ELF PLAYOFF BID HANDS DAGDELEN BAPTISM OF FIRE
Reigning ELF champions Rhein Fire must win both remaining regular season games to keep their playoff hopes under their control, but will go into them with a new offensive co-ordinator.
The Düsseldorf-based Fire are in an unfamiliar position as, having won the ELF title for the past couple of seasons, they find themselves in the scrum chasing one of the two wildcard spots on offer for 2025. With a 6-4 record, Rhein are no longer able to topple North Division leaders Nordic Storm and qualify directly — and face two of the teams to have beaten them this season in their remaining games.
The champions do have the advantage of playing both those games at home (although it should be note that they lost to both Vienna and Paris at Duisburg’s Schauinsland Reisen-Arena), but the situation is clear: win against both Raiders Tirol and Nordic Storm and they will advance to the wildcard round without having to worry about results elsewhere. What makes that path slightly more complicated, however, is Tirol’s own faint hopes of making the postseason.
Arriving on the back of a five-game winning streak, the Raiders currently occupy third place in the South Division — behind leaders Munich (9-1) and Madrid (7-3) — but with an accomplished roster that includes the likes of QB N’Kosi Perry and RB Lukas Haslwanter, the league’s second-best rusher, on offense and Dijion Walls on defense.
“Tirol will — and must — give it their all,” Fire offensive lineman Sven Breidenbach acknowledged. “I think our huge advantage is that we’re playing at home. Simply having our fans there… that’s a very, very difficult environment for anyone who comes to play.”
The mid-July defeat in Innsbruck still rankles with Rhein, particularly because of missed opportunities and errors that gifted 21 preventable points to the Raiders in what became an 18-35 loss.
“We’ve gotten injured guys back healthy in the last few weeks, and our game has become more balanced,” quarterback Chad Jeffries reasoned. “Before, our style of play was more run-heavy, but now we’re playing more varied, running the same plays with different options. We have a great game plan.”
Jeffries’ final comment was aimed squarely at his erstwhile back-up, Rohat Dagdelen, who, having suffered a season-ending injury against Berlin before the league-wide bye week, has been appointed as the Fire’s latest offensive co-ordinator as the team makes a virtue of necessity. Previous incumbent Fred Armstrong will retain his position as assistant head coach and senior offensive advisor, and will advise Dagdelen throughout the remainder of the season.
“Rohat has earned this position through hard work,” Armstrong insisted. “He knows this offense better than anyone else and has completely internalised it during his years as a back-up quarterback. I always teach my players ‘Team First’ and, if I don’t live it, why should they follow me?”
The decision to hand Dagdelen the offensive reins was made in close consultation with HC Richard Kent and new sporting director and former CEO, Max Paatz. Dagdelen, who has already contributed to the offensive coaching staff as a player throughout the season, will now lead the game plan and call the plays in both remaining games.
“Seeing him take on responsibility is fantastic,” Jeffries said of Düsseldorf-born Dagdelen’s new role. “I have a lot of respect for him and trust his vision of what we can achieve as a team. We work so well together that we often have the same ideas in mind at crucial moments. When we stand in front of the end zone, we often both know in advance what play we will make. On third down, it’s the same, and this close co-operation and connection makes the game much easier.”
The Fire-Raiders game kicks off at 16.25 local time this Sunday (10th August).