A Sick Brag,Contenders and Who Names Their Team After Fast Food?
Peeze’s Playbook
By Paolo Della Rocca
Week 8
This winter has been tough. I feel as though I’m overworked and the cold and ice have been fairly unbearable. Luckily, I’m getting read for a week of golf and whiskey in Savannah, Georgia. There’s no reason to mention it other than to lord over all those who will remain in this Canadian Winter.
I will have a weekly column out next week but it will be more alcohol fuelled than usual. I urge teams to reach out to me and let me know what happened in their games as I will not be able to make it to the field during the week. Take a minute, drop me a line and let me know what’s up.
Elite 8
Each week Marc-Andre Desaulniers and I list our power rankings of the top eight teams in the divisions. Remember this isn’t reflection of the standings necessarily, nor the way we thin they will finish the season. Instead, it’s a measure of how well the team has done recently.
Division 6
- Warriors (6-0): Warriors are unbeaten and still boast one of the most impressive resumes this season. The team runs through Benji Zeigler but thus far, no one has been able to stop him.
- Dirty Landry (7-0): The question remains: Have Dirty Landry truly been tested yet?
- D2: The Mighty Ducks (5-2): At the moment they may be my favorite to win the division 6 championship.
- Hot Sauce Sports (6-2): The balance is impressive on both sides of the ball. This team has a great combination of veteran leadership and youth and athleticism.
- Scranton Stranglers (5-2): I must say, I had my doubts about this team. They do keep winning but I really want to see how they handle the experience of N.W.O and the speed of Unknown Talent to end the season.
- Hurricane SZN (3-4): I didn’t think they’d even win this many games all season long. The schedule has been brutal but they’re playing really good right now. Bradley Parent has put together a quiet 12 touchdown campaign thus far.
- Dawg Pound (5-2) : Shayne Feinberg is taking advantage of a softer part of his schedule. Hopefully this will build up the team’s confidence so they can compete against the top dogs in the division come playoff time.
- Channel 4 News Team (4-3): C4NT have won back to back games by facing back-up QBs. However, they can’t be held accountable for other team’s roster construction.
Marc-Andre’s Elite 8
- Warriors : Petite frousse cette semaine pour nos guerriers, mais une simple égratignure.
- Dirty Landry : Plus que 3 parties et une saison parfaite pour ce club qui frise la perfection !
- Hot Sauce Sports : Cette équipe joue aussi bien que n’importe quelle équipe.
- D2 : The Mighty Ducks: Quand l’appétit va tout va… pourrait devenir quand Domon est là tout va !
- Scranton Stranglers : Retour sur le chemin de la victoire avec une victoire convaincante face à Sharknado.
- Vick in a Box : Il jouait sans leur quart-arrière régulier. Max Burah a tout tenté. On va leur donner le bénéfice du doute.
- Channel 4 News Team : Leur victoire de la semaine passée face à D2 leur a donné tout un second souffle. Ils viennent de battre sèchement Vick in a Box, bravo !
- Dawg Pound : Trois victoires de suite pour la franchise, ils jouent enfin comme nos aspirations du début de saison.
Division 6D
Peeze’s Elite 8
- Bballers (7-1): At this point Bballers should start scouting division 6 teams because it’s clear that they won’t slip into the division 6D playoffs.
- Los Siete Amigos (7-1): Etienne Brisson’s 5 interceptions has helped Los Siete Amigos’ defense become a truly feared unit.
- Trailer Park Boys (5-2): Their loss to Fightin’ Tigers is worrisome. I do worry about how well the Trailer Park Boys will do against more experienced competition. However, for the moment one slip-up does not a season make (or something like that)
- Les Casses (5-2): It’s getting to the point where the late season matchup between Les Casses and Macdo my decide who gets promoted into the division 6 playoffs.
- Gold Rush(4-2): Gold Rush are improving rapidly. They’ve won 3 straight games and have someone better star covering Tyler Stern. His 9 touchdowns should start attracting coverage. I wonder; will it matter?
- Brewers (5-3): I don’t like reacting to small sample sizes. However getting slapped by Bballers indicates that Brewers may have an issue competing with the division frontrunners. However, their schedule has them facing them all to end the season.
- Fightin’ Tigers (4-2): Seth Galina has 10 touchdowns and a single interceptions in the last two weeks. Fightin’ Tigers are looking good.
- Macdo (5-2): Macdo will be just fine; it does appear that they’re experiencing a late season lull. This is common among top contenders.
Marc-Andre’s Elite 8
- BBallers : Perfection, rien ne les décrit mieux !
- Los Siete Amigos : Leur défensive tient le coup, mais on s’attend un réveil de l’attaque !
- Macdo : Petite semaine de repos bien méritée.
- Trailer Park Boys : Petite erreur de parcourt ou une mauvaise tangente ? Les trois prochains affrontements nous donneront la réponse.
- Brewers : Une mauvaise prestation a été oubliée cette semaine avec une victoire conclue de belle façon.
- Fightin’ Tigers : Victoire grandiose face à une grande équipe, Trailer Park Boys.
- Gold Rush : Troisième victoire consécutive, dont une incroyable victoire face à Potatoes cette semaine.
- Llamas Pyjamas : Superbe performance pour cette équipe dans la défaite contre nos grands favoris.
True Contenders
Stan Lee’s iconic term true believers was often reserved for patrons loyal to the artists of comic books and super heroes. True contenders for the purposes of this article is a reference to the teams I believe to be the best in division 6 and 6D. I’ll review what makes them so dangerous and what their weakness will be heading into the postseason. In coming weeks I will analyze the teams in the playoff hunt.
Division 6
- Warriors: I mentioned this on the podcast but Simon was too dumb to follow the conversation. Rather than force a square peg into a cylindrical hole I’ve decided to finish my thoughts in written form. The Warriors have the best combination of speed across the board, intelligent play design, versatile players and quarterbacking in Division 6. The weakness is that the entire gameplan revolves around Benji Zeigler. I’d like to see Zak Sigler and Gabriel Salonichios become more involved in their offense.
- Unkown Talent: Alessandro Barazzoni is a talented Quarterback. He’s also mad after losing to Warriors and Hot Sauce Sports on back-to-back weeks. The team has the ability to be entirely overwhelming. Nicky Farinaccio, Sebastien Gomes and Nicholas Gomes-Risso are a matchup nightmare in this division. The one concern I do have is the team is inexperienced and has not shown the ability to adapt when their gameplan doesn’t work well.
- Hot Sauce Sports (by Simon Dagenais): When Daniel Bornstein is the fifth receiver on a team in Division 6 and William Power isn’t the best defender, you know the roster is STACKED. Hot Sauce Sports found ways to amass a group of very talented players by adding Gianni Frassetti and George Aifantis to their original core to a point where it’s almost an embarassement of riches. Paolo Della Rocca is bolstering a 106.2 QBR after 6 games played and they’ve just beat 3 preseason frontrunners in back-to-back-to-back games. My only concern with HSS is Peeze’s tendency to force throws when playing from behind and their new players losing focus if they start spiraling.
- Dirty Landry: Their greatest advantage is the greatest advantage to have. They have the best quarterback in the division. Avery Lalla’s 30 Touchdowns and 2 interceptions is phenomenal. If you’re going to have an edge heading into the playoffs this is the one to have. The team however is a little thin. Brandon and Mile Keiller are game-breakers but the team is otherwise missing top-end talent. Gabriel Bardetti is a good receiver but has only caught 11 passes and less than 100 yards in this offense. Their schedule has also been remarkably softer than other contenders so whether or not they will be playoff ready is up for debate.
- Vick in a Box: They have the most interesting and dynamic defense in the division. Nicholas Sanche and Craig Browning are rangy defenders that will make plays on players in space. It does appear that VIB have gone back to Max Burah in place of Jordan McInnis who has just played 3 games. Finally Matthew Barsetti is a tenacious rusher and it makes their defense all the more difficult to matchup against. The concern is simple; can Matthew Pisaturo protect the ball well enough to give his team a chance. His inexperience has started to show and the team knows that their championship hopes will rest on him having an incredible run.
- D2: The Mighty Ducks: Mathieu Domon simply shouldn’t be throwing in division 6. He’s far too good to be at the helm of an otherwise, insanely talented team. The size of receivers like JD Joly, Renaud “Big Ren” St-Laurent and Alexandre Croteau make them difficult for any defense to deal with. In their 5 wins D2 has scored more than 30 points in each of those games. The concern is minimal. However, they don’t have a natural rusher and the defense isn’t the fastest unit in D6. They will struggle against some of the better receiver talents in the division.
Division 6D
- Bballers: Bballers are too strong for the division on the whole. Their inexperience in FPF haven’t hurt them and they’re earning a top seed and will get promoted to the Division 6 playoffs. Their reward for having such a dominant season will be a more difficult playoff matchup. It remains to be seen if they are to strong for that level of competition as well. Gianni Casati has been simply incredible all season long and leads the division in the most important categories. Vincent Beauregard, Frederic Senay-Lussier and William Paquette have all scored at least 6 touchdowns this season. They end the season on two games where they are heavy favourites. The game against Los Siete Amigos sticks out like a sore thumb however. They faced a legitimate defense an were lucky to escape with the win. Perhaps facing a weaker schedule may hurt the team.
- Los Siete Amigos: They have the defense that have allowed the least amount of points. Etienne Brisson is a legitimate candidate for two way player of the year. Felix D’Aoust’s 18 sacks is incredible and has led to an impressive 17 interceptions in 8 games. Their season has seen some balance playing some weaker teams and some stronger candidates. Their only loss came to the division leader Bballers and it was a remarkably close game. I’m not certain that this isn’t the best team in division 6 and 6D combined. However, if I need to nitpick…and for the purposes of this article I do, Alexandre Fafard has only thrown 19 touchdowns in the 7 games he’s played. This team will need to score more if they expect post season success!
- Trailer Park Boys: Antoine Meunier laid his balls on the table and took the reigns at quarterback after the team appreciated the tutelage of it’s only veteran Matt Leblanc. Since that moment, the mark the balls left on the marble remain and Trailer Park Boys look much better than they did in a decent fall campaign. Mathieu Gascon has led the way when it comes to scoring as his 6 touchdowns lead the way. What’s most impressive about this offence is that 4 other players have 3 touchdowns. Yet the team’s defense is the most impressive unit on the team. Phil Ramsey’s 5 interceptions have led the way on a steady and consistent defensive group. They’ve only allowed more than 20 points a single time this season. They lost that game. In FPF to ensure playoff success you need to be able to score 5 times a game. I worry that TPB may not be able to do so.
- Macdo: It begs the question why Victor Nolin wasn’t the qb of these nugget swillers from jump street. The only logical answer is that you don’t name a team Macdo unless you’re severely under the influence. Now that Nolin has taken over Macdo moves on from being a fall cup underdog story to a winter season contender. I truly believe that once promoted, given the right matchups Macdo can surprise some division 6 teams. Etienne Cardinal is a legitimate to receiver and would be on many teams. Macdo has beaten down on bad teams but also beat two of the better teas in the division by a single point. That may not be entirely sustainable moving forward.
- Les Casses: The best part about Les Casses’ situation is that they may remain in the 6D playoff bracket. They are great athletes all around. Their size and speed make them a particular challenge in this division. Louis Breton, Samuel Caron and Jeremie Barette are very athletic and can make game changing plays. Olivier Laforest couldn’t have asked for a better tutor at the qb position. The once concern I have if any for Les Casses is Laforest’s penchant to turn the ball over. He’s throw 14 interceptions and that’s a tad high for a team with championship aspirations. Given that the play Macdo late in their schedule will give us an idea of where exactly they fit into the greater picture.
Sunday’s Slimy Silvertone
The season has seen it’s share of ups and downs. Plenty of playoff seeds and positions are up for grabs. Also, for those who’s season is nearing it’s twilight, there’s plenty of time to play spoiler.
For further analysis, tune in to the official FPF podcast Calling the Audible, where Moe Khan Simon Dagenais and I work to annoy each other as we discuss how to gamble on the combine, the luck of Kid Rock and how many pool balls are too many in a pool!
Tune in to Facebook live on the FPF Facebook page on Thursday nights at 7:00pm, watch it later on www.youtube.com/flagplus or download the podcast on iTunes or Podomatic!
Thank you all, falettinme be mice elf agin.