ELF: Jim Tomsula & Rhein Fire look for bounce back win at Hamburg Sea Devils

| American Football | 06/30/2022

The previously undefeated Rhein Fire took their first loss of the season last week falling at home to the Barcelona Dragons. Now former San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Tomsula hopes to get his team back on track against a physical 3-1 Hamburg Sea Devils squad.

Special teams’ blunders and an offense that woke up just a bit too late led to the Rhein Fire’s first loss. Quarterback Matt Adam hopes to avoid turnovers as the run-first Rhein Fire needs to get back to winning football. This week, Adam and running back Jason Aguemon will need to create some big plays to penetrate an athletic Hamburg defense. If Adam can continue to hook up with veteran receiver Nathaniel Robitaille with consistency, it could be the key to scoring against one of the league’s top defenses.

Defensively, Jim Tomsula’s unit played well last week, forcing two turnovers against one of the league’s top passers. Now the focus shifts from stopping the league’s top quarterback, to slowing down the league’s best running back in Hamburg’s Glenn Toonga. Toogna leads the league in all rushing categories and has emerged as the workhorse for the Sea Devils offense. If defenders Martin Pinter, Lukas Ruoss, and Omari Williams can hold Toonga to under 100 yards, expect them to leave Hamburg with a victory.

Tomsula is sure to stack the box against a dangerous Sea Devils rushing attack. This should leave opportunities for Salieu Ceesay to be able to throw the ball with success. So far, the German passer has been hot and cold in the early part of the season, this week could be the one where he proves why he deserves to be QB1 in Hamburg.

However, this game will be won or lost in the trenches. The Rhein Fire’s strong offensive lineman led by Sven Breidenbach and Nick Wiens matches up against a physical and speedy Hamburg front seven featuring NFL veteran Kasim Edebali along with Evans Yeboah and Giovanni Nanguy. Whoever wins the line of scrimmage this week will likely be celebrating their fourth win of the season.

Alex is a former NCAA and semi-pro American football player who is now located in London, where he works in digital marketing. His goal in writing for AFI is to stay involved with the game that has given him so much. Alex enjoys covering leagues and