Well not the start I wanted to see for the inaugural season of the Tampa Bay Vipers but with the teams home opener Saturday at Raymond James the team looks to turn the season around against the run and shoot offense Houston Roughnecks.
Although things are looking grim for the Vipers sitting at 0-2, Saturday’s loss 17-9 to the Dragons in the first ever “Reptile Bowl” was not a total loss. Besides terrible QB play and boneheaded penalties, the team looked much better even scoring the first touchdown in team history off a 78 yard int return by Taravus McFadden. Nikita Whitlock on the defensive line also made some big plays even hitting the snake pose. Coach Jerry Granville is definitely holding up his end of the team.
Coach Trestman needs to focus on finishing drives.The team so far has not been able to score one touchdown on offense with nine trips to the end zone. Trestman’s indecisiveness at the QB position is killing this team. Although Flowers threw a costly int back upped into his own end zone I still feel the offense runs better with him at the helm. Taylor Cornelius had a nice drive at the end but he constantly over threw his receivers missing out on big plays.
Not having one singular person running the offense is messing up the chemistry between QB and WR. We have studs like Reece Horn, Nick Truesdell, and Daniel “The Threat” Williams all three of which can make a big play at any time. If Murray can’t get the job done next week Flowers should get the 1st team reps this week. Truesdell should be used has his security blanket allowing Williams and Horn to make big plays. An increase in the passing game will open up more holes for not only RB De’Veon Smith, but also Quinton Flowers to make a big play.
Hopefully being in front of the home crowd can hype the team up. Getting a win against Houston would be big, giving us moment to make a run for one of two East playoff spots. Can the Vipers shed their skin at home, this die hard fan can only hope.