2nd-and-Short (Div4) – Week 8
07-03-2014 12:00 AM
Half of Week 8 down, another half to go. Let’s get right to it.
Recap
Standing Up to Your Bullies
Entering with a 2-4-1 record and coming off an ugly loss, Flying Comics looked headed for a royal beatdown when they took the field against the imposing Backyard Bullies on Wednesday.
But just the opposite happened.
Though QB Jon Brown was without numerous key receivers, he only needed one to lead his team to victory: Matthew Young.
Young looked unstoppable from the slot, making incredible grabs left and right as he finished the game with a whopping four touchdowns on six receptions and the Comics won 39-26.
Young also seems to be the spark on the Comics defence—though he only has 13 tackles and a deflection in the four games he’s played, the team is 3-0-1 in those games. The Comics are 0-4 in all other matchups so far this season.
Ball Busters vs. The Junks: Insert Joke of Your Choice
Though it looked set to be a joke of a game with the 5-2 Ball Busters taking on the 1-6 Junks, the only thing you could really make a joke about regarding this one is the headline.
The Junks showed from the get-go they weren’t to be taken lightly, returning an Dylan Taylor interception to the house on the game’s opening drive and adding the conversion to make it 7-0.
But the Busters didn’t let it faze them, coming right back with a touchdown drive of their own before leading 20-14 at the half.
From there it was a defensive showdown, with both defences adjusting to leave both QBs struggling to find their targets on a consistent basis as each side allowed just one score apiece in the second half.
Though The Junks fell 26-20 in the end, the fact it’s their sixth straight loss doesn’t do this team justice—the last four have each been by a single score. If this team stays together you can be sure they’ll be dangerous next season.
Have You Ever Lost Despite Scoring More Touchdowns Than Your Opponent?
I haven’t, but Eskimo Brothers just did. Playing Monstars earlier this week, the Brothers started off on the wrong foot when, on just the game’s second play, QB Mitchell Muir was picked off by Aram Boyadjian, who returned it to the house for six. From there it was mostly a back and forth game, with Eskimo Brothers marching up the field to score from inside the redzone and Monstars answering right back, usually with a big play downfield to Boyadjian.
Down 40-39 with just five plays left, the Brothers found themselves themselves with a chance to win the game having made their way deep into Monstars territory, but an interception in the endzone by Kevin Gauthier in the endzone sealed a crucial win for Monstars.
If you check the stats, you’ll see Eskimo scored six touchdowns to Monstars’ five. That’s not an error—converts truly made the difference in this one, with Monstars going for two on virtually every drive and coming up successful on most of them.
Playoff Picture
An asterisk means the team clinched a playoff berth, teams in bold are still in the hunt, teams in italics are eliminated from contention. The following standings were calculated before Wednesday’s games:
East
1. Healthy Scratches* (6-2, 12 pts, 5-2, +33)
2. Lynx* (5-2-1, 11 pts, 4-2-1, +64)
3. The Replacements (5-2, 10 pts, 5-2, +59)
4. The Family (5-2, 10 pts, 4-2, +101)
5. Team Ethnik (4-2-2, 10 pts, 3-2-2, +22)
6. Two and a Half Dans (4-2-1, 9 pts, 4-2-1, +22)
7. TCO (4-3, 8 pts, 4-3, -4)
8. Smokin’ Aces (3-3-2, 8 pts, 3-3-2, -29)
9. Fruit Loops (2-5, 4 pts, 2-4, -5)
10. Primetime (2-5, 4 pts, 2-4, -9)
11. Quack Attack (2-5, 4 pts, 2-4, -31)
12. Longhorns (2-5, 4 pts, 2-4, -35)
13. Banana Republicans (1-7, 2 pts, 1-7, -154)
West
1. Predators (6-1, 12 pts, 5-1, +88)
2. Coyotes (6-1, 12 pts, 5-1, +65)
3. Monstars (4-3-1, 9 pts, 4-3-1, -1)
4. 57 (4-3-1, 9 pts, 3-3-1, +9)
5. Dragons (4-3, 8 pts, 3-3, -35)
6. Eskimo Brothers (4-4, 8 pts, 4-3, +38)
7. Channel 4 News Team (4-4, 8 pts, 4-4, -5)
8. Knights (3-3-1, 7 pts, 3-3-1, -14)
9. X-Men (3-4-1, 7 pts, 3-3-1, -13)
10. Turf Toe Inc (2-4-1, 5 pts, 2-3-1, -71)
11. Fun Boys (2-5, 4 pts, 2-4, +18, H2H over Project Mayhem)
12. Project Mayhem (2-5, 4 pts, 2-5, -66)
13. Kingdom (1-5-1, 3 pts, 1-5-1, -47)
North
1. Sea Assassins* (7-0, 14 pts, 7-0, +113)
2. Six Fast Guys Plus Ryan* (6-1, 12 pts, 5-1, +94)
3. 69ers (5-2, 10 pts, 5-1, +18)
4. Outlaws (5-2, 10 pts, 5-2, +39
5. Ball Busters (5-2, 10 pts, 5-2, +10)
6. Angry Beavers (3-4, 6 pts, 3-3, +23)
7. Mustangs (3-4, 6 pts, 3-4, -15)
8. Lockdown (3-4, 6 pts, 3-4, -18)
9. Gotham Knights (2-5, 4 pts, 2-4, -39)
10. Playground (2-6, 4 pts, 2-5, -38, H2H over FOTC)
11. Fools of the Country (2-6, 4 pts, 2-5, -67)
12. The Junks (1-6, 2 pts, 1-5, -51)
13. Les Affreux (0-7, 0 pts, 0-7, -116)
South
1. La Sauce* (7-0, 14 pts, 6-0, +123)
2. Broccasion* (6-1, 12 pts, 5-1, +97)
3. ZOO (5-2, 10 pts, 5-1, -15)
4. BearSkins (5-2, 10 pts, 5-2, +33)
5. KGP Lite (5-2, 10 pts, 4-2, +76)
6. Backyard Bullies (4-2-1, 9 pts, 3-2-1, +16)
7. Les Maloudes (4-3, 8 pts, 4-3, +40)
8. Checkmate (3-4, 6 pts, 3-4, -46)
9. Flying Comics (2-4-1, 5 pts, 2-4-1, -33)
10. Les Prédateurs (2-5, 4 pts, 2-5, -75)
11. Jaggerbomb (1-5-1, 3 pts, 1-5-1, -17, H2H over Pickle Fiasco)
12. Pickle Fiasco (1-5-1, 3 pts, 0-5-1, -79)
13. Trapstars (1-6, 2 pts, 0-6, -73)
As you can see, just about every team is still in contention. If you needed extra motivation to play hard this weekend, this is it.
A reminder of how the playoffs will go down: North will play South, East will play West and the brackets will be just like in March Madness. So for example no. 1 North will play No. 8 South, No. 1 East will play No. 8 West etc. North will continue to play South and East will continue to play West—with the teams being re-seeded every round so the highest seed always plays the lowest seed, unlike in NCAA—all the way through to the championship game.
Scoping Saturday
Quack Attack vs. Fruit Loops
Despite their records, I think this is one of the most interesting matchups of the weekend. Both teams feature running quarterbacks, each have a big play guy in Pierre-Luc Varhegyi and Dave Chitayat respectively and both have aggressive defences that have a knack for getting their hands on the ball.
All that being said, I think Quack Attack have the advantage here with Jérémie Gauthier at quarterback. Though his running game was shut down by Two and a Half Dans’ Dan Lepore two weeks ago, Lepore showed he can hold his own against mobile quarterbacks the week prior with three sacks of The Replacements’ Matt Bishara.
Looking at Fruit Loops’ roster, I don’t see anyone who stands out as being able to do the same considering the team has combined for a mere three sacks on the season, one each by a different player. And simply put, if you can’t shut down Gauthier’s running, chances are you aren’t winning.
Random Thoughts:
- Let it be known that Simon Dagenais hasn’t picked better than me “for seven weeks in a row.” If you want to go by percentages, I beat him in Week 4 with an 18-6 record while he went 18-7. If you want to go by wins, we tied in Week 5 when I finished 17-13 while he went 17-12. I’d also like to take this time to remind Simon of how terrible he is at fantasy football. #Facts
- I’m not a big fan of run-dependent teams in FPF, but it might be time I switch to the dark side: six of the top 10 rushers in the division are QBs on teams with winning records, two of which are subdivision leaders.
- Then again, maybe not: the other four are QBs who have combined for seven wins on the season. It seems like running works either really, really well in D4 or terribly, terribly bad.
- FPF should hire someone to do a study on conversions to settle once and for all the one-point vs. two-point conversions debate. Or maybe just get Eagle to do it for free.
***
That’s all for this week. As always, you can email me at [email protected] or reach me on Twitter @JBlanchFPF. Check out this week’s D4 podcast, Calling the Audible, to see Peeze and Brent Callendar recap some of this week’s games and talk about bubbles at http://www.theunclehood.com/calling-audible-week-8/. Good luck to all this weekend!