Swedish Championship Game: Stockholm Mean Machines vs Carlstad Crusaders – QB Head to Head

AFI | American Football | 07/04/2024

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

The Swedish Championship Game this weekend features the defending champion Stockholm Mean Machines and the undefeated Carlstad Crusaders.

The key of course will be the play of the quarterbacks and the situation is vastly different between the two but the quarterbacks would both seem to be evenly matched.

While Carlstad’s quarterback situation has remained the same all season with Slade Jarman leading the best offensive unit in the Superserien, the Mean Machines have had to bring in a new starter, Derek Green, late in the season due to an injury to Mateo Renteria. Still, Stockholm won both games Green played in.

The 6’4″, 220 pound Jarman led the Superserien in passing in both yardage (1,956) and touchdown passes (24). In the semifinal win over the Oslo Vikings, he threw for 390 yards and five touchdowns completing 72% of his passes. He also rushed for 195 yards.

Meanwhile, Green, the son of former NFL quarterback Trent Green, threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns in the semifinal win over the Tyresö Royal Crowns while also rushing for 61. In the final regular season game of the season against the very same Royal Crowns, after just a week of practice with his new team, Green completed 18 of 26 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns.

Both quarterbacks are experienced in Europe.

The 6’4″, 220 pound Jarman played seven games for the Berlin Thunder in 2023 replacing injured starter Donovan Isom, throwing for 2,017 yards and 21 touchdowns. He led the Thunder to the playoffs for the first time in their history. He had stepped in for the Wroclaw Panthers the year before in the same capacity throwing for 2,004 yards and 15 touchdowns in eight games.

Green, a 6’4″, 215 pound, 24 year old native of Leawood, Kansas spent the 2024 season with the Aix Argonautes in the French D1 Elite league. In nine games he threw for 1,067 yards and nine touchdowns. In 2023, he played for the Stainless Steel (Bologna) Warriors in the Italian top league where in seven games he threw for 1,264 yards and eight touchdowns and rushed for 151 yards and two scores.

The edge would go slightly to Jarman since he has played the entire season with the Crusaders and knows his team well. Green, in only his third game with Stockholm, has had to learn an entirely new system in a hurry. Still, his pedigree and background have been evident in his presence in the pocket.