11 and only 11 : Part 1

So this article took an annoying amount of time to write. The content wasn’t the issue but for those who haven’t noticed, I haven’t been at the fields at all over the past few weeks. I’ve been injured and my mobility (scarce as it was to begin with) made it as such that navigating away from my bed was difficult. Folks, never let a dirty rusher put you out for two weeks. Also, if you have a dirty rusher…cut his ass cause man, this ain’t worth it.

1. Lockdown (0-6): This is my favorite team to talk about when struggling (and my least favorite when they’re successful). The producer of the FPF podcast (the Eagle at Master Control’s team) Lockdown is a once proud franchise that has come on hard times as of late.  They are now being Qb’d by Mike D’Addario who is new and we’ve discussed his troubles in my last article.  However, despite averaging a paltry 4.0 points per game, the offense is not the only issue. Lockdown’s defense must be a source of frustration for Eagle as he is their defensive playcaller.  Too often are players covering grass or getting trapped by more advanced playcalling. Static zones are a thing of the past in FPF. While they worked in 2011 offences in the lowest divisions a decade later are much more imaginative and adaptive. Defensive players need to understand the looks that they’re being shown and actively make decisions to take looks away.  Last night’s 24-6 loss to Post Malone’s Knights saw them surrender 3 touchdowns on 12 offensive plays to their backup Quarterback..  The return of Andrew D’Anna has helped solidify the rusher position but I expect more from former QB and Buck Aneer and snapper Steven “White Smiles” Alberico. With their understanding of offensive concepts and spacing (given their positions and experience), they need to be more aggressive and dynamic on the defensive side of the ball.

2. The Stormers (0-6): The jerseys are cool. There are teams every year that come in with jerseys that look like they’re wardrobe from a drama about high school football. It’s a cool look! Outside of Alec Richard-Nantel and Felix Bolvin most of the team doesn’t have much FPF experience. The aforementioned are part of the Browns de Boucherville tree. Nantel’s 10 passing touchdowns and 8 interceptions are not pretty.  However, during the opening round the Stormers QB did post a 65..6 % completion percentage which indicates that the team can move the ball. However, conversions seems to be an issue for this team. I’m also not talking about converting after TDs necessarily.  However, using their 26-7 loss to Trailer Park Boys as an example we see a 25% efficiency on third down and a 28.6% efficiency on fourth down is an issue. Lucas Nantel is a very good receiver and he’s been targeted 23 times over 5 games.  While players like Shawn Beaudin Rondeau  and Jeremy Morin have had an impact when present. The team has yet to develop secondary offensive options.

3. Demons (0-5-1): It’s been said that when you have multiple quarterbacks you don’t have any.  This appears to be the case for Demons. Even in this Qualification round Demons are still going between Dov Vas and Adam Antel. The preliminary round even saw Benjamin Blanshay throw a few passes.  Whoever they expect to be their QB moving forward needs to get as many reps as possible. Otherwise, it would appear that the QB of the future for this team may not be on the roster. Playing QB in FPF is hard. It’s really, really hard. So, not playing the position doesn’t help you improve. Now, the receiving corps hasn’t exactly been lighting it up either. Matthew Neiss has been the only reliable target for Demons and their offense needs fibre unless they enjoy squeezing out a dry nugget every once and a while. They did score three touchdowns for the first time this week and Niel Wright and Thomas Steverman got into the endzone. While they did not score in the second half, this is something positive to build on for Demons.  Now, I would urge them to have a second act strategy to fall back on in the second half as teams will adjust to what they’re doing in the course of a game. 

4. Fighting Cones (1-5): Firstly, I love the team name.  It shows levity, that they don’t take themselves too seriously and it honors my favorite city in the world. The only FPF experience on the team presents itself in the form of Charles Monpetit who played a season for Les Semi-Croquants in coed.  Montpetit’s presence on the team has surely been helpful but he’s seemingly accepted his job as a role player with great grace and dignity. Meanwhile Vicardi Vieux had taken charge as the team’s primary receiver as he scored 4 touchdowns in the preliminary round.  Once the qualification round began, Farley Jeannis and Pascal Dodardhave become the main outlets for the offense. This is part of the problem. I don’t mean that the issue is to have new players taking on increasing roles. Rather, one of the glaring issues is that in 6 games the team has rostered 13 players.  The team’s only win has come against Demons who have also struggled.  There is some athleticism on the team however, FPF is more about developing a knowledge base and executing.  The key for them is to learn as much as they can in the inaugural season. Perhaps watching past FPF finals will show them some effective playcalls.  The birdseye view is particularly great to help you “borrow” some concepts.  

5. Pincellos (1-5): The reigning Division E champions moved up into Tier 2 and have struggled as they’ve faced teams who largely have more upper division experience than they do. They haven’t won since their promising opener against the Bruins. We all know the drama that last season brought us as Pincellos QB Vince Romano and I publicly talked trash for months leading up to the final. In all honesty, Romano’s good. I think the team would be better served to let him learn through his struggles than intermittently use Jocelyn Calixte at qb.  The more reps Romano gets the quicker he’ll learn to progress through his reads. A two game suspension to effectively end his season won’t help (obviously) The receivers are talented but if I could make a criticism, they often make too many cuts in the wrong situation. If you want to sell the outside before an in-cut against man, go for it.  However, against zone you’re taking up too much time and allowing the play to break down somewhat as your QB is expecting you in your window. Defensively the team is competent but impatient. Rusher Giancarlo Brullo is quick but often takes too wide an angle and doesn’t break down. Experienced QB’s will use his momentum against him.

6.  La Secte (0-6): The team has gone away from Alyson Francillon at quarterback in favor of Raphael Beauchamp-Debois. The results have been about the same. The key difference is that Francillon can be used as a receiver and, in my opinion, this is a much better use of his talents. Laurie Ethier out of the left slot (QB’s left) is a true weapon who has settled into a useful but underused second weapon. The defense has to make plays for this team as well. Too often, La Secte has been behind the eightball far too early in the game. La Secte is being outscored by an average of 17.2-5.6 in the first half of games this season.  Alyson Francillon, Olivier Jannini and Godefroy Verron-Trudel have each recorded interceptions.  The problem is, they each have one and no one else on the team has recorded a single one. The team also hasn’t recorded a single sack this season.  These are the things to improve on but the team has improved from their first offering in FPF.  They have developed some timing and rhythm.  I think they can simplify their plays and tighten up their defense and we’ll see a competitive team in the near future.

7. The Rock (2-4): The Rock are an interesting project. While most teams in coed have a strong stable of male talent to build around The Rock are a strong female cast assembled around Alex Laroche (who I imagine is the team’s namesake).  The team is quite solid. Carol-Ann Menard had a strong preliminary round and is struggling now.  Her playcalling is generally quite smart and the timing on her double slants (with snapper outlet opposite counterflood) is an effective play-call that takes some confidence and timing to deliver well placed slants in traffic and generally Menard does that well.  However, throws to the sideline and deep throws are not her strength.  As someone with a similar deficiency, I will say that it’s possible to be effective in FPF without being able to throw sideline fades on a line. Carol-Ann Menard needs to stay disciplined and perhaps develop some additional concepts that force her to attack the short sidelines.  Also, if the deep ball isn’t your thing, don’t throw it. Use crossing routes to gain separation in the intermediate area and strike there. Marie-Chritine Gauthier has capitalized on the sandbox play concepts and while she only averages 7.8 yards/reception she has done damage.   Additionally, snapper Aemilie Durocher is excellent. The team can improve quickly with some tweaks that would allow it’s best players to make plays.

8. Mean Machine (1-3-1): Mean Machine doesn’t play every season and it has shown that the league makes leaps while they sort of stay stagnant. Daniel Goloff’s arm is great but as defences have evolved in FPF he has had a hard time adapting.   He’s thrown 10 interceptions in 5 games and has only completed over 60% of his passes once this season.  The offence can no doubt be explosive. Benji Zeigler’s 15.6 yards per reception during the preliminary round was mouth dropping but there were 4 total receivers who averaged double digit yards per reception (Corey Danker, Evan Schwartz, Michael Titleman and Adam Rabinovitch all had double digit yards/reception).    Their schedule has been difficult, yet tying Arouch and going toke for toke with Tough Lungs showed how efficient their offence can be.  However, turnovers have largely been the difference and it appears that despite the team’s collective speed, they aren’t effective enough on defense to win a game where Goloff isn’t perfect.  This razor thin margin is not a path to success. Their upcoming schedule comes against KGP Ra, Glogang and Los Siete Amigos. The teams they will face are flawed but have their identities and will require clean games to see success.

9. Glogang (1-4-1): Glogang came into this league like gangbusters.  Arno Desjardins has since left FPF to play QB at the University level and the team that was a defensive stalwart with a dynamic offense are now a team that absolutely NEEDS to win the game on the defensive side of the ball. Since you don’t start with the ball on defense this makes it difficult. Olivier Suri and Sifax Kaced are shut down defenders but that skill set needs to be paired with an offense that can score.  At the moment, Glogang have scored the second least amount of points in Tier 2. Los Siete Amigos are in a similar boat and are the only team who have scored less but they’ve also played one less game than Glogang. GG are scoring scarcely over 2 touchdowns a game as they have put together an average of 15.333 point per game over 6 games this fall. The combination of Timothe Pichet and Felix Beaudoin isn’t working. I’d say that the best step forward is to choose a quarterback and maximize his reps. No one gets better by sitting during drives.  Now, the defense is good.  However, I can do with less of the provocation they look for between plays and as plays come to an end.  I’m not against trash talk but I’ve seen them enough where I’ve seen some late shoves and physicality that I can do without.

10.  KGP Ra (2-4): Their two wins came by a combined 7 points so far this season.  This is not shocking when you consider what KGP Ra has been.  They are a talented roster who seems to have to always win in the margins.  Ryan Garber has been an expert at playing this way during his time in the FPF’s men’s league.  He’s very precise and has the athleticism to buy time on reads when the need arises.  However, the team just isn’t explosive. They will seemingly never go up on opponents in a big way and instead would prefer to control the clock and have long methodical drives to play the game at their desired pace.  This can be devastating when you’re playing with a lead.  It also makes it difficult to mount comebacks or put away a team who is going stride for stride with you. Cooper Young has emerged as a true receiving threat to go alongside the womb tested chemistry of Dylan Garber and the non-blood related work that Josh Naimer has put in. The defense however does lack something to be desired. Personally I think Kyle Oberfeld is best used as a rusher but he has only played half of the team’s games and otherwise, they’ve only forced two turnovers.  KGP Ra will have to expect this kind of season to happen now and again until they develop the instinct to take a shot or take more risks on defense.

11. Mangoose (2-4): Mongoose is a fun team.  They are athletic and my goodness does Nicholas Schaefer have a special arm.  The ball explodes out of his hands and the rigid playcalling that has plagued him early in his FPF career has ceased.  In the redzone his arm strength and athleticism allows him to run this multiple depth/multi crossing concept that is a nightmare to cover. However, right now, it’s being defended by the best athletes in FPF.  I actually think that Mangoose will be a division 2 team soon and they are learning lessons quickly. Thomas Coutu is an athletic freak who shuts down qbs as well as he carves up defense.  He leads the team on yards per catch, receptions, targets and is the only receiver who put up triple digits in receiving yards in the preliminary round.  The issue however, is that secondary offence has been hard to come by. Marc-Antoine Chaput, Charles Fontaine, Domenic Perron are all effective receivers but (using the preliminary round as an example) they combined for scarcely more targets than Coutu.  Christophe Lapointe has been solid but little more than that as the second most heavily targeted receiver he needs to do more to elevate the offence.  As for what can be done in the short term, perhaps slowing down the pace of play will allow their defence to look better as they adapt to playing at this level.