The Tampa Bay Vipers are looking to get their first win of the season. It will be their home opener. The Vipers will be hosting the Houston Roughnecks. The records of these two teams are on different ends of the spectrum. The Roughnecks come into this game undefeated at 2-0 while the Vipers are 0-2. The Roughnecks also look like they have everything moving in the right direction. The Vipers don’t have an identity and they have been a horrible offensive team.

Up until this point, they have not scored an offensive touchdown. The Vipers defense has given the offense plenty of opportunities to score and win games. Hopefully, the Viper fans will show up because in a league like this the fans are very important. Let’s hope that Marc Trestman can decide who is going to start at quarterback. The offense needs to get on track.

Quarterback

This is the biggest issue that the Tampa Bay Vipers have. In week one they started Aaron Murray he didn’t do much against the New York Guardians. Murray was out in week two because of a foot injury. Trestman started Taylor Cornelius against the Seattle Dragons. Cornelius didn’t have a bad game, but it was more of the same. For some off the wall reason when Quinton Flowers is in the game, the offense has rhythm.

Flowers does have one interception but with the dual ability, it has kept defenses on their toes. The funny thing is that the day of the pocket passing style quarterback is slowly going away. Many teams now would like to have a dual-threat quarterback. I am not saying a team can’t win with a pocket passing style quarterback. I believe that Flowers give the Vipers the best chance to score and win.

Defense

This has been the best part of the Tampa Bay Vipers season. They held their opponents to less than 200 yards in both games. The defense will be tested this week against the Roughnecks. They had a total of 583 yards in both games. Jerry Glanville has had the defense humming. The Roughnecks have also not scored under 28 points in either game. The Vipers gave up 23 to the New York Guardians but only 17 to the Seattle Dragons.

The defense will have to keep Houston passing attack at a minimum. This how they have won games. If the Vipers can make the Roughnecks run the ball it will a long night for Houston. Even if they can slow it down the Viper’s offense has a chance to score. I look for the defense to play another stellar game as I will be at the game in person.

Scoring

This has been a problem for the Tampa Bay Vipers in their first two games. They only scored one touchdown and three field goals. The Vipers have also missed field goals. The main reason that scoring has been a problem is penalties and turnovers. This will have to get better against Houston, or we will see the Vipers fall to 0-3. This team needs to be more disciplined on offense. Hopefully, Trestman and company have been able to install this so the Vipers can get win number one.

Who wins this game between the Houston Roughnecks and Tampa Bay Vipers? Leave a comment below.

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