ELF: No major surprises among final offensive stats leaders

With the European League of Football semifinals set for this weekend, a look at the final offensive stats leaders presents an almost predictable yet still intriguing picture.

Although the top passer in the ELF, and top WR, were unsurprisingly from the same team, the playoff-bound Barcelona Dragons, the top passing team in the league was in fact the Cologne Centurions who finished out of the playoffs. However, the top rushing team, the Hamburg Sea Devils, did have the league’s best rusher and are also in the league semifinals.

Otherwise, no team dominated the offensive leaderboards with the Dragons, Centurions, Vienna Vikings, Wroclaw Panthers and Rhein Fire each having two players among the top 15. The Tirol Raiders, Frankfurt Galaxy, Hamburg Sea Devils, Berlin Thunder and Leipzig Kings all had one representative while two teams – the Stuttgart Surge and Istanbul Rams – did not have a player on these lists.

Passing

Barcelona Dragons QB Zach Edwards proved that he is one of the reasons for the Dragons major improvement over last season as he led the league in passing pretty much all season. He finished with 3,325 yards and 36 TDs. Not far behind is veteran Sean Shelton of the Tirol Raiders who threw for 3,135 yards and 31 TDs while Cologne Centurions QB Jan Weinreich comes in 3rd with 3,128 yards. Jakeb Sullivan had an excellent season with the Frankfurt Galaxy despite the fact that the defending champs did not make the playoffs, throwing for 2,930 yards and 31 TDs. Finally, Jackson Erdmann of the Vienna Vikings threw for 2,849 yards, good for 5th on the list.

Hamburg Sea Devils RB Glen Toonga has exploded on the ELF this season and has led the league in rushing for almost the entire year, finishing with 257 carries for 1,468 yards and a league-best 21 TDs. He led the league with a 122.33 yards per game average. Finishing in 2nd is Jocques Crawford from the Berlin Thunder who rushed 242 times for 1,088 yards while Vienna Vikings RB Anton Wegan wound up 3rd. He had 116 carries for 731 yards. In 4th is Dawid Brzozowski from the Wroclaw Panthers who had 580 yards rushing on 124 carries while the Rhein Fire’s Daniel Rennich ended up 5th after rushing for 551 yards.

Not surprisingly, the Barcelona Dragons WR Kyle Sweet led all receivers with 115 receptions for 1,561 yards and 17 receiving TDs following a banner year from his quarterback Zach Edwards. Nathaniel Robitaille from the Rhein Fire also had an excellent season with 62 catches for 1,183 yards and 14 TDs. Wroclaw Panthers top WR Malik Stanley had 87 receptions for 1,099 yards and 12 TDs while Quinten Pounds of the Cologne Centurions caught 86 passes for 1,009 yards and 13 scores. Rounding up the Top 5 is Leipzig Kings WR Seantavius Jones who had 1,008 yards receiving on 61 catches.

Interestingly, Istanbul Rams WR Terryon Robinson, who only played in six games, wound up 7th overall with 829 yards receiving on 39 catches but actually led the league in yards per game with 138.17.