Categories: Division D

Cock of the Walk-Week 2 observations and recaps.

Intro by Paolo Della Rocca

Picture day has come and gone and teams stand at winless, perfect thus far or .500.  That said it is early enough in the season that teams that are struggling can turn it around and start their runs now.  The season is shorter than it first appears.  While we are closer to its dawn than it’s dusk, experienced teams know that darkness is lurking unless changes are made quickly.

I’ve been watching a lot of the NBA playoffs which are currently ongoing (ongoing also implies that it is current but I’ve dug my heels in by this point).  It occurred to me that of the 4 teams remaining, 3 of them are home to 4 of the greatest players on the planet.  Teams in division D face a similar situation.  The teams we truly expect to succeed are the teams that have the best talent.  In this division having a play maker who can win matchups by themselves can make the difference.  Teams that have such talents are already making their mark.  What is most interesting to me are the players who are rising who are yet to become familiar names.  There are hordes of players who join the league each season who are insanely talented and are just waiting to be discovered.  The sample sizes are small but as the season goes on we’ll see if the Gamecocks Jordan Prizant is the next great gunslinger (how many jerk points does writing that grant me?).  Is Sebastian Spagnuolo really a guy who can carve up a defense (50 jerk points)? Will Surya Chandel continue to eat quarterbacks up (100 jerk points at least)?

In any case the downside of this is that teams will have big “signings” that won’t pan out.  Other teams just won’t have the talent to compete.  Those teams, will make strides and be stronger for it.  Now, this doesn’t mean their season is over finding ways to compete is the name of the game in FPF.  After all, it does appear that the Raptors, while they may be the only ones believe that they still have a chance.

Recaps

Horns Unhooked

“Gamecocks vs. Longhorns” is a matchup more fitting for an NCAA football field than an FPF one (although, surprisingly, Google says the Gamecocks and Longhorns football teams have actually only faced off once in history…). But the result on the FPF field over the weekend was one you see all too often in the college game: a massive blowout. 

It finished 57-26, and for the most part the game played out exactly as the final score shows. Longhorns, for all the FPF experience of QB Jon Moodie and his crew, simply couldn’t match the athleticism, ball skills, and just the overall speed of the Gamecocks.

You could tell it was going to be a long night for Longhorns from the get-go, with Moodie’s first pass of the game being intercepted and promptly taken to the house by Andrew Langburt. Moodie and longtime teammate Brian Martin were able to keep things somewhat interesting for a while afterwards, but the pair eventually ran out of steam while the Gamecocks’ high-flying attack led by rookie FPF QB Jordan Prizant was unstoppable from start to finish.

One notable absence for Longhorns was that of supposed new no. 1 target Adam Rosen, who certainly would’ve helped on both sides of the ball… albeit probably not enough to actually lead Longhorns to a win. Sunday night clearly belonged to Gamecocks, every step of the way.

Is it wrong of me to already be looking forward to their Week 10 game versus 5-Star?

 

Wrong Decision

I’m not entirely sure what undecidedness Les Indécis’ team name refers to. If it was in regards to picking a division to compete in for this spring, I can tell you right now they picked the wrong one.

The newly named Patriotes franchise are 0-2 to start the season, and if you look at the stats alone you would think the problem is rookie QB Mathieu Lauzière. But if their game versus Blue Devils this past week was any indication, the true issue lies in his receiving corps.

Indécis receivers were dropping balls left and right, from start to finish on Tuesday, as passes bouncing off hands directly led to two of Lauzière’s three interceptions on the night.

The Indécis defense didn’t do too much to help, very clearly overmatched by the Blue Devils’ three-headed attack of Maxime Chateauneuf, Julien Paiement and Jan-Michel Sobcynski. The icing on the cake for Bleu Devils is that they wallopped their opponents without even their starting QB for this one.

It isn’t impossible to turn a season around after an 0-2 start. But boy do Les Indécis have their work cut out for them.

 

God Damn, Jovan

Long story short: St. Lunatics had the services of their stud two-way player, with Jovan Cober dominating for 111 yards and two TDs on offense along with a pick and a PD on defense. Sticky Hands were without the services of their own two-way star, with Nicolas Saro out due to a hand injury.

This one came down to the wire nonetheless. Tied at 13 apiece at the half after a slow start from both offenses, things got more interesting in the second half. That’s when St. Lunatics QB Domenic Benevento was able to move the ball more easily than on his first few drives, using his feet to buy time before chucking it deep – mostly to Cober.

Down by a score with a handful of plays left, Benevento came through in the clutch with a touchdown to answer a previous Sticky Hands score, making it 27-25 in favor of the boys in blue. With his own chance to answer, Sticky Hands QB Alexis Labonté was able to drive the field, but threw a yard short of his intended receiver in the front of the endzone on the last play of the game to clinch the gutsy win for St. Lunatics.

It drops Sticky Hands to 0-2 on the season – leaving one to wonder if they wouldn’t be at the very least 1-1 if Nic Saro wasn’t injured. 

 

Power Rankings

  1. Backyard Bullies (2-0): 38 points scored last week, 38 points scored this week. The dominance continues.

 

  1. 5-Star (2-0): In case you were wondering whether they can win without Jeremy at QB… or without a QB at all (seriously how do you win with just 45 yards passing?!)

 

  1. Gamecocks (2-0): It’s a quarterback-driven league, and Gamecocks have the one with the best TD/INT ratio (12:0) and highest QB rating (149.0) through two games.

 

  1. Prestige Worldwide (2-0): If there was any doubt their 7 TD showing in Week 1 was a fluke, they went ahead and put up 6 more in Week 2.

 

  1. Les Affreux (2-0): I love everyone on defense playing a big role in this week’s win, with four players sharing five INTs; I hate that it was so close regardless. Mat Domon knows the game too well to be getting picked off three times in two straight games.

 

  1. St. Lunatics (2-0): Still trying to figure out how they were able to acquire Jovan Cober and not bust the cap.
  2. The Alpha T’s (1-0-1): Two Pick 6s and a shutout will always be impressive, regardless of the opposing team.

 

  1. Get Off My D (1-0-1): Can anyone even just kinda slow down Jad Aridi?

 

  1. Blue Devils (2-0): When you smoke your first two opponents by 69 points to 12, it’s hard not to notice. I’m looking forward to seeing how they match up against better competition in the form of Prestige Worldwide this week.

 

  1. Hot Boys Hotline (2-0): Off to a 2-0 start, I have to give HBH their due. Especially Tom Gatehouse, who has been an absolute stud in both wins. That being said, Les Indécis and Weapon X weren’t exactly elite-looking heading into the season. Games against Junkyard Dogs and 5-Star in back-to-back weeks will help give a better idea of this team’s potential.

 

Just Missed the Cut:

 

  1. Two and a Half Dabs (2-0): THDabs keep with their M.O. of clock-controlling offense and shutdown defense. It’s worked to perfection through two weeks, but will it work against Les Affreux’s potent offense?

 

  1. Justice League (2-0): Who would’ve guessed that through two games the team’s receiving leader in receptions and TDs wouldn’t be Mendy Cardichon, but Petru Andreescu? The chemistry between QB Jerson Previlon and Andreescu hasn’t taken long to develop; all they need now is more points to show for it.

 

 Random Thoughts

 -If I had a criminal record, I’d probably be more ashamed of the fact I have a loss to a Simon Dagenais-led team on my FPF record.

 -My sources tell me Gamecocks are feeling pretty cocky after their hot start to the season. I think they have reason to be confident. But just know that a lot can change in eight weeks…    

 -So… how long before Get on Deck decide to go back to Stephane Larosiliere at QB?

 -So… do Friends in Low Places considering going with Alex Grey instead of Jordan Bellemare at QB, considering how each fared in their respective starts for the team this season? Is that a premature thought? Yeah, probably. But come on, for sure the thought has crossed their minds, no?

 – THDabs have not scored more than 4 TDs in a game yet this season. Here’s a random fact related to that fact: it took this past winter’s team eight weeks to score five or more in a game, having done so in each of the final three weeks of the season. Here’s a random fact related to that random fact related to that random fact: it also took this past spring’s team eight weeks to hit the 5+ mark, equally having done so in each of the last three weeks of the season. That’s just so… strange.

 -Not many candidates for best team photo in Division D this year. Personally I think few can compete with the child-like excitement on GM’s face in Frosty Bronson’s pic.

 -Top candidate for worst team pic: Supply and Command. Way to go, guys.

 -Credit to Jordan Moses for getting the best of Junkyard Dogs rusher Jordan Rossie in the battle of the Jordans this past week. Rossie was able to sack Moses once, but Moses was able to burn him and the rest of the Junkyard defense to the tune of 128 rushing yards and a score on nine attempts. I feel bad for whomever Rossie is rushing this weekend – something tells me he’ll be rushing extra hard in his next game. 

  

Matchups of the Week

 Get on Deck vs. Bromigos

 When it’s all said and done, one team will end up with its first win of the season, while the other will fall to an 0-3 hole. Get on Deck give me very little reason to predict they’ll be the victorious ones in this matchup. The Reginald Café project has failed miserably through two weeks, with Café coming off a 3-for-17, 32-yard, 3 INT performance against The Alpha Ts.

 Bromigos’ D hasn’t exactly been a show-stopper thusfar, but they do hold the upper hand in one aspect: scoring points. Patrick Larose-Laurent’s offense has averaged just over 4 TDs a game this season, while Get on Deck has averaged… not even a touchdown.

 Unless Get on Deck find their savior at QB between now and Sunday, this one shouldn’t really be close. 

 

 More Money-Less TDs vs. Weapon X 

 In another battle of 0-2 teams, I think this one has a shot at being a lot more competitive than the first. For starters, Weapon X actually showed some signs of life last week, putting up 3 TDs in the first half of their Week 2 game before completely collapsing in the second half.

 The good thing for Weapon X is that QB Jordan Maxwell has picked off right where he left off in terms of his chemistry with receiver Kevin Donnet, while having found himself a solid no. 1 target in Hasari Worrell.

 As for More Money-Less TDs, there’s very little good going on at the moment as QB Ian Einheiber is on pace for by far his worst statistical season in FPF. And that’s curiously so, considering his receiving corps features a talented trio in Nyle Anderson, Lee Galletti and Alessandro Arciero.

 Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I like to believe that this is the game Einheiber finally gets back to his usual self. It seems to me that Weapon X are still trying to gel as a team as a whole, while More Money-Less TDs isn’t lacking so much in the chemistry department as much as it just needs Einheiber to be smarter with the ball.

 More TDs, less INTs from Einheiber should see his team finally get in the win column this week.

 

 St. Lunatics vs. Gators

 A classic case of unstoppable force versus immovable object. I’m torn in this one, and it’s all because of one Jovan Cober. Cober adds to an already stingy defense, while his big-play ability brings an extra dynamic to the team on offense.

 On the other hand, when Gators are on, they are on. Give Corey Walwaski a lead and chances are he’ll stick to his gameplan and force very few passes, letting his one-two punch of Eddy Martinez and Kevin St-Pierre do the dirty work.

 Interestingly enough, I think it’s rather the one-two punch of Martinez and St-Pierre on defense that will prove key in this game. St-Pierre the rusher first, whose speed should give Domenic Benevento little time to wind up for a deep throw; then Martinez the safety, who I think provides a formidable opponent for Cober and has the ball skills to limit his chances downfield. 

 Give me Gators in a tight battle.

 

 Picks of the Week

 A 12-4 record this week puts me at 21-11 (65.63%) for the season, keeping me ahead of Nicolas Belleau for a second straight week as his 12-5 finish brings him to 20-14 (58.82%). Here’s how I’m gonna go 3-for-3: 

 Get on Deck vs. Bromigos

 More Money-Less TDs vs. Weapon X

 Justice League vs. All Blacks

 Two and a Half Dabs vs. Les Affreux  

 Sabrfc vs. The Alpha-Ts  

 5-Star vs. Fuzzy-Kittens  

 Get Off My D vs. Ghosts  

 Hot Boys Hotline vs. Junkyard Dogs  

 Gamecocks vs. Les Indécis

 Blue Devils vs. Prestige Worldwide

 Frosty Bronsons vs. Magic City

 Supply and Command vs. Longhorns (n/a)

 The Goats vs. Pandas

 Friends in Low Places vs. Taimesaheiiin

 Backyard Bullies vs. Sticky Hands

 On Les Empêche vs. Zoo

 St. Lunatics vs. Gators 

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Be sure to check out this week’s Division D podcast with Simon Dagenais and Peeze at www.youtube/.comflagplus, recorded live on Thursday at 9 p.m. Until next week, Blanchard out.