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Preview: BIG6 Europe – Germans & Austrians Clash Once Again!

Dresden, Vienna, Berlin, and Innsbruck all battle to lock-up two Eurobowl spots!

If you enjoyed the European Championship finale on Saturday between rivals Germany and Austria, well don’t worry, American Football in Europe has more in store for you!

The BIG6 or EFL is the newest competition for top American Football club teams on the continent where the top Austrian, German, and Swiss club teams face one another. Participation is only by invitation from the European American Football Federation (EFAF). The teams are set in two groups with two games played each each opponent in the group. Every team plays one game at home and one on the road. The winners of each group qualify for the prestigious Eurobowl XXVIII on July 19th.

The teams participating in Group A are the two finalists of the German Football League (GFL) in 2013 (Dresden Monarchs and New Yorker Braunschweig Lions) and the reigning Austrian Champion and Eurobowl Champion (Raiffeisen Vienna Vikings).

The teams participating in Group B are the runners-up of Austrian Bowl and Eurobowl 2014 (Swarco Tirol Raiders), the Swiss champion (Calanda Broncos) and one of the big historic teams of the German Football League (Berlin Adler).

You can more get information at www.big6.eu or www.eurobowl.info or www.efaf.info.

Since the BIG 6 is a competition between club teams and with many import players on all teams competing this weekend, I’m not sure you should like it to a time for revenge for the  Austrians. But it is the top level of American Football in Europe, so it should be two intense battles, all the way to the end, just like the European Championship Finale.

SWARCO RAIDERS V.  BERLIN ADLER

On Saturday at 8 p.m. CET, 2 p.m. EST, the Swarco Tirol Raiders will host the Berlin Adler at Tivoli Stadium in Innsbruck. As usual, the game will be broadcasted live on www.raiderstv.at.

Both teams have easily defeated the Swiss Calanda Broncos in their first games, so the day’s mission simple: The winner goes to the Eurobowl!

The Raiders and Adler are no stranger to one another. Before taking the job in Innsbruck, Shuan Fatah was the head coach of the Adler, leading them to their first ever Eurobowl title in 2010. A season later, both teams met in Eurobowl finale  and the Raiders won 27-12. Also, superstar ex-NFL DB/RB #5, Talib Wise, played many years for coach Fatah in Berlin and Tirol, before heading back this season to the Adler.

The 6 time national champions, Berlin Adler, are 2-1 this season in the GFL and 1-0 in BIG6/EFL. Former NFL Europe player Kim Kuci, coming from the crosstown rival Berlin Rebels, is their new Head Coach. He brought with him American veteran dual threat #1 QB Darius Outlaw. His main two targets are American WR #4 Conrad Meadows (3rd season in Berlin) and national team WR #23 Danilo Naranjo-Gonzalez. RB #3 Björn Dreier is tough inside runner, but look for DB/RB #5 Talib Wise, who usually plays mostly safety on defense, to be more involved in the offensive game plan against his former team.

Defensively, the Berliners are led by one of the best middle linebackers in Europe, national team player #40 Mario Nowak. He plays behind two powerful imports on the defensive line,  American DE #44 Rory Johnson and Frenchman DT #95  Mamadou Sy. Berlin’s defense is not overly talented but usually plays great as a team. They will have a tough challenge though to try to slow down the Raiders offense.

After a rough loss against the Raiffeisen Vienna Vikings (41-14)  in the Austrian Football League (AFL) opener, the three time Eurobowl & Austrian champion Swarco Tirol Raiders have been on a roll with a six game winning streak. Nevertheless the club from Innsbruck has’t won a championship since 2011 and the pressure is on them this season.

American QB John Van Den Raadt and the Raider offense has been improving week after week. Their young Austrian wide receiver crew has been spectacular in the last few games with #3 Tarneller, #5 Platzhgummer, #83 Willi, #84 Erlsbacher and #85 Ebner. In the running game, we will have to see if star RB #29 Andreas Hofbauer had enough time to rest after carrying the ball with 33 times last Wednesday for Austria against France and 24 times again on Saturday against Germany in the Championship Final.

The defense of coach Fatah is young and has struggled at times, with 51 points allowed versus Graz Giants and 62 in their last game vs Prague Black Panthers (both wins). However, long time starters LB #2 Florian Hueter and DB #21 Markus Kraus are still productive.

The Raiders will bring in three additional American players for European games : WR #6 Kyle Callahan (former Adler and Raiders QB), ex-NFL DB/RB #1 DJ Wolfe and DT#99 Brandon Collier. Look for Wolfe to give Hofbauer a breather, but his main task may be to cover the Adler American WR.

After four weeks without a game due to the European Championship in Vienna, it will be interesting to see which team managed their break the best. The Raiders had seven players in Vienna and while the Alder only four. A win never comes easy in Tivoli. Berlin will be the underdog and will probably have to score a bunch of points offensively to have a chance.

RAIFFEISEN VIENNA VIKINGS V. DRESDEN MONARCHS

The Dresden Monarchs travel on Sunday to Vienna to play the reigning Eurobowl Champions, the Raiffeisen Vikings. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. CET, 9 a.m. EST at Hohe Warte Stadium.

With Braunschweig beating Dresden (17-10) and Vienna beating Braunschweig (14-13), Vikings control their destiny: if they win they are in and earn a chance to defend their Eurobowl title. However, if they lose they are out.

Now if Dresden wins, it is not that easy, …it is actually a headache. Hang in there and try to follow me:

So, long story short, if the final score in Vienna is 20-07 for Dresden, we will have a coin toss to decide who goes to Eurobowl finale. And you thought European American Football was easy, didn’t you?

After a rough start and two losses against two very good teams (Kiel and Braunschweig), the Monarchs bounced back with two consecutive wins, particularly in their last game against the Berlin Adler (in a mud fest). Dresden is led by new Head Coach John Leijten (a former LB coach for Amsterdan Admirals in NFL Europe).

Offensively, watch out for the best American RB in Europe, #4 Trevar Deed. Last season in the GFL (17 games), he ran for a staggering 3,623 yards and 53 touchdowns! That is 213 yards per game and 9.3 yards per carry! In big games, the Monarchs are not scared to feed him the ball 40 times. After 4 games this season, he is averaging “only” 160 yards per game behind national team FB #44 Ivo Schönbernet and a monster offensive line. You can not miss Polish LT #72 Babatunde Aiyegbusi, who stands at 2.08 meters (6’8″) and 155 kilos (340 lbs)! But if you think Dresden is just a running team then you make a big time mistake. Veteran American QB #12 Jeff Welsh is one of the best pocket passers in Europe and he has two quality wide receivers in Frenchman #11 Guillaume Rioux and German national player #80 Jan Hilgenfeldt (who burned the Vikings DBs for 124 yards last week with Team Germany).

Monarchs use up to seven imports on defense, Australian, Swiss, Polish, French, American, it is getting hard to keep track. It will for sure not sit really well with the Austrian medias and Vikings fans, but it is part of the game at the European level and it is de facto a solid unit. American LB #2 Vercher Sherman anchors the front seven and Frenchman DB #24 Sébastien Sejean patrols the deep middle field.

It has been a difficult season for the Wikinger, after their dream undefeated season last year, with the retirement of a few key players and a lots of injuries. Back to back losses against Innsbruck and Graz, made some people wonder if the Vikings are still on top of their game. But they are standing, fighting and don’t count them out.

Offense is led by QB #8 Chris Gross needs to find his magic again. Ex-Florida Gators RB #1 Emmanuel Moody has been a force when healthy. No doubt the long break was beneficial for him. But the loss of team captain LT #79 Valentin Gruber against Braunschweig has been a disaster for the Vikes OL. WR #6 Laurinho Walcho will challenge the German defensive backfield with his speed and 2 meters tall (6’5″) TE #11 Manuel Thaller has been a really nice surprise this season.

Vikings defense has been a force for many years, especially against the run. It will be a very interesting match up against the Dresden powerful running game. They have to make them to be one dimensional.

One key of the game might be how mentally rested are some the Viennese players? Vienna had no less than 20 players on the Austrian national team. Not easy to have such a heartbreaking loss on Saturday night and then switch quickly your focus on a new goal with your club team. Physically it will also be a challenge after playing 3 games in a week. On the other side, Dresden had only 4 players at the European Championship (2 Germans and 2 French), so most of the team will be for sure fresh. If Dresden manage to have a great start, anything is possible.

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