The day didn’t start off well for Landry Jones, and it ended even worse, though in a different way. In his third start for the Dallas Renegades of the XFL, the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback turned the ball over three times, all interceptions, though his coaches had credited two of the interceptions to the wide receivers.
The Renegades were up against the top team in the league, the budding rival Houston Roughnecks. Despite the early flurry of turnovers, Dallas remained in the game until late, down just 21-20, when a sack caused Jones to lose the ball, which was recovered for a touchdown.
In a league that includes three-point attempts, it was still a competitive game after that, and Jones had just made a key conversion, but on the play, he also suffered yet another knee injury, which could put him on the shelf for the rest of the year.
Jones suffered an MCL sprain in January during the XFL’s training camp, and he was not cleared to practice until a week before the season started. While he would be on the active roster for the first game, he would only serve as the emergency third quarterback.
Through some rust, Jones led the Renegades to wins in their second and third games, and had looked as though he could potentially help them become one of the better teams in the league, but now he will miss at least most of the rest of the year.
“I hope so”, he said about the potential to return. “Usually MCLs are 4-6 weeks. We have six weeks left, so hopefully I’ll be able to come back”. The injury occurred on a quarterback sneak, in case Randy Fichtner is listening, though Patrick Mahomes‘ injury last year may have already sufficed.
Hope @LandryJones12 is all good!
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) March 1, 2020
To add a bit of irony, the player who appeared to have injured Jones, falling on his knee, was former Steelers defensive end Caushaud Lyons. While he did ultimately walk off to the bench largely under his own power, he was clearly in a lot of pain.
He ultimately finished the game having completed 25 of 38 passes for 205 yards, his least efficient game of the season, throwing one touchdown to three interceptions. On the other side of the ball, former Steelers wide receiver Sammie Coates caught two passes for 16 yards.
The star of the league through three weeks had been Roughnecks quarterback P.J. Walker, who was largely contained by the Renegades despite being spotted four turnovers, including a defensive touchdown. He did throw two touchdown passes but was also intercepted and averaged under six yards per attempt.
As for Lyons, he would finish the game with three tackles, including one for a loss. Johnny Maxey, another former Steelers defensive lineman, recorded one tackle with a quarterback hit. For the Renegades, Tegray Scales had three tackles.
