New York Guardians QB Luis Perez proved that he should be starting for the Guardian’s moving forward. Perez’s performance helped the Guardians beat the Los Angeles Wildcats by the score of 17-14 on Saturday, improving the team’s record to 2-2.
Perez came into last week’s matchup against the St. Louis Battlehawks during the fourth quarter and threw the only touchdown pass of the night, the first touchdown for the Guardians in their last 7 quarters of football. With starting QB Matt McGloin out with a rib injury, Perez was named the week four starter against the Wildcats.
After the Guardian’s combined for 9 points over weeks two and three, the Guardian’s scored 17 points during week four. The Guardians were actually capable of moving the ball down the field with Perez and they had success converting on third down.
During weeks two and three, the Guardians combined to convert on third down 3 out of 21 tries, a measly 14% conversion rate. It is very difficult scoring points being unable to convert on third down. During week four, the Guardians converted 5 out of 13 tries for a 38% conversion rate, which is a significant improvement.
Perez put the Guardian’s offense in a better position to compete than his predecessors at QB. Perez had 18 completed passes in 26 attempts, good for a 69% completion percentage. Perez threw for 150 yards and a touchdown for a QB rating of 96.6. While Perez’s numbers aren’t flashy, he was an effective game manager who saw a productive balanced offense.
Even the run game improved under Perez. Darius Victor ran for 82 yards averaging 4.6 yards per carry while Tim Cook ran for 32 yards averaging 4 yards per carry. The Guardians ran for 122 yards total, which is their highest number of the season. The Guardians offense worked because both their passing game and run game were playing productively.
During the Guardian’s press conference, Perez talked about how the entire team came together to win this game.
“This was the definition of a team win. Matt [McCrane] making all of those kicks, and they were some long kicks. Justin [Vogel], at the end, pinning them inside the 10-yard line. Offense doing our part. We talk about no turnovers all the time in all aspects, and the defense got one, and we didn’t turn it over.”
With a great all-around effort by the Guardians, Perez showed that the entire team benefitted from him under center. Perez earned another shot as the starting QB next week against the Dallas Renegades. Throughout the first three weeks of the season, the Guardians demonstrated zero consistency on offense. Yet, with Perez, the team played so much better.
The XFL is so young and new where I do no feel that McGloin is owed anything. Nobody knows if the XFL will even have a second season, so what matters is putting the guy out there who best puts the team in a position to win right now. While McGloin might’ve been drafted with the intention to make him the team’s franchise QB, the Guardians have really played a lot better under Perez.
The Guardians have to play like there is no next season, so they have to focus on making the playoffs this year. If throwing Perez out there puts the Guardians in the best position to win football games, then they should stick with him. Perez should be the team’s permanent QB until he demonstrates that he isn’t good enough for the role.
Head coach Kevin Gilbride had praise for Perez’s performance.
“I thought Luis showed the kind of poise and composure and understanding of what we’re trying to do that you like to see from that position. I was very pleased with his effort. He’d be the first one to tell you that there were some chances that he didn’t quite see and he didn’t quite get the ball where he needed to get it to, but the bottom line is you keep playing, and when you miss a throw or you miss an opening that was available to you, it doesn’t destroy you and prevent you from coming back the next play. You continue to play, play in and play out, and he does that very well. Of course, that’s just his makeup. It was good – I think he was a significant catalyst to us playing as well as we did.”
Perez had something to say about keeping the Guardian’s momentum going into next weeks matchup against the Dallas Renegades.
“This is definitely a momentum game. Now we got one down, we just need to keep stringing them along, and we know that. We know we didn’t play our best in all facets of the game. We’ve got to be obsessed with detail- not being okay with being average. I think with this win it’s going to help motivate everyone to stack these wins together.”
