The Las Rozas Black Demons (7-1) and Osos Rivas (7-1) are set to clash this Saturday, May 4 in Spanish Bowl XXX.
It’s only fitting that these two teams are facing each other in Spain’s title game. The one loss each suffered was at the hands of the other and they played each other a year ago in the 2023 championship game with the Black Demons coming out on top.
There are plenty of compelling individual matchups around the field, but we are going to look in particular at each quarterback and see what they bring to the table for their respective clubs. As a scout, we are going to be evaluating their game based on this season’s tape. We shan’t be diving into each of their career paths and what got them here, but rather the skills they used to be in the position they are now. Let’s begin.
Starting with Las Rozas, their signal caller this season, the same as last year, is Canadian Theo Landers (University of Guelph Gryphons) The 6’3″, 200 pound Landers is a mobile quarterback who can hurt any team with his legs using his speed, quickness, and ability to scramble. This mobility also comes into play inside of the pocket when extending plays. Adjoined to this, is his arm talent. Landers has one of the best arms, not only in Spain but arguably in the Mediterranean leagues. He has the distance and the velocity to hit nearly every spot on the field. He does, however, hold the ball in a very risky position when he takes off from the line of scrimmage, as well as this, there is a tendency to target lock on to his receivers in less advantageous positions. This could be a big part factor when coming up against an Osos defense that has already seen his reads and progressions two times this season.
Talking of the Osos, Russell Tabor (University of North Carolina, 6’2″, 215 pounds) has been the guy for them this year and arguably the best in his position all season. His mechanics are clean, and he has a laser of a right arm.
Watch the Spanish Bowl live. Oso Rivas vs Las Rozas Black Demons, May 4, 17:00 CET (5 pm, 11 am EDT).
The two players do share a lot in common in their ability to move in the pocket, take off for yards and stretch the field with a 50-60-yard throw. Where they differ is how they use it. Where Landers will take off under pressure, Tabor stays behind the line of scrimmage more to look downfield. Landers will attempt to go deep fairly regularly; Tabor will use his arm to more effect in the short and intermediate game. Tabor does need to sharpen up his touch and consistently on the field as he does lack some of the in-game experience. This is a fairly common factor in European American football with many quarterbacks coming into their teams with less college experience. Tabor is in that camp of players.
This is a very interesting match-up between two seemingly pretty similar players who are actually rather different at the same time. In terms of prediction. Osos Rivas, I think will avenge last year’s loss in the championship game and return to Madrid with the trophy.
