ST. LOUIS—Despite a celebrated career as a college football national championship quarterback at Alabama and years in the NFL, Sunday’s XFL conference championship football game presents St. Louis Battlehawks quarterback A.J. McCarron with a scenario he doesn’t think he’s ever experienced. St. Louis hosts the San Antonio Brahmas, the same team they defeated last week to secure home field advantage at The Dome at America’s Center.
The closest McCarron could recall was being a member of the 2015 Cincinnati Bengals when the team faced Pittsburgh late in the season and then again four weeks later in the playoffs. The Bengals lost both games.
In a league with only eight teams the odds of such a thing happening are better than they would be in the NFL, but both conference championship games this weekend feature matchups of teams who played eachother last week, as Birmingham hosts Michigan on Saturday.
“This is all new,” McCarron said this week.
Something he’s getting more used to is playing on ankle that’s less than 100% healthy. McCarron was hurt against Birmingham on May 11and sat out two weeks before returning last week against San Antonio.
Asked if the injury caused him to think about a bigger picture, like potential NFL training camp opportunities that are expected to open up once the UFL season ends, McCarron said it wasn’t a factor.
“I want to try to win a championship. That’s all I’m worried about. I’m not promised anything after this and I signed up for it so I’m not going to bail on my teammates. I think the team needs me, so play through it and we’ll deal with whatever happens after at that point.
While Battlehawks head coach Anthony Becht said Thursday that the team’s playbook was never shut, the team did appear to put a concerted effort into the running game in last week’s 13-12 win.
“I know how A.J. is and he doesn’t want me holding back. So I think last week we went in calling our stuff and now this week we just gotta get better and continue to improve on it,” said offensive coordinator Bruce Gradkowski, who expects the San Antonio defense to change some things up Sunday with the best defense the team has faced this season under NFL veteran head coach and defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.
Becht said the St. Louis offense will also show some differences.
“We’re never going to show the same thing twice and if we do, shame on us and hey at the end of the day, you gotta stop eachother so…We went into that game (last week), honestly…we wanted to win, we wanted to get the rust off A.J. We felt like that was going to be important for us as we make our move,” he said.
Becht said with the exception of two players who were placed on injured reserve this week—linebacker Drew Lewis and cornerback Keylon Kennedy–his team was on track to have a full complement of other injured players available.
That all but ensures that Jeff Thomas, the East St. Louis native who rejoined the team in recent weeks but has not been on an active roster–which are smaller than the NFL gameday size–will be inactive again.
Thomas remained in the team’s orbit after his release earlier in the season and also stayed in Texas where all UFL teams train, making it easy to bring him back and to take practice reps and give starters a break.
“He’s a nice guy to bring back, he knows our system, probably won’t dress but again, just gets the opportunity to come back and continue to grow. That’s what you’re looking for and it’s a nice opportunity, Becht said. ”I got hundreds and hundreds of messages and DMs and emails, guys that want to be in that spot so it’s nice for him, he made an impression for himself and has that familiarity, knows how we practice and can take off some of those reps from our receivers that need to be fresh for the game.”
Friday, the UFL’s offensive player of the year, wide receiver Hakeem Butler, was quick to sing Thomas’ praises.
