Well…that was not how I envisioned this season coming to an end. The Houston Roughnecks crashed and burned at the finish line, and they got embarrassed doing so. This game wasn’t even close, and for a team whose identity was high power offense in the beginning of the season, that ended up being their downfall here, with an offense that was pretty much non existent. The Roughnecks looked like they didn’t belong here, and the 4-6 Renegades completely owned them during the entire duration of this game. It never looked like Houston stood a chance, which is crazy since Houston beat them twice already this season. But to be fair, the first game, Luis Perez was not on this team yet. And the second game, meant absolutely nothing since both teams were already in the playoffs. So let’s see how badly it went for the Roughnecks in this game.
Brandon Silvers. Cole McDonald. This will be a debate on whether Coach Wade Phillips made the right call in sticking with McDonald after Silvers got pulled. I get why he did it. Because Brandon Silvers did not look good in the beginning of this game. And not only that, but Cole McDonald looked really good on his first drive. But McDonald struggled as the game went on, and it became evident that he was not good enough to get it done. I personally would have put Brandon Silvers back out there, but that is still no guarantee that the outcome would have been any different. Both Silvers and McDonald were just not going to out duel a determined Luis Perez, who was sensational Saturday night. Perez was absolutely on fire from jump in this game. He had 3 TDs in the first half alone, including on the opening drive of the game, which set the tone for the day. Silvers or McDonald could not compete with that. The running game was not as strong as it had been, and the offense as a whole looked like the struggling offense they were in the second half of the season. It was abysmal. Such a shame too, because it was so electric before Jontre Kirklin got hurt.
So what about the defense? They at least played well right? Right? Wrong. They were getting exposed all game long. Luis Perez put on a show against this defense, and they were left with no answers. They were only able to sack Perez one time all game long. Perez had time after time in the pocket to make stuff happen. De’Veon Smith ran all over them, almost accumulating 100 yds in this game. JaVonte Payton had 121 yds on just 5 receptions. 2 of those being TDs. This defense was torched. Lit up. Whatever you want to call it. They could not get a stop when they needed it, and it got so bad, they were becoming visibly frustrated on the field.
The Roughnecks deserved to lose this game, and lose it they did. The season has come to an end. There were good times. There were bad times. But it was fun while it lasted. So until next season, GO ROUGHNECKS!
