Playoff Bound

Well, we're just two games away from the strong possibility of hosting a playoff game at home for the first time since 2004 when the infamous Kevin Guy was running the show. This isn't surprising considering Dean Cokinos(present Vipers coach) was a mentor/coach to Kevin Guy back in his college days at West Alabama. It's nice to finally be a contendor again and not the joke of the af2, after so many years of dominance in the league. Strange that the Vipers, who prior to the past two seasons were one of the winningest af2 teams in franchise history, have never won an arenacup championship. Remember the days of Jerrian James, Wes Stephens, Ronnie Daniels, Andy "Playmaker" Fuller, Joe Minnuci, Travis McAlpine, Kelly Fields, Xavier Patterson, Josh Kellet, Matt Sauk, etc...? I do. Remember the seasons when the Vipers were 14-0 in the regular season? What about the years when the Vipers actually dominated the Firecats and not vice versa? Those were truly the good ol' days. Well this season seems to be a turn around back to those good times. Of course the brief snag of losing to a 2-10 team in Stockton doesn't help erase the memories of Vipers teams with very little talent and even worse coaching. But what can help erase that defeat to Stockton will be a win on the road against the struggling Firecats, and a win for the division title against the fired up South Georgia Wildcats. As long as the Vipers get past the Firecats this weekend less than two weeks from now the lucky Viper faithful may get to watch the biggest home game since the 2004 playoff game against the Firecats(when we lost on a very questionable call....jerrian james touchdown that wasn't called due to his knee being down??). I don't know about anybody else, but as a diehard longtime Viper/AF2 football fan I'm thrilled about this opportunity for our team. Some keys in the Vipers finishing the season strong and even making a very strong run in the playoffs will be Kevin Eakin playing up to his potential and not making mental mistakes. Defensive End Eric Scott playing like the madman we all know he can be(17.5 sacks, 1st in the league currently and a single season record in Vipers History....also 1 full sack away from being the all-time career sack leader in Vipers history), Nick Hayes stellar kicking game has to continue(who remembers Steven Lee and his more than poor and consistently horrible play for years with the Vipers....it's amazing to actually have a good kicker who is in the top 5 and top 10 in every kicking category in the af2 currently), Terrance Ford and Rico Reese must continue to dominate up front and at the linebacker position, the receiving corp must continue to play consistently and make big plays(hopefully Maurice Brown can come back for the end or at least the playoffs), and the running game in the red zone must continue to play big like they have just about all season. These all seem like things that any team in the af2 would need to work on and excel at, BUT...if the Vipers can do these things along with outcoaching the other teams then they can serioulsy have shot at going all the way. Well, that's it for now. Signing off. Until next time. Go Vipers!
Vipers beat Florida this weekend by at least 10.