A Chemistry Lesson, Google Translate and Reactions to JR Smith

Peeze’s Playbook

By Paolo Della Rocca

Week 3

The most overused and perhaps single most cliched topic in sports coverage is chemistry. We use this term to loosely encompass timing, spacing, familiarity, communication and trust. What’s most interesting about this is that it’s a term that we often associate with winning. There is however only one problem with this. It is a lie.

Let’s look no further than professional sports this year for examples where “chemistry” has not served a benefit. In the NFL, the league most closely related to the sport we all play and love. The Philadelphia Eagles stepped away from the Chip Kelly experiment and in two years with new receivers Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith the Eagles were quickly established a new frontrunner to the Lombardi Trophy. They added Jay Ajayi just before midseason and added him into a backfield that was led by Legarette Blount (who was brought in during the off season). When Carson Went went down, many, including me doubted the Eagles’ ability to win the Super Bowl with Nick Foles (the backup QB) at the helm. I mean, how would they develop chemistry in time?

There are other examples in this sports year. The castaways that formed the Vegas Knights now find themselves in the NHL Finals. This is something that was unheard of in my entire life as a sports fan. Expansion teams never used to make a dent on the league, yet we now see one in the finals. Meanwhile, they take on a core who is going to compete for the Stanley Cup for the first time. The Capitals are a team where the culture and chemistry is something the team has worked toward for years. Yet, they find themselves in the same spot as a team who literally had no players and had never played an NHL game this time last year.

In the NBA, many wondered how Kevin Durant would fit in the Golden State team concept? I even laughed in the face of my less-than-esteemed colleague in FPF Simon Dagenais (a die hard Warriors fan) when he wondered aloud “Will Durant hurt the team chemistry?”. What they did was add a future first ballot hall of famer to a team that may already have had three of them on their roster. For two consecutive years they have competed for the O’Brien trophy. Their opponents this year, a grope of players who were put together at the all-star break to surround Lebron James. In a recent press conference Lebron James had trouble remembering the name of new teammate Jordan Clarkson. The man who has a famed picture-perfect memory, did not remember his teammates’ name. That team is in the finals, despite the clear lack of chemistry brought on by not knowing the names of your teammates.

In the end the quality of the players is what counts. The teams with the best players win. Those who lack this talent convince themselves that they’re chemistry is irreplaceable. In the end we’ll see it by season’s end. The cream always rises to the top. The best teams will prevail. We are starting to see the talented teams separate themselves from the pack. For those who lack that top end talent, I guess there’s always chemistry.

Better than Average

The Average Joes have not yet tasted the sting of defeat in their inaugural FPF season. This feat has rarely been achieved. While they have yet to truly be tested, the Average Joe’s have looked good and week 3 was no exception. Jesse St-James was poised in the pocket and using his legs when necessary showed the ability to attack the defense on the ground as well as though the air. This games did mark St.James’ first interception throw in FPF (impressive especially when one considers the 12 touchdowns thrown). In the game against Sandbaggers, leading touchdown scorer Nick Pascarella caught a touchdown to bring his season total to 4. He was one of four receivers to catch touchdown passes in this game as Chris Delia, Tim Zulkarnain and Jordan Rolli each scored as well. Rolli would also add an interception for a touchdown.

Sandbaggers have proven a difficult experiment for new quarterback (yet FPF experienced Olivier Goddard). They could not field a team last week leading to a forfeit and in his two games combined Goddard has only completed 13 passes. Such a feat is typically accomplished by quarterbacks in a single game. Perhaps what’s most surprising is that the Sandbaggers defense appears to be porous . Goddard is not yet known in this league but he is a dominant rusher with a 10 foot wingspan. It appears as though he’s trying some different things with the defence but this team may need to go back to what they do best.Greg Lee’s interception was a good start but, it’s simply not enough from a team that has recorded 3 interceptions and a single sack this season. Week 3 would not end in their favour as they lost 35-13 against the currently undefeated Average Joe’s.

Vultures Finer

The Vultures appear to be a team in transition. They’re immensely talented and the defence is a smart, cohesive unit. The issue appears to be with quarterback Bryan Harwood. He threw 5 interceptions in week 3 and the Vultures still won in spite of him and likely would not have won without pick sixes from Phillip Roberts and Kevin Donnet they likely would not have come away with the 19-13 win over Loyola’s Finest.

Mike Cerulli tried to match this dubious effort as he threw 4 interception for Loyola’s Finest. While the Loyola’s Finest defence did what they could to keep their team in the game. In an attempt to match the the defensive scoring output of their opponents, Loyola’s Finest got three interceptions from Nick Lombardi. Unfortunately none of those were returned for points and Loyola’s Finest will move to 1-2 while the Vultures record now stands at 2-1.

Quack Quack Quack (use Google Translate to get this headline)

I found the Ducks move away from Frankie Scalzo very puzzling. Scalzo was a solid contributor at quarterback and he ws great at getting the ball to Karim Morissette and Renaud St.Laurent who are, by virtue of their size virtually unguardable in division E. Alexandre Croteau has struggled as Scalzo’s replacement. It did appear that this game was one such outing where Croteau had trouble. He threw 4 interceptions and had trouble hitting wide open receivers. He threw 4 interceptions and needed to be replaced with Mathieu Domon in their week 3 game against Glogang. The FPF veteran was able to move the ball slightly better but this air-bound group still looked far from great. I think the best move long term would be to have Domon at the pivot but these are decisions that the team will have to make.

On the other side Arno Desjardins is too good for the division. His ability to deliver a ball at all depths and move out of the pocket when necessary has been amazing sine his first season in the winter. In a 31-12 win over Ducks where Lambert Harvey and Sifax Kaced for a pair of touchdowns each and Timothe Pichet scored another, Glogang was in complete contol. Sifax Kaced taak matters into his own hands and completed his one pass attempt for a touchdown as well. This is a strong team and the offence appears to be finding it’s way as the season’s first act comes to a close.

Avocados Make Dogs Sick

That may or may not be a fact. Los Avocados have been one of the top teams in division E2 this season. Joshua Vasquez looked great in this game as he has all season. Despite taking a 26-20 defecit into halftime, Los Avocados were not shook. They were equally not shook with his two interceptions thrown either. More importantly, the team seems to have developed a legitimate number 2 receiver as Ilya Kravtsov caught 3 touchdowns in this barn burner. This makes Los Avocados a better team as they already have one of the most difficult players to cover in FPF in Thomas Zorko. This new found depth and this team’s patience led them to a 40-33 win over Underdogs.

Underdogs are a surprisingly good team that will only be better as they continue to learn how to adapt in FPF. Their defence is still somewhat static and the offence has a lot of athletes and moves the ball well but can at times be repetitive. The key for Max Rosenberg is to avoid making his reads in the huddle. If he can begin to understand how to breakdown defences Underdogs will be a team to compete with. Sean Yoffe was the greatest beneficiary in this game. Two of his three catches were touchdowns and the Underdogs looked about as good as a team could in defeat.

Reflections, Rants and Ravings

The cure to a winless season for Fighting Flamingos, how about a gimme against Green Means GO?
Los Bandits look good but need to improve their red zone efficiency. Loic Savoiz-Seguin is best suited to being a redbone threat.
JR Smith, be honest my dude, you were heading to the wrong basket on a fast break before you realized Lebron was yelling at you.
Etienne Vaillancourt…Moooooooo (I’ll agree that I”m getting lazy with this call out)
Jonathan Lemieux of Broken Ankles looked better in a 212 yard outing. That said, he needs to cut the turnovers if he expects the season to turn around.
Kevin Marcil of Guardians, Ilya Kravtsov of Los Avocados and Russel Schwartz of the U all scored three touchdowns.
Lebron called time out. No review for that NBA officials?
ORSA, listen to the advice given to you by Mike Addona, that dude knows more about FPF than a lot of dudes will ever hope to know. You’re not bad but FPF is a man’s league. It is competitive and you’ll need to make adjustments to start seeing success.
The Lemons wear a red jersey. TF you doing?
Sources say “Marc-Andre Desaulniers get’s bailed out by his receivers who go up and get his floaters.” Wouldn’t it be better if I could lead with Sorcerers say…?
Grinders’ Benjamin Reid looks great at the quarterback position. A lot of natural talent looking to shape himself into a true FPF QB
Am I the only one who thinks a rap beef between Drake and PushaT is the lamest rap beef of all time. Ronald and the Burger King had a more vicious battle in the 90’s than this. In a world that’s begging for Death to Smoochy what we’ve got is verses as gentle as a smooch from a mascot.
Sources say “One Speed: Power looks better without Peeze. I’ll buy that!
Oakheart, feel free to reach out. It looks like you guys need some help/coaching.
I was excited by the team XD. Jeff Rosenblatt, Zak and Derek Sigler; I thought this would be a good team. Rancerz showed them that they aren’t one of the top dogs yet with a 32-13 win.
Washington’s up 2-0 and I kind of feel good about Ovechkin getting his Stanley Cup win.
Degenosaurus Rex, you guys got murdered with your schedule: OSP, Average Joe’s, EZW and that’s just to name a few. Wins won’t come easy on this schedule.
Thomas Zorko, Luis Begin and C.O. Lavinge all have 8 touchdowns so far this season. That’s ludicrous.
Luis Begin complained that Simon talked about how he’s always hurt and insisted that he isn’t hurt right now. Sounds like he was butt hurt to me.
Tour de L’ile, you’ve trapped me in Riviere des Prairies this weekend. Fine, I’ll have a beer by the river. You’ve twisted my arm.
Nathan Plante of Average Joe’s has 12 sacks and is on pace to obliterate the sack record with 40 sacks. No one’s talking about it yet but it’ll be a story soon.
Add 134 yard to Francois Desrochers passing totals. He hasn’t been great this season but this 10 week audition is a great time to find balance between his rushing and aerial attacks. I hope the awards committee remembers that rushing yards are yards too.
Lebron, I love you but the suit shorts only work if you’re a member of AC/DC

Power Rankings

Pension Plan (3-0): It wasn’t the prettiest game and there are obvious chinks in the armor but, theydid beat Los Banditos and a +/- of +63 is impressive.
Clinkers (3-0): The most impressive thing about this team is the roster construction. Top to bottom this is a skilled team. Alexandre Jubinville and Luis Begin are guys who would contribute in division B.
Rancerz (3-0): The idea that defense wins championships is a misnomer in FPF. However, Rancerz defense is legit. Maxime Ledoux has already recorded 4 sacks and has helped his defense record 10 interceptions already.
Los Avocados (3-0): Circle June 12^th on your calendar folks Los Avocados vs. Guardians is gonna be lit. So far they’ve scored no less than 25 points in any game. This team is built to win (That sentence was so generic sports-y it made me puke a little).
Guardians (3-0): Only 18 points scored? Was Pat St-Amand throwing with his off-hand? Is this team not truly a division dodging force? In the absence of actual research I will say…obviously off-hand.
The U (3-0): Joseph Kano has been low-key one of the best off season additions to any team. He already has 4 receiving touchdowns this season.
One Speed Power (2-1): We knew the receiving corps would be strong, we knew the defense would be competent, we knew that the system would help the team move the ball; we didn’t know how good Will Power would be at the quarterback position. Ten touchdowns and three interceptions in his last 2 games says it all.
Los Banditos (2-1): Vincent Benjamin already had 4 touchdowns and three interceptions. Their only loss came in a fairly close game against pension plan.
EZW (2–1): They’re not going to be a n EZW for anyone on their schedule. In the words of the great Lebron James: “Sheesh”. CO Lavinge has 8 receiving touchdowns already. I hope he’s got room in his trophy case cause that man is going to get some hardware at the end of this season.
A-Side (2-1): Shutouts are hard to come by in the offensively driven FPF. Credit where credit is due…A-Side have looked good and week 4 was a great example.
Vultures (2-1): I’ve been a little perturbed by their success. They’ve won their lost two games but they scored only 19 in each game. I don’t think that style of play is sustainable. However, this is a reaction to the present, not a mindless prediction of the future.
Loyola’s Finest (1–2): Mike Cerulli was awful in week 3. His 4 interceptions make you question why he’s starting over George Spano. Still, fairly impressed with this team so far this season.
Glogang (3-0): Glogang is probably one of the more battle tested teams. However, the expected tough opponents haven’t been great this season. It’s still unclear if this team is truly living up to their potential.
Figthing Flamingos (1-2): They finally got their first win but it’s akin to Alabama having a cupcake schedule for years and then having to play some competition when they’ve been less formidable. It’ll happen for the reigning champs as it has for FF. I’m still giving them some undue credit here but I can’t help it based on this franchise’s record of success.
Number Juan (3-0): Their opponents have a combined 1-8 record so far this season. They may not move up the ranks until we see them face Zone 6 Ballers in div E.
Average Joe’s (3-0): It’s weird to see a team ranked this low without a loss. However, their opponents so far this season have yet to win a game. It’s hard to guage this team however, I’m starting to feel like I’ve been underselling them.

Marc-Andre’s Top 16

Pension Plan : Robert Trombino est un demi défensif tellement efficace, toujours placé au bon endroit !
GloGang : Enfin une belle production offensive pour cette équipe bourrée de talent.
The U : Leur muraille défensive a cédé un peu, mais Evan Frank joue du football tellement inspiré!
Rancerz : Ils vont vous faire payer toutes vos erreurs offensives. Qui a la meilleur défensive, Glogang ou Rancerz ?
Guardians : Ils n’ont pas joué leur meilleur partie mardi soir dernier, mais ils ont tout de même remporté leur duel.
Vultures : Remporter une victoire, malgré 5 interceptions, wow!
EZW : Jeremy White prend son rythme petit à petit, je prédis qu’ils finiront la deuxième moitié de la saison dans les hautes sphères de ce classement.
Los Avocados : Le capitaine défensif Mathieu Guindon devra resserrer sa défensive pour épauler leur attaque dévastatrice.
Los Banditos : Ils se sont bien battus face à Pension Plan, mais ils leur manquent encore un petit quelque chose pour être parmi l’élite.
One Speed :Power : William Power connaît une saison du tonnerre!
Loyola’s Finest : Ils devront éviter les revirements.
Bulldogs : La meilleure offensive jusqu’à présent.
Grinders : Le fait qu’ils ont seulement une victoire, est une grosse énigme à mes yeux!
Underdogs : Ils ont tout donné face à Los Avocados.
Fighting Flamingos : Victoire éclatante ! Assistons-nous au réveil de nos champions en titre?
Number Juan : Début de saison inespéré avec 3 victoires, bravo!

Sunday’s Super Sauce

In the NFL they say that it is almost impossible for teams to make the playoffs if they’ve gone 0-3 to start the season. It’s not quite the kiss of death in FPF and in division E. There’s still time to turn it around.

For further info on this division and the rest of the league feel free to tune into Calling the Audible where Moe Khan, Simon Dagenais, Eagle at Master Control and GM Koletheras will whether or not cotenne belongs in a Sunday sauce, how the NFL is going to lose that collusion case and how much is too much to spend on a bag. Tune in to the Facebook page for more info about the podcast. Please feel free to reach me @peezefpf on twitter or @ Peeze Della Reeze on Facebook to let me know about the various ways in which I was wrong.