2006 Rhein Fire season

The 2006 Rhein Fire season was the 12th season for the franchise in the NFL Europe League (NFLEL). The team was led by head coach Jim Tomsula in his first year, and played its home games at LTU arena in Düsseldorf, Germany. They finished the regular season in third place with a record of six wins and four losses.

2006 Rhein Fire season
Head coach	Jim Tomsula
General manager	Sammy Schmale
Home field	LTU arena
Results
Record	6–4
Division place	3rd
Playoff finish	did not qualify

Offseason

Free agent draft

2006 Rhein Fire NFLEL free agent draft selections

Draft order		Player name	Position	College
Round	Choice
1	1	Ja'Waren Blair	DT	East Carolina
2	7	Ronyell Whitaker	CB	Virginia Tech
3	18	Brian Atkinson	LB	Northern Illinois
4	19	Terrence Robinson	LB	Oklahoma State
5	30	Guy Tuell	LB	Wyoming
6	31	Sacha Lancaster	DE	Arkansas
7	42	Derrick Strong	DE	Illinois
8	43	Jameel Dumas	LB	Syracuse
9	54	Johnathanio Conley	DL	Southeastern Louisiana

[1]

Personnel

Staff

2006 Rhein Fire staff

	Front office General Manager – Sammy Schmale Head coaches Head Coach – Jim Tomsula Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Steve Logan Running Backs/Wide Receivers – Bob Lancaster Offensive Line – Steve Smith Assistant Offensive Line – Duval Love			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs – Adrian White Defensive Line – Antonio Anderson Linebackers – Kurt Gouveia National Coach/Defensive Backs/Special Teams – Sascha Gehloff Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Jeremy Holsopple

Roster

2006 Rhein Fire roster

	Quarterbacks  3 John Bowenkamp 14 Timmy Chang  7 Drew Henson Running backs 25 Jamaal Branch 23 Fred Jackson 20 Jacque Lewis Wide receivers 88 Jeremy Carter 84 Steven Harris 80 Brandon Middleton 85 Chris Samp 81 Kendrick Starling 87 Zuriel Smith Tight ends 49 Aaron Halterman 46 Joey Hawkins 44 Andy Stokes		Offensive linemen 76 Harvey Dahl T 63 Rob Hunt C 72 Mike Kracalik T 74 Nick Steitz G 77 Brandon Torrey T 64 Pete Traynor C 71 Sam Wilder T 68 Tony Wragge G Defensive linemen 99 Ja'Waren Blair DT 93 Johnathanio Conley DT 96 Walter Curry DT/DE 92 Sacha Lancaster DE 98 Brook Miller DT 97 Derrick Strong DE 95 Zach Ville DT/DE		Linebackers 51 Jameel Dumas OLB 57 Stephen Larsen OLB 52 Terrence Robinson MLB 58 Tyson Smith OLB 47 Guy Tuell OLB Defensive backs 31 Reggie Austin CB 21 Therrian Fontenot CB 29 Gabriel Helms CB/S 26 Mitch Meeuwsen S 28 Siddeeq Shabazz S 21 Antwain Spann CB 33 Ronyell Whitaker CB Special teams 60 Kyle Andrews LS  8 Ola Kimrin K 15 Travis Dorsch P		National players 56 Richard Adjei OLB 70 Emmanuel Akah G 86 Marvin Allen WR 90 Patrick Finke DE 22 Laurent Marceline FB 45 Alexej Mittendorf TE 55 Shaun Smith LB 91 Salomon Solano DT 83 Juan Wong WR 40 Richard Yancy S Rookies in italics

Schedule

Week	Date	Kickoff [n 1]	Opponent	Results		Game site	Attendance
				Final score	Team record
1	Saturday, March 18	7:00 p.m.	Frankfurt Galaxy	W 10–6	1–0	LTU arena	22,827
2	Saturday, March 25	6:00 p.m.	at Berlin Thunder	W 22–0	2–0	Olympic Stadium	13,105
3	Sunday, April 2	4:00 p.m.	at Cologne Centurions	W 20–10	3–0	RheinEnergieStadion	16,961
4	Saturday, April 8	7:00 p.m.	Hamburg Sea Devils	W 31–21	4–0	LTU arena	18,224
5	Saturday, April 15	3:00 p.m.	at Amsterdam Admirals	L 31–35	4–1	Amsterdam ArenA	12,683
6	Saturday, April 22	7:00 p.m.	Amsterdam Admirals	L 21–30	4–2	LTU arena	20,118
7	Saturday, April 29	7:00 p.m.	Berlin Thunder	W 27–24	5–2	LTU arena	20,598
8	Saturday, May 6	7:00 p.m.	at Frankfurt Galaxy	L 14–16	5–3	Commerzbank-Arena	32,172
9	Sunday, May 14	4:00 p.m.	at Hamburg Sea Devils	L 10–13	5–4	AOL Arena	16,823
10	Saturday, May 20	7:00 p.m.	Cologne Centurions	W 21–10	6–4	LTU arena	28,334

[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Standings

NFL Europe League
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	Home	Road	STK
Amsterdam Admirals	7	3	0	.700	259	234	2–3–0	5–0–0	L1
Frankfurt Galaxy	7	3	0	.700	172	160	4–1–0	3–2–0	W1
Rhein Fire	6	4	0	.600	207	165	4–1–0	2–3–0	W1
Cologne Centurions	4	6	0	.400	151	170	2–3–0	2–3–0	L1
Hamburg Sea Devils	3	6	1	.350	194	193	1–3–1	2–3–0	W3
Berlin Thunder	2	7	1	.250	180	241	1–4–0	1–3–1	L5

[12]

Game summaries

Week 1: vs Frankfurt Galaxy

Week One: Frankfurt Galaxy at Rhein Fire – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Frankfurt	3	0	3	0	6
Rhein	7	3	0	0	10

at LTU arena, Düsseldorf, Germany

• Date: Saturday, March 18
• Game time: 7:06 p.m. CET
• Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C), roof closed
• Game attendance: 22,827
• Referee: Terry Brown

Game information
First quarter Rhein – Juan Wong 45-yard touchdown reception from Chris Samp, Ola Kimrin kick good, 12:43. Frankfurt – 36-yard field goal by David Kimball, 2:59. Second quarter Rhein – 42-yard field goal by Ola Kimrin, 0:34. Third quarter Frankfurt – 49-yard field goal by David Kimball, 4:52. Fourth quarter No scoring.

Week 2: at Berlin Thunder

Week Two: Rhein Fire at Berlin Thunder – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rhein	6	7	0	9	22
Berlin	0	0	0	0	0

at Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany

• Date: Saturday, March 25
• Game time: 6:07 p.m. CET
• Game weather: 39 °F (4 °C), cloudy with light rain
• Game attendance: 13,105
• Referee: Gene Steratore

Week 3: at Cologne Centurions

Week Three: Rhein Fire at Cologne Centurions – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rhein	7	3	7	3	20
Cologne	0	10	0	0	10

at RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany

• Date: Sunday, April 2
• Game time: 4:06 p.m. CEST
• Game weather: 55 °F (13 °C), partly cloudly
• Game attendance: 16,961
• Referee: Craig Wrolstad

Week 4: vs Hamburg Sea Devils

Week Four: Hamburg Sea Devils at Rhein Fire – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hamburg	7	7	0	7	21
Rhein	0	7	7	17	31

at LTU arena, Düsseldorf, Germany

• Date: Saturday, April 8
• Game time: 7:05 p.m. CEST
• Game weather: 51 °F (11 °C), roof closed
• Game attendance: 18,224
• Referee: Alberto Riveron

Week 5: at Amsterdam Admirals

Week Five: Rhein Fire at Amsterdam Admirals – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rhein	7	17	0	7	31
Amsterdam	14	7	7	7	35

at Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands

• Date: Saturday, April 15
• Game time: 3:06 p.m. CEST
• Game weather: 58 °F (14 °C), roof open, fair
• Game attendance: 12,683
• Referee: John Parry

Week 6: vs Amsterdam Admirals

Week Six: Amsterdam Admirals at Rhein Fire – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Amsterdam	14	7	6	3	30
Rhein	7	7	0	7	21

at LTU arena, Düsseldorf, Germany

• Date: Saturday, April 22
• Game time: 7:06 p.m. CEST
• Game weather: 50 °F (10 °C), roof open, mostly cloudy
• Game attendance: 20,118
• Referee: Craig Wrolstad

Week 7: vs Berlin Thunder

Week Seven: Berlin Thunder at Rhein Fire – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Berlin	0	3	7	14	24
Rhein	0	14	3	10	27

at LTU arena, Düsseldorf, Germany

• Date: Saturday, April 29
• Game time: 7:05 p.m. CEST
• Game weather: 46 °F (8 °C), roof closed
• Game attendance: 20,598
• Referee: Carl Cheffers

Week 8: at Frankfurt Galaxy

Week Eight: Rhein Fire at Frankfurt Galaxy – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rhein	0	7	0	7	14
Frankfurt	3	3	7	3	16

at Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt, Germany

• Date: Saturday, May 6
• Game time: 7:04 p.m. CEST
• Game weather: 71 °F (22 °C), sunny
• Game attendance: 32,172
• Referee: Gene Steratore

Week 9: at Hamburg Sea Devils

Week Nine: Rhein Fire at Hamburg Sea Devils – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rhein	0	7	3	0	10
Hamburg	0	3	3	7	13

at AOL Arena, Hamburg, Germany

• Date: Sunday, May 14
• Game time: 4:05 p.m. CEST
• Game weather: 59 °F (15 °C), partly cloudy
• Game attendance: 16,823
• Referee: Alberto Riveron

Week 10: vs Cologne Centurions

Week Ten: Cologne Centurions at Rhein Fire – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cologne	7	3	0	0	10
Rhein	7	0	14	0	21

at LTU arena, Düsseldorf, Germany

• Date: Saturday, May 20
• Game time: 7:06 p.m. CEST
• Game weather: 52 °F (11 °C)
• Game attendance: 28,334
• Referee: Greg Meyer

Honors

After the completion of the regular season, the All-NFL Europe League team was selected by the NFLEL coaching staffs, members of a media panel and fans voting online at NFLEurope.com.[13] Overall, Rhein had four players selected. The selections were:

• Aaron Halterman, tight end
• Terrence Robinson, linebacker
• Derrick Strong, defensive end
• Ronyell Whitaker, cornerback

Notes

1. All times are in Central European Time (CET), or Central European Summer Time (CEST) after March 25.

References

1. NFL Europe League (January 27, 2006). "Familiar faces return in NFLEL free agent draft" (Press release). Retrieved June 28, 2011.
2. NFL Europe League (March 13, 2006). "World Bowl rematch kicks off 14th season" (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
3. NFL Europe League (March 21, 2006). "Week one winners clash in Berlin" (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
4. NFL Europe League (March 28, 2006). "Race looks to be crowded" (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
5. NFL Europe League (April 4, 2006). "Pace-setting Fire host Sea Devils" (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
6. NFL Europe League (April 11, 2006). "Top two in fight for first as season reaches halfway mark" (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
7. NFL Europe League (April 18, 2006). "League leaders meet for second week in a row" (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
8. NFL Europe League (April 25, 2006). "League-leading Admirals aim to maintain World Bowl charge" (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
9. NFL Europe League (May 2, 2006). "Admirals within touching distance of World Bowl" (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
10. NFL Europe League (May 9, 2006). "Winner takes all in Admirals-Galaxy clash" (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
11. NFL Europe League (May 16, 2006). "Admirals clinch World Bowl berth" (Press release). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
12. "2006 NFLE Standings". The Football Database. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
13. NFL Europe League (May 25, 2006). "NFLEL names All-League team, MVPs" (Press release). Archived from the original on June 26, 2006. Retrieved June 26, 2013.