Double Coverage: UK American Football Blog: 16 May 2013

Double Coverage does the NFLPA Rookie Premiere

As we revealed earlier this evening, Double Coverage was invited by the NFLPA to the Rookie Premiere. The Rookie Premiere is an event where NFL rookies will have their pictures and autographs taken for Panini and Topps collectors stickers.

All DC Team: Defensive backs

The penultimate article on our All DC University team moves to the guys that do everything backwards. We had a real mixed bag to pick from with ball hawking free safeties to bone crunching strong safeties. Don't even get me started on trying to pick a lock down corner who never had the ball thrown his way over a corner who had a ton of interceptions!

Life as a DB in the UK can be tough with hardly any teams passing the ball around, so kudos to all

Corner backs

First Team All DC

AJ Crabbe - Birmingham Lions

Big time players, step up in big time games c/o Biff Crabbe

A blast from the past as a corner from last years first team makes into into the first team once more. Crabbe has been a cornerstone of a very strong Birmingham Lions secondary that held Derby, Stirling and Hertfordshire's impressive passing offences almost scoreless.

Aaron Olabegi - Hertfordshire Hurricanes

Dramatic...

One of the best DB's in one of the best DB units in the country, Olabegi is more than deserving of his place in the first team.

All DC Second Team

Joe Parsons - Loughborough

Josh Thompson - BNU Buccaneers

Safety

All DC First Team

Stefan Rivera - Hertfordshire Hurricanes

Shoelace catch/fumble recovery in the final c/o Biff Crabbe

It's tough to leave out players from Hertfordshire or Birmingham, especially when you look at the quality on both teams. However it wasn't difficult at all to include Stefan in this list. A big hitting safety with an eye for making key plays and came up huge in the final with a fumble recovery (as well as some superb punting).

Matt Doherty Portsmouth Destroyers

100lb baller indeed

Normally most people would be happy with a single nickname. However when you have 44 tackles, 10 interceptions, 2 fumble rec and one touchdown (from a blocked field goal) you draw that extra attention and end up with hashtags like #100poundballer, #ABuck05WhenWet or #GingerNinja.

All DC Second Team

Liam Reynolds - NTU Renegades

David Collis - Southampton Stags

Berkshire Renegades vs. Bristol Aztecs Game Report

Offensive MVP – Sam O’Brien – Photo Courtesy of Simon Wardle

The Berkshire Renegades 2013 Premier Season campaign kicked off at the weekend as they travelled to West Country rivals Bristol Aztecs. Lydney RFC was the venue for the first game of the season and under blustery conditions the Renegades kicked off to the Aztecs to put the defence on the field.

The Aztecs put the ball in the hands of veteran running back Kenny Saro driving to the 20 yard line before the Renegades defence held firm. They opted for a field goal which was blocked by #56 Sam Smith.

Starting on their own 2 yard line, the Renegades offense started off their first drive with strong running by running back Sam O’Brien taking the team to the 27 yard line before punting the ball deep into Aztec territory.

Friday 17th May

AFC Rangers @ Raiffeisen Vikings - 17:00 GMT

The leagues best and only undefeated team takes to the road to take on the leagues worst and only winless side, there's only ever going to be one winner here. When you look at the stats and see that the Raiffeisen Vikings are averaging 41.5 points per games whilst the AFC Rangers defence are conceding 47.8 points per game, you know the outcome isn't going to be pretty.

Anyone who has kept tabs on the AFL throughout the season will know that the Vikings' offence will rip through the weak Ranger defence both on the ground and through the air as Christopher Gross is going to have the pick of his receivers and will face little resistance from the Ranger secondary. When the Rangers have the ball, as always it will be down to Craig Maynard to produce the points, and unlike last week where I could have seen him having a good day against a weak Prague Black Panther defence, I don't think he has a chance against the leagues best defence. If you wanted to bet on a sure thing, this is the matchup to put your money on.

Prediction: The Vikings by 54-0. I would predict more, but I feel as if the backups will come in very early.

Saturday 18th May

Prague Black Panthers @ JCL Graz Giants - 14:00 GMT

The Black Panthers registered their first win last weekend against the hapless Rangers, but now they run into one of the leagues better teams in the JCL Graz Giants. The Giants on the other hand, are coming off of a big loss to the Swarco Raiders in a result that probably shocked the league a little in just how big of a margin there was between the two sides.

The Giants will count themselves somewhat lucky in being able to face one of the leagues two teams that are more than likely going to provide an easy win in the Black Panthers. The first league meeting between these two was a 23-7 win for the Giants and despite the fact that the Black Panthers had a little success shutting down Alex Good, there problem was that they clearly couldn't put enough points on the board to take advantage of this.

The more that teams see the Black Panther offence, the easier it has become to defend over the season and I don't see this result going any other way than in the Giants favour as the team from Graz will utilise their option attack and the legs of Good to carry them to a win.

Prediction: Giants win 33-14.

Danube Dragons @ Swarco Raiders - 16:00 GMT

If there is a chance of a upset this weekend, this is the game to look to as the unpredictable but potent Danube Dragon offence will attempt to take down the leagues second hottest team right now in the Raiders.

The Dragons' last two played games have both come agains the league leading Vikings and have had their offence completely neutered on both occasions, putting some doubt in my mind about what their team can put together when faced with a well prepared and motivated team.

Danube quarterback Jonathan Dally needs to put up a big performance to get his team over the hump.
© Kellner Holly Thomas/Gridiron Photography

The Raiders have been on a tear in recent weeks have shown no mercy towards the Rangers, Panther and Giants in games that finally showed what their offence is capable of producing. Kyle Callahan has been in sensational form at the quarterback position and with the help of running back Andreas Hofbauer the Raiders offence has looked in fine form.

Every time I preview a big game for the Dragons I write that for the team to have a chance, Jonathan Dally needs to have big game to take the pressure off of Tunde Ogun, and so far Dally has been a non-factor in big games. Every team knows that Ogun is the man to shut down when the Dragons take the field and so the only way for the Danube team to start producing results on the big stage is to have both players on song. The Raiders still have some question marks surrounding the play of their secondary and so if there was ever a week for Dally and Ogun to have a big game in conjunction with each other against a top team, this could be the week.

Prediction: The Dragons will manage to put up a couple of scores early to keep pace with the Raiders, but finally the team in black will pull away and record a 48-21 victory.

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Thursday, 16 May 2013