The Tampa Bay Vipers finally got their first win of the season at home on a cool Sunday night as they shoutout the DC Defenders 25-0.
The Vipers defense after a poor performance against Houston rebounded nicely and played their best game of the season in limiting DC to just 107 yards of total offense.
The two back system of De’Veon Smith and Jacques Patrick rushed for 230 yards, a first for a team in the XFL this season to have two backs run for 100 yards.
Smith ran for 122 yards, and Patrick 108 yards with one touchdown.
The Vipers amassed 477 yards of total offense and Taylor Cornelius had his best game as a Viper completing 24/31 with 211 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Although the score was 25-0, this was a game the Vipers dominated from start to finish.
The Vipers out gained the Defenders 477-107 and had 29 first downs to 6 for DC.
Defender quarterback Cardale Jones was ineffective for the second straight game as he was held to under 100 yards passing as he completed just 9/22 for 72 yards with one interception. The Viper defense had two sacks of Jones as well.
Dan Williams who has been one of the leading receivers in the XFL finished the night with seven catches for 72 yards.
After the game Trestman said he was really proud of his team. “I’m really proud of our team for their resilience. It’s part of this winding road through adversity and success that a football season brings. They got a little bit of what they deserved tonight.”
The Vipers attendance was down over 30 percent from their opener as only 12,218 showed up at Raymond James.
—The Quinton Flowers saga does not appear that it is going to end well for the Vipers as head coach Marc Trestman has mis managed this situation from the start.
Flowers did return to the team on Monday but has requested a trade.
Flowers has said that he feels the Vipers are just using him as a PR/marketing ploy and has become extremely frustrated with his playing time.
After the scoring the first touchdown in Vipers history two weeks ago, Flowers said “that there are guys that should be playing and you’re limiting guys.”
For now Flowers remains with the team but after the performance of the offense on Sunday, it may be tough for Flowers to get playing time.
The Vipers are 1-3 on the season and will be in Los Angeles on Sunday night to play the Los Angeles Wildcats, a game that will be televised on ESPN.
