Mike’s Place TA - Real Housing Haifa Preview
This Saturday’s Fieldturf IFL game of the week features the league’s first regular season rematch as the Real Housing Haifa Underdogs (1-2) look to bounce back from a disheartening loss in last week’s Chanukah bowl to Jerusalem and play host to Mike’s Place Tel Aviv Sabres at the Meggido School Fields near Kibbutz Ein Hashofet at noon. In the first match between the two teams, Haifa emerged victorious after a hard-fought 27-20 battle that saw Tel Aviv furiously attempt a second half comeback that ultimately fell just short. The Sabres, to a certain extent, have dictated the pace of play in both of their games, but have nothing to show for their effort to this point as they are looking for their first win of the season to avoid falling to 0-3.
The Underdogs will have to pay special attention to Tel Aviv quarterback Adi Hakami, the IFL’s best pure gunslinger, as he looks to throw the deep ball to his favorite target, Leron Hovav, who leads the league in receptions. Given time in the pocket, Hakami will try and expose the weak Haifa pass-coverage and do damage downfield. If he faces pressure from Haifa’s pass-rushing specialist Idan Maor, he can use his scrambling abilities or his double-back package of Daniel Gev and Asaf Katz to play ‘small-ball’ and chew up yards to pick up first downs all day and tire out the depleted Haifa defense. Hakami must be careful to protect the ball on the offensive end, as he leads the IFL with six interceptions, mostly from his tendency to sometimes try to do too much at once. If he can avoid forcing his passes into double coverage and focus on going for safer quick slants and short out patterns, as well as balancing the passing and running games, Tel Aviv should be able to move the ball and put points on the board all day. They outscored Haifa 20-12 in the second half of the first game between the two clubs, and the momentum had switched by the end of the game to the point where one left thinking that had the game gone on any longer, they would have overcome Haifa. They must look to come out of the gate with that same motivation and drive right from the opening kickoff.
Real Housing Haifa, on the other hand, is looking to get back on the winning track after two straight loses, one a shocker at the hands of Dancing Camel Hasharon on a dominating day by Pioneer running back Shmuel O’Neil, and the other a crushing defeat last week at the hands of Big Blue Jerusalem – a game where, although the teams were statistically pretty even, Jerusalem dominated the turnover and big play columns, leading to the misleading lopsided 46-18 final score. Haifa seems intent on sticking to its primary offensive strategy of running the ball with running back Niv Medlinger, even though it has yielded mixed results. What has happened in the previous games is that both the offensive line and Medlinger himself have tired out in the second half, making it more difficult to gain ground with the running game and forcing the Haifa quarterbacks to try and make it up by attempting deep passing plays, which do not have high completion odds. The Underdogs are hoping that getting a number of their players back from injury will improve their depth on both sides of the ball, allowing them to play the quick substitution, attack-style football that was evident in their victory as opposed to the timid back-on-their-heels style that they have resorted to by the end of their past two games. To win, they will have to recapture the hard-nosed and quick-hit manner which they displayed throughout the preseason and first regular season game.
prepared by Uriel Sturm, IFL League Statistician, who has (objectively) viewed and recorded each and every IFL down and game ever played from the best seat in the house – the field! Please feel free to contact at uesturm@gmail.com
