In our third Week Two matchup, we have a clash between two expansion teams as the Orlando Predators (1-0) take on the New York Streets (1-0).

The Streets are on fire, defeating the Jacksonville Sharks in Week One with a 52-41 score; a score of which hardly anybody expected.

NAL: The First Clash of Expansion Teams

Both teams have won their very first game in franchise history in the NAL. Both were closer games, but were still victories at the end of the day. Which one will come up victorious this weekend?

League-Leading Streets Offense

The Streets are the home team this week and have that New York fanbase behind them. After a victory in their first week against the Sharks, who are celebrating their 10th season as a franchise, the Streets climbed from dead last to the top two in the NAL leaderboard. They dominated everything last week, which will help them stay on track this week instead of having the blues after a week one loss.

Sure, it may only be week two, but the Streets have the league-leader in receiving yards. Wide Receiver Rob Jones had eight receptions for 155 yards and one touchdown.

Starting Quarterback Dave Legree was inactive, but that didn’t stop New York, as backup QB EJ Nemeth was 15-of-26 (57.69%) for 208 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions.

If Nemeth is the starter this week, the Streets have absolutely nothing to worry about. If Legree ends up becoming the starter, it will be interesting to see what he can do on the field and who the Streets will end up rolling with for the rest of the season.

Pass-Rush Defense

The Streets may have only sacked the quarterback one time last week, but their Defensive Line did a great job of getting close to the QB and forcing him to overthrow his receivers or even throw the ball into the crowd.

The D-Line statistically didn’t have a great game, but that doesn’t matter when they are “doing their job” by forcing the quarterback to make a split-second decision that he may or may not regret.

For the Defensive Backs, they had a slow start, but eventually got into a rhythm, shutting down just about every receiver as the game went on.

To start the game, they left every single receiver open, which is why the Streets were down 9-14 at the end of the first quarter. After adjusting their defensive backs a little bit, they limited WR Jarmon Fortson’s catches to almost nothing as well as Chris Gilchrist and Cody Saul. The only receiver they had an issue with was Devin Wilson, as they allowed him to make 11 catches for 140 yards as well as a touchdown.

If the DB’s do their job this week and shut down the receivers like they did last week, they will be golden against Orlando, who doesn’t have nearly as many talented receivers as Jacksonville.

Fast-Paced Orlando Offense

Last week against the Lions, the Predators had a slow start, but finished the game at rapid fire. After halftime, the game was score after score after score.

They ended up defeating the Lions by two points and showing them who the real jungle belonged to. Will that same offense show up to New York against the Streets scary defense?

With Quarterback Kyle Israel throwing to Wide Receivers Rob Brown and Keith DeVeaux, both with NAL experience, it will be interesting to see what kind of day New York’s DB’s will have this weekend. Playing one good wide receiver is tough, but managable; but playing two good receivers makes it just that much tougher.

Closing Prediction

The Streets are on their A-Game right now and are on top of the world, but they can’t keep that mindset because there is tons of football to play. Even though they defeated one of the oldest teams in the NAL, they can’t think they are the best because they beat the “best”. That is exactly what Jacksonville thought last week because they are completely stacked on offense. We all know how that game ended up.

On the other hand, the Predators must keep fighting. Their win was a quiet one in the league since their YouTube stream was taken down for copyright reasons as well as no stats for their game yet. The Predators must force turnovers on defense, especially with their DB’s, such as Dallas Jackson and Robert Brown, who both killed the league last year.

When it comes down to who will win, the Streets should be able to kick Orlando out and show that the Streets are worthy of being 2-0. This should definitely not get to them, like mentioned before because that will destroy this game. A team’s season is not decided by just one game.