Tampa Bay Vipers (1-3) vs DC Defenders (2-2) @ Raymond James Stadium
Tampa Bay Covers +2.5, Under 44 Points Cashes
Attendance: 12,249
It was a tale of two teams for the second consecutive week for the DC Defenders as they fell to 2-2 on the young season. After being shutout on Sunday, the Defenders have been outscored 64 to 9 over their last two contests.
For Tampa Bay, they continued to build off the impressive performance from week three’s 34-27 loss to Houston. It was a two-headed monster in the run game for the Vipers as Jacques Patrick and De’Veon Smith combined for 230 yards on the ground. Becoming the first duo in XFL history to rush for 100+ yards in the same game. In addition, Patrick and quarterback Taylor Cornelius both ran for touchdowns, and Cornelius added another touchdown through the air to DeAndre Goolsby.
The 25-0 final score was only the second shutout in the history of the new XFL (joining the DC Defenders 27-0 shutout of the NY Guardians in Week 2).
Winning Team Review
It seemed as if everything went right for Tampa Bay, who was without their top target at tight end in Nick Truesdell for the second straight week, but a group effort made up for the big time pass catcher’s production. Seven Vipers had receptions in the victory, including Dan Williams who lead the team with seven receptions for 72 yards. However, one of the more notable receivers on the Vipers roster, S.J. Green, who the team recently acquired from the Seattle Dragons saw limited time on the field and dropped his only target in the game.
Net Rushing Yards: 266 Yards (Tampa Bay Offense)
Total First Downs: 29 (Tampa Bay Offense)
Red Zone Efficiency: 3 for 5 (Tampa Bay Offense)
Losing Team Review
There isn’t another team in the XFL that has it going as bad as DC does currently. For the second straight week Cardale Jones struggled to get into any real rhythm under center. Jones (9 of 22 for 72 YDs, 1 INT) was replaced at quarterback in the fourth quarter by Tyree Jackson (1 of 2 for 3 yards). In addition, the defense was unable to create any sort of problems for Cornelius, the Defenders lone interception was on an unforced error by the Vipers’ QB.
Offensive Yards Per Play: 1.9 YPP (DC Offense)
Third Down Efficiency: 3 of 10 (DC Offense)
Total Punts: 7 (Niswander-P)
Fantasy Review
For Tampa, J. Patrick was the biggest surprise with 19.80 DFP, Cornelius lead the way with 21.04 DFP, D. Smith (19.30 DFP), D. Williams (14.20 DFP), and the Vipers D/ST (16 DFP) all had strong showings in daily fantasy as well. For DC, mostly every fantasy option had an underwhelming day. C. Jones (1.88 DFP), E. Rodgers (6.50 DFP) and D. Thompkins (0.00 DFP) all fell short of expectations Sunday.
