FWL Bowl XVIII Preview

Amsterdam Admirals (9-5) at Mexico Aztecs (10-4)

Two evenly matched teams meet in the 18th FWL Bowl. Amsterdam were there last year but lost to Montreal but are a different team led by a different QB than last year. Mexico have been playing perfect football the last few weeks and their passing game is very effective, should be a great match.

Amsterdam have a methodical offense with a great rushing attack and a promising passing attack led by QB BJ Symons who took over from Joe Hamilton this year. Symons threw for only 14 td's but rarely makes mistakes and has played superb football lately. HB Joe Smith was amazing last year but hasnt been 100% since coming back from injury and has been a shadow of his former self. Mexico have been on fire lately particularly QB JT O'Sullivan who has been excellent the last two playoff games. The Aztecs have the best defense against the run forcing other teams to pass, as rushing is Amsterdams strength compared to passing this should be an interesting matchup to watch. Amsterdam will miss CB Jordan Younger badly and the Aztecs secondary has been much improved since trading for Monarchs CB Devon Harper. Harper also spent two years with Amsterdam and knows their system well. HB Eric McCoo became the first person the year before to have 1000 yards rushing and 1000 yards receiving in the same season. This year he has missed some games with injury but McCoo is one of the best all round backs in the game and this year and this year had over 700 yards rushing and over 600 receiving scoring 15 touchdowns combined.

Aztecs K Joe O'Donnell has had a poor year with just 65% of his kicks made and will be under pressure to play well. The Admirals have one of the best in K Todd France who had the most FG's this year with 24. The Admirals have a lot of playoff experience having been go the playoffs for the last 7 seasons. Many Admiral starters have been with the team for a long time and have played in their previous two FWL Bowl losses. These players wont want to go to a third final and come back without a ring.

Both GM's have been in the FWL for many years. The Aztecs have only made the FWL Bowl once, losing in FWL Bowl III 15 years ago. Amsterdam are on their most successful run of their history lately and two straight FWL Bowls is very impressive. However they dont want to go down in history for being the first team to lose two straight ! After not making the playoffs for the first 11 years of their history the Admirals have been 7 straight years and have been to the FWL Bowl 3 times. They lost twice previously both times to Montreal and must be thankful they wont be facing Montreal again.

Mexico were 6-1 at home this year and have won 6 straight at home including the playoffs. Amsterdam are just 3-4 on the road in the regular season but 2-0 in the playoffs.

Who will win ? On current form Amsterdams defense has been awesome shutting down opposing passing attacks and rushing attacks but they will miss CB Jordan Younger badly. They dont have much speed in the secondary outside of their starters so look for CB Randy Chappell to make a surprise start as the other CB's on paper seem to slow.

Mexico are injury free and are at their peak, QB JT O'Sullivan is on fire and is playing so well in Mexicos offense. They have dangerous WR's, even more so with CB Jordan Younger out injured.

Tough one to call, Mexico gets the edge as they are at home but if Amsterdams defense can disrupt them as they have done with London and Berlin in recent weeks the Admirals could win this one. For Amsterdam to win they need HB Joe Smith to burst out and have a great game, against the top rush defense that will be too much to ask.

Mexico by 3