Categories: Co-EdFallGeneralTier 1Tier 2Tier 3Tier 4Women's

Gronk 2.0, Awards talk and A Look into the The Final Week of the Fall Cup Preliminary Round

Hey FPF Community! Like I mentioned in my last article, we are back with a steady stream of articles. I’ll be catching you up to speed on all the Tiers with my weekly talking points and be digging into the final games on Sunday that will determine the final seedings in Tier 3 and 4. Before we continue with the article, good luck to everyone in the playoffs as we enter the knockout round. As you all of course must know by now, everyone makes the playoffs, with the difference being that those teams marked in green are “double-elimination teams” who are allowed to lose once and drop down into the lower bracket of the tournament. What you may have forgotten is that there is a cash prize up for grabs if you make the finals, so there’s money on the line for a party in December with your team. Aight, without any more delays, let’s see what went down these past weeks.

Tierful Talking Points

  • Tier 1
  • The final fight for the #1 seed is between Blessed and Kangaroos. Blessed face off against Braves, a chance to test themselves against a stakeholder in all of flag Montreal, Quebec and Canada. Kangaroos on their end, finish off the season against Run it Once. My best bet is that Kangaroos end up with the #1 seed.
  • Look, there’s probably back and forth miscommunication with what “he said/she said”, but listening to CTA, there’s no way I’ve ever said Kangaroos and Dan Lazzara are bad. Take a look at at the past articles, all there has been is praise for Lazzara and his squad as they had been slaughtering opposing defenses. Sure, in Week 5 putting up 26 against Blessed wasn’t up to the standard, but even Dan would have to agree with that. Since then, they went right back to work. 49 against STL, 37 against the Braves and 59 in the highly anticipated finish to the Week 1 game against #NR and looks like he’s wrapped up the Quarterback of the Year award.
  • The Braves are on a 2-game losing streak, and will not want to be going into the playoffs losing 3 straight.
  • Don’t look now, but Run it Once has gone 2-0-1 in their last 3 and have bumped KGP out as a double-elimination team. Their latest win was a blowout victory over #NR last Sunday in Lachine. James Drysdale was incredible on defense that game with 3 tackles, 4 INTs (2 of which went to the house) and 3 PDs.
  • If Run it Once were to lose against Kangaroos, the winner of the STL-KGP game will likely enter the #4 seed as a double-elimination team, depending on the number of points allowed on Sunday by all 3 teams.
  • The Blessed defense is the only to have allowed sub-200 points.
  • The battle for offensive player of the year is TIGHT. You’ve got the tightest battle between Kenny Baye and Phil Pharand right now, with Quaysie Gordon-Maule, Jeanslee Alexis and Rocco Christiano with an outside shot at getting it, depending on if they can have a 100-yard, 3-4 TD performance on Sunday.
  • EZW vs. #NR doesn’t mean much in terms of the standings, but both teams will get a first look at each other and may meet down stream in the knockout round.
  • For DPOY, Will Power and James Drysdale are your front-runners if the voting were to take place today, with Mike Pierrecin and Jeanslee Alexis on the cusp. Of course, with 1 more chance to put up defensive #’s on the scoresheet, it really is anyone’s trophy up for grabs.
  • Kangaroos have 3 receivers in the Top 10 of receiving yards in Tier 1. Dang! 🔥👀

  • Tier 2
  • Hmmm.. CTA dropped the ball on Tier 2 talk this week… Beer Belly Brigade had the upset of the season, tying Kiss My Outlaws 26-26. If you’ve been paying attention in all of FPF, it looks like there’s a playbook that works against Alexi Dubois who calls defenses on his teams. So I’m not surprised that Beer Belly scored 26 or even the KMO allowed 26, but what has me scratching my head is how did they stop the high-powered KMO offense to just 26? Forget the last play of the game where there was controversy over whether Phil Pharand was held and whether the TD was good or not (Note to all readers, a touchdown is when at least 1 flag/part of the hip and the ball have crossed the goal-line plane and does not have to be all 3 flags). All that said, give credit to the BBB defense, holding Stephen Harripersaud to 26 points is a great accomplishment. They definitely made a statement last Sunday night.
  • The other thing that was omitted… speaking of Stephen Harripersaud, the dude just went the entire Fall Cup prelim round without throwing a pick… 43 TDs, 0 INTs… in TIER 2. Absolutely nuts, and it’s a done deal. QBOY to Stephen Harripersaud, there’s no debate. He lead all QB’s in all major stat categories: Yards, TDs, INTs, Comp %, but not completions… no… Peeze had to do him (literally) one better:
  • The Tier 2 bracket is all but finalized. Beer Belly will be playing Sweat & Beers in the playoffs, but if they can pull off another upset, this time against Mangoose in their final game of the season, they will jump into the #4 seed and will be able to decide if they want to start their playoff game against S&B on offense or defense, which duh, you obviously choose to start on D. If Mangoose beat BBB, they will earn a 1st round Bye as the #2 seed, as they have the tiebreaker over Blackouts.
  • Game Changers went 2-1 down the stretch to sneak in as a double elimination team, but a couple of things have me worried, most notably, this:
  • The OPOY if almost but wrapped up. James Drysdale had another incredible season with 1 more game to play.
  • Former teammate of mine, Sylvain Follenfant of Team Ethnik has made a case for himself for Defensive Player of the Year in Tier 2 with his 13 sacks.
  • Tier 3:
  • Arouch finished the season as the Tier’s #1 team but were called out as the False King’s of Tier 3 by Peeze on CTA. There’s still some seeding left to figure out with Sunday’s slate of games, so their 1st round opponent is still not set in stone.
  • After cruising in the first 5 weeks in the season to a 6-0 record, Bruins have dropped 2 in a row, giving up 76 points in the process while only scoring 40. While they are an upper-echelon team in Tier 3, there are chinks in their armor.
  • After dropping games to Kiss My Inlaws and Bruins, Killer Rays have won 4 straight, all against FPF experienced teams. Perhaps the most impressive was their game against the Ravens, which saw Evan White take the reigns at QB over Tylar Bianchi who was absent. White struggled in the 1st half and the Rays were down 21-6 by halftime. To his and their credit, they pulled the out the miracle comeback and shutout the Ravens in the 2nd half. A opening 2nd half TD drive with a 2-point convert added 8 for KR. Then, another replacement player, Jalen Wells got a pick 6 on the ensuing drive. With time running out, a Killer Ray comeback seemed unlikely when White was picked off by Justin Sarlabous. Lucky for the Killer Rays, AFTER the Ravens picked up a 1st down, there were 5 plays remaining and the Ravens could have ended the game with a 1st down. Instead, Killer Rays forced them to punt, and the Hail Mary prayer from Evan White was answered by Curtis Ryan which completed the crazy comeback.
  • Dime and Bougie close out their season against Bandits on Sunday after thrashing SulĂ© Fess 42-18. With a great performance on Sunday, Jules Regimbald can get his name strongly considered for QB of the Year.
  • Offensive Player of the Year is a really interesting battle between AJ Zeppetelli and Benji Ziegler. AJ has has about 100 yards more while Ziegler has 4 more TDs.
  • I think if Ziegler doesn’t win OPOY, I think he’s a leading candidate for 2-way player of the year, which, by the way, I think some people thing is a lesser award. Let’s be clear about one thing. 2-way player doesnt mean you were average both offensively and defensively, it means you were likely top 5 in both categories and is actually the more prestigious award FPF hands out. Just sayin’
  • Only 2 offenses were able to crack the 300-points for mark: Warriors and Kiss My Inlaws. Dime and Bougie need at least 21 points on Sunday to be the 3rd team to reach that threshold.
  • I think Zackary Alberts-Gill has a Christmas gift ready in the form of DPOY with 19 sacks in 6 games.
  • Why So Serious? have 1 last chance to prove my 0-8 prediction record wrong. They get Blue Dreamers, which, by the way, if people haven’t noticed, if AJ Gomes plays, he will be playoff eligible. The thing is, if AJ is in the lineup, they cannot suit up Nic Gomes-Risso at all, or they bust the cap. So they lose a top-tier snapper in place of having AJ Gomes in the lineup.
  • Ryan Garber and yours truly are the front runners for QBOY, while like I mentioned, Jules Regimbald can make a pitch, but needs an outstanding yardage performance.
  • Tier 4:
  • With a win over The Step Bros, The Penetrators can wrap up the #1 seed.
  • Both The Penetrators and Save The Turftles have guaranteed themselves the first round bye as the #1 and #2 seeds. Deep Ballz also get a bye but find themselves as a single elimination team.
  • Primetime are a good team but need greater execution in the redzone and the defense needs to be more disciplined in the flats.
  • Unless Justin Goodman puts up 9 or 10 TDs and 300 passing yards against The Step Bros, Vincent Cheung.
  • Red Dragons held a 1-4 record 3 games ago. They finished the season on a 3-game winning streak to end up with a .500 record and will likely enter the knockout round as the #4 seed.
  • Speaking on winning streaks, WIB 2.0 haven’t loss a game since Sept 15th as they went on a 6-game winning streak after starting the season 0-2. Are they a prime candidate to upset The Penetrators and Save The Turftles? Their balanced attack at receiver is legit and Tier 4 defenses should be worried when facing this “pick-your-poison” offense.
  • QB Roulette got their first win of the season on Wednesday. Kenny Boutilier has steadily improved as the season has gone along. In the first 4 games he threw 4 TDs and only 1 game with a completion percentage higher than 54% while in the back half of the season, he’s thrown 10 TDs and 3 games where his completion % was 54% or higher.
  • Both Offensive and 2-way player of the year are a little tricky and will take a deeper dive into the numbers, but it looks like Nic Fon will win one or the other.
  • DPOY is also an interesting battle. Ethan Adrian, who was praised by Peeze on CTA ended the season with 21 sacks in 8 games while Skylar Bayliff ended up with 8 INTs. Bayliff could win the 2-way award though, which almost guarantees Adrian as DPOY. That will be interesting to see who wins what.
  • Co-Ed:
  • The winner of the Fast not furious vs EZFun matchup will determine who enters the knockout round as the #1 seed. Should be a great battle between 2 of the best teams in Co-Ed, perhaps a finals preview? That one is a 7pm primetime showdown at Lachine on Sunday.
  • Interesting to see whether The Villains will end up getting Marc-Andre Reeves to play 1 more game to be playoff eligible. While the male players are great, fast and shifty, they need to get their women more involved if they want to have a deep playoff run.
  • The 2 times Fitsquad were facing an equal-level opponent, they were definitely in the games, but both ended up as losses. Week 1 against Free Smoke losing by 1 point and Week 6, losing by 6 to Y&Y. Benchwarmers will be their 3rd test of the season, but I believe they have the upper-hand with Gronk 2.0, Laurence Pontbriand as the key difference maker.
  • A nice test for both teams entering the knockout round will be Free Smoke vs. Kiss My End Zone. This will be one of the many games that will determine the final seedings and who makes it in as a double-elimination team and who drops as the top single-elimination team.
  • I’d have to think that William Brouard is the favorite to win QBOY at a quick glance. It will depend how he and Myles Gibbon perform in their last game.
  • Offensive Player of the Year will require a deeper dive into the stats, but it appears that the front runner as of right now is Omar Chavez. That can, of course, change with the final slate of games on Sunday.
  • Melting Potes have 2 players that are in the mix for Defensive Player of the Year. Carl Murray and Antoine Caron are candidates along with Fitsquad’s Boudjema Saada
  • Women’s:
  • The Maude Lacasse vs. Gab Vanier debate on CTA was fun to listen to, but of course, the boys once again made it about their own egos. Either way you slice it, these 2 QB’s are playing at a crazy-high level and are not only on a collision course to meet in the finals, but are battling for that QB of the Year award.
Gabrielle Vanier

vs.

Maude Lacasse
  • Red Nation’s last game of the Prelim round against Vortex will be their last chance to make a statement. The strength of RN is their defense and will need to prove they can shutdown one of the premiere offenses. If they can limit Vanier and the Vortex offense to 2 scores and take large chunks of time off the clock while driving the field on offense, that will be their path to victory. They need to prove to themselves and the rest of the Women’s div that they can hang with the top teams.
  • The Louves du Nord offense has gone through MĂ©lissa-Anne Xavier and Nour Saci. Both receivers are inside the Top 10 in receiving yards and are clearly their 2 most dangerous weapons.
  • I don’t think it would be shocking to say that Laurence Pontbriand is the run-away frontrunner for Offensive Player of the Year, or are you shocked?
  • For Loups du Nord, their 2 main threats at receiver are Tabitha Thomas and ThaĂŻna Simon, sitting with the 12th and 13th most receiving yards in the Women’s division.

Game Previews- Tier 3

Lockdown vs. Sulé Fess

Lockdown enter this game as the underdogs, but have a chance to win against Sulé Fess if they can follow a certain game script. First, the deep coverage will need to be on point as Sulé Fess have speedsters down the slot and out wide running the seams in Jérémie Gauthier and Vincent Benjamin, respectively. Also, if Rhys Morgan-Tracy can make his way to the field and rush Francis Desrochers and force him to throw off-balance and under pressure, he can definitely cause errant throws that the Eagle-led defense will need to capitalize on and turn into drive-ending interceptions. With only 3 INTs this year, the defense needs to help out Buck Aneer

Morgan-Tracy‘s impact doesn’t stop on D. In his 1 appearance this season, he caught 7 balls on 9 targets for 56 yards on offense. He can stretch a defense with his patented “4.3” speed which can then open up the underneath for himself, as much as others, like leading receiver Max Newcastle, but also guys like Antoine Caron and Louis Messier-Lavallee.

For SulĂ© Fess, they too need to better cover the deep ball, although the Lockdown offense doesn’t seem to attack the middle of the field as much. Perhaps this should be added into their playbook for tonight. And as I analyze this matchup, I realize these offenses are actually quite similar and like the Lockdown defense who needs to be aware of the sideline go’s, not only does the SulĂ© Fess D need to be careful of the same, both offenses like to then hit the slants underneath, so the SulĂ© Fess flat defenders cannot drop too deep after being attacked downfield. They will need to be disciplined when playing this Lockdown offense and take the first and second read away from Buck Aneer quickly. Where SulĂ© Fess will struggle though is sending a good rusher Aneer’s way. Buck is known for being able to scramble and run downfield when his reads are not open, and against a weaker rusher he can exploit a defense. It’s definitely not Zack Alberts-Gill rushing him this time around, after Alberts-Gill was able to sack Aneer 6 times.

Prediction: Lockdown 25 – 31 SulĂ© Fess

Dime and Bougie vs. Bandits

This should be a really fun matchup as their is a ton of speed, athleticism and game-breaking potential that will be on display in this one. Émile Skaf will need to be patient against a defense like Dime and Bougie’s and cannot force the ball into tight windows like he’s done at times this season. The Dime and Bougie defense has been a turnover machine, led by Fritzgerald Cenatus and Arthur Doyon, both with 6 INTs of the team’s Tier 3-leading 20 INTs. While Bandits have a great receiving core with the likes of Cecil Belanger, SĂ©bastien Champagne and snapper Manu Allard-Roy (and perhaps this is because he’s only played in 4 games) but for Zach Graveson to have 12 receptions and 88 yards on the season is criminally low. No shade to the other receivers who are great themselves, but Zach is a playmaker with great hands and could be better utilized to help a struggling 2-4-1 Bandits squad that is much better than their record indicates. I love the squad, and while their potential is better than 2-4-1, at the same time, you are what your record says you are, and it tells me they are an average team when potential tells me they are above-average.

Defensively, Bandits will need to have a constant eye on Felix Boutet, because when you combine his receiving yards (currently 11th overall in yards) with his rushing yards, he jumps to 3rd overall in receivers with combined yards with 550. He lines up both in the slot and backfield and is a key part of the Dime and Bougie offense that will require special attention. That means that with 2nd and 3rd best coverage, Nathan Desjardins and Fritzgerald Cenatus will need to step if Bandits are able to blanket Boutet. That’s a big if, but still, Desjardins and Cenatus need to make plays when given the chance and they have proven more than capable, combining for 480 yards and 14 TDs on the season.

Both offenses are explosive, so I think this game comes down to the defenses and which can produce more stops. While it’s close, I think I gotta go with Dime and Bougie who will be able to produce 1 more stop than the Bandits D.

Prediction: Dime and Bougie 38 – Bandits 33

Tier 3 Fantasy Team of the Week – Week 7

Quarterbacks (2):

QB1 – Ryan Garber (Trapstars): 16/26, 61.5% completion, 290 Passing yards, 8 TDs, 1 INT, 123.4 QBR, 1 Rush attempt, 5 Rushing yards, 4 for 8 on converts (4 points earned)

QB2 – Jules Regimbald (Dime and Bougie): 14/18, 77.8% completion, 238 Passing yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs, 158.3 QB Rating, 2 Rush attempts, 11 Rushing yards, 4 for 6 on converts (4 points earned).

Receivers (5):

WR1 – Benji Ziegler – G1 (Warriors): 7 receptions, 9 targets, 118 yards, 4 TDs, 2x XP1

WR2 – Vincent Benjamin (Sule Fess): 12 receptions, 14 targets, 119 yards, 3 TDs

WR3 – Phil Cutler – G1 (Trapstars): 4 receptions, 4 targets, 94 yards, 4 TDs

WR4 – Thomas Legault (Arouch): 6 receptions, 8 targets, 95 yards, 4 TDs, 1x XP1

WR5 – Lucas Quenneville (Kiss My Inlaws): 5 receptions, 5 targets, 94 yards, 3 TDs

Flex – Felix Boutet (Dime and Bougie): 6 receptions, 8 targets, 104 yards, 2 TDs, 1x XP1, 3 Rushing attempts, 27 Rushing yards

Defensive Backs (5) + Rusher (1):

DB – Dylan Garber – G1 (Trapstars): 3 tackles, 1 INT, 1 Def TD

DB – Jalen Wells (Killer Rays): 4 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 Def TD, 1 PD

DB – Adam Rabinovitch – G2 (Warriors): 2 tackles, 1 INT, 1 Def TD

DB – James Wiseman – G2 (Trapstars): 5 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 PD

DB – Massimo D’ipolito – G2 (Blue Dreamers): 4 tackles, 2 INTs, 1 PD

Rusher – Zackary Alberts-Gill (Kiss My Inlaws): 6 sacks, 1 PD

Tier 4 Fantasy Team of the Week – Week 7

Quarterbacks (2):

QB1 – Guillaume Boulanger (Red Dragons): 17/26, 65.4% completion, 142 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs, 118.9 QBR, 1 Rushing attempt, 5 Rushing yards,1 for 4 on converts (1 point earned)

QB2 – Justin Goodman (The Penetrators): 13/21, 61.9% completion, 154 Passing yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT, 104.0 QBR, 2 Rushing attempts, 23 Rushing yards, 2 for 4 on converts (3 points earned)

Receivers (5):

WR1 – Francois Rocheleau (Deep Ballz): 2 receptions, 4 targets, 77 yards, 2 TDs

WR2 – Jake Halpern (The Penetrators): 2 receptions, 4 targets, 79 yards, 1 TD

WR3 – David De Andrade (QB Roulette): 8 receptions, 8 targets, 78 yards, 1 TD

WR4 – Anthony McCall (The Step Bros): 4 receptions, 6 targets, 76 yards, 1 TD

WR5 – Greg Saint-Fleur (Primetime): 5 receptions, 6 targets, 67 yards, 1 TD

Flex – Charles Beauchemin (Red Dragons): 6 receptions, 7 targets, 70 yards

Defensive Backs (5) + Rusher (1):

DB – Nathan Desjardins (Red Dragons): 1 tackle, 2 INTs

DB – Jake Halpern (The Penetrators): 1 tackle, 2 INTs

DB – Guillaume Boulanger (Red Dragons): 2 INTs

DB – Rory Kelly (Deep Ballz): 2 INTs

DB – SĂ©bastien Lamy (QB Roulette): 1 tackle, 1 INT

Rusher – Ethan Adrian (Primetime): 3 sacks

Epilogue

Ok, one last day to wrap up the season. Next article we will wrap up Week 8 and start breaking down the 1st round matchups in Tier 3 and 4! It’s time to put your best performance on the field as there is pride and money on the line.

In case you missed it, your dynamic duo of Peeze and Moe were back at it in the CTA studio and the hot takes were on!