LIVESTREAM Sweden: Stockholm Mean Machines @ Tyresö Royal Crowns, June 23, 19:00 CET (7 pm, 1 pm ET)

AFI | American Football | 06/23/2022

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

In the final game of the Swedish Superserien regular season, the Stockholm Mean Machines (5-0) will travel across town to play against the Tyresö Royals Crowns (1-4).

This will be the third game between these two teams this year. Stockholm downed the Royals Crowns 34-20 in an early season meeting between the two and then defeated them again last week in the final of the Scandinavian Cup 44-21.

The Royal Crowns are coming off four straight losses in the Superserien following an opening game 35-16 win over the Örebro Black Knights, first dropping a tough 34-20 decision to the Mean Machines and then losing 10-7 to the Carlstad Crusaders on a last second field goal. Then, they fell 26-20 to the Black Knights and were edged 14-12 by Carlstad. Meanwhile, Stockholm has yet to lose a game. They downed the Black Knights 26-23 and then used a dominant second half to beat the Tyresö Royal Crowns 34-20. They went on to defeat the Carlstad Crusaders twice, 37-35 and 41-26 and finally whipped Örebro 51-7.

Tyresö’s offense has suffered this season with the departure of quarterback and offensive coordinator Phil Juhlin who had to leave partway through the season due to a family illness. His replacement is Hunter Rodriques who got his first start last week in the loss to Stockholm and threw for a modest 120 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another 63. With that behind him, expect a more tested signal caller in today’s game. His receiving corps includes Edwin Taborda as well as Mattias Gauthier. In last week’s loss, running back Emil Knutsson had an excellent outing rushing for 79 yards and one touchdown while catching four passes for 48 yards and another. In fact, the Royal Crowns ground game stood out gaining 209 yards total. They will need that today along with an improved passing game.

Defensively, linebacker Markus Rindmyr led all tacklers with six last week and as a team the Royal Crowns held Stockholm to just 77 yards rushing. Rindmyr is joined by linebacker Richard Liljestrand is one of the anchors in the Royal Crowns front seven along with Victor Benerius Frank. Malcolm Engström is another formidable presence along with linebacker Ali Chakkour, who was recruited from Stockholm.

Stockholm quarterback Mark Pappas threw for 322 yards and four touchdowns last week. His main target was and has been all season, receiver Matt Retzlaff who had five receptions for 72 yards. Running back Oliwer Stedt who has been outstanding all year, rushed for a modest 69 yards and one score but can do a lot of damage when called upon. Pappas has thrown for 1,362 yards and 19 touchdowns in the five games with Retzlaff catching 33 passes for 614 yards and eight of the 19 scores. Stedt leads the league in rushing with 102 carries for 498 yards and eight touchdowns.

The Mean Machines defense is paced by linebacker Adam Westin who is the second leading tackler in Sweden with 26 tackles, including four tackles for loss and two sacks.