After a slow start to the 2023 XFL season, Orlando Guardians head coach Terrell Buckley seems pretty displeased.
While the team and backup quarterback Deondre Francois took their hot-mic lumps in a 30-12 defeat to the San Antonio Brahmas on Sunday, Buckley took his players to task not once but twice.
The first occasion saw the coach discuss what transpired mid-game. By the end of the third quarter, Orlando was down 27-6 and seemed out for the count. Rather than offer the typical cliches of playing better, playing harder, and making adjustments, Buckley was instead rather candid.
Buckley thought his team was putting in a horrible effort and let the reporter interviewing him know as much:
Terrell Buckely did not hold back 😳@XFL2023 | @XFLGuardians pic.twitter.com/q3ABgdfONh
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) February 26, 2023
Phew. I don’t know that I remember the last time a coach essentially called for different players who wanted to try harder… in a mid-game interview.
By the matchup’s end, Buckley was curter with a 30-12 loss cemented. Were there any positives? Anything he liked at all from the Guardians in an 18-point blowout defeat?
He kept it simple:
XFL's Guardians coach Terrell Buckley keeps it honest 😂pic.twitter.com/StSNNYuGB7
— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 (@sportingnews) February 26, 2023
There are still eight games left in the 2023 XFL regular season, but the Guardians already sit in a comfortable last place in the XFL South division. If Buckley’s players don’t pick it up soon, it might be a long spring.
The best-case scenario would be the Guardians taking their coach’s frustrated honesty and channeling it into better performances down the line.
