Good

Defense

The Gamblers defense has been the main reason they’ve been able to stay competitive in games. Donald Payne racked up tackles and continued his dominance. Will Likely had a great game with a pick six and good coverage on the receivers. The secondary was much better this game, and the linebackers also performed well.

Mark Thompson

Thompson continued on his good performance last week which included breaking free on a 41 yard run. He’s got great vision and patience as a back, and knows where his holes are. He averaged 5.8 yards per carry, gashing the Birmingham Defense over and over.

Bad

Run Defense

Houston’s run defense was the main reason that they lost this game. The defensive line was largely ineffective, and the defense gave up 169 yards from the Stallions Backfield. Tampa Bay should be an easier offense to defend against so it will be interesting to watch that matchup next week.

Meh

Clayton Thorson

This was a pretty bad game for QB1. Thorson was picked off early, which ended up turning into a pick six. He ended up finishing the game with 3 picks compared to 2 touchdowns. To be fair, on the pick six the receiver fell down, and another pick was tipped The only reason he’s not in the bad column is because he made some pretty good throws and looked good at times. I think that the passing offense was much better this week compared to the last and Thorson does seem to be improving in that regard. If he can cut down on the picks and be a little more conservative on his passing the offense will be better. He’s been pretty boom or bust so far, either making Patrick Mahomes level throws under pressure or looking like Nathan Peterman other times.