Categories: Division EMen'sSpring

Injuries, another Power Ranking and Everything Sweet is at the Bottom

OK, I am pretty exhausted, but like I said, I usually keep the intro’s short which leaves more content for the actual divisional coverage. But first, some league news.

First, Week 3 has come and gone, and with it, came the uniform protocol kicking in. Guys (and any girls that may play in the division)… we LOVE our stats (and the Games Played is pretty important too). In order to get stats and the game played for your games, you need to be wearing the SAME color jersey as the rest of your teammates AND you need to be wearing a legit # on the back, front, or side of your shirt. Taped and/or markered numbers got you the game played in Weeks 1 and 2, but will NOT be an acceptable number moving forward. Refs and scorekeepers need to be able to identify who you are, so without respecting all what I said, you are out of luck. A lot of people will read that and say… but a markered number will identify us the same as a legit number, and yeah, you’re not wrong, but FPF is a gold standard when it comes to flag leagues, not only in Montreal, but the world, and if you didn’t notice, we take a ton of film footage, snag a lot of pictures and we ain’t here to look like a bush league! So if you want your stats, get a proper uniform for your next games and the rest of the season!

Division E Headlines

  • Last week number of undefeated teams: 12
  • This week number of undefeated teams: 9
  • The Diddlers are sitting at 2-1. They are okay for Div E, but will struggle against the top-end talent in the division. Pranav Sharma has a great connection with Natan Nettel, and they showed it once again in Week 3, with Nettel already making the Fantasy Team of the Week last week. Can his 94 yard, 3 TD performance get him back there again? Keep reading to find out!
  • Eric Hamparsoumian is making a return to FPF! I’ve played with the dude; good guy and good defensive player. He’s a great add for the Flag Dealers who went 1-1 in Week 3 with a hard-fought victory over CTE Goons on Wednesday in Laval.
  • Bloodline improved season over season in the 2023 calendar. They were always missing a true QB though, to be considered very good. It appears they have found that in Mathis Pilot. Will be interesting to catch one of their games with him under centre. A 12:3 TD-to-INT ratio is very nice to start the season. With Nathan Duguay back, and now sliding Justin Fraser at receiver, it appears Fraser has taken over the role of WR1, sliding Duguay as the WR2, giving the team more depth at receiver.
  • Serge Hayek, after playing a big role at receiver with Flag Dealers in the winter, is testing his arm out in Div E. So far, so good, with 7 TDs, 0 INTs and just under 300 yards and averaging 8 yards per run. The TDs were dispersed unevenly though in 2 games, scoring only twice against Chomedy Chodes and running up The Creamsicles for 5 TDs. Let’s see how he performs against a tough Petits Carottes JR defense.
  • After forfeiting their game against No Brain No Gain, and taking a loss to TuneSquad, The Stables put up a whopping 63-0 scorline win over OPN who look like they will struggle this season. Some help is coming OPN’s way from the league with some basic plays and concepts. While the Stables D had pick after pick get thrown into their hands, Devin Kreuzer still had to punch it in and did so with some good timing with his receivers. Not quite good enough for the 158.3 QBR, but 142.3 is quite the QBR for Div E, that’s for sure!!
  • I noticed a couple of sweet teams are at the bottom of the standings. The Creamsicles? 0-3. Sweet Bonanza? 0-3. That’s all. Nothing else.
  • Les Vidanges FC are looking for their first win this week after starting 0-2 on the season. 0-2 is not a death sentence like it may be in the NFL. Still a lot of games to be played, and making playoffs might take 2-3 wins. Vidanges’ schedule is not easy late in the season, so they need to pick up the wins now!
  • Head Tops Only started their season with a season-opening scoring drive. Since that first drive, they’ve scored only 3 TD’s. Costa Skarpetas is throwing too many risky balls downfield and has suffered with 4 TDs to 9 INTs. What worked well in that opening drive of the season was hitting the shorts and letting your receivers do the work and forcing the defense to deflag. Deflagging is a skill built over time. Many Div E defenses and players miss a lot of tackles… hit the quick stuff and let your receivers do some damage: 2-yard hooks, 2 yard outs, 1-yard slants. The team has a big roster, with an offensive unit, defensive unit and even special teams. This should help with chemistry, unless some guys are playing both ways and mix and matching.
  • I love seeing strange stat lines. One of the weirdest I’ve seen in a while has to be Alexandre Manes‘ 7/12 passing completion… for… 11 yards… and 5 Touchdowns. So he completed 7 passes, 5 of which went for TD’s.. for short yardage… and won 54-8. This will happen when the defense creates TEN interceptions (10!? Jesus…).
  • Number of winless teams after 3 weeks: 10 — who will get their first win amongst the 10 teams? I say James’ Backyard and CTE Goons enter the win column in Week 4.
  • It may be Jeremy Laplante‘s (Baby Sharks) first season at QB in FPF, but he’s played with several great QB’s and different playbooks, so he has I’m sure 5-6 go-to plays to work with (which is enough btw for anyone reading) and has both the athletic ability and flag knowledge to make it work. 472 yards, 13 TDs, 3 INTs and completing 58% of his passes proves this. Maxime Sharkawi is your clear WR1 and with Sam Aerts is your WR2 on a Div E team, plus Ben and Jon Caron and Alex Sharkawi rounding out the depth at receiver, yeah, the team is nicely set on offense. And on D, 7 INTs, courtesy of Jon Caron, Max Sharkawi and Jeremy Laplante, the D will get its fair share of turnovers. The regular season for this team will be Laplante getting as much reps at QB as possible so that come playoff time, his rookie QB status is no longer the main question mark.
  • I picked against Team Timbo last week, thinking they would lose 24-18 or so, maybe 28-24, but to only put up 7 points… Viren Patel struggled, throwing just 1 TD and 3 INTs. He was able to get away from Antoine Bonin 5 times for 24 yards, but Bonin added another 2 sacks to bring his total to 8 on the season. Good enough for 3rd best overall in Div E.
  • TYP SHI need someone to have enough confidence to go in at QB, and stay there despite the struggles. My best bet, based on stats is Andy Ly. Completed half of his passes (7/14), which went for 48 yards, a TD and 2 INTs. Not great, but better than his counterparts. I would keep Harry Luong at receiver as he’s the leading receiver with 97 yards and 2 TDs and threw 9 INTs as a QB. Remember, playing QB IS HARD. Everyone struggles at first.
  • The Swiffer WetJets added another win to their record, an impressive shutout victory, 38-0 over Bum City. Wassim Dakka led the way defensively with 2 picks and 2 PDs along with 3 tackles, while Andrew Chin caused a 3rd turnover and batted a ball down as well.
  • Tyler Cousins is having a good start to the season, his best season by far in FPF as QB. Last winter he threw 22 TD’s in 10 games, and this season, already has 16 in 4 games. He’s also dramatically reduced the INT numbers, as he was almost throwing 1 INT for every 1 TD. So far this season, 1 INT for every 8 TDs. That is a fantastic ratio, that if he can keep up, it will translate into the best record Texas Whales will have had in FPF. The franchise has struggled in their first 2-3 seasons, but that’s normal. Now, most of the guys have a much better understanding of the game, and its translating into wins. More wins usually come with more stats, more stats and more wins come with more fun. Chazz Pisanelli has been the recipient of those stats, leading the team in yards (212) and TDs (6). George Spano is also a great WR2 for the team and brings a ton of experience to the squad. While they’ve seemingly turned the franchise around, the team took some bad news with an injury to Spano. Let’s see how resilient the team is after losing a key contributor to their early-season success.

Still Too Early, but Oh Well… Power Rankings!

  1. Western – Moooooooooo
  2. Swiffer WestJets – A 4-0 start and a shutout win gets you the #2 spot.
  3. Mamma Mia – Passed their first true test of the season, narrowly squeaking out a 26-25 victory over Baby Sharks.
  4. TuneSquad – 4 receivers with 100+ yards, 3 receivers with 4 TD’s each, this TuneSquad offense is tough to stop because if you take away one weapon, another one pops up, like playing whack-a-mole. Not to mention the defense has force 9 turnovers from interceptions in 4 games. Big movers up this week.
  5. Texas Whales – Biggest movers up this week goes to Texas Whales, they allowed only 19 points to a team that had put up over 100 points in their first 2 games. 3-1 after 4 games, good QB play, good defense, that will rise you in the power rankings for sure.
  6. Les Petites Carottes JR – VERY strong defensively. Defenses can win you championships in Div E, and can absolutely win you 7 games in the regular season. I do want to see more from the offense though, so they get the #6 seed this week.
  7. No Brain No Gain – Had a Bye week in Week 3, but still a good squad.
  8. Bullshigh – Good win against Locked and Loaded, but will be tested when they play Mamma Mia in Week 4.
  9. Cavaliers du Rohan – I like this team, lots of understanding of the game and good speed, athleticism and height. They’ve only played 2 games so far, but sit at 2-0. More game play against better competition will move them up the rankings.
  10. Baby Sharks – Despite a loss in Week 3, they stayed in it with a very good Mamma Mia squad. They get the final Power Ranking spot this week.

Week 4 Fantasy Team of the Week

In my Fantasy Team of the Week, I go with the 2 Best QBs, the 5 best starting WRs, the 5 best DBs and the best rusher and make the best team that could have suited up that week.

Enjoy!

QB1: Devin Kreuzer (The Stables) – 15/21 (71.4%), 207 Passing Yards, 8 TDs, 0 INTs, 142.3 QBR, 1 Rushing Attempt, 9 Rushing Yards

QB2: Serge Hayek (Locked & Loaded) – 13/16 (81.3%), 151 Passing Yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 145.6 QBR, 1 Rushing Attempt, 9 Rushing Yards

WR1: Gabriel Perreault (Vice City): 3 receptions, 3 targets, 106 yards, 3 TDs

WR2: Matthew Campbell (Western): 8 receptions, 8 targets, 97 yards, 3 TDs

WR3: Maxime Sharkawi (Baby Sharks – Game 2): 3 receptions, 5 targets, 95 yards, 3 TDs

WR4: Natan Nettel (The Diddlers): 5 receptions, 8 targets, 94 yards, 3 TDs

WR5: James Masciotra (Backyardigans): 6 receptions, 7 targets, 90 yards, 3 TDs, 1x XP1

DB1: Laurent Beauchamp (LPC Jr): 3 tackles, 4 INTs, 2 Def TD

DB2: Emile Descoteaux (LPC Jr): 4 tackles, 3 INTs

DB3: Jonathan Danessa (Chomedy Chodes): 3 tackles, 3 INTs

DB4: Daniel Mennitti (Airs): 1 tackle, 1 sack, 2 INTs, 1 PD, 1 Def TD

DB5: Nicholas Antonacci (Backyardigans): 1 sack, 1 INT, 1 Def TD, 2 PD

Rusher: Joshua Besner (Western): 3 sacks, 1 PD



Iggy Magnet’s Week 4 Game Picks

Warriors vs. Airs – Iggy’s Pick: Warriors

Best Worst Zgust vs. No Brain No Gain – Iggy’s Pick: No Brain No Gain

QUEENS vs. La Mennaise – Iggy’s Pick: La Mennaise

The Diddlers vs. Western – Iggy’s Pick: Western

TYP SHI vs. Airs – Iggy’s Pick: Airs

Cavaliers du Rohan vs. Baby Sharks – Iggy’s Pick: Baby Sharks

Mamma Mia vs. Bullshigh – Iggy’s Pick: Mamma Mia

The Creamsicles vs. Freshmen XL – Iggy’s Pick: Freshmen XL

BackYardigans vs. Flag Dealers – Iggy’s Pick: BackYardigans

La Mennaise vs. STEPBROTHERS – Iggy’s Pick: La Mennaise

OPN vs. James’ Backyard – Iggy’s Pick: James’ Backyard

Les Petites Carottes JR vs. Warriors – Iggy’s Pick: Les Petites Carottes JR

TuneSquad vs. Sweet Bonanza – Iggy’s Pick: TuneSquad

Team Timbo vs. Practice Squad – Iggy’s Pick: Practice Squad

Bloodline vs. Les Vidanges FC – Iggy’s Pick: Bloodline

Trailer Park Boys vs. Vice City – Iggy’s Pick: Vice City

James’ Backyard vs. The Creamsicles – Iggy’s Pick: James’ Backyard

OPN vs. Chomedey Chodes – Iggy’s Pick: Chomedey Chodes

Bum City vs. CTE Goons – Iggy’s Pick: CTE Goons

Swiffer WetJets vs. Cavaliers du Rohan *Div E Game of the Week*– Iggy’s Pick: Cavaliers du Rohan

Week 3 Game Pick Record: 16-5

Overall Prediction Record: 16-5

Epilogue

Alright Div E, hope you enjoyed the read. If you didn’t or have suggestions for what to talk about, I’m all ears!

If you didn’t know, FPF has a weekly podcast. This past week, Peeze returned to the show to talk about the week that was, highlight teams and players and answer the hard-hitting questions everyone is dying to hear! Check out last week’s episode. Go ahead and listen to the intro and then skip ahead to your division using the timestamps. Until next time!