There are finally no winless teams left in the XFL. The Tampa Bay Vipers, led by a strong rushing attack and swarming defense, finally chalked one up in the “win” column. They dominated the DC Defenders from start to finish, winning the game by a final score of 25-0. Once considered top contenders, DC has spiraled out of control for the past two weeks. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, gets their first win after playing well the past few weeks.
Tampa Bay Vipers Shut Out DC Defenders
Despite being 0-3, the Tampa Bay Vipers were playing well on both sides of the ball in the first three weeks of the season. Their red zone offense was the only part of their game holding them back. This time, they scored touchdowns on three of their five trips to the red zone. If they can keep playing well in the red zone, Tampa Bay has the talent on both sides of the ball to make a playoff push.
Offensively, the two-headed monster of Jacques Patrick and De’Veon Smith did a majority of the work for Tampa Bay. They combined for 230 rushing yards on 45 attempts and Patrick added a touchdown on the day too. The Vipers had the second best rushing offense in the league heading into week 3 and 230 yards in this one might move them into first place. Taylor Cornelius played well for the Vipers too, completing 77% of his passes for 211 yards while throwing a touchdown and an interception. Overall, the Tampa Bay Vipers had 477 total yards of offense on the day.
For as impressive as their offense was, Tampa Bay’s defense might’ve been even better in this game. They held DC to an absurd 107 total yards of offense. DC averaged just 1.9 yards per play, went 2/10 on third down, and punted seven times. Cardale Jones wasn’t able to get anything going for the second week in a row, completing just 41% of his passes for only 72 yards and an interception.
Looking Forward
Following this game, these teams are headed in opposite directions. Despite being 1-3, the Tampa Bay Vipers are coming off two great performances. They lost a close one against the top-ranked Houston Roughnecks last week and now dominated DC this week. Next week, they will travel to LA to take on the Wildcats in a game between two teams who are better than their records show. DC on the other hand has lost their last two games by a combined score of 64-9. They played great in their first two games at home, then looked totally different in their first two road games. The good news is at they’re at home next week. The bad news is that they play host to the St. Louis Battlehawks who are the clear cut best team in the East. If DC wants to show that they should still be taken seriously, they’ll need a much better performance next week against a much better team.
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