Begin the Race to the Playoffs, St. Louis Missouri and Game Picks get heated

Hey Div C ready. Apologies for not having written an article last week as I was in St. Louis, Missouri, and trying to put together an article with limited time isn’t exactly easy. That said, I did write the introduction on my flight back to Montreal at 5am for you guys, as I had a few things America on my mind. Note: I channeled an inner Peeze, at least for the intro/random thoughts, so expect maybe 1 line of FPF, maybe none.

Division Headlines and other Shenanigans

Here are some general thoughts:

St. Louis isn’t a very big football city… 1 aisle dedicated to it at Dick’s Sporting Goods…. No wonder why the Rams left…
According to locals, Rams “fans” with tickets to NFL Sundays would, like many other cities, get smashed whilst tailgaiting, but unlike other cities, they would fall asleep with tickets in their front-pocket shirts. They would end up exchanging their tickets to anyone passing by for a beer or 2.
God damn Chipotle, Shake Shack, Popeyes and… yeah apologies to my Div D and E teams, I may have put on some pounds.
Peeze called me out on it, but sorry Peeze… Popeyes Fried Chicken Sandwich > Chick-fil-A’s Chicken sandwich.
I witnessed why Four Loko is not sold in Canada anymore… wait.. is it? * “researches” 5 mins on Google*… It’s dangerous what can be considered as “the truth” when you search things on the whim… Also, no, you probably should not let your 14-year old drink alcohol.

I had to get tested for Covid before leaving Montreal and after a $91 test, the lady checking me in at United Airlines asked if I got tested, and as I half-asleep said yes while pulling out my phone to show the test result (negative in case you were wondering), she said “no, it’s okay, you can put your phone away”. Mmmm. Okay…
I may have accidentally kept the keys to the Jeep Wrangler we rented and only realized when passing through security. I mean, no, they fell on the ground when returning the car… Yeah.
It’s easy to see why 36% of Americans are obese when you see and taste their food. Portion control is but a myth, and the sugar and salt-loaded foods are very real. Also, milk in coffee for them is yet another myth.
The St. Louis Arch is pretty cool. See featured article image.
I miss flag football.
Peeze, how do you write articles like this??
Not sure why Peeze has been referenced three, and now a 4^th time since the beginning of this article.
Coherency lacking (again, written at 5am)
Did you know that if Montreal was a city in the US, it would be the 6^th most populated city in the US? It’s true, check it out.
I don’t think I have the capacity to write mid-season report cards for the remaining teams left out from last week. In exchange, I guarantee your teams will have more game reviews and game recaps in the remaining FPF weeks. Those teams are: Sheeeesg, SHIT, Silent Ticklers, Top Sauce and Mangoose
This part is now written as of Friday August 13th:
1 remaining undefeated team: The Infantry (7-0) – Sheeeesh, SHIT, and Blessed as their final opponents — can The Infantry do it?
1 remaining winless team: Ballz Deep (0-7)
I’ll be starting a “Race to the Playoff Segment” soon, talking about key matchups and any clinched playoff teams.
IR Report: Potential season-ending injuries: Eddy Lee from The Infantry, same for SHIT’s Jake Applebaum. Sheeeesh’s DonnDre Borden is questionable with an upper-body injury and is a game-time decision for Week 8. Finally, Blessed’s Kevin Smuda has been out for 2 weeks, healing an injury he might want to rest until the playoffs.
This brings to light the IR rule: As long as you have a MEDICAL DOCTOR’S note (not a physio/athletic therapist’s note) explaining the injury and the estimated time missed, you can move all of the injured player’s game to a new player, who has an equal or lower rating than the player they are replacing (and cannot be a new FPF player with a default rating). For more info about the IR rule, click the link to the roster rules:

https://www.flagplusfootball.com/assets/pdf/rules/fpf-roster-rules-regulations.pdf?1628899503

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Race to the Playoffs

Clinched Playoff Teams:

X – The Infantry

X- Blessed

X- BBALLERS

Key Week 8 Matchups :

Silent Ticklers vs. Les Gros Coqs – Both teams have won their last 2 games, so a loss in this game for either team does not ruin their season, but makes their remaining games after this one that much more important and meaningful.

Top Sauce vs. Les Centaures – I talk about this game in my Week 8 Game Preview below, but this is a pretty important game for Les Centaures to get out the bottom 3 hole!

SHIT vs. Ballz Deep – SHIT can solidify their chances for a playoff spot with a win this week. A loss by Ballz Deep would, according to my calculations, eliminate them from the playoff race.

Week 7 Game Recaps

Sheeeesh 40 – 20 Blue Dreamers

Despite the lop-sided 20 point victory in the end for Sheeeesh, this game actually started in favor of Blue Dreamers. First, Barazzoni led his team down the field for the early 7-0 lead in just 4 plays (5 with the convert). Then, despite getting picked off by Marco Bertoldi on their 2nd drive at their own 11, the BD defence got a HUGE stop, forcing a turnover on downs at the 1-yard line, with Raff Morelli coming up with the massive sack on Langburt on 4th down to prevent the “easy” score from a short distance away. And how to follow that up for the Blue Dreamers? How about a 40-yard bomb to Nic Groppini, plus the extra point. However, this is where it started to slip away for Blue Dreamers. After the Dreamers would allow a score on the following drive, the first critical play was an Andrew Langburt’s pick, the 2nd by Sheeeesh of the opening half. The Dreamers allow another score, and the second critical play leading to their downfall, was that with 3 plays remaining in the half, the Blue Dreamers were unable to punch it in. Normally, you could get away with not scoring before the half, but considering the Dreamer’s started with the ball on offense and 2 of their drives resulted in 0 points due to the interceptions, it ended up being 2 costly mistakes that they couldn’t recover from.

While I focused on the Blue Dreamers perspective, and how they actually started the game off pretty well, Langburt and company showed their poise and experience by never getting wavered when down. I mentioned casually that the Blue Dreamers “would allow another score”, but when I said Langburt and company.. I meant Langburt and 5-time All-Star, 2-time FPF Champion and 2-time Individual Award winner, Marco Bertoldi, who had a monster 1st half. After the Blue Dreamer’s first score, Bertoldi scored his 1st TD of the half with the 34-yard endzone strike. And , oh right, it was Bertoldi who had the first INT of the game. And after the 40-yard bomb to Groppini? Marco Bertoldi again stepped up with 3 targets, 2 receptions for 17 yards and another score on the following drive. And who would score a TD following Andrew Langburt’s INT? You guessed it. Marco Bertoldi, with the TD hat-trick and 1 pick, all in 22 minutes and 5 plays.

In the second half, Langburt would distribute the ball very evenly between Borden, Librati and Vincent Benjamin. Also, they surely deflated the Blue Dreamers after it took the BD’s 11 plays to score a TD, only to be beaten by Benjamin for a 40-yard TD on the very next play. And the emotions must have boiled over when, 5 plays later, Barazzoni was picked off for the 3rd time in the game, this time by Ariel Librati, a very underrated player in FPF, who took it to the house for a pick-six.

Of course, it must be stated that the Blue Dreamers were without their dynamic star, AJ Gomes, and without him on the field, the team looks very different. It showed too, when he was there in their second game of their back-to-back, defeating Ballz Deep handedly, 27-8.

Sheeeesh Player of the Game: Marco Bertoldi – 5 receptions on 6 targets, 67 receiving yards, 3 TDs, 2 tackles, 1 INT.

Blue Dreamers Player of the Game: Nic Gomes-Risso – 6 receptions on 8 targets, 65 yards, 2 TDs, 2 tackles.

SHIT 34 – 33 BBALLERS

It’s a shame that Jake Applebaum might be out for the season, as he was hitting his stride with the team, but Jeff Rosenblatt brings a wealth of Quarterback experience, and actually, the team from a stats and score-board stand point, look like a more quick-strike offense.

After exchanging 1st drive touchdowns, SHIT came up with a big red-zone stop following a 37-yard DPI call on Mat Lepage that made it 1st and goal from the 8, and then 2nd & goal from the 1. Both Greg Castiel and Adam Rockman came up with key PDs in the redzone to force the turnover on downs. Backed up with little room to operate, Rosenblatt was sacked by Gianni Casati, earning himself the safety sack on 3rd down, putting his team up by 2 and giving himself the ball back on offense. And it only took him and Will Paquette 2 plays to go 40 yards for the early 2-possession lead, being up 15-6. After exchanging scores, the BBALLERS went into the half up 21-12.

With SHIT starting with the ball in the 2nd half, it would be important they get a score, because if not, potentially going down to the BBALLERS by 2 possessions in the 2nd half would be less than ideal. And? 2nd pass of the half and Rosenblatt is picked off by Maxime Giroux, and Casati goes onto connect with Jean-Charles Doucet 3 plays later to go up by 15 (27-12). It may have seemed harmless at the time, but the BBALLERS deciding to go for 1 (missed) instead of attempting for 2 shows that their quick maths weren’t on point. They had the chance to go up by 3 scores, which, is not an impossible or insurmountable deficit to come back from, but it is really, really hard, given how fast 22 minutes go. With that low-key important play by the hay side, the 2nd half for SHIT was the Lepage and Groper show, combining for 91 yards and 3 TDs. By scoring on their next drive, and converting for 1, they were now only down by 1 possession (down 8).

While Groper tried to make his impact felt on D, with a 9-yard sack on the following drive, but it did not phase Casati, as he drove the field in 6 plays for one of Will Paquette‘s 3 TD’s on the night, his 3rd game of the season in which he’s scored 3 TDs in a single game. Score: 33-19. On SHIT’s following drive, Groper was targeted 5 times (caught 4), including a 1-yard TD, but it was Jakob Boidman with the most yards on the drive (13), with his first catch of the game. And why do I bring that up? Well it’s likely he felt more involved in the game with a key contribution on the drive, and led to an immense turning point in the game, with Boidman coming up with a huge interception on Casati. Now, from what I can tell based on my analysis, math and knowledge about both teams, Casati likely tried to ice the game with a 40-bomb to Paquette, but SHIT knew that was coming, and Boidman must have been already deep enough to make a better play on the ball. After that, there was basically no chance SHIT was going to be stopped, especially on the very next play, Groper took it for a 31 yard first-down. They did go on to score the touchdown, 7 yards to Groper to make it 33-32, which led to the play of the game, and who else but Noah Groper to convert the 2-pt attempt and take the lead and ice the win for SHIT, 34-33. What a comeback, what a performance.

SHIT Player of the Game: Noah Groper – 12 receptions on 14 targets, 113 yards, 3 TDs, 1 sack.

BBALLERS Player of the Game: William Paquette – 6 receptions on 10 targets, 68 yards, 3 TDs, 1 PD.

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Week 8 Game Preview

Top Sauce (2-4) vs. Les Centaures (1-4-1)

This is definitely a fun matchup due to the circumstances, as we’ve got the #9 seed Top Sauce playing the #11 seed Centaures. With EZW’s close loss to BBALLERS on Friday night, this now puts Les Centaures in a very nice position to potentially move ahead of EZW by 1 point AND have the extra game in hand over them. For Top Sauce, they are looking to stay in playoff contention and get on even ground with the Silent Ticklers at 3-4 for the 7th seed. In fact, Top Sauce and the Ticklers will face off in the final week of the season and it could come down to a win-and-your-in scenario, depending on what happens in this Week 8 game we’re previewing here.

Honestly, I’m struggling to get a good read about Top Sauce from an outsider’s perspective. They seemed to have been gelling, with Jazon finding somewhat of a groove at QB (but still throwing too many INTs to be truly competitive against the powerhouse teams), until the debacle in Laval, losing 39-0 against LGC. After that game, I think they decided that Vince Nardone (is he 100% healthy?) is their best option at QB. They are averaging only 22 points a game, the 2nd lowest average in the division, so a shake-up might be the answer, but they cannot afford another massive roster decision with a month left in the season.

In terms of the game against Les Centaures, I actually like the defensive-likes of Chris Milard and Darnel Kevis Riley to jump some of Jordan Rossie‘s throwing tendencies and for Patrick Jazon to limit Rossie‘s rushing attempts and yards. That means that if Rossie can’t get around Jazon, he will need to be accurate when throwing on the run. He definitely has the athletes to make that catch and run it up field, but like I said, Milard, Riley and Jazon will make those completions difficult.

Interestingly, according to the stats page, both teams can say that all their receivers have caught touchdown passes, a testament to both quarterbacks distributing the ball and utilizing each target on the field. For Les Centaures receivers though, I’m a little disappointed, not too much, but disappointed nonetheless with Hugo Allamanno‘s 153 yards in 5 games. He’s a great receiver and has been progressively getting more yards each season, since joining Les Centaures in Spring 2019. Don’t think that I don’t see his 7 TDs though; I’m strictly talking about his receiving yards, which could either be due to a loss in his step from the pandemic layover, or perhaps Rossie made adjustments to his playbook that don’t cater to his route-running abilities. And if I’m calling out Hugo, why not go after the other guy that has 7 TDs and point to his 108 yards in 6 games. The reason why I highlight them, is that I think they are BALLERS and simply great receivers that are either being under utilized or mis-utilized. Another thing that explains their lack of yardage is that Pollice came on board and now accounts for 320 yards that would otherwise be distributed amongst the other receivers.

I mentioned Jazon as a rusher against Rossie, and once again I feel the need to mention Chris Brockwell rushing Jazon as a QB (if he’s lined up under center). Brockwell has 3 sacks on the season, and even if he doesn’t get one against Jazon, as long as he can contain him and prevent him from his usual 12.8 yards per rushing attempt, he will be doing his job to perfection.

Keys to Victory:

Top Sauce will win if:

They score 5 TDs, above their 22 points per game average.
Jazon does not quarterback the whole game; instead, he come in now and again to take a few snaps and keep the Centaures defense on their toes with his rushing ability.
The Top Sauce defense comes up with 1 or 2 early turnovers that get into Jordan Rossie‘s head that he can’t overcome.

Les Centaures will win if:

Armand Balla and Hugo Allamanno have 60 yards and 1 TD each.
Les Centaures continue converting 60% on 4th down (for a 1st down or a TD).
Rossie limits the turnovers to just 1 and doesn’t let it affect him mentally.

I see this one ending in the last play of the game. Les Centaures will score on the final play of the game. will still be down 1 and decide to go for 2 points, since the 2 ties are worse than a single win, and successfully convert for 2 for the big win.

Final Score prediction: Les Centaures 28 – Top Sauce 27

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Power Rankings – Top 8 (Note: Team records shown are from the conclusion of Week 7)

The Infantry (7-0): (This week: #1, Previous week: #1): The Infantry remain atop the Power Rankings, as Peeze said it best on the podcast… 89 points against in 7 games?!? In Div C?!? Holy…
Blessed (6-1) (This week: #2, Previous week: #2): After their first loss on July 29th left a bad taste in their mouths, Blessed beat Les Centaures handedly by 20 points.
South Harmon Institute of Technology (4-2) (This week: #3, Previous week: #4): SHIT’s got an interesting schedule ahead, particularly a matchup against The Infantry in Week 9 (the 2nd of a back-to-back) at Brebeuf’s outdoor field. HUGE comeback win in Week 7 though against BBALLERS! +1 for that.
BBALLERS (5-2) (This week: #4, Previous week: #3): BBALLERS dropped the ball against SHIT and let them comeback in Week 7… it tells me that a more experienced team can manage the game better than them if push comes to shove, which, it usually does in the playoffs. Dropping 1 spot for that slight concern.
Sheeeesh (4-2) (This week: #5, Previous week: #6): I would have had Sheeeesh above BBALLERS this week, but losing Borden is a huge loss. Once again, Peeze is right that if, and again, that condition is also why they aren’t ahead of BBALLERS, but if they can replace Borden with Max Burah, that would help soften the blow of losing Borden. Of course, it’s also possible DonnDre is reading this and saying to himself that he isn’t that injured and I’m rambling on for nothing here. It’s still a question mark for me on the outside, and the #5 Power Ranking seems reasonable for them right now.
Blue Dreamers: (4-4) (This week: #6, Previous week: #5): They split their double-header in Week 7, but they won the expected matchup against Ballz Deep and lost by 20 to Sheeeesh which should have been closer. They have their toughest test against Blessed in Week 9, as for now, they can rest up any lingering injuries as it’s their bye week.
Silent Ticklers (3-3) (This week: #7, Previous week: N/A): Since I last wrote the Power Rankings, the Silent Ticklers followed up their huge upset win over Blessed with a convincing 37-25 victory over EZW, with Charles Presser getting 4 sacks on my man Jeremy White. You can bet I heard about it 5 minutes after it happened, as both Pressed and White are teammates of mine in Div D, with Kiss My End Zone. With 2 wins in a row, the Ticklers surge their way back into the Power Rankings.
Les Gros Coqs (3-3-1) (This week: #8, Previous week: N/A): I know, LGC just beat Silent Ticklers, but that’s in a future Week 8, in a Week 7 article. I have to do some retroactive analysis here. So, since last writing an article up until the conclusion of Week 7, LGC dismantled Top Sauce and narrowly squeaked a win over Mangoose, a team comparable to them in terms of speed and good athletes, for back-to-back victories. That has propelled them back into the Power Rankings in the #8 spot.

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Week 7 Fantasy Roster of the Week

Without further ado, here are your stud performers in Div C who danced their way into the Week 4 Fantasy Roster!

Top 2 QB’s:

Dom Lefort (Les Gros Coqs): 16/21, 72.7% completion, 214 yards, 6 TDs, 1 INT, 123.9 QBR, 5 rushing attempts, 47 rushing yards
Andrew Langburt (Sheesh): 16/25, 64% completion, 190 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 126.7 QBR, 1 rushing attempt, 10 rushing yards.

Top 3 receivers

Rory Semerjian (The Infantry): 9 targets, 9 receptions, 122 yards, 3 TDs
Noah Groper (SHIT): 14 targets, 12 receptions, 113 yards, 3 TDs
Alexandre Bresse (Les Gros Coqs): 8 targets, 7 receptions, 79 yards, 3 TDs

Top 3 Defenders

Quaysie Gordon-Maule (Blessed): 6 tackles, 2 INTs, 2 PDs, 2 Def. TDs
Alexandre Bresse (Les Gros Coqs): 7 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 PD
Charles Presser (Silent Tickler): 2 tackles, 4 sacks

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Week 8 Game Picks – All Analysts

Season Prediction Standings

HOME	AWAY	Peeze Pick	Moe Pick	Iggy Pick	Alexi Pick	Brent Pick	Frank Pick
Silent Ticklers	Les Gros Coqs	Silent Ticklers	Silent Ticklers	Silent Ticklers	Silent Ticklers		Silent Ticklers
Blessed	Mangoose	Blessed	Blessed	Blessed	Blessed		Blessed
EZW	BBALLERS	BBALLERS	BBALLERS	BBALLERS	BBALLERS		BBALLERS
Top Sauce	Les Centaures	Top Sauce	Top Sauce	Les Centaures	Top Sauce		Les Centaures
South Harmon Institute	Ballz Deep	South Harmon Institute	South Harmon Institute	South Harmon Institute	South Harmon Institute		South Harmon Institute
The Infantry	Sheeeesh	The Infantry	The Infantry	The Infantry	The Infantry		The Infantry