With a 24-20 lead at half the Vipers looked poised to get their first road win of the season. Well Josh Johnson and OC Norman Chow had other plans. After getting off to a terrible start throwing an int on the first play to Vipers DB Robert Priester, Josh Johnson showed why he is one of the top QBs in the league shredding the top rated Vipers defense for 288 passing yards. The defense was doing a good job of getting pressure but it seemed like as the game went on they left their foot off the gas allowing the Wildcats to come back before the half. I know coach Glanville is a big proponent of the blitz method but when your DBs are getting beat for big yardage plays, it’s time to secure the back field. The TE’s of the Wildcats towered over our defense allowing for TD after TD. I am still however impressed with how the D-Line is playing they just were not fast enough to get sacks. Their are still some bright spots in the 41-34 loss.
I’m not going to start calling for Taylor “Corn Dog” Cornelius’s job yet. Each week he is looking better and better throwing for 300 yards this week. I know some fans are pulling for Murray to come back,but Murray lacks the running ability Cornelius has allowing him to make chicken shit out of chicken salad on a majority of busted plays. Flowers got in for a few special teams plays but I still don’t think he should be the starter over “Corn Dog”. If he can get more of a rhythm going with Reece Horn and Dan “Tha Threat” Williams, the big play option will be available. Teams don’t fear our big play ability enough making it easier for defenses to predict the play. Once the Wildcats started stopping our running game and our defense wasn’t getting takeaways or stops, we just couldn’t keep up with their big plays.
That is not to say all is lost. We showed we can go toe to toe with two of the leagues most high powered passing games, Houston a few weeks ago. I feel if this had been a home game we would have stole the momentum not allowing the Wildcats to regain their ninth life right before half. With two winnable home games coming up against two pretty weak passing games in St.Louis and Dallas the season is not a total loss yet. If we can manage to pick up some division wins down the stretch the team could definitely secure the 2nd spot in the XFL East. The team definitely has some things to work on with the hated rival St Louis Battlehawks coming to the Snake Pit this weekend. Hopefully we will be plucking feathers out of our teeth come next Sunday.