EFLI Weekly: The Calm before the Storm

Football is coming back to India, but for the athletes of the EFLI, it has never left.

EFLI Weekly will be a weekly post talking about a subject for each team in the league. With the first exhibition games on the horizon, it is time to buckle your chin straps and get ready for some football.

The "EFLI Weekly" will be separated by the East-West divisions. Here is the East:

Colombo Lions: A quiet approach

The Colombo Lions have not made any kind of splash in social media, but they are still going to be top contenders this season. The Lions had one of the best defense last season in not allowing scoring from the opposing team, so it will be interesting to see if they are as successful this season.

They fell short to the champion Pune Marathas in the semi-finals, but their running game was top notch and could be one of the best in the league. The bad news is that they had the worst passing attack, so there is no word out yet who the quarterback will be if Zulker Hamid does not return, but they will not be able to win without a solid and balanced offense.

Hyderbad Skykings: Banda has style...but skill as well?

The Skykings are pumped up and confident this year, with an owner and identity to the team in quarterback Ron Banda. Here is a glimpse of possibly their new uniforms, picture courtesy of Sai Ganesh via Facebook:



The Skykings are looking set and ready in style, but it is going to take more than cool uniforms to win games. Banda is the hope for the Skykings, but we can't forget that he also has yet to win a game. He will have plenty to prove early on in the season, because if he does not close out games and score enough, it could affect his confidence down the stretch. He was on a poor team, the 0-6 2012 Kolkata Vipers, but the thing that is scary is his 2-6 touchdown-interception count. All the mystery behind this new offense will be exciting to watch.

Dehli Defenders: Man's Fear in Helmets; 2013 MVP

The Dehli Defenders are a scary team to test. They are a team that can beat you passing, running, defensively torture you, and just hit hard. As great as Mayank "Brady" Sharma is...and Anant Verma...and Happy Lochab.

Lalit Saini IS "The Beast."

Saini can easily be the MVP next year. If he can dominate on defense, offense, and on special teams, he'll deserve the MVP over anyone else. How many NFL players play both sides of the ball and dominate? None.

If Saini works hard, and does even a little better than last year, he can be the 2013 MVP.

Kolkata Vipers: A New QB in town

Banda out. Akash Manna in. Let the rivalry begin!

The Skykings took the one ray of hope that is Banda from the Vipers. How do they respond? By announcing that their team offensive captain is now assumed to be quarterback Akash Manna. Manna had limited passes last year as the back-up and only other competition was punter Rajib Mondal who is now expected to be the back-up of Manna.

Manna has a shot to do something Banda never did for the Vipers. Win. The Vipers need to hope this roster can compete with the rest of the league:

***All players without a position is due to them being new or transfers***

1. Jaydip Mallick, OL, Captain
2. Arijit Sarkar, DL, Vice Captain
3. Akash Manna, QB/DB, Offense Captain
4. Md Farid Defense Captain
5. Raju Singh
6. Ambuj Roy
7. Minhaz
8. Pappu Kr. Shaw
9. BabuKarapati
10. Aniruddha Dan
11. Suraj Sonar
12. Love Prit
13. Anjum Elahi
14. Sajiv Mallick, RB
15. Sanjay Shaw, RB
16. Subarna Dey, WR
17. Saroj Patra, WR
18. Rajiv Mondal, QB/K
19. Raju Gupta, DB
20. Santu Sardar, DB
21. Jasbir Singh
22. Dipendu Das
23. Abhijit Sarkar, LB
24. Subhajit Sinha Roy
25. Pritam Singh

Reserve If any Injury : --

26. Sunny Singh, K/LB
27. Rajiv Gupta
28. Asheet Singh
29. Love Prit

3rd of August: Delhi Defenders vs. Kolkata Vipers

Football is edging closer to it's return in India. On August 3rd, it returns to Delhi.

The East Division Champion Delhi Defenders will host the Kolkata Vipers for some exhibition football action.

The Defenders are the favorites to repeat in Season 2 for the East Division, whereas the Vipers enter this game still looking for their first franchise win. As said before, this is preseason, so no team should be treating this like a dire game that needs to be one. This is simply a practice match to test the skills of your veteran and rookie players.

The Defenders had the best scoring offense last season, whereas the Vipers gave up the most points and scored the fewest.

The Vipers mindset needs to be just treating this as a scrimmage (practice) and just get a feel of the speed of the Defenders. Same goes for the Defenders, the last thing they want is for one of their top offensive players getting injured because they played too rough in an exhibition.

Keys to this game:

• VIPER TRICK PLAYS. The Vipers should spend the next few weeks trying to innovate an option style offense to test in the exhibition.
• WEST COAST OFFENSE DEFENDERS. The West Coast offense is a "pass to open up the run" style of offense. The Defenders need to let Mayank "Brady" Sharma loose this season with smart, short slant patterns.
• TEAMWORK. Just have fun, get closer as a team. It is a long run to December, get to know your team, and make your on-field chemistry and communication flawless. 

Help prepare for the Gridiron Challenge

Please go to the left of the blog and submit current roster information of both the Bangalore Warhawks and the Hyderbad Skykings. It is much appreciated so we can set unofficial rosters for the fans to see and prepare for the Gridiron Challenge. Try to get all roster information submitted in the next two weeks, we want to get names out there to learn who will be the future stars of the Elite Football League of India!!!

Simply add your: name, email, then list the player(s) and positions for whatever team you can.

Example: Joe Smith, Offensive Lineman, Falcons

I'm sure the fans would appreciate the current information of their favorite teams...

Exhibition Game: Hyderbad Skykings vs. Bangalore Warhawks

It is almost time. About a month from now the EFLI shall hold the first known and announced exhibition game to prepare for Season 2.

The Hyderbad Skykings vs. the Bangalore Warhawks. Two teams who have the potential to be the most improved for Season 2.

This game, which should be a tradition every year, was the first flood light game ever played in India, so hopefully it will have a huge turnout for fans.

Things to hope for in a month:

• THE RULES OF FOOTBALL. Hopefully new fans can watch this game, and use it to learn the rules of American football to prepare them for the upcoming season.
• BENCH PLAYERS. Let's be honest, you can't risk playing stars like Roshon Lobo and Ron Banda for the whole game with the chance of injury. Let some of the bench player play most of the game to gain experience.
• CAN THE SKYKINGS HANDLE THE SPOTLIGHT? Now the only owned team in the EFLI, can they handle the pressure of having high expectations? #TwirlUp
• WILL LOBO HAVE A SLUMP? Lobo won the MVP last season, but like all players, could he possibly be surpassed by a rookie or maybe other great backs like Lalit Saini or Ram Rahul?
• INNOVATIONS? Time to test out some new plays and innovative formations that teams should test now before the season starts.

The countdown has begun. Football is coming back, India.

EFLI needs a Player Draft

The fans have spoken: 50% of the poll votes show that fans would like to see some sort of draft and combine be introduced into the league.



An EFLI Draft would be a night where all the coaches of the EFLI would choose rookie players to draft them to their team's roster. This gives the league a fair competitive environment that will only strengthen the league as a whole.

How it can be done?

A Combine.



A combine is a day where all the coaches show up to one field and make all the rookies who want to enter the league to try out and run football drills so the coaches can see who the top athletes are. Players would have to complete the following:

• Full Name
• Positions Interested in playing
• Address
• Age
• 40-yard Dash time
• Bench Press Reps
• -Other drills vary on what position players try out for

The combine would be fun for players to try out for, and will also expand the sport across India even more.

How will the draft actually work?

Online. Simply have all the coaches on stand-by online at a certain time, and stream a live feed of the draft. It could all be run by the commissioner or someone willing to cover it fairly. LIKE A REPORTER. That's right, this would be such a simple set-up, all it would take would be myself blogging the picks while coaches select what players they choose to draft. Fans can watch and read online about the new rookie and what they bring to their favorite team. The hardest part would be selecting and promoting a date for all rookie players and coaches to show up for, maybe in Colombo, Sri Lanka and Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in India and make it a 2 day event.

The league needs to start pushing forward, uniforms and players aren't enough. Fans are the most important part of a successful sport, and a draft and combine will help teach fans more of the players and help incoming players get a better grasp of the game.

DRAFT ORDER (if this happened, worst team gets first pick-champion gets last pick)
1. Kolkata Vipers
2. Pakistan Wolfpak
3. Hyderbad Skykings
4. Mumbai Gladiators
5. Bangalore Warhawks
6. Colombo Lions
7. Delhi Defenders
8. Pune Marathas

PLEASE SHARE AND LIKE THIS POST, LETS SEE IF WE CAN MAKE THIS HAPPEN BY JULY.

Kolkata Vipers can use insane trick play as a constant weapon

The 0-6 Kolkata Vipers are in a strange position but great position.

It appears as it stands now, 2012 punter Rajib Mondal will be the Vipers' quarterback since they lost Ron Banda.

Mondal may not be a bad idea at all. Think about it, he is a fresh new quarterback, but still has football experience under his belt to be effective. He was 2-for-3 in passing, which means we know he can at least throw the ball.

The video above show NFL superstar Tom Brady doing a surprise punt on 3rd down, stunning and trapping his opponent deep in their own territory.

Mondal and the Vipers should incorporate this play not just once in a season, but every 3rd and 4th down.

Mondal is a good solid punter, imagine him in shotgun on 3rd and 10 with maybe a running back in the backfield, like so (only imagine a running back with the quarterback and one less wide receiver in this picture):

Now the defense has no guy to catch the punt, so if this play works once and teams catch on, it turns into the greatest 3rd down option play possible.

Option 1: Mondal hikes the ball and runs a proper passing 3rd down play if the coach chooses to.
Option 2: Mondal hikes the ball and punts it if the defense is not ready and it is a long 3rd down.
Option 3: Mondal hikes the ball, sees they have a return man ready just in case of a fake, this creates an 11-on-10 man advantage. [Option 3A Mondal fakes a punt and runs a play or Option 3B Mondal hikes and runs a quick play with no fake.]

This formation can be used on 4th downs too to keep defenses honest (meaning they will have to be safe and aware of a fake, keeping them on there toes.)

Mondal could probably punt the ball up to 50 yards. The Vipers should embrace his unique talent as a passer and punter to use it to create an identity for the team...and come on, it would be so original and awesome it would attract fans to see this new gadget/trick formation.

2012 Elite Champions: Pune Marathas Highlights

Video via Prateek Khanna

Marathas Highlights Click Here!!!


Rewatch the EFLI Champs...

I will post more teams as the Youtuber uploads more videos. Be sure to like them on Youtube to help his account... 

Who will the QB be for the Kolkata Vipers?

EFLI Kolkata Vipers via Facebook

Are the Kolkata Vipers in trouble?

The Vipers posted an 0-6 record in 2012, and now they have lost their star quarterback Ron Banda is now is Skyking colors.

The picture above shows Arijit Sharker, who last year played on the defensive line, is taking offensive snaps. Now obviously, this is an OTA (organized team event) which never requires the full roster to be there, but it still raises questions...

How will the Vipers replace Banda?

Will Rajib Mondal be forced into the QB slot if they can't find anyone else?

Will the Vipers manage to win a game this year?

A Defense that could dismantle EFLI teams

India, I give you: The Zone Blitz.






I like to call it: "bend, but don't break."

EFLI is still in the learning stages of football, but if a team adapted the zone blitz, it may prove to be unbeatable. Offenses struggled getting points in season one, but now teams will have only improved, so this defense is for teams who aren't as good as their opponent defensively, but strong offensively. 

You have a 5-man rush, while everyone else drops back in a zone coverage, where you guard the passing zone of a particular area. If you have fast pass-rushers, it could cause a rushed pass or even an interception. The downside to the defense, is that it gives your opponent chances for dump-off passes to the running-back or closer receivers. 

Your opponent will get a lot of yards, but have trouble scoring any points because it works great against the run if you hold the runner to within three yards every touch. It can also be misleading to the quarterback and coach on who is blitzing and who is dropping back, as seen in the picture, where it appears SCF/Seam and Hook/#3 could be potential pass-rushers, but they drop back into coverage.

This is a really good play for second down situations, maybe even first down. Third down should always be man-to-man coverage unless it is 4th and long. It is also better to use against an offense when they have four or less receivers. 

Well, there you have it, an effective "option defense formation" that creates a wall up the field and forces the QB to make rushed decisions if pass-rushers are getting to him quick enough. Also, if the quarterback is a scrambler, simply make one of the linebackers a spy, which means he just plays parallel with the QB to contain him.