards.  Bryce Jones and Aaron Soh picking off Aaron Murray twice. Aaron Murray and backup Quinton Flowers combined to pass for 244 yards. The rush defense struggled mightly giving up 150 yards.

The defense gave up fewer total yards the following week but gave up more points in a 27-0 loss to the DC Defenders. Cardale Jones had a field day, as he passed for 264 yards. The running game did better and only surrendered 108 yards.

The pass defense limited Jordan Ta’amu to only 117 yards the next week vs the Battlehawks. The run defense took a hit and gave up 156 yards. The final result was a 29-9 loss.

The defense saw little improvement vs Josh Johnson the next week in a nailbiting 17-14 victory. Josh Johnson made the pass defense bleed by passing for 325 yards (the most given up by the Guardians in 2020). The run defense only allowed 108 yards on the ground between Johnson, Elijah Hood, Dujuan Harris, and Larry Rose.

Next week, they had their best game. The run defense allowed a season-low 56 rushing yards and the pass defense held Philip Nelson to 206 passing yards. Not to mention that defensive tackle Toby Johnson and linebacker Ryan Mueller picked him off.

The Guardians’ defense finished the season 6th in yards allowed per game, 2nd in sacks, 4th in takeaways, 2nd in points against and 2nd in average points against. Defensive tackle Cavon Walker led the XFL with 4.5 sacks.

Analysis

Going into next year, the New York Guardians will have to improve on both sides of the field.

The offense will have to work towards thriving more in the passing game and keep their current run production game going. With an offensive genius like Kevin Gilbride as the head coach, the offense definitely underperformed.

The defense will have to work on allowing fewer yards per game, whether the opposing run game or the passing game gets the bigger chunk of yards. They do create a lot of pressures, which turn into sacks, and force the opponent to turn over the football.

The Guardians’ players will have extra time to prepare for next season, so let’s see if they take advantage of it.

Tensions rise as Luis Perez and the Guardians win 2nd game in a row

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New York Guardians

If this Luis Perez start did not convince you that he is the right New York Guardians quarterback, I don’t know what will.

Luis Perez is now 2-0 in the XFL, as he led the New York Guardians to their second win in a row. Their record is now 3-2 and they could go into 1st place with a Battlehawks loss vs the DC Defenders.  The Guardians got their first road win, something they struggled to get in weeks 2 (Defenders) and 3 (Battlehawks).

Offense

Perez had a good start going 16 of 30 for 229 yards with one interception and one touchdown. His completion percentage dipped to 53. But other than that, he could very well lock up the starting job.

Here’s what Guardians head coach Kevin Gilbride had to say about the 25-year-old quarterback: “I think Luis is a guy that the rest of the team both offensively and defensively actually look to him as kind of a calming force,…[They see him] as a guy who is dependable, and if things aren’t going as we hoped, that he’s not going to get rattled or frustrated … and that he will give our team a chance to win.”

That is a convincing statement from Gilbride that Perez will start from now on.

Colby Pearson was Perez’s lead target as he collected 5 receptions for 95 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown. Joe Horn had a disappointing day, not having a single catch in three targets. McKale McKay had three receptions for 67 yards.

Defense

The Guardians defense played their best game played on Saturday as they held Renegades quarterback Philip Nelson to 210 yards. Defensive tackle Toby Johnson and defensive end Ryan Mueller had an interception each off deflections. Mueller took his back to the house for a touchdown. The run defense improved and only allowed 66 rushing yards. They also limited the deep pass, only allowing only 32 yards on the longest pass.

Special Teams

Special Teams was a mixed bag for the Guardians on Saturday. For the second time this season the Guardians allowed a kickoff return touchdown, but this time Austin Walter took it 92 yards. Later on, in the 4th quarter, D’Juan Hines recovered a fumble on a Flynn Nagel punt return. Ironically, the fumble was forced by backup quarterback Marquise Williams. Kicker Matthew McCrane made three field goals Saturday and remains perfect this season.

Result

Luis Perez had one miscue when he threw an interception to Josh Hawkins. A brawl ensued after that when some extra pushing and shoving occurred before the interception between two linemen. Both were ejected. Even after that, the Guardians kept on going and won the game 30-12. The Guardians advance to 3-2, while Renegades falls to 2-3.

Should the Guardians keep Luis Perez as the starting quarterback?

by
New York Guardians

Last Saturday, the New York Guardians started former AAF quarterback Luis Perez for the injured veteran Matt McGloin. Before his injury, McGloin struggled with completion percentage and turnovers. Though we have not seen Marquise Williams much, other than the game vs the Battlehawks, it seems like a switch could be probable, if McGloin keeps struggling.

Before Sunday’s match vs the Wildcats, Perez came in for a coffee vs the Battlehawks the week before. He completed four out of five passes for 39 yards and a touchdown. Then after starting vs the Wildcats, he passed for 150 yards and a touchdown with a 69% completion percentage. Here are the two quarterbacks stats this season:

Stats Comparison:

Matt McGloin (3 games)

31/59

310 yards

Completed 52.5% of his passes

1 Touchdown

3 Interceptions

52.22 Passer Rating

Luis Perez (2 games)

22/31

189 yards

Completed 70.9% of his passes

2 Touchdowns

0 Interceptions

108.13 Passer Rating

What is my verdict?

The stats do look better for Luis Perez from a microscope. However, an argument can be made that Perez played fewer games. Here’s my verdict: Luis Perez should finish the season as the Guardians starting quarterback.

Why should the Guardians stick to Perez?

Perez has a better completion percentage and fewer turnovers. He is also younger and more mobile. But, remember this is not the NFL where age is a factor in the amount of playing time.

There needs to be an adjustment made to the offensive gameplan or McGloin’s play. Just remember when McGloin criticized the gameplan vs the DC Defenders two and a half weeks ago. He has played under average in the XFL so far.

I am not saying it would be horrible to give McGloin another shot, but if the struggling trend continues, the Guardians will have to consider a change.

The Guardians can take one of two roads, depending on the situation. Chances are that the New York Guardians could ride into a playoff berth with McGloin as their starter. However, if their plans go south they can either ride with McGloin to the remainder of the season or switch to Marquise Williams or Perez to evaluate who could become the quarterback for next season.