Week 1 Preview

Birmingham at Orlando

The Fire had a wonderful season last year only to fall in the AFC Championship game to Mexico. The Fire have a great defense and under QB Joe Hamilton the offense was even more effective. Orlando are a team to watch this year, they have talent with QB Kliff Kingsbury and HB Dee Brown could be one to watch this year. They made changes on defense which is their weakness and the Thunder hope they can turn it around this year. Playing away is always difficult but Birmingham should do enough to get past an improved Orlando

Birmingham by 3

New York at Ohio

Tough AFC East clash for both teams. NY have a new GM and Philip Schofield will want to forget about his nightmare 0-14 record last year in Barcelona. They have tooled up well on offense, Phil Stambaugh has won his job back, DeMario Brown should be healthy but look out for Gerald Riggs Jnr who could win the job after training camp. At WR Matthew Hatchette was the best WR last year and this was one of the trades of the offseason. Ohio hope Jarrett Payton breaks out of his rut from last year but Mike Pawlawski might not be so lucky. The veteran QB is aging and despite a great season last year the fans are starting to call for John Navarre who looked very good last year. Ohio to win because of homefield but NY should be much improved this year.

Ohio by 3

San Antonio at Raleigh-Durham

The Skyhawks fell apart last year as their defense couldnt stop anyone. Offensively the Skyhawks were good even when Curtis Alexander went down with injury, Jackie Battle is one to watch in the future but their offensive line could be much better, it just might be after trading for two starters this offseason. Not picking up former Skyhawk WR Damon Savage could be a mistake. Defensively the Skyhawks have made some good moves which should improve their defense a lot. San Antonio went with some bold decisions last year, a rookie at HB, a new QB in Clint Stoener. If Deon Anderson has a great camp for the Riders he could be one to watch. Both teams will be battling for a wildcard spot and the Skyhawks will want to jump out early after last years nightmare. DE Charles Hill has been effective as a DE, T Alex Tuttle is a very good lineman and the trade with Austria for T Jon Dorenbos and LB Rikiya Ishida who had 93 tackles and 8 sacks last year is a great one. San Antonio have a lot of draft picks and could be a team to watch next season but this year their young players need experience. However after an impressive offseason Raleigh could bounce back.

Raleigh-Durham by 7

Sacramento at Montreal

On paper the Machine should win this, they had a quiet offseason but did get some luck by drafting HB Chrys Chukwuma who will be one to watch. Sacramento made some trades which were good but still have what seems like 78 defensive linemen on their roster. Their plan might to alternate them every week ? Drew Olsen is the new QB in town, Rob Adamson is a good QB but just didnt get enough wins. The blame should be on his rushing attack though as Kory Chapman and BJ Askew just arent getting the job done. Montreal should come out of this with an easy win but its going to be great experience for QB Drew Olsen this year.

Montreal by 10

Mexico at London

Two playoff teams from last year meet, Mexico made it to the FWL Bowl where they narrowly lost, London despite a great regular season once again fell straight away in the playoffs. Mexico were on fire late last year and QB JT O'Sullivan was playing the best football of his career. They had a quiet offseason but they didnt need to change much. London have talent on offense, they have a new speedy WR in Dan Sheldon who has always been a backup but gets his chance to start and TE Dan Curley gives QB Drew Henson another top target. Defensively the team have two new starters on their d-line, speedster DE Eric Powell has to come good. Their starting LB's are good but the depth is very thin and the same with the secondary. London could get the win as they are at home and have last years top rusher in Joe Hall and welcome back FB Ben Miller from injury.

London by 3

Frankfurt at Scotland

Huge EFC clash for these two teams. Frankfurt narrowly missed out on the playoffs last year, they traded most of their picks this season as they picked up several starters in trades. Scotland had a great year last season with QB Craig Nall and HB Sandino Octobre should be even better. The Claymores have had a very quiet offseason trade wise which is surprising but they have a talented squad. GM Ronnie Munro is very loyal to his players but he has to hope that loyalty will pay off. They are in a very tough division and need to win home games like this one. For the Galaxy they hope to return to playoff football.

Scotland by 3

Rhein at Paris

Two up and coming teams, last year Paris surprised everyone by going from 0-14 to a winning record and just missing out on the playoffs. The trade for HB Thunder Collins was a great one and for LB Steve Jasue but they have had a quiet offseason which has been worrying for the fans. Rheins GM has been very active this offseason picking up a whole host of new players, WR Peter Warrick should do well as a rookie and FA pickup WR Damon Savage has something to prove, specially to his ex Barcelona boss. Defensively the team have a very young set of LB's who will need a year or two to really get playing great football. QB Dave Ragone was a great pickup and two rookie safeties could start immediately. Rhein on paper are much improved from last year, theres still work to be done and Tony Hollings has to keep improving but they'll be a team to watch.

Paris by 3

Amsterdam at Barcelona

On paper this should be an easy win for Amsterdam who won the FWL Bowl last year. Theyve been very quiet in the offseason but again they dont have many holes to fill. Barcelona have been very very active, they had a huge amount of trades and draft picks and surely they cant be any worse than last years 0-14 team. They traded for Reshard Lee which was a great move, they have new young WR's and a possible new QB as Tony Romo was not sent to training camp. Defensively the team could be poor with so many rookie starters but again GM Ross Mather is building from the ground up and the Dragons could be one to watch in the future, for now though they'll be getting experience week in week out.

Amsterdam by 14

Berlin at Austria

New Austrian GM Jason Compton takes charge for his first game with Austria. Berlin were amazing last year and did a great job with a rookie QB and HB Avon Cobourne who was a one man highlight film. Berlin have made some changes in the offseason, Austria have made many. WR Matthew Hatchette and TE Ben Watson were surprisingly traded, Curt Anes should still win the starting job but one to watch is HB Jermaine Allen Jnr who was excellent late last year. Speedster WR Michael Jenkins should stretch any defense as his speed is amazing. Should be a great battle of two powerful EFC teams.

Austria by 3