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The Seattle Dragons set an XFL attendance record in their home opener last week, and there could be 30,000 fans in the seats this Saturday when the Dragons host the fellow 1-1 Dallas Renegades. However, the Dragons are underdog on the Mybookie XFL odds. Let’s see how the XFL odds will be for the Renegades vs Dragons.

Renegades vs Dragons 2020 XFL Game Preview & Betting Odds

When: Saturday, 5 PM ET
Where: CenturyLink Field, Seattle
TV: Fox
Stream: Fox Sports Go
Radio: Fox Sports Radio
XFL odds: Dallas -5 (44)

Why Bet on Renegades?

Dallas has the best-known coach in the XFL in former Oklahoma legend Bob Stoops as well as arguably the best-known player in former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Landry Jones, who also played for Stoops at Oklahoma.

Jones missed the Renegades’ season opener as he was recovering from a knee injury but was in the lineup last week and helped lead a 25-18 win over the Los Angeles Wildcats. Despite losing the turnover battle 3-2, Dallas broke through on the ground after the break. Cameron Artis-Payne finished with 131 scrimmage yards (99 rushing) and two key second-half scores.

Artis-Payne’s second touchdown of the day came in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, extending the Dallas lead to 25-18 as he took it 17 yards off of the left edge and into the end zone. The Renegades gave Artis-Payne the ball 10 times in the final nine minutes, and he tallied 80 yards in that span. The former Auburn running back did some of his damage against the Wildcats taking direct snaps as a wildcat quarterback. Artis-Payne now holds the new spring football’s league single-game rushing record.

“Offensive line did a good job wearing them down. We exploited some weaknesses after halftime,” he said. “They continued to get a push to the second level on the linebackers and allowing us to get it downhill.”

Artis-Payne is back on the field after missing the 2019 season. He had played four seasons with the Carolina Panthers before the NFL team let him go at the end of the preseason last year.

After a slow first half and two interceptions plagued him into the third quarter, Jones found his rhythm with the deep ball in the second half, finishing with 305 passing yards, a 70% completion rate and a solid rate of 7.6 yards per attempt. He threw for a score and was 28-for-40.

“Landry in the second half was more consistent,” Stoops said. “He was getting frustrated in the first half… I said ‘Look, man. Just hang in there. It’ll come. You haven’t played in awhile.’

“Literally, the guy hadn’t played in a couple years. He’s missed five weeks of practice. He’s only had three days of practice… The guy still passed for 300-yards in his first time out in a couple years.”

Why Bet on Dragons?

The 29,172 fans at CenturyLink Field last week shattered an XFL attendance record and they saw Seattle (1-1) beat Tampa Bay 17-9. Receiver Keenan Reynolds — who caught a 68-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter that helped spark a comeback against the Vipers — looks like a reliable weapon.

A poor first half on offense had the Dragons down 3-0 against the Vipers despite suffocating defense and great field position. Quarterback Brandon Silvers was misfiring like crazy and the running game was doing nothing. And early in the third, he threw a pick-six that gave Tampa a 9-0 led. Then Sivers found Reynolds.

“That (TD) was huge,” said Reynolds, who caught three passes for 87 yards and caught a two-point conversion. “We were stumbling the whole first half, shooting ourselves in the foot. We saw it on film. It was actually on the same guy. We had it set up right. Coach called it and we got the look we needed.”

Seattle soon followed that up TD with a pick-6 by Marcell Frazier deep in Vipers territory. With a defense that has allowed just two touchdowns so far this season, Reynolds said the onus is now on the offense to raise its game.

After netting 97 ground yards in the opener, Seattle’s backfield topped 100 with distribution once again, with Trey Williams and Kenneth Farrow each contributing 45 yards. Linebacker Steven Johnson racked up another busy week, collecting nine tackles after an eight-tackle Week 1. Fellow linebacker Kyle Queiro iced the game with an interception of Vipers quarterback Taylor Cornelius in the final seconds.

With Johnson setting a tone for the Dragons’ defense, Seattle is establishing itself as one of the toughest in the league, giving up just two offensive touchdowns through two games. Johnson believes the team’s defense is only going to get better.

“To be honest, I feel like there are sometimes when our defense won’t allow offenses to cross the 50, even if they get the ball on the 45,” he said. “That’s just a mentality I have and I see that coming along.

Seattle, though, must improve its offensive third-down conversion rate because 6 of 25 (24%) through two games is not good.