Goodbye NFL Europa, We Hardly Knew Ye

[esoxx]

You two miss my point completely.

[Scott Campbell]

You two miss my point completely.

I'd be shocked if Harv missed it completely. But anything is possible with me.

[the_idle_threat]

I always got a chuckle out of those that would get all excited when a player the Packers held rights to would lead the league in receiving or something and they'd be all excited like it meant something.

Junk league.

Like when Warren Moon tore up the CFL?

Or Kurt Warner did well in NFLE. Or Bill Schroeder. Or Brad Johnson. Or Jake Delhomme. Or Marco Rivera. Some good players benefitted from the league.

Don't forget Chad Lucas and Whisper Goodman. :P

[Tarlam!]

Europass: Season wrap up


By Mike Carlson
Special to NFL.com

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/10235987

(June 25, 2007) -- You never know exactly what the NFL wants to get out of NFL Europa, but that's because different people within the league structure want different things.

But coming back from World Bowl XV in Frankfurt, it's hard to think of anything anyone might want that this game did not deliver.

A huge crowd -- a virtual sellout of 48,125. A crowd that was involved in the game from the moment the gates opened for the power party until long after Hamburg had managed a great World Bowl upset. A crowd that followed the game with even more noise and enthusiasm than you would see in many NFL stadia.

The game was worthy of a championship, and it was the little things that stood out. The Galaxy running no-huddle most of the game -- with a 35-second clock -- and running it smoothly. The Sea Devils defending the no-huddle and never getting caught a man short or with 12 -- and similarly shifting personnel offensively on virtually every play -- and still beating the 35-second clock despite the din raining down on them from the Frankfurt fans.

It was a game with a record 65 points, with the two quarterbacks throwing 65 passes, and there was only one turnover -- on O'Sullivan's late desperation heave.

Frankfurt got to the big game because its coaching staff adjusted the offense seven weeks into the season, moving from the run to the pass. Hamburg's game plan was to contain Frankfurt's passing, but it hit on big plays of its own, and got the Sea Devils a lead they held on to.

Both teams executed under tough conditions, and if anything, the home team seemed to be pressing somewhat, perhaps from the pressure of being the favorite in front of its own crowd.

A look at the injured-reserve lists for both teams revealed that both of these coaching staffs had been forced to make personnel adjustments, too, and they had patched holes and kept winning.

The often belittled "national" players stepped forward, too. English running back Jermaine Allen ran 33 yards for a touchdown, simply running through two tacklers who tried to take the easy way out. German guard Emmanuel Akah blocked for O'Sullivan, and scooped up a fumble that could have proven crucial. Hamburg's German defensive end Ben Ishola was the player responsible for a key stop on an early fourth-and-1, while we spotted Frankfurt's British linebacker Aden Durde submarining a Hamburg play for a loss.

Will the Redskins be happy with Casey Bramlet's poise and four TD passes? His play-faking was crucial to at least two touchdowns, and apart from taking a couple of sacks where he tried too hard to make something happen, he played an error-free game. He also managed to audible at least one key pass, despite the noise, beating the blitz to Justin Jenkins to set up a flea-flicker touchdown to Marcus Maxwell.

Is Darrell Jackson injured in San Francisco? Do the Niners look thin at receiver? Did Maxwell do enough this season to get a shot?

What about J.T. O'Sullivan? At the start of the season I compared him to Jamie Martin, who had a career as a solid, mistake-free backup. During World Bowl XV, he looked more like another Frankfurt quarterback whom the Saints let go, Jake Delhomme. O'Sullivan's instincts for getting away from trouble, and getting rid of the ball, will be tested more severely with the Bears, but given their QB situation, isn't he worth a look?

How many free agents will get a look in NFL camps? Vince Martino, in a moment of frankness to the German media, told them that he felt five of his guys were NFL players already: Bramlet, Maxwell, free-agent defensive tackles Gary Gibson and Thomas Smith, and injured running back Quentin Griffin. Later, he named another six or seven whom he termed a good shot, meaning getting the right shot at the right time.

It's what NFL Europa's about -- getting a shot.

I've covered the league for 14 of its 15 seasons, and this season has been one of the best played I can remember. A few upgrades in NFL-allocated players at key positions: quarterback, left tackle, maybe linebacker and kicker, and it might have been the absolute best. I won't take you through the lists of players past and present with NFL careers or futures -- if you're reading this you probably know it by now.

What I will say is that World Bowl XV capped off the season by doing everything the NFL envisioned it would do when it brought back the WLAF as an all-European league in 1995. You had a great game, in front of a great crowd, in Germany, the climax of a great season where at least three of the NFLE teams showed they could be viable at the gate, and a couple others suggested they might with winning teams and the right promotion.

I wonder if, because the league's promotion and media relations are now aimed primarily at the German market, its perception in the States has been altered subtly. In Frankfurt, the U.S. media was generally handled by the league's own office, while the domestic media went through the Galaxy. Perhaps the league needs to address the way it supplies and -- indeed -- courts the U.S. market. Because, although it has done an excellent job in Germany -- as this year's World Bowl showed -- back home, the league is judged by the scattered perceptions received in America.

For me, it has been great keeping you up to date with Europass and covering the league once again: for hands-on football, there's really nothing like it.

Our best wishes go out to David Duggan and Jack Bicknell, two head coaches set back by illness this year. Vince Martino stepped into Jack's shoes and ran all the way to the championship.

Dave will be back next year, I hope, as will I -- and the league, I hope. See you then.

[mraynrand]

I'd rather watch a league of sharks with frickin' lazers battling each other than some rinky-dink league on Friday night of all things.

NFL Europa, Europa would have worked in Germany if they had hired David Hasselhoff (sober or drunk) as an announcer because as we all know - Germans love David Hasselhoff!