AFL Week 9 Review

Raiffeisen Vikings 48 - Prague Black Panthers 23

The Vikings secured home field advantage for the semi-final round of the playoffs with a fairly straightforward and expected win over the Black Panthers who still have an outside chance of actually making it into the playoffs despite the fact they only have one win with seven losses.

As predicted the Vikings kept things on the ground with their offence as Jesse Lewis put together a 123 yard and two touchdown performance against the Black Panthers very average defence. Christopher Gross had a very easy and relaxed day getting to take the weight off in the third quarter after throwing for 170 yards and two touchdowns himself.

With home field advantage wrapped up it's time for the worm!
© Kellner Holly Thomas/Gridiron Photography

At no point was the score close or the result ever in doubt as the Vikings outscored the Black Panthers 21-0 in the second quarter to kill the game off, and it was only in the fourth quarter that the Black Panther managed to put up 14 garbage time points through runs or 2 and 31 yards by Visek and Synacek respectively. At the end of the day it was mission accomplished by the undefeated Vikings.

Prediction: Correct, the Vikings put up the expected 40 points whilst the Black Panthers only managed to exceed my predicted points total through throw away scores.

JCL Graz Giants 41 - AFC Rangers 0

What can I write about this game? As expected the Giants totally dominated the hapless Rangers who surprisingly put up even less resistance than usual and didn't even manage to break the goose egg on the scoreboard.

© Florian Schellhorn from www.footballpics.info

The most surprising outcome of this game was that the Giants dominated on offence with Alex Good getting a very early rest on the bench after only two passes for 87 yards and a touchdown which just goes to show how bad the Rangers are at this point in the season. The rest of the heavy lifting on offence was taken care off by Christopher Gubisch who actually started the game and impressed with three rushes for 73 yards to go along with three passing touchdowns and 111 yards, not bad for a backup.

Before the game I sarcastically predicted the the Rangers perhaps had a little more time to install some trick plays to enable Craig Maynard to get some cheap scores on the Giants but in reality whatever they did over the break wasn't productive as Maynard threw four interceptions and accounted for all but six yards from the Ranger offence as per usual no one stepped up on offence to help out the embattled quarterback. Let's quickly move onto the next game.

Prediction: Nailed the Giants total amount of points but was a little to nice to the Rangers offence by predicted them 13 points that they were no where near scoring.

SWARCO Raiders 45 - Danube Dragons 31

The weekend's premier matchup did not fail to deliver as both the Dragons and the Raiders put on a good show for the crowd in Innsbruck. The score reflected much more favorably on the Dragons actual talents on offence in comparison to the poor showing they gave against the Raiders last time out but once again they fell short.

The Raiders really put on a offensive masterclass again this week with Callahan tossing three touchdowns to go along with a 33-yard rushing score by Hofbauer and a crowd pleasing 65 yard punt return by new star Taylor - Spears which opened up the scoring. As predicted Taylor - Spears played a bigger role in the Raider offence this week by not only hauling in a 55-yard touchdown catch but also being used as a decoy to open up passing and running lanes for his teammates. Definitely a player to keep your eye on in the Raiders next tussle against the Vikings.

No words needed.
© Florian Schellhorn from www.footballpics.info

The Dragons coaching staff obviously read my preview (probably not) and decided to hand the ball off  to star player Tunde Ogun early and foten, who had a much bigger impact this time around with a 84 yard performance and a touchdown to actually give the Dragon offence a bit of dynamism. Not only did making Ogun a consistent threat on the ground open up the scoreboard for the Dragons, but it also had the unbelievable effect of opening up the passing game for Jonathan Dally and Thomas Haider which was also a complete turnaround from their previous performances. The Dragons have shown that offensively they can keep up with the top two, but to beat the Raiders and Vikings, it's all about putting together a complete performance.

Prediction: Outcome went as expected, but I underestimate the amount of points these two teams could put together.

Player of the Week

Jesse Lewis, #28 Running Back, Raiffeisen Vikings.

Jesse Lewis. First winner of Double Coverages AFL Player of the Week.
© Kellner Holly Thomas/Gridiron Photography

Lewis put in a fantastic performance this week with a total offensive output of 138 yards on offence for the Vikings. His two first half touchdowns really allowed for the Vikings to rotate their backups in early and put away the Black Panthers.