Ottawa Week 6 Recap

 

Hey what’s up everybody? I am Brent ‘Bad News’ Bodkin, and I’m back once again to give you the 411 on FlagPlus Football in the nation’s capital.

Well, the halfway mark of the season is over. It’s now time to separate the pretenders from the contenders. If you’re a team who has been struggling as of late, (I am looking at you Heavy Hitters, Browns, Rugged Riders, and The Entourage) but you still think you have a good shot at winning it all, now is the time to get your act together if you’re going to make a run come playoff time.

As I mentioned before, the midway point of the season has just gone by. In light of it, I am going to try something a little different this week. Instead of the standard review article, I am going to give you guys a mid-season report.

Before I start, I should mention that you can feel free to agree or disagree with my choices. I am basing my picksarguments on who I think is best and I will use stats to back myself up. So, without further ado, here we go…

Since football is arguably the greatest team sport, I will start my report with talking about who I feel is the best team in Division 1.

This choice is a little obvious. I am going with the Tailgators. Yes they are the defending champs, and yes they beat their biggest threat in the Barracudas a few weeks ago, but I am choosing them because after all the dust has settled, they are still the only undefeated team in D1 (over a two year span). To win a championship is hard enough, but to win one and defend your crown the following season and be still be undefeated at the midway point is pretty impressive.

I know some people might argue and go with the Barracudas as the top team, and say that the Gators got lucky in their 14-13 victory, and that the Cudas will get revenge in their next meeting on March 8th, but last time I checked, this is still February, and yes their last match up was close, but close only counts in horseshoe tossing!

In Division 2 I am going with the Wise Guys as my team to beat. With the Rugged Riders moving up to Division 1, it looks like it will be nothing but smooth sailing for the W.G in D2.

As far as their closest competition to the crown, the Federal Express and the Browns, the Wise Guys recently beat the former 24-14, and they are on the verge of sweeping the season series from the latter. So far in head to head match ups this year, W.G has outscored the Brownies 91-41. That being said, you can’t count out the Atlanta Falcons who seem to be improving every week and still have a chance now that they are in D2.

As far as best quarterback is concerned, in D1 it was a close call between The Tailgators’ Craig Matthews and the Barracudas’ Tom Patrick. Both pivots have been lights out this year, and they are huge reasons why their teams are in he position they’re in.

Sorry Cudas’ fans, but I am giving the edge to Matthews in this one. For the season the Gators’ pivot has one more touchdown pass (26) and one less interception (7) than his talented counterpart. Matthews also has the superior QB rating 137.5 to 103.3, and more passing yards 1241 to 1018.

In their sole head-to-head meeting this season, Matthews did throw more interceptions than Patrick (4) to (2), but the Gators signal caller had one more touchdown pass and nearly twice as many yards (163) to (83). Nevertheless, I have a feeling these two pivots will go toe-to-toe again twice before it’s all said and done.

In D2 I am gong with The Wise Guys’ Thomas Solarik. Yes I played with him at Concordia University, but  nepotism has nothing to do with this decision. With the departure of Michael Panetta and his Rugged Riders to D1, Solarik has been hands down the top quarterback in D2.

So far on the season Solarik has passed for 879 yards and 19 touchdowns. Although Federal Express pivot, Francois Bordeleau has been impressive of late, his 596 yards and 14 TD passes don’t measure up over the span of the season.

As important as a quarterback is to a team, his receivers are just as important. You can have Kurt Warner or Donovan McNabb leading your team, but if you don’t have receivers that can catch the ball and get yards after the catch, or be game changers, then you might as well forget about it.

            I can’t lie this category was the toughest to choose from. In D1 there are just too many good receivers to choose from. The Cudas’ Mazen Dikah and snapper Kevin Schleyer have put up great numbers. Derek Crupi and Arden Weiss of The Entourage are also great candidates. A triple threat that deserves recognition is the Gators Matt Burton, Mitch Duggan, and Paul Seguin. The Sharks James Beatty has been on fire this season with his 20 catches for 286 yards and seven touchdown grabs.

            Like I said before this was a really tough one to call. In the end I am going with the Heavy Hitters’ Curtis Cates and The Entourage’s Justin Nolan as my co-choices for best Receiver(s) at the mid-way point.

            Despite the fact that Cates and Nolan only have 16 and 15 catches respectively, both players have gone over the 300 yard mark. If you are wondering why I am not just giving the award to Nolan who has 73 more yards than Cates, It’s because of supporting staff. Weiss and Crupi of The Entourage have put up better numbers than the Hitters’ Belony brothers.

            In D2, its a little simpler. I’m going with the Browns’ MJ Mancini. I know a lot of people are probably picking The Wise Guys’ Jeff Lalonde, yet although he has one more yard than Mancini (232 to 231), it took him eight more catches to do so. You also have to take into account that while Mancini has four touchdown catches, Lalonde has zero.

            Despite their less than stellar record, I honestly think that Mancini has been the biggest reason why the Browns are still in playoff contention.

            Although this is an offensive league, (if you added six more players per side and had bigger fields, I swear this would be a great alternative to the CFL) you still have to show some love to those on the defensive side of the ball. For the defender of the year so far in D1, I am going with the Tailgators Matt Burton. The man has 13 sacksin 6 games! That’s incredible no matter what country, city or division you play in. Wendell Belony’s seven interceptions are amazing, but sometimes picks occur because of bad decision making by the quarterback, as well as tipped balls. Belony also recorded four of his seven thefts in his last game.

In D2 I am giving the nod to Federal Express’ Martin Muldoon. This decision came down to him and the Browns Shen Bai. Yes he trails Bai in tackles (15 to 8) and batted down passes (6 to 3), but what separates the two is the number of interceptions. Bai only has one, while Muldoon has four. Batted down passes are great, but picks can be game-changing.

As far as most surprising and disappointing team is concerned, I think that the Sharks pretty much fit the bill in D1. If you’ve been reading my articles throughout the season, you’ll notice that I’ve been talking about how much they have fallen from grace since making it to the D1 championship game last season.

            In D2 there are only four teams to choose from. The Falcons should start reconsidering their game plan and try and get back on track and hopefully sneak into the playoffs. For a team who registered for D1, it would be ugly to finish with a zero in the win column, in D2.

            Anyways, that’s it for my mid-season report. I hope you guys liked it.

If you liked the article, hated the article, or simply feel that I left something out, feel free to let me know at
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PEACE!!!