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Week 1
Admirals @ Fire 20-24
By: Velcro & TonVAs always: clicking on the thumbnails will open a larger version. Many thanks to DrAtomic for some excellent images.
For an explanation of the shovel rating system, head here. For some gameday pictures, see the DrAtomic travel report.
by Velcro
Impressions
It's week 1 and it's a new season. Everything to play for again and hopefully we get a chance to play in the World Bowl for only the second time in our history. This was coach Bart Andrus's first game in charge of the Admirals and he was taking us to his former team - Rhein Fire.
Offense
The offense played pretty well for most of the day, except for one thing: 4 fumbles and four times we lost the ball. It all started on the very first play from scrimmage where Spergon Wynn dropped back to pass and was sacked from the blind side forcing the first of the three fumbles he would give away on the night. The biggest fumble though was by RB Spencer George who fumbled the ball on the Fire 15 with the clock ticking down and with our chance to win game disappearing.
The passing game looked sharp from the beginning, and unlike the last couple of years we have receivers and the QB on the same page of the book for pretty much the whole game. The offense used several different looks featuring two tight end sets (my favorite! -TonV) and then three wideouts on one side and a TE on the other. The team racked up pretty good yardage and I was fairly happy with the blocking up front. The times we lost yardage on the ground though was running over the weak right side. ( For those of you who don't know the football formation normally has a strong side and a weak side. The weak side is the side with no tight end. And yes this does mean that a two tight end set has two strong sides. ) A total of 87 yards at 5.1 a carry is pretty good, especially as this is often the trickiest part of the play here in Europe. (Checking the other games, it seems that everyone got a pretty good average running the ball in week 1 this season, so perhaps we are in for a change this year -TonV)
Checking the stats I see that Wynn completed 24 of 36 for 226 yards and a touchdown. He completed passes to 8 different receivers which is good as then the opposition cannot always focus on one guy. Like I said earlier the only problem that Wynn had was his fumbling, but I'm sure that this week was a one off.
Pass Offense gets 3 shovels and the Run Offense ranks up there with a 4. Well done guys!
(For an explanation of the shovel rating system, head here)
Defense
It must be devilishly hard to get the opening kickoff and then be on the field for the second play of te game as a defense, but these guys did well the whole game to deal with the shortened field that the fumbles left them to defend. They did a pretty good job of keeping pressure on Gio Carmazzi, the Fire QB who at times was surviving by his wits alone as the defense came flooking for him time and time again. The only way Carmazzi really hurt us was on roll outs to the right side where he would tuck the ball away and run. He ran a total of nine times for 25 yards - which was also the number of passes he completed. When you add in the two interceptions, one by Al Rice who looked good out on the Left Linebacker spot.
The Fire, as always are a power running teams and 149 yards in 33 attempts showed that determination again. Pearson is a class RB in this NFL Europe League and we did well in the front 7 to contain him to 79 yards - although 6 yards a carry for an RB is too many.
The defense was good at pressuring all day and if the Defense plays this way all year then we absolutely have a shot at winning the WB. Power, drive and determination are all big factors in the Defense and week one earns this unit a big 4 shovels.
Special Teams
Now the bad news. Always under Al Luginbill we had consistently the best special teams in the league. Now our special teams were anything but special. We are not a bad special teams group, but no one stood out as a play maker. Jason Malecki looked good in warm ups, but he left his leg on the sidelines when he came on to punt in the game. 39 yard average is okay, but the hang times were poor. That said the Fire got no return yards on the punts anyway so maybe I'm just being picky. 39 yards total on 2 punt returns gives us hope that Clarence Williams can become the next Special Teams star. He picked up 91 yards on Kick Off returns as well, but I don't think he was ever going to break a big one. Field Goal kicking and Extra Point Attempts were all pretty routine for both teams, although I'd hate to be a Fire fan with Burgsmuller kicking extra points. Even now he looks like he could miss them all day if he was put under some pressure.
I'll give all the special teams a three, except Jason Maleki, who gets a 2 this week. Jason - punt like you did in warmups and you'll be on a 4 easily.
Coaching
A head coaching debut is always a special time, and against your old team it has to be extra special. Bart Andrus did a good job in having a team prepared to play against the Fire. Sometimes fumbles happen, but as long as they don't happen again then it won't be a problem. The gameplans and the playcalling were sound on both sides of the ball and we didn't see the flurry of penalties that usually accompany game 1 which I think shows that the coach has a well prepared team.
Unfortunately coaches live and die with there results so Bart and his staff get a 3 this week. Lets hope that they get fives every other week of the season.
Fans
Fire in Dusseldorf is traditionally the game where we do best in terms of the travelling support. However when I enquired at the pub after the game what the noise we made was like, the answer was, "what noise?". As an away fan you have to make enough noise to be noticed, having been one of three in Barcelona once I now that this can be hard work but it really does help the Defense when you can put their Offense off. Words to the drummers though, don't bang away when the Offense is on the field. If the Fire want to make noise let them, but don't help them.
Last thing, there is a good after match party scene in Dusseldorf and the fans there would really like to see more Admirals stay around after the game and party. By then end of the night I was the only Admirals fan left - even the redoubtable TonV had to give up before the end. That wasn't anything to do with your Girlfriend now was it Ton. (Uhm... it was the cold. That was it. Definitely. - TonV)
Brief impression on the not so important games
by TonV
Right, I will attempt to give the sketchiest of impressions I got from the other two games this week. Obviously, I wasnīt present, so donīt expect the same kind of quality that Velcro produced.
Galaxy @ Claymores
The purple pack appear to have blown it big time. They started almost exactly like we did, by getting a punt blocked and it turning into a touchdown. If you make mistakes like that, it is going to be a very difficult night. The Galaxy seem to have had the better of the day, outgaining the Claymores by almost 2 yards for every Scottish yard! They look especially potent on the passing front with qb Bishop a big threat. The Claymores had to punt a massive seven times so if the Admirals can eliminate the fumbles for next week, I would rate our chances pretty good against the Scots. An important thing to mention was the crowd: 16K for the Claymores is very good!
Dragons @ Berlin
This seemed to have been a fairly even affair. With the exception of the Spanish running game. If they keep up the run like they did last weekend, they can pretty much lay back every game and toss in the occasional pass. This team could be a contender for the world bowl. Although week 1 is ridiculously early to make these kinds of predictions, but what the heck.
Week 1 pictures by DrAtomic.