XFL Week 5: Highlights, game recaps, top players, news

Week 5 of the XFL season brought many big plays and one big upset. 

The Houston Roughnecks were handed their first loss of the season, falling 21-14 to the Seattle Sea Dragons on Thursday night. Now the DC Defenders stand as the  lone undefeated team in the league after beating the St. Louis Battlehawks 28-20. 

The Orlando Guardians remain winless after the Vegas Vipers handed them their fifth loss of the season, losing 35-32. 

All XFL games will be streamed live on ESPN+ and are available on the ESPN family of networks (ABC, ESPN and FX).

This weekend's games

Seattle Sea Dragons 21, Houston Roughnecks 14

Undefeated no more, the Roughnecks' four-game win streak to start the season has ended.

The Roughnecks were down by one touchdown with five seconds to go. As Houston's quarterback Brandon Silvers set his sights on a big play, Sea Dragons defensive lineman Niko Lalos intercepted his pass to seal Seattle's upset. 

Silvers ended the game going 25-for-47 with 227 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Sea Dragons' quarterback Ben DiNucci went 17-for-32 with 209 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

DC Defenders 28, St. Louis Battlehawks 20

And then there was one. Despite the Battlehawks' best effort at staging a comeback, the Defenders are 5-0.

Battlehawks' quarterback AJ McCarron's 50-yard touchdown pass with just over four minutes left in the game helped bring score to 28-20. After forcing the Defenders to punt, the Battlehawks looked to have a shot at coming back. However, McCarron's pass was intercepted by defensive back Michael Joseph with 55 seconds left, closing out the chance for a late score. The Defenders held on to secure their fifth win of the season.

Defenders running back Abram Smith had a good night with 23 carries for 218 yards and three touchdowns. His biggest of the night was this 70-yard touchdown to put the Defenders up in the third quarter. 

Vegas Vipers 35, Orlando Guardians 32

This was a back-and-forth battle all night, but the Vipers ultimately handed the Guardians their fifth loss of the season.

Vegas was led by quarterback Luis Perez who went 20-for-28 with 269 yards and three touchdowns. While Guardians quarterback Quinten Dormady went 22-for-25 with 256 yards and two touchdowns. 

In the Viper's final score of the game, wide receiver Jeff Badet hauled in a 25-yard pass from Perez to put the Vipers up by nine points. Here's a look at the Vipers game-sealing final touchdown:

Arlington Renegades 12, San Antonio Brahmas 10

The Renegades move to 3-2 on the season after a Sunday night victory over the Brahmas. This low-scoring matchup was made possible by the big defensive plays of the night.

San Antonio had two chances in the game's final minutes to take the lead, but both ended in interceptions. On the night, Brahmas quarterbacks Reid Sinnett and Jack Coan went a combined 20-for-34 with 127 yards, throwing one touchdown and three interceptions.

Best plays

Back-to-Back Ben

Ben DiNucci tosses it 15 yards for the touchdown, then uses his arm again for the 3-point conversion. 

How did he catch that? 

Charleston Rambo made this catch look easy. 

AJ airs it out 50 yards

Should we start calling him "Big Play AJ"?

Not on his watch

Darren Evans disrupts the Brahmas comeback attempt with a game-ending pick.

Top tweets

Undefeated who?

The Sea Dragons took to Twitter to troll the Roughnecks after their first loss of the season. 

First, touchdown. Then, griddy. 

Not only did Sean Price haul in this great touchdown pass, but he also delivered fans this perfect griddy. 

Houston, we have a problem

Did the Roughnecks hack the official XFL account? 

The sack that took his breath away

T.J. Barnes is at a loss for words... and oxygen after his sack. 

Quotes

'The fanbase has been incredible'

A week after setting an XFL attendance record, 35,000 showed up this Saturday to support the Battlehawks. Listen to coach Anthony Becht's message to St. Louis. 

'Let's Gooooooooooo'

Watch till the end; it's worth it. 

Coach Buckley wasn't too happy

It's safe to say that coach Terrell Buckley disagreed with this call.