Road to German Bowl XLI – Quarterfinal QB Head to Head – Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns v. Berlin Rebels

AFI | American Football | 09/19/2019

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

The Road to German Bowl XLI begins this weekend as the German Football League quarterfinals kick off with the top eight teams in the GFL squaring off.

The GFL South #1 ranked Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns will face the GFL North #4 Berlin Rebels in one matchup, on Saturday, September 21.

The Unicorns finished the regular season with an unbeaten 14-0 record scoring a whopping 680 points (48.6/game), by far the highest in the GFL. Berlin won four of their last five games to qualify for the post season with an 8-6 record.

The two quarterbacks pose similar problems for defenses.

The “veteran” Jadrian Clark, in his second season in the GFL (he spent the 2018 season with the Braunschweig New Yorker Lions), and his second trip to the playoffs, comes into this quarterfinal matchup with impressive numbers. He threw for 3,272 yards and 42 touchdowns with a QB rating of 194.6. His counterpart with the Rebels, Kurt Palandech, is a “rookie” in Europe and took over as the starter five games into the season after signing in May. In 10 games he threw for 2,095 yards and only 22 touchdowns but was picked off eight times. By comparison, although Clark also had eight interceptions, he threw 42 touchdown passes. Also, Clark’s average pass length was much higher as his average completion length was 16.9 compared to 10.7 for Palandech. That’s a big difference.

In terms of rushing, the two finished with an almost equal amount of yards, 377 for Clark compared to 341 for Palandech.

The two quarterbacks were provided almost equal protection by their offensive lines with Clark being sacked 22 times while Palandech was brought down 14 times in 10 games although eight of those were in two games, with five against Potsdam alone.

Palandech will be facing the toughest defense in Germany in terms of points allowed (12.6/game), third best in terms of yards allowed (246.1) and fourth best in terms of passing yards given up (185). Berlin finished in the middle of the pack in overall defense (9th, 313.2) and passing defense (7th, 206.8).

The experience of having played in the league for two years now including the playoffs, gives Clark a big edge.