Fourth-and-Goal (Div 4) – Week 3

Honestly, as great as the Super Bowl is, I’m glad to be back. While it’s fun to follow the end of the championship run for two teams, I’d rather be chronicling the rise and fall of 48 teams as they gruel through 7-plus remaining weeks of FPF excitement.

I missed the fun in our league, and I can’t wait to start. So let’s take up right from where we left off.

Who’s Left?

Last week, I said that I’d give a rundown of the remaining winless teams. Let’s take a look at each of them individually, except for Longhorns and Green Nation. (I say this because I have them predicted to win this week and therefore be off of the winless list.)

Falcons: There’s enough football knowledge on this team to keep them going. The one thing to remember is that flag is not touch. A bit more emphasis on coverage defense and tackling and the path off of the winless list should be a short one.

Dark Side: Consistency? I know that Gino is a fellow recruiter, but I think that picking one QB and sticking with him would be the best course of action. Gino has championships and knows how to win at a high level, but he needs to go back to basics for this one.

Vis Motus: They’re starting to fall into a rhythm, but it needs to happen a bit faster. VM have very few breeze games and Seth Galina is going to have to use his football smarts to pick what position is best suited for everyone rather than the shuffling back and forth.

Channel 4 News Team: While a lot of these guys have played outdoor touch in the past, I’m thinking that they can stand to benefit from Corey Laxer’s experience in the league.

Maccabi: Rules, rules, rules. When they have the rules figured out, the more evident mistakes will fade away. They’ll start to get the hang of the league, and everything else will follow.
 
No one ever wants to see a team go 0-10, and I’m hoping that everyone will have a win chalked up by week 10 (or sooner!) and everyone enjoys their spot in the division.

Power Rankings

Largely biased, largely subjective, mostly based on Wins/Losses AND THEN opponents that they’ve played. If you’d like to be up here, win convincingly.

1. La Sauce – If it aint broke, don’t fix it. I’m going to have to wait until Week 6 for my 1 and 2 picks to duke it out…but for now La Sauce will sit atop the rest.
2. Toute Garnie – With the competition starting to heat up in the next few weeks, the win margins might get a little smaller, but I’m still confident in the mix of their football smarts and the depth of their roster.
3. The Incredibles – I feel like I gloss over their defence. Granted, it’s great, but if I were buying tickets to an Incredibles game, it would be for the offense. Top notch, and seems to only be getting better.
4. Mustangs du Gridiron – They’re becoming confident in themselves now that they’re seeing that they can run with the top dogs of the division. What was once a team that went about surprising the top seeds have now BECOME the top seed.
5. Clockwork – Honestly, it would entertain me immensely to see Clockwork go undefeated the rest of the way…just for the lesson that Week 2 provided. Imagine 9 wins and one glaring loss. I’m sure Marco and co have a lot to prove in the coming weeks, and I’d hate to be the ones that they’ll make the example of.  
6. Les Buddays – They play a lightning fast, very physical brand of football. Especially for Division 4, they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with in the coming weeks. An early darkhorse pick, maybe?
7. Gators –  A solid, solid roster full of veterans. Now that Jon Young is starting to shake the rust off, the team is looking more and more dangerous.
8. The Family – Took a hard loss this week, but they have enough resilience to come back swinging. This week’s game is a make or break for them as well.
9. The Commission – Strong when they’re a full roster, competitive even when they’re not. A close loss with a depleted roster means that they can mix and manage at a moment’s notice.
10. Knights – At least for now, they’ve earned this spot. While I’m not supremely confident that they’ll be able to stay afloat when the water gets deeper, they get to stay here for the time being.

Random Thoughts

– Laurent Foucault has the only win chalked up for Underrated despite not being the starting quarterback. Food for thought, perhaps in the coming weeks?
– Can someone please tell me what has happened to the once-powerful Thunder of Division 5? It doesn’t look like the transition has been a good one for them.
– Dark Side are 2 players away from fulfilling my “Dark Side roster will break 20 players this season” prediction. I’ll keep the tally going.

Quick Picks

Clockwork vs. Thunder – Clockwork (30-0 Default on 02/06)
No Punt Intended vs. Nutcrackers – No Punt Intended (33-6 on 02/06)
69ers vs. Sea Assassins – 69ers
Mustangs du Gridiron vs. Maccabi – Mustangs du Gridiron
La Sauce vs. Underrated – La Sauce
Rogues vs. Discount Double Check – Discount Double Check
Green Nation vs. Falcons – Green Nation
Outlaws vs. Vis Motus – Outlaws
Gators vs. Certified Flyguyz – Gators
Sphinx vs. KGP Lite – KGP Lite
The Commission vs. Coyotes – The Commission
The Family vs. Les Buddays – The Family
Football Old Timers Club vs. SWCP Bulldogs – Football Old Timers Club
Past Our Prime vs. Ball Busters – Past Our Prime
Park-X Streets vs. FTP 2.0 – Park-X Streets
Broccasion vs. Bruizers – Broccasion
Spartans vs. Backyard Bullies – Spartans
Dark Side vs. Toute Garnie – Toute Garnie
Patriotes vs. Pitbulls – Patriotes
The Incredibles vs. Knights – The Incredibles
Longhorns vs. Channel 4 News Team – Longhorns
Yari’s Autonomics vs. Cool Kidz – Yari’s Autonomics
Gunslingers vs. Smokin’ Aces – Smokin’ Aces
#NoRegard vs. Marauders – #NoRegard

 
Well, that’s all for me this week. With the break behind us, we can start stocking up on content. Weeks 4 and 5 are usually my favorites of the season, so expect two really good ones to follow. FPF fantasy draft and then the midseason rundown!  In the meantime, criticisms can be sent to [email protected]
Spam too.
 
 
Quote of the Week

“Guys, it’s okay. We’ve got the monkey off of our backs. We don’t have to worry about the pressure of going 10-and-0 now.” – Dale Williams, discussing his Week 2 loss to his troops in a pre-game pep talk.