Houston quarterback Brandon Silvers threw three touchdown passes in the Roughnecks’ 44-16 victory over the Orlando Guardians on Saturday. But the former Gulf Shores High School and Troy standout figured he ought to get at least an assist on a fourth.

As Houston rolled through its fourth victory to remain undefeated in 2023, the Roughnecks pulled off the XFL’s first double forward pass of the league’s return season.

Silvers threw a screen pass to Jontre Kirklin, who then threw the football to wide receiver Deontay Burnett to complete a 49-yard touchdown play with 4:15 left in the first quarter.

On Sunday, Roughnecks coach Wade Phillips tweeted: “This was for a great coach – Mike Leach.”

The Mississippi State coach, Leach died on Dec. 12 at 61 years old.

The play would be illegal in the high school, college and NFL versions of football, which allow one forward pass on a play from scrimmage.

But in the XFL, the rules allow for two forward passes on one snap as long as the football does to cross the line of scrimmage before the second throw.

Houston offensive coordinator A.J. Smith had been Houston’s wide-receivers coach in the XFL’s previous season in 2020 and had advocated for its use then.

“I was spending a lot of time with Mike Leach, and they were running the shallow screen, and so I said, ‘June (Jones, Houston’s coach in 2020), we got to put this in,’” Smith said. “And then it clicked on me: Once he catches it behind the line of scrimmage, he could throw it, so we put it in, and we never ran it. But I’ve thought about it since 2019, so it’s been four years in the making, and to see it come to fruition tonight is just unbelievable. …

“Just like we’re the Mike Leach offense, it’s a tribute to and honor to him. He was one of the greatest innovators of all time, and that may be one of the most innovative plays you’ll ever see in football, and it’s just an honor for him. We have a lot of former players who have played for him. I had a great relationship with him, and we miss him dearly, so that was for him tonight.”

Silvers said he was skeptical of the play.

“I’m still trying to figure out if I get a touchdown pass out of that,” Silver said during a postgame press conference. “I guess I don’t. You go over it during the week and all the last month or two, but like: Are you going to call it? We walked through it last night, and it’s like: All right, we walk through a lot of stuff that we’re probably not going to do.

“When he called it, I said some stuff in the huddle: Well, we’ll see if this works. That’s the PG version of it. And you know what? It actually worked, and it was a great play. The ball kind of looked like a punt, honestly, from where I was because I was already running down the field once he threw it. It worked. It scored. That’s the Mike Leach play.”

Phillips said the double forward pass was an XFL kind of play.

“I like it because it makes it fun,” Phillips said. “We’re playing the game certainly to win games and do those things, but the players had fun, and I think that’s a big part of this league, too – to have fun with what you’re doing.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.