Two of the remaining undefeated teams in the European League of Football will square off on Sunday as the Stuttgart Surge host the Raiders Tirol.
The Surge have gotten off to a hot start in 2023 with wins over the Paris Musketeers and the Milano Seamen. Their two wins this season match the number of wins they had in all of 2021 and 2022 combined. Stuttgart’s emergence as a contender this early in the season is a testament to the work of new head coach Jordan Neuman and all of the players and coaches who joined the team from the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns in the offseason. Quarterback Reilly Hennessy has made a seamless transition into the ELF, and the other new pieces on both offense and defense have meshed well together so far. Unfortunately for Stuttgart, they learned this week that former NFL draft pick Moritz Böhringer tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season. However, the Surge have been quite well-rounded on the offensive side of the ball, with no one player putting up huge numbers, so the loss of a star player like Böhringer might not hurt as much as it possibly could.
The Raiders opened their season with early road wins against the Munich Ravens and Helvetic Guards, and then took down the Barcelona Dragons last week in another matchup of unbeatens. Their offense has been incredible to start the season, as they rank 1st in the league in total yards with 1,314 and 2nd in points with 110. The unit is led by the dynamic duo of quarterback Christian Strong (3rd in the league in passing yards) and receiver Jarvis McClam (1st in the league in receiving yards). On defense, Niklas Gustav is a stud in the trenches, as he ranks second in the league in sacks with 5.5, and the unit as a whole allows fewer than 20 points per game. While last week’s game against Barcelona was a great statement win by the Raiders, this game should be their toughest challenge yet.
In two games between these teams last year, the Raiders won both and outscored the Surge by a combined total of 77-3. However, with the Surge having undergone such a massive overhaul, you can throw that information out the window. This game should tell us a lot about both of these teams and give us an insight into who should be considered among the favorites to make a run for the league championship.