5 Plays ‘Till Halftime Week 2 – FlagPlus Football League

5 Plays ‘Till Halftime Week 2

Each week, Gm Kolethras will send me 5 quick-fire topics that I will attempt to answer without the benefit of forethought. Luckily, I do not waste any time with that sort of nonsense in the first place. In any case this allows me to cover a wide array of topics that may be neglected in other articles or on Calling the Audible. If you’d like one of your questions to be featured in this column on any given week, please feel free to flood his twitter feed @gmkole44.

GM: Who disappointed you most in week 2?

Peeze: My mom. I went over and fully expected meatloaf (Ma…THE MEATLOAF!!!! While my hunger was left unsatisfied there were some teams whose play did not satisfy my palate. The Brotherhood comes to mind. On paper this should be an offensive powerhouse. What we’ve seen so far is a house who’s had their power cut by Hydro Quebec. Los Luchadores are another such team. They’ve only scored 5 touchdowns in 2 games. This is an offensive league. If you can’t score you won’t win. However, the team that has disappointed me the most so far is KGP Champs. They were one of my favorites coming into the season. They have a lot of talent but they have not been able to pu it together. A loss to a high powered Sea Assassin team one week and then a talented but aging roster in Past Our Prime. I get that these are losses against good teams but there aren’t any qualifiers in the W-L column. Figure it out guys, KGP Chumps just doesn’t look great on jerseys.

GM: Do you still have faith in any of your predicted, pre-season powerhouses? If so who?

Peeze: Let’s take a look at my top 5 coming into the season. I ranked the top 5, as follows, in descending order, Prestige World Wide, BD Bandits, KGP Champs, Eudistes, and Brotherhood. While the Eudistes still need to work on closing out games and playing consistently I think they will wtill be strong if not elite. Brotherhood may have a lot of top-end talent but we will see if they have the depth. There is also an issue of developing cohesion with their new quarterback Gianni Settino. It hasn’t happened yet, if it doesn’t happen soon, they may be on the outside looking in. KGP Champs, really haven’t looked good to start things off. I guess, the teams that I still believe in are PWW and BD Bandits. Both lost to the Wild Boys who are either the real deal or giant killers (to be re-examined by midway through the season). Nonetheless, I expect the loss to Wild Boys to be the only loss or one of two losses for both of these teams. I can see BD Bandits, and Prestige World Wide going on incredible 6-7 week winning streaks.

GM: Name a player that doesn’t get enough press and talk about why he is relevant.

Peeze: Kendal Mayers is on the top of this list for me. I think part of the reason that people don’t talk about how good he is is the distain that many have for #NoRegard (a now division 2 team of which he was one of the co-founders). He has a great set of hands and is valuable defender. More so, if one looks at his stats they would realize that 36% of his catches result in touchdowns.

GM: Are there any teams that you just can’t figure out.

Peeze: I call this the Pineapple Conundrum. Pineapples and ham taste delicious together but for reasons that no one will ever truly understand, they just don’t work on a pizza. I feel this way about The Brotherhood. They have a lot of talent and a very capable quarterback but all of that has resulted in two disappointing outings. KGP Champs is also similar in that regard. They have everything that you expect from a successful team, a history of FPF success and yet they end the second week of play without a win. On the other side of the coin, I did not expect much out of OTF. That being said, they seem to know what they do well and are using it to exploit other teams.

GM: Who do you think was the better Robin? Dick Grayson or Jason Todd?

Peeze: This is a loaded question. So, just to bring our readers up to speed. Robin is actually more of a title passed on from sidekick to sidekick more than a static character. All of them have distinguishing characteristics and a different dynamic with the Dark Knight and each bring something new to the comic. There are and have been (a tense that only makes sense when discussing non-linear comic book timelines) 6 Robins.

The one that most are familiar with is Dick Grayson who was awkwardly portrayed by Burt Ward in the 1960’s Batman Serial and terribly portrayed in the 1997 movie Batman and Robin. Dick served as Batman’s faithful sidekick, confidant and prodigy until he eventually became Nightwing and then took on the mantle as Batman. He was replaced by Jason Todd who would eventually get beaten to death by the Joker in left in a warehouse with a bomb that would eventually explode and the youngster would meet his untimely death. Tim Drake would then come into the fold and take his place but he would soon leave and take a spot on the Teen Titans roster. His girlfriend Stephanie Brown then stepped up to the plate for reasons that are still unclear to anyone. After she was fired, Batman went solo for a while until he found out that he had a son with Talia Al’Ghul (daughter of Raj Al’Ghul). Batman’s biological son (Damian Wayne) served as Robin until his death in Batman Incorporated. Much later on a 55 year old Batman leads one final assault on evil in the Dark Knight Returns. He is accompanied by a young girl named Carrie Kelley who appears to be the final Robin.

Between the two I prefer Grayson (come on, people voted to kill off Jason Todd and it was a 1-900 number. People paid to do it!) But in truth I felt Dick Grayson was a far better Batman than he was a Robin. So my favorite all time Robin would have to be a toss-up between Damien Wayne and Carrie Kelley. I kow that wasn’t your question but it’s the question I wanted to answer.

Power Rankings

Week one power rankings are especially fun in a week like this. It has gone tops-turvy (yes I used that expression; damn I’m getting old). Lots of teams will slide up and down while I try not to overreact and decide which teams lost due to rust and which teams just do not look right. If you disagree with any of this or feel like you’ve been disrespected let the world know by tweeting me @PeezeFPF.

VPC (2-0): VPC has now won two games. While it is against two teams that have a combined record of 0-4 to start the season, remember that teams don’t make their own schedule. All VPC can do is line up to beat who they have on their schedule. They play an underperforming, yet always dangerous Prestige World Wide in week 3.
Les Buddays (2-0): This has more to do with how they won and who they beat than the mere victory in the W column. Fred Dupuis seems to have fit in well and they limited Jamil Springer to only two touchdowns in their season opener. A win against Zio e Fraté could do a lot to silence the doubters.
Past Our Prime (2-0): They’ve won a game with Craig O’Brien at quarterback and another with Jay Ulley at quarterback. While both are excellent and experienced quarterbacks, it shows that the supporting cast is as strong as they are adaptable. They appear to have a soft early season schedule before having to run the gauntlet to end the season. They are picking up the wins that they’re expecting to earn, hopefully this will energize them for the important games to come later in the season.
Wild Boys (2-0) They simply cannot be ignored anymore. They beat Prestige World Wide and BD Bandits to start the season. The rest of division 3 should take notice. They are winning tight, emotional games out of the gate. Wild Boys seem to be in playoff form from the get go.
Prestige World Wide (1-1): They’ve rebounded from their first loss but they still don`t look quite right. I think they will get stronger as the season goes on. As it stands, I’m not impressed.
BearSkins (2-0): Neil Etinson is slinging it and his big play receivers are running all over opponents. This offense is clicking and they are only allowing 3 scores per game against. If there was a recipe for success all they would need to do from now on is add water and stir.
Predators (1-0-1): They’re technically undefeated. This is a team that others hoped to beat early as chemistry with new players hadn’t necessarily formed. So far, they look like a top tier team and they don’t even look to be playing at the height of their potential.
BD Bandits (1-1): They took one on the chin this week. However, I think that has more to do with the Wild Boys strength than their own weakness. It does raise the question as to whether or not BD Bandits have the fire power to compete in D3 this season.
Eudistes (1-1): They are back to their winning ways but they really did not do so in a convincing fashion. They’re still in my top 10 but I’ve tempered my initial enthusiasm.
Monstars (2-0)- When the season started I begged for the Monstars to prove me wrong and they seem to have taken the challenge to heart. I meant what I said on the podcast that if they run the table I will wear a Monstars jersey and a purple tie on the air. Luckily, I look dreamy in purple.

Others receiving votes

The other votes were compiled from 100’s of fortune cookies. They gave me lots of insight like “There’s no such thing as an ordinary cat” and “You cannot love life until you live the life you love.” I translated them as follows:

OTF (2-0): I’m starting to change my tune with OTF. They’re still undefeated and they almost sneaked in at number 10. They face four deadly offences in the weeks to come. If they keep that spotless record intact they will jump up the rankings in no time.

Sea Assassins (1-1): The Sea Assassins were impressive in their season opener. I had questions about their defense and my questions remain the same after they failed to stop Fred Morissette and the Moose on any of their 7 drives in week 2.

Solide (1-1): Perhaps I’m a little more sold on Solide after they took their first game home wrapped in winners linens despite having to start Paul Lapierre at safety. They faced Eudistes which could have been a tough matchup but, managed the game well. If they keep this up they will prove to be a top tier team in no time.

Broccaision (1-1): They’ve beat a talented Snatchers team this week. However the acquisition of Derek Daoust is the bigger news for me. He is a big physical presence and an addition that can make a huge difference on a team that was having issues at safety.

Thursday Whiskey Tumbler

My full weekly article is coming out in a few short days that will cover recaps and announce my picks for the upcoming week. Until then please remember to tune in tonight at 7:15 pm eastern standard time as GM Koletheras and I will go over the first week of action.

You can watch us live at www.theunclemikeshow.com or download the podcasts via iTunes or at http://fpf.podomatic.com. If you’d like to live tweet the show you can do so by tweeting our producer @EagleFPF.

See you tonight!