Week 10 Sunday 18:00 ET
Both teams really need a win at this stage in their respective campaigns. On the back of a glorious season winning the Relo Bowl, the Celtic Tigers who were the number 2 offense in the RFL are not experiencing the same level of play at the quarterback position this season. New leader Justin Jones has fairly big boots to fill and it may just take a little longer for him to do so. He’s completed 65% of his passes and has a QB rating of 90.8 which puts his performance in the lower half of quarterbacks. Last season Dre Crowell completed 68% of passes and had a rating of 102.6 so that’s the target for Jones which isn’t unreasonable.
Still this is a team and roster that should be able to make the playoffs. running back Trey Worsley is having another good season but one thing that stands out on the stat sheet is how low the number of break tackles is for him. He has just 18. Top performing backs such as Kingston Kenny and DJ Scott have 51 and 66 broken tackles respectively. This is a strange thing to show up because Trey Worsley has an average of 4.3 yards per carry which is good. Maybe it’s the fact he’s so elusive and hits his lanes and creases so smoothly nobody can lay a finger on him. Dublin’s trustworthy receivers Matt Naanee and DJ Barrow continue to do what they are good at.
Future success for the Dublin Celtic Tigers could be in the hands of their defense, as this young exciting group continues to impress. It all starts with stopping the run, and they do an excellent job there only allowing 83.1 yards per game.
I have previously spoken about the Dreadnoughts and how they have arguably the best receiver in the league in Kamron Jones. And this week could be a good matchup vs Dublins corners. Number 1 corner Keylo Austin could be in for a tough day as he only has 1 catch deflection on the season so far. If QB Matt Jones continues to target Kamron Jones it should be a productive day for San Antonio. It sounds like Dublin have made some changes to their front 7 setup in the hope to generate more pressure on the QB so it will be fascinating to see how that looks going forwards.
The Dreadnoughts defense seem to have to battle long and hard each game as they do not make very many big plays. Today could be an easier task vs a Dublin offense that isn’t as scary as a year ago.
Thanks to Cameron Reed for the head to head stats:
**Dreadnoughts 26, Celtic Tigers 38 (S1 W4)
Dreadnoughts 26, Celtic Tigers 30 (S2 DIV)
Celtic Tigers 37, Dreadnoughts 8 (S3 W17)
Celtic Tigers 45, Dreadnoughts 34 (S5 W12)**
“These teams have faced off 4 times and the Celtic Tigers have won every matchup, whats more they have always scored 30 points or more”
The Verdict:
This should be a fun and exciting game to tune in to. I’m expecting to see a lot of big passing plays. Both teams should have plenty of possessions as I don’t envisage many long drives and so scoring could be quite high. I will pick out Kamron Jones to be the game winner today in what will be a huge win for San Antonio.
Dreadnoughts 37 vs 31 Celtic Tigers