Sea Dragons building momentum, getting first win at home and second overall with 15-6 grinder over Brahmas
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – The Seattle Sea Dragons might finally be figuring their game out, winning their second straight and first at home as they grit out a victory against the visiting San Antonio Brahmas. Seattle quarterback Ben DiNucci passed (literally and figuratively) the 1,000-yard mark in this game, as his defense was able to stifle the San Antonio offense to just two field goals. After struggling to close out their first two games, the Sea Dragons are seemingly figuring it out on the fly as the season continues.
Seattle quarterback Ben DiNucci looks downfield (Photo by Emma Ottosen)
Defense delivers in close battle
Seattle’s defense is the side of the ball that has gotten the attention, prior to the season or even following the two wins, but it should get more notice. In the teams' losses to the Defenders and Battlehawks, the defensive unit got Seattle the ball back so that the Sea Dragons could have one final shot at scoring the game winning points. Seattle couldn’t get it done against the Defenders, and the defense allowed a game winning field goal in the dying moments against St. Louis. The point remains, and the defense showed out to get the ball back against Vegas, and to shut down San Antonio.
Seattle’s defense showed out in it’s week four victory (Photos by Emma Ottosen)
Seattle offense doesn’t roar, but still gets it done
When the rosters were completed, the Sea Dragons were slated to be a high-powered offense with former Dallas Cowboy Ben DiNucci at the helm. The team still hasn’t fully figured out their offensive game plan to where they’ve hit a great balance, but we’ve seen solid flashes of it so far. The wideout group of Gordon, Pearson, and Jackson helps lead the way for this offense that DiNucci facilitates. As has been mentioned before, the turnover issue is something that the team needs to worry about as it persists, but that itself even fixed a little too as Seattle only had one turnover. The pass game, as well as the running back room with bruiser Brenden Knox and league lead rusher Morgan Ellison, together in harmony could mean great trouble for the XFL.
Sea Dragons running back Morgan Ellison leads the XFL in rushing yards through four weeks (Photos by Emma Ottosen)
Sea Dragons finally getting their wings under them?
After two close, disappointing losses to begin the 2023 season, it finally seems like the Sea Dragons are figuring out their issues and turning them into victories. After their first two battles were lost due to the turnover battle, the Sea Dragons are turning their close battles into ones that they can pull through. There was evidence of positive characteristics in the team’s first two wins, including Ben DiNucci’s high passing numbers to his talented pass catching group and the defense that got its team that ball back when they needed it most. Those signs were there, and now they remain as the team is working to cut down the issues that hampered those wins.
While the team isn’t exactly running on all cylinders quite yet, it’s great to see them finally putting all the pieces of the puzzle together in somewhat of a finished result. DiNucci can be an efficient, gun slinging quarterback, but he must be careful with the football as he still threw an interception in this win. With the pass catching group that he has and Morgan Ellison leading the XFL in rushing, the tools are there for this offense to be as great as it was predicted to.
Brahmas quarterback Jack Coan is sacked (Photo by Emma Ottosen)
Quick notes
Seattle quarterback Ben DiNucci become the first in the league to hit the 1,000 passing yard mark
Sea Dragons running back Morgan Ellison leads the league in rushing at 239 rushing yards
Three different Seattle wideouts lead the league in receiving stats
Jahcour Pearson and Blake Jackson are one and two in the league in receptions, respectively.
Jahcour Pearson and Josh Gordon are one and two in the league in receiving yards, respectively.
Sea Dragons linebacker Tuzar Skipper is tied for first in the league in forced fumbles at two
Sea Dragons wide receiver Josh Gordon reels in a catch (Photo by Emma Ottosen)
What’s next?
Seattle will look to continue their two-game winning streak next week when they host the Houston Roughnecks for a Thursday night battle. It’ll be a big return home game for many of those that are on the Houston roster, as former Seattle Dragons (XFL 2020) quarterback Brandon Silvers, former WSU running back Max Borghi, and former UW Punter Race Porter return to Seattle. It won’t be an easy contest for Seattle as they aim to continue their win streak, as the Roughnecks lead the XFL South division with an undefeated record after four weeks. Kickoff for this game is at 7:30PM PST.
Postgame scenes (Photos by Emma Ottosen)