The undefeated Braunschweig New Yorker Lions till face their first true test of 2017 when the 3-0 Dresden Monarchs come to town Saturday. Dresden’s league’s leading offense will face the stingiest defense in Germany in the Lions.
After an early season string of lopsided games, this is the game of the week in the German Football League.
These two teams met twice in 2016, playing to a 38-38 tie late in the season after the Lions downed Dresden 33-26 earlier in the year. In fact, over the past two years, Dresden has managed to beat the Lions once per season.
Braunschweig has won the last four German titles while Dresden has reached the semifinals every year since 2012 and the German Bowl once, in 2013, when they lost to the Lions 35-34.
The Monarchs enter the game as the top scoring team in Germany averaging 51.3 points per game. Braunschweig is the leading defensive team surrendering only 5.3 points a contest.
Dresden quarterback Garrett Safron leads the league in average yards passing per game with 326.7 but the Lions Casey Therriault is not far behind in third with an average of 298 yards. Safron has tossed 15 touchdown passes while Therriault has thrown 12.
Therriault has only been picked off once in three games while opposing secondaries have intercepted Safron three times.
The Lions defense is truly a defense by committee. With not one member of the New Yorker defense in the top 15 in tackles this unit has allowed just 27 yards rushing a game and 161 yards passing. Linebacker Jakob Shribbe does lead the league in tackles for loss though with eight.
The Monarchs Marc Millan is eighth in tackles with 26. In fact, Dresden’s front seven is tough to run against as well giving up only 91 yards a game. The Monarch’s secondary has only allowed 152 yards passing on average per game, good for third in Germany.
This will be a game to watch.
