Most of the press the XFL has received thus far has been critical of the product the league has put on the field. All the key components, from the players, to the announcers, to the league and network executives, have been criticized for the lack of interest in the new league.

While I agree that the announcers leave a lot to be desired, and the players are not of NFL quality, and the executives may have made some slight misjudgments in their marketing strategy, I have to say that the games themselves are very entertaining.

And I think the play continues to improve as these guys learn to play together. In fact, by the end of the season, some of these teams may have a completely different look to them than when the season began.

The league did back away from the WWF style of "entertainment", which was a pleasant change, although I'm not sure it was a planned move. XFL announcer, and part-time Minnesota Governor, Jesse Ventura was not assigned to cover the New York/New Jersey game, so the feud between the team's head coach and the ex-wrassler was either put on hold or dropped completely.

Hopefully we have seen the end of that type of embarrassing promotion and the league executives will realize that it's the play on the field that the fans want to see. And I think fans will like what they see once the sideshow distractions disappear. It's tough for the fans to take the XFL seriously when the league doesn't take itself seriously.

But seriously folks…

On Saturday night, the Orlando Rage continued their dominance of the rest of the league and remained undefeated by knocking off the Las Vegas Outlaws, 27-15. The Rage improved their unblemished record to 6-0 behind quarterback Jeff Brohm, who was 13-of-20 for 235 yards and two touchdowns.

Paul McCallum's 22-yard field goal put the Outlaws ahead 15-14 with 11:29 to play, but Orlando put together a scoring drive that consumed seven minutes, and ended in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Brohm to Kevin Swayne.

Any comeback hopes the Outlaws had were soon dashed when quarterback Ryan Clement fumbled the ball on an Andre Purvis sack. Sedric Clark jumped on the ball in the end zone giving Orlando the touchdown.

The game Saturday between the Chicago Enforcers and the Memphis Maniax was a real barnburner!

Chicago appeared to have the game won when they took a 23-22 lead on a seven-yard touchdown run by LeShon Johnson with two minutes left in the game. But the Maniax quickly drove the field, and scored on a 26-yard pass from Jim Druckenmiller to Daryl Hobbs with 20 seconds remaining.

Druckenmiller led Memphis in this seesaw battle, throwing three touchdown passes and racking up 413 yards passing, as the Maniax slipped by the Enforcers, 29-23. Charles Jordan was on the receiving end of most of "Druck's" passes, pulling in ten of 'em for 240 yards.

In the early game Sunday, the New York/New Jersey Hitmen traveled to the west coast to take on the San Francisco Demons, and it didn't take long for the fireworks to begin.

The Demons got on the board quickly with a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown by Jimmy Cunningham, just 2:29 into the game, but the Hitmen used a trick play to strike back quickly. On NY/NJ's next drive, wide receiver Zola Davis took a lateral from quarterback Wally Richardson, then connected with Kirby Dar Dar for 74 yards and a touchdown.

In the second quarter, Richardson had a touchdown pass of his own, this one a two-yarder to running back Mike Archie that gave the Hitmen a 14-6 halftime lead.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, but in the fourth the Demons cut the lead to 14-12 on an eight-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Pat Barnes to Travis Moore. The Hitmen came back again with a two-yard touchdown run by Joe Aska to make the final score, 20-12, in favor of the Hitmen.

Sunday's final game between the Los Angeles Xtreme and the Birmingham Thunderbolts featured two hot-handed quarterbacks.

On Birmingham's side of the ball, Casey Weldon was having a fantastic day, going 16-of-20 for 300 yards, before he was crushed by linebacker Shawn Stuckey in the third quarter. The Bolts would not score again after he left the game.