HOUSTON, we had a major problem yesterday. We just witnessed the biggest butt whooping of the season, and boy there was nothing fun about it. I was excited to watch Taulia Tagovailoa play, wondering what he was going to bring to the table. Unfortunately, we didn’t see much. With constant 3 and outs, insufficient fourth down play, and the inability to get into the redzone, the offense put so much weight on the defense that it was just too much to handle. Let’s go ahead and break down what happened each quarter. 

Quarter 1

We start the game off by finding out that both quarterbacks, Hunter Dekkers (#8) and Nolan Henderson (#15) were out with a shoulder and finger injury. Thus, the starter for the game was going to be Tualia Tagovailoa (#7), younger brother of NFL quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The struggles showed early in the game with three straight 3 and outs on offense and Tualia’s inability to complete passes, giving the Defenders several opportunities to make plays on offense, even one drive starting at their own 47 yard line as a result of a good punt return. 

The defense didn’t start out hot either. Defenders running back Deon Jackson (#25) broke off a 60 yard touchdown run on their first drive and their second drive resulted in a field goal. The Defenders last drive of the quarter resulted in an interception by safety Major Burns (#18), hoping to give some sort of spark for the offense. 

End of quarter score: 11-0 Defenders up

Quarter 2

It doesn’t get much better from here. On a fourth down play, Tualia keeps the ball, but somehow loses control resulting in a self-inflicted fumble with the Defenders recovering it and turning the ball over. The next drive resulted in a pick-6 by Defenders cornerback Gareon Conley, who you might remember spending some time with the Texans from 2019-2020. The following drive resulted in another 4th down turnover with Tualia getting sacked. No points have been scored yet. 

The defense can only do so much, and with the offense’s struggles they were probably running low on steam early on. They held the Defenders to a field goal on their first drive of the quarter, but fell victim to a handoff to tight end Briley Moore (#88), resulting in another touchdown. At this point in the game, the Defenders have made 10 points off of turnovers. 

Score at half: 27-0 Defenders up

Quarter 3

Offsides, defensive holding, too many players on the field, and a pass interference call. The second half didn’t start much better. Flags plagued the defense allowing the defenders to march down the field with a 6.5 minute time of possession on the opening drive. 

The offense FINALLY gets something going. With a big play from Lawrence Keys III (#3) and a touchdown pass to Justin Hall (#11), the Gamblers get on the scoreboard. Their scoring drive was only the second time being in the redzone all game. 

End of quarter score: 31-7 Defenders up

Quarter 4

This is nothing but clean up duty for the Defenders at this point. Even though Justin Hall (#11) continues to shine, Tualia’s continued struggles, and the offense’s difficulties on converting fourth downs prevents them from making any sort of impact in the game. There was touchdown pass to Hall (#11), but was negated when Defenders head coach Shannon Harris successfully challenged a no holding call on the play. The Defenders score once more, putting some icing on the cake. 

Final Score: 45-7 Defenders Win

Key Takeaways:

• Without either Dekkers or Henderson, the offense is near nonexistent 
• Justin Hall (#11) has showed that he can be a big playmaker for the team
• The defensive line shows flashes, and I truly believe they can be a big part of the team’s success 
• They didn’t rely on the run game as much as they did last week with only a total of 17 rushing attempts between 3 backs. Through 3 weeks in the season it’s obvious the run game is a vital part of the offense’s success. The only win so far has come from a game where the run game was a primary part of the offense 

Watch the highlights here.