Championship Games Preview

Its been a long hard season, just 4 teams are left in the playoffs. Who will be the teams in FWL Bowl XV Huh

AFC Championship

San Antonio Riders at Birmingham Fire

Both teams are surprises to be here, both teams were 8-6 in the regular season, Birmingham defeated the Riders in Week 14 so they now hold the homefield advantage. The Riders took that game easily in Week 14 as they were already in the playoffs whereas Birmingham had to win, the result is now huge as the Fire host the game.

Birmingham have the 2nd ranked offense and the 14th ranked defense. The defense have allowed a lot of yards but thats mainly due to a lot of bad injuries, they are missing star LB Chris Brown and now DT Brian Ray on defense. On offense the team have a great rushing attack featuring Lee ReShard and Clarence Williams and Seth Burford is having a great game at QB, he did miss half the Wildcard game but came back strong in the second half to lead the Fire to victory.

For the Riders the last few years have had many upsets in the playoffs, this year they started strong then nosedived, the fans werent happy with the trade of Curtis Alexander, even more so when Thunder Collins was playing poorly and then was injured and played even worse. However the Riders seem to be back on track and played a great game against the Knights last week in the upset win. Their offense is ranked 4th and their defense 10th. QB Michael Bishop is one of the best QB's the last 5 seasons and when hes on fire the Riders are always in with a shout. They are on the whole injury free and the team feel this could be their chance to get to the final after seeing arch rivals Montreal lose.

Birmingham do have homefield advantage, but they are just 4-3 at home this year however the Riders are 4-3 on the road in the regular season.

Too close to decide

EFC Championship

Austria DarkKnights at Amsterdam Admirals

Last year and estimated 5% of the population in Amsterdam were 'ill' the following Monday after the playoff game in which Amsterdam led 19-0 at the half but lost 20-19 as Curt Anes threw a last second touchdown strike to win the game. The fans love their football in Amsterdam but the heartache of last years loss was painful for all the fans.

This year Amsterdam were the best team in the league, they were 13-1, a record only achieved 3 times previously in the 15 year seasons of the FWL but the last few weeks Amsterdam have had some bad injuries, they lost star HB Jeronimo Huerta yet again with injury and hes gone for the year and now this week DT Clint Mitchell who just missed being named All-FWL and who had 12 sacks was injured and gone for the year.

Who do they face this year in the EFC Championship game ? Austria ! It should be a great clash, last year controversial smack talking GM Mario Kreiner was criticised late in the year for putting in backups and even signing a FA QB and starting him late in the year. It seemed to backfire as Austria were shocked in the EFC Championship game by Frankfurt. This year can they do the 'shocking' ? Austrias decision to bench starters in Week 14 looks now to be a good one as the players who started after the one week layoff had great games. The Austrian secondary who has 3 All-FWL players was brilliant last week against Scotland thanks to resting some of the players.

Austria have just the 11th ranked offense this year despite a ton of stars, HB Ken Simonton was meant to be the final piece of the puzzle, he had a good game against the tough Claymores defense in the Wildcard game but still hasnt put up many big games for Austria. Despite some early ints in the season QB Curt Anes came out throwing late in the year and played very well and was named All-FWL. A conservative gameplan earlier in the year hurt the DarkKnights but the last few weeks theyve been bouncing back with some big plays. Defensively the team have the 2nd best defense and are playing great solid football.

Amsterdam have the 3rd ranked offense and the top ranked defense this year but the loss of DT Mitchell will hurt. HB Joe Smith hasnt been that explosive since taking over from Huerta and he needs to have a big game. The defense has won many games this year for Amsterdam, the offense needs to get more points on the board after scoring just one touchdown in regulation against Frankfurt.

It should be a great game, two great offenses and two great defenses, could be high scoring or very low scoring. Whoever wins will be the home team in FWL Bowl XV which is a great advantage. Amsterdam are 6-1 at home this year, their only defeat a close loss to Montreal, Austria havent been great on the road and are just 4-3 after being 6-1 at home.

Amsterdam get the slight advantage as they are the home team.