France’s Top Teams, Players Through Week 5
[tps_title]Top Defense [/tps_title]
Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône Cougars (1st) (4-1-0)
If the Seattle Seahawks have their Legion of Boom, the Cougars are not far behind. They are the only unbeaten team in the Elite league, and Xavier Mas‘s club owes its first place to its hyper aggressive defense.
Although it is only the second best defense in terms of points against (18.6 per game against 13.6 for Flash), it is the top scoring squad with 5 TDs so far this season. Besides scoring touchdowns, the Cougars defense is proving a nightmare for opposing quarterbacks and has recorded 16 sacks, and 8 INTs (including 4 pick-sixes), 18 pass break-ups, and 4 forced fumbles, all the best defensive statistics in the Elite.
This has been a collective performance conducted masterfully by the new American rookie, Tim Willman. The defensive end is simply the best in the league with 6 sacks and he is also the only defender to have scored at least two touchdowns. The former UConn player is not solely responsible for the smooth running of the defensive squad of Saint-Ouen-L’Aumône and is surrounded by high-performance players like Carl Tembo, second best tackler in the leauge ( 39 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble caused, 1 INT, 1 TD), Sébastien Torel (20 tackles, 2 INT, 1 TD) or Demarty Raphael (11 tackles, 5 sacks, 4 assists, 1 recovered fumble).
The Flash de la Courneuve, the Cougars next opponent, will have to be wary because Saturday, April 4 they will face a team intending on proving that defense does win championships.
