It’s the playoffs, there’s no room for “my bad”

The time has finally come! We have officially reached the FPF PLAYOFFS LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!! I don’t know about you guys, but I’m spending the day with both my Mother/Grandmother all day long, so that I can be free to make it to Lachine for 7pm kickoff. I know I am not alone in saying that there will be feast going down today, be mindful of that afternoon nap so you’re ready to go tonight fellas! We’ve got ourselves quite some interesting matchups tonight, with many players having their reputation on the line. Intriguing questions emerge as we approach closer to game time. Questions such as; who will be the one to come up short when their teams need them most; Neil Etinson or Fred Mallette? Ok maybe that was a little dark. What about the question every defense have been asking themselves all season long… WHO THE HELL IS GUARDING ANTHONY BRISEBOIS??? Ok ok alright I get it more concerning topics sure. What if I told you EZW & Sheeesh both go one-and-done? Will we be talking about poor QB play, or rosters that need more depth than they already have. Regardless, I’m ready for ALL of it! Playoff football is like Christmas. You wake up with the butterflies, you make sure you’re wearing the best pair of boxers you got, and all you can think about is how you’re going to dominate the competition. Nothing like it! Before jumping into my previews/predications, just want to give everyone a friendly reminder to wish your Mothers a Happy Mothers Day! They make the world turn. Without them we are naaaada! Okokokok I get it, less word fillers, more football. Let’s dive into the mix! 

Touch it catch it (5-5) vs Bearskins (3-7) 

An old’ Wild West showdown featuring two teams that have played unpredictable football all season long. Neil Etinson has had a roller coaster of a season. Throwing 13 INTs on the season is definitely not where you want to be as an offense. However, this is the playoffs. I would like to remind the audience, that although their season hasn’t been the greatest, these Bearskins have fielded a roster FILLED with playoff experience. Names such as Jordan Allard, Marco Bertoldi, Kevin Libman come to mind when thinking of the ones who’ve made deep playoff runs throughout their FPF careers.. Honestly speaking, what the Bearskins have, is a unique system. A system in which Etinson relies on buying time in the pocket until his receivers sit in that perfect zone. Sometimes, it was effective this season. Other times, it backfired. When the Bearskins played teams with records lower than .500 such as Lightweight, Les Maloudes, Les Gros Coqs, Etinson was only sacked ONCE! However, In games vs the top rushers in the league such as Hinsley Adams, Isiah Allard, Mike Zenobi, and Terry Babalis, Neil was sacked a total of 18 times! 7 of those from the claws of Allard, who he faces once again this Sunday night. In addition to the sacks, Etinson also threw 4 INTs that game! Safe to say it’ll be interesting to see how he chooses to approach this playoff matchup. Will he change up the system by getting the ball out quicker? Or will he test the waters hoping to escape the wrath of a 6’2 (says he’s 6’5) MAMMOTH of a human coming at him!  If im a betting man, I would take the over on sacks for Allard in this matchup. Let’s see if Neil proves me wrong!

Speaking of placing wagers, I would recommend calling your local FPF bookie (Moe khan) to place a lump sum of cash on AJ Gomes Absolutely going bonkers in this matchup.Logically speaking, unless Bearskins send a double team the division 3 Two Way player of the year goodluck chuck! I wouldn’t be surprised if AJ might end up 3 times with the ball in his hands in the endzone when it’s all set and done. In my eyes, this game falls on the shoulders on QB Fred Mallette. When he played Bearskins week 8, he completed 76% of his passes with 5 touchdowns as well. Safe to say he felt comfortable to say the least. If Bearskins find themselves playing catch up football, I think Touch It Catch it will smell blood, doing everything they can to widen the gap between their opponents on the scoreboard. If the game somehow, someway, finds a way to stay close, I could smell a upset brewing. I’m excited to see how this game plays out. Look for 2 dark horse players from both teams to make big plays for their teams all throughout this matchup. Marc Andre Lapointe for Touch It Catch It, Rich Humes for Bearskins. 

Final Score: 

Bearskins 24

Touch It Catch It 31

Thor’s Hammer (8-2) vs Killa Bees (6-4)

Oh boy, what a showdown we got here folks!! We’ve got the Division 3 QB of the year Jeff Rosenblatt, clashing off against what I will go on record to say a future candidate for QB of the year in this league; Jeremie Mongeon Duby. Both teams come into this game being red hot from the steam they left out on the field of the regular season. Thor’s Hammer played Killa Bees week 3, with JMD not being apart of that matchup. TH won that game 32-25. What does this mean? Absolutely nada. New QB means completely new team, new swag, new energy. Speaking of energy, Captain of the defence Jean Christophe Viens is literally the energizer bunny when it comes to getting his men locked in. I already know even though he wont admit it, he most definitely played a role in the movie 300 as one of the gladiators out there.. Simply put, he’s a warrior out there, & the way he leads is squad is second to none. He’s done a tremendous job of calling this defence all season long, which led to the team accumulating 13 INTs on the season.  I can’t believe I’m even writing this, I shouldn’t be at this point, however, I’ll be absolutely SHOOK if Jeremie goes perfect for a THIRD GAME IN A ROW!! Say what you want, that’s not normal!! That being said, If Killa Bees start rolling on offence and find a way to create some turnovers on Thor’s Hammer, this game might be over sooner rather than later.  

Something important to note, although Rosenblatt’s Number one option Anthony Brisebois will be there ready to burn defenders on some seam/post routes, the Robin to Brisebois’s batman, Dawson Pierre, might not be available due to having spring camp up with the Concordia Football team. If Dawson is out, that would be a huge blow to Thor’s Hammer’s defence. I’ll be intrigued to see how Thor’s Offence will handle the physical Nature of this Killa Bees defence. If they find themselves coming off the ball slower than usual. it could be a long day for their QB. However, if they find ways to beat that first level of contact, rip and claw through some non calls, & use their elusiveness to their advantage, it could prove troublesome for Killa Bees. No lie, I’m absolutely torn on making a decision for this game. However, Unlike Peeze avoiding the Jordan/Lebron debate, I feel like it’s only right to give my predictions out. 

Final Score:

Thor’s Hammer 39

Killa Bees   48

Sheesh (6-4) VS Les Maloudes (3-7)

David vs Goliath, is what this matchup would have been seen like if I was told this would be a first round playoff matchup back in February. However, as of late, this Sheeesh team has been doing everything they can to not be clicking on all cylinders. Qb Andrew Langburt has had a rough season to his standards. His inconsistent play had put Sheeesh in position to lose games they should have won. Most recently, these two teams met for both of their last regular season games. The final score ended 26-24 for Sheeesh. Langburt threw 2 ints that game, yet still got the dub, which is quite impressive on it’s own two feet. Bottom line, when you have a deadly duo of  receivers such as Ariel Liberati & Noah Groper, its almost impossible to scheme against. Liberati finished the season with 13 Tds, while not so far down the road, Groper finished his season with 12 touchdowns as well. What people seem to forget, although these two superstars steal the spotlight most of the time (& with good reason!), it’s the role players this Sheeesh team recruited which really impresses me. Any other Div 3 team, Mathieu Lepage is a WR1 talent. Lepage finished the season with 7 Tds in 6 games! Moving along you got another 2 way stud in Vincent benjamin. He finished his season scoring 5 tds on offence, as well as accumulating 4 INTs on the defensive side.  The point i’m trying to make here, is that everyone brings value to this team. Some might say it’s alittle too much of a challenge to feed everyone on the squad, however I think Langburt did a pretty swell job at making the most bread out of this roster. It would be extremely disappointing to say the least if this Sheeesh roster does not make it past the first round of playoffs. 

On the flip side, we’ve got the one man wrecking crew in Vincent Morrisette. Putting the team on his back, Morrissette finished the season with a Darrell Revis-like season in which he picked off the opposing QBs a league high NINE times this season! To add to that, he also contributed to the offence as well by scoring 7 TDS. He was clearly the heart and soul of his team, as there has been rumors going around claiming that Vincent might just be the Kyle Lowry of Les Maloudes. Reason being is because there was only 1 player who recorded ints on the season aside from Morisette. The defender’s name is Louis-Philippe Paquette, who finished with 2 picks on the season. My concerns here would be the 4 game losing streak that Les Maloudes have been on to end their regular season. That’s not the kind of momentum you’re looking for if you have any championship aspirations, that’s forsure. QB Anthony Beauchamp-Frezza hasn’t put up the worst numbers, I’ll acknowledge that. Unfortunately, only scoring 24 touchdowns during the regular season shall not win you many games. He threw 8 interceptions to go along with those Tds, yet what concerns me most, is the 15 sacks Beauchamp accumulated over the course of the season. The name of the game is get the ball in your playmakers hands! Going into this matchup, it needs to be a point of emphasis to help get the ball in the hands of not only Morissette, but also feeding Ludwik Jananji, who sits right behind Morisette with 200+ yards & 5 touchdowns. IF, (and it’s a big IF), Les Maloudes can limit their mistakes, take care of the rock, and put up points at a premium, I can very well see this game coming down to the wire. Sheeesh is a team dealing with some injuries at the moment, which makes this matchup that much more interesting.. If Les Maloudes can compete for all 44 minutes at 7 pm in Lachine, it could spell trouble for the once upon a time #1 ranked team in the division. Fortunately for Sheesh, I don’t think Les Maloudes has the firepower to keep up in this gun fight. 

Final Score:

Les Maloudes 18 

Sheeesh 33

EZW (7-3) vs Expendables (6-4)

Well well well, look at what the cat dragged in here. Gino De fazio making his return to the FPF playoffs, a familiar setting for the 11 time champion. Although he came in as a relief pitcher for the injured Carmine Pollice, he hasn’t done as bad as people would think a back up quarterback would do. During the 4 game span De fazio played in, he went 2-2. Although they won games vs the teams they should have won vs (Lightweight, Speed Acadcemy) when the going got tough, the team folded. In the two games vs top competition (Junkyard Dogs, Thor’s Hammer), the expendables lost by 18, and 26. Not what you want to see heading into the playoffs. Luckily for De fazio, he was able to inherit a pretty decent pool of talent. A evenly distributed receiving core always helps, as all 3 superstars of this team (Andrew Carruthers, Ryan Dobbs-Garnett, and Dylan Taylor) finished with 8 touchdowns a piece on the season. It makes it pretty difficult to match up against a team that is this unpredictable about where they wanna go with the football. What concerns me the most about this team, aside from Gino casually tossing up ducks into the middle of the field whenever he’s under pressure, is the lack of defensive effort on this squad. The Expendables were able to get 10 interceptions as a team this season. 5 of those INTs, came from the mits of FPF vet Kendall Myers, who’s been doing his best to keep this team in the mist of all the action, all season long. If the Expendables want any shot at taking down EZW, they’re going to need the performance of a lifetime from Kendall, as he seems like the lone soldier willing to step up to the plate when his team needs him most. They wont win the game without any turnovers, so theyll need to disguise some coverages to get QB Jeremy White off his game. I’ll be interested to see who they will use to rush White. 

Speaking of Jeremy White, he is one baaaaaad man! Coming off his best season statistically in all his years of FPF, White is confident in his abilities to get his team where they need to go. Scoring 50 touchdowns on the season, is quite the accomplishment! Throwing only 5 INTs to go along with that 50 burger, is insane! White is one of the best QBs FPF has at the moment that is able to consistently dip, doge, and duck rushers nearly every play in order to buy his receivers time to find the open zones. Despite his agility,, sometimes his teammates make it easier on him, as he simply needs to throw a drag to the human highlight reel, and watch him go to work. I’m talking about the man who leads the team with 14 touchdowns on the season, Mr. Charles-Olivier Lavigne. I’ve seen this man consistently put defenders in a blender with his jukes, dips (no seriously how did everyone on this team master the dip move) and contested catches over the middle. You wanna talk about being an absolute DOG in this league, look no further than Lavigne. Of course, whenever you throw for 50 Tuddies, you’re going to have other WRs who stepped up and delivered. Players such as Jean-Christophe Ferland with 9 tds, Maxime Boucher-Cyr with 8 tds, and Felix Leger with 5 touchdowns, have all been examples of what it means to be the perfect product of the system. Each individual previously named has a super high Flag football IQ, which leads to finding open zones often, as well as understanding that the ball won’t come to you every play. I find that’s the most important aspect of this all. Far too often, teams are assembled in hopes of getting everyone 5 touchdowns a game. Sorry to break it to ya, but that’s not the way the game works. Unfortunately, when players realize they aren;t getting the ball some plays, they half-ass their routes, which could lead to coverages shifting in the direction of the wrs running the hardest.  If everyone is on the same page, buying into what J.White is selling, what you get is 50 Touchdowns, and a shot at making some noise in the playoffs. I love what I’ve seen this season from EZW, let’s see if they’ll be a great season team that went one and done in the playoffs, or go on a deep playoff run to end up playing on may 29th. Ultimately, I don’t think the Expendables have the juice in them to keep up with the horses EZW has. 

Final Score: 

Expendables 26

EZW 45

That’s a wrap folks! If you’re reading this article, but you’re not playing tonight in any games, I highly recommend that you reach Lachine tonight. These matchups are too good to miss out on. I can very well see each and every game come down to the wire, which is a football fans dream. I know I’ll be out there, ready to catch all the highlights of what’s to come from these dog flights we have lined up (not literal dog fights, relax Micheal Vick). Until next week FPF Fam! Goodluck to everyone, & may the odds be ever in your favour.