XFL Play of the Week: Week 8
April 12, 2023 - XFL (XFL)
St. Louis Battlehawks News Release
St. Louis Battlehawks head coach Anthony Becht walked over to tight ends coach and special teams coordinator Tory Woodbury midway through the third quarter of Saturday's game against the Vegas Vipers.
He asked his friend if the fakes were ready to go.
"There was a little nervousness because we did have some injuries in the game (with) guys that played on punt," Becht said. "It limited us on the variety of fakes that we had. But we did have one remaining that didn't have to worry about anybody except the punter and Gary. He told me that would have been live and we can do it."
The one play was a fairly simple fake punt with punter Sterling Hofrichter tossing a pass to wide receiver Gary Jennings.
St. Louis waited to call it but when it did, it worked to perfection. Instead of just getting a first down, Jennings scooted all 64 yards down the field for a game-changing - and in some ways, game-defining - touchdown in what turned out to be the first overtime game in XFL history.
"You always keep your fingers crossed in those scenarios because they're do or die," Becht said. "It doesn't work out or they drop it, you look bad. You get the boobirds."
St. Louis was stagnant for most of the game in front of 35,000 fans at The Dome at America's Center. The Battlehawks trailed 11-8 in the third quarter when Becht and Woodbury had their discussion.
Becht thought about doing it on the St. Louis drive that started with 10:18 left in the fourth quarter but Brian Hill fumbled and Vegas recovered. The Vipers scored two plays later, giving them a 17-8 lead.
That score changed things for the Battlehawks. Becht knew if the next drive stalled, it would be the right time to light a spark in his team via a fake play.
That did happen and as Woodbury got his punt unit together, he told them the news.
"I looked at them and said, 'Hey, we boutta go Rick Ross right here," Woodbury said. "You can see their eyes get big like: Yeah, let's do this. We've been practicing this. Let's just put it out and show everybody what we've been working on."
While Rick Ross would have been an apt description for the energy and intensity a play like that can provide to a team, "Rick Ross" was actually the name of the play.
The name is based on Jennings' route on the play. He lines up as a blocker on the right wing of the punt unit. On the snap, he hedges out around the right side of the line into space and runs a stop route.
A condensed way to describe it is a wing-stop route. And since Rick Ross owns multiple Wingstop restaurants, Jennings decided to name it after the nine-time Grammy-nominated rapper.
"I try to come up with things that make it fun for those guys so it's something they can remember," Woodbury said.
The snap from long snapper Alexander Matheson was right on the money to Hofrichter, who caught the ball and held it out for the slightest moment like he was going to boom it down the field.
But then in one fluid motion, he turned his body and lofted the ball about 20 yards to a wide-open Jennings.
"The form was immaculate. He looked like Bart Starr," Jennings said.
The key to the play was something Woodbury noticed while scouting Vegas. The Vipers like to bring the house on their punt, rushing eight instead of playing safe. That aggressive style leaves them open to a blocker sneaking out into the space beyond the line of scrimmage.
That's what Jennings' wing-stop route did. Jennings caught the ball at the 43-yard line with the middle of the field parted like the Red Sea. The only person ahead of him - and way ahead of him at that - was the kick returner, Mathew Sexton.
"All week, I was just envisioning how I would really attack that returner," Jennings said. "I knew I was going to be out there with an unlimited amount of space."
Jennings hit the NOS button and dashed down the field, topping out at 22.5 mph. Sexton had no chance to cut the angle down as Jennings moved to the left and kept running.
The only player who could stop him was the Vegas jammer on the left side of the field, Will Adams, who was chasing the play. But gunner Steven Mitchell made a critical hip block to take Adams out of the play just as he was closing in on Jennings near the 25-yard line.
"Stevie could have been just chilling or whatever, but he hustled his ass off to really get down there and cut off that guy," Jennings said. "It was really amazing."
Sexton was able to give Jennings a push around the 5-yard line but Jennings had enough momentum to fall forward into the end zone.
"I'd never thrown a fake at all. So that was my first ever throw," Hofrichter said. "One for one, 64 yards and a touchdown is not too shabby."
The fake punt was destined to electrify the team if it was successful. But to do so with that level of success - with the entire St. Louis crowd going crazy - was like jumpstarting a Corvette.
The 3-point conversion failed but St. Louis got a stop on the next possession and then drove down the field to tie the game at 17 on a last-second field goal. Two successful two-point conversions in overtime later and the Battlehawks had their sixth win of the year.
While the fact it was the first overtime game in XFL history is why it will go down in the history books, watching Jennings score on the fake punt is what most fans will remember years from now.
"I saw the pass and then I saw Jennings run about 10 yards," Woodbury said. "Then after that the guys were just excited and they just bombarded me on the sideline. They knocked my headset off, almost knocked me down, which was all love."
Hofrichter did see Jennings get in the end zone. Soon after Jennings came down with the catch, Hofrichter started sprinting after him. "If Gary reached 22 mph," Hofrichter said. "I was probably at 20."
The punter celebrated with Jennings, then ran over to collect the football to make sure no one else got their hands on it.
He was taking it home. The ball currently sits in his locker, he said, and he plans on putting it in a frame. That play, and that moment, is something Hofrichter never wants to forget.
"It was an epic moment," Hofrichter said, "probably one of the coolest of my career."
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