With the advent of the modern football passing attack, the idea of shutdown defense has become a thing of the past.
Quarterbacks are too efficient and playmakers too explosive to hope to shut them out entirely over the duration of the game. Instead, defenses must efficiently counter-punch and create big plays of their own through takeaways.
In the European League of Football, nobody was better at that than Frankfurt Galaxy safety Joshua Poznanski.
Poznanski became the first European born player to be named the MVP of the Week in the new league after a pair of pick sixs in Week 9 against the Wroclaw Panthers, but his impact on the defense of the eventual ELF champions went far beyond one game. That made him an easy choice to be selected as our AFI All-Europe safety.
The 6’2″, 205-pound ballhawk was an integral part of the league’s best secondary, helping Frankfurt finish first in total defense and tops in turnover margin. The Galaxy had several players among the ELF’s interception leaders, but nobody in the league topped Poznanski’s five picks or his pair of house calls.
Poznanski’s success driving on underneath routes for takeaways and his ability to provide assistance over the top so the Galaxy’s talented corners could play aggressive was a key factor in their 11 straight wins to end the year and their stunning championship victory. The 25-year-old is still improving after years of success with the Frankfurt Universe and has firmly entrenched himself as one of Europe’s very best.