The Tirol Raider can look back on a good season with one clear setback: On the last match day, they lost clearly against the Munich Ravens. This shattered any hopes of making the playoffs. However, Raiders captain Ruben Seeber does not want to be demoralized by this.

If you ask the experienced linebacker about the most important moment of the past season, his choice is easy: Like his teammate Jan Mayerhofer, Seeber would also like to highlight the Raiders' second game against Stuttgart Surge.

“We were able to make a statement because we were definitely the underdogs and nobody expected us to be able to upset Stuttgart,” explains Seeber. The previously unbeaten Surge went into the game as clear favorites and ended up losing 42:45. This makes the Raiders the only team that was able to defeat Surge during the last regular season.

Seeber also had a good game. The 25-year-old made six tackles and forced a very important fumble. Shortly before his own end zone, he knocked the ball out of Surge quarterback Reilly Hennessy's hands on a quarterback sneak. “That's actually something I've been trying to achieve for a long time,” says Seeber.

Important play thanks to excellent preparation

A turnover that made a significant contribution to the Raiders' victory. In the end, Seeber prevented the opponent from scoring points that they thought were kind of guaranteed. The quarterback sneak is considered extremely difficult to defend. According to Seeber, he had already predicted before the game that he would make a big play.

The defensive star went into the match-up fully prepared. He was able to read the audibles of the opposing quarterback before the important play. “I was pretty ready and didn't actually think much at that moment, my instincts took over. I just tried to focus on the ball and get in his direction as quickly as possible and knock it out,” he says.

And his instincts are well-developed. Seeber has already been playing American football since he was five years old. So, in his 20 years of experience, he has already seen quite a few snaps and situations.

Hope for consistency

Seeber therefore also knows how to deal with defeats. This also applies to the painful 3:30 defeat against the Ravens, which meant the end of the fight for the playoffs. Nevertheless, he does not want to lose hope for next season.

“You have to remember that a lot of things have changed with the new system we've introduced last season,” says Seeber. By that he means above all the way in which training and analysis is carried out. “The whole organization and the ELF have definitely become more professional”, he adds.

But Seeber reminds to be patient until they have completely internalized their system. He also looks at the competition: “You can see it with Rhein Fire and the Vienna Vikings. These are teams that have been playing the same system for a very long time and have been playing together for a long time.” What both teams also have in common: Fire and the Vikings are among the best ELF teams in recent years.

Seeber believes the Raiders can also find this consistency. “And then I think we can definitely draw from greater resources and greater knowledge next year than we've already done this year.”

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