The Orlando Predators were not a good defensive team last year. They gave up the most passing yards in the Arena Football League. The trademark “Keefe-nse” of head coach Rob Keefe was not something he would want his name attached to.
The Predators needed to get more interceptions and get more pressure on the quarterback. The team tried to address those issues by recruiting defensive players throughout the league hard and bringing in some impact players.
They paid immediate dividends in the Predators’ first game of the season.
In the first period, the Predators got a big stop when new signee Varmah Sonie broke up a pass in the end zone. The Predators scored and got some breathing room with a two-score lead. Then the defense took over.
The defensive linemen got after quarterback Adam Kennedy and he would go four and out inside the 10-yard line. The Predators ran a sweep a few plays later and scored a touchdown.
That was a three score difference and the Predators were not going to let go, pouring it on the rest of the way with a defense that forced two interceptions and set up 21 straight points for the Predators in a 76-25 win over the Tampa Bay Storm at Amalie Arena on Friday.
Orlando had it all and dominated their intrastate rivals.
Randy Hippeard threw for 241 yards and six touchdowns on 20-for-30 passing. After some moments of hesitation in the first quarter, he found a lot of comfort and picked apart the Storm defense.
It did not hurt having wide receiver Gregg Carr around. Carr scored two first-quarter touchdowns and finished with seven catches, 113 yards and four touchdowns. His third touchdown he simply outleaped a smaller cornerback in the corner of the end zone. It was a symbol of how the Predators overpowered the Storm throughout the game.
Paul Stephens got the Predators’ first defensive touchdown in the third quarter, cementing the defense’s stellar performance.
Arena Football games usually come down to stops and turnovers. The offenses can be so good and so efficient getting into the end zone and scoring these moments matter.
That was the bad taste left to the Predators after last year’s Playoff defeat.
In the first game, the defense stepped up and got those stops, giving the offense all the time and space to work and score. That is something this Predators team can do and do extremely well.
