NFL
By: Brock Vierra
To say that this season for the Vegas Vipers has been disappointing would be an understatement. Rod Woodson’s squad fell to 0-4 on the season today with a 32-18 loss to the D.C. Defenders and with a gauntlet of a second-half schedule that includes a matchup at St. Louis who’s 3-1 and just set the record for attendance for a spring football game and at Houston who co-owns the leagues’ best record, the Vipers are in store for a beating as they continue to search for their first win since they moved to the sin city.
One of the favorites entering the season, they proved that football games aren’t won on paper and their big stars continue to fall short of expectations. Now QB Brett Hundley catches a break despite being the highest earner in the XFL due to his late signing, late arrival to camp, and injury issues but backup Luis Perez catches no slack from me. An emerging prospect with a great story, this is a player that has previously outperformed expectations during his stops in the NFL, AAF, the XFL in 2020, and the USFL but has proven to be a massive liability for the Vipers, throwing three interceptions in the two games for which he played a majority of snaps.
However, it’s not all on Perez. Jeff Badet has proven himself to be the Vipers top pass catcher which is great if he was the number one receiver off the board for Vegas. The only issue is he wasn’t. NFL veterans Martavis Bryant and Geronimo Allison were supposed to be game-changers but viewers of the league are often left wondering if they’re in the game at all. They’re non-factors and that’s partly on them and partly on their offensive scheme. We’ve seen Houston and Seattle use the Run N Shoot and Air Raid offense to great success and their receivers are putting up numbers despite not always having the big name.
On defense, Vic Beasley, the number one selection during the XFL’s defensive front seven draft has failed to impress with only .5 sacks in four games. The focal point of Rod Woodson’s Steeler 3-4 defense hasn’t made much of an impact at all which is concerning as this is a scheme that Woodson saw Kevin Greene and Greg Lloyd use to become stars and the lack of dominant offensive linemen in a pass-happy league proves it’s a skill issue with Beasley.
Vegas’ roster is built on big names but as unknown players start to rise, the foundation of NFL talent that Woodson built his team on continues to crumble and that’s primarily why they haven’t put together a win this season. As Woodson continues to manage his ball club, he’s gonna have to make some tough personnel decisions. Acting as the Vipers GM and Head Coach, the buck stops with him and there’s an argument to be made that it’s time to move on from those big names or it maybe time to make some changes regarding coaches and their responsibilities. I don’t have the answer but unfortunately, neither does Woodson at the moment. Now this team does have the defensive identity to turn their season around but the lack of offensive firepower is gonna make that turnaround much harder.
Whatever Woodson’s answer is, it needs to be made tonight. Vegas will host a struggling Orlando Guardians team in week 5 and beating up on a downtrodden squad may just be what the doctor ordered but a loss could spell the end of Woodson as the head man and the Vipers time in Vegas. That may be a little drastic but with attendance at the small Cashman field being lackadaisical, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Especially when you consider the failed spring football projects the city has had in previous years.
