Peeze’s Playbook

With four teams remaining I am reminded of a quote by Benjamin Franklin, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”.  I thought about this in conjunction with the FPF Playoffs and I thought about what some players/teams do to prepare for a big playoff game.

 

Some teams run practices, others will talk on their Facebook groups or via text in an attempt to hype each other up.  Either way teams do what they are most comfortable doing and chaining one’s preparation is a dangerous proposition.

 

Some players are very superstitious and will have the same routines on game day.  Pre-game meals may be though out a head of time and one may choose not to step on cracks lest they jinx their quarterback.  

 

In the end, team’s you’ve gotten this far, keep doing what you’re doing.  This week is the conference finals, here are my thoughts, reflections and predictions:

 

 

Wild Card Wednesday

 

To Old To Waste Time on Alcohol

 

In perhaps the most entertaining FPF game of the season Old Guns and Alcohol of Fame went toe to toe for 10 rounds.  They traded shots whether they were scores or interceptions.  Despite trailing at the half, the momentum in the second half lead observers to believe that this game would eventually lead to an Alcohol of Fame win and an early departure for Old Guns.  However, much like the bald, trench-coat laden observers from Fringe (a popular, yet cancelled sci-fi show), they could not be trusted.  Tom Gatehouse was at his worst for much of this game.  It seemed that every time his team took the ball away from Vince Pisano and the old guns.  He was giving it back.  The impressive AOF defence intercepted Pisano 4 times (Vadim Chernyak, Tom Gatehouse and GM Koletheras each intercepted the ball with GM “Careless Whisper” Kolethras leading the charge with 2).  The bright spot for AOF was GM Kolethras who had, perhaps the best all-around game of his career (he may dispute that but he is the FPF historian) as he recorded a touchdown, 2 interceptions and a sack. 

 

The Old Guns forced the overtime and once again most felt like this would work against them.   After three ineffective attempts, Vince Pisano went back and tossed a ball into the heart of the endzone.  This left the Alcohol of Fame defence with apocalyptic feeling.  Surely, the only words that could escape their mouths was “The horror, the horror” as Rehan “Ron Starwars” Sarwar went up for the ball and pulled it down for the game winning score.  While GM Koletheras was all over one end of the stat sheet, Alex Gaudet was equi-present for Old Guns.  He also had a touchdown catch and he returned one of his 2 interceptions for a key pick-6.  This was not a pretty game but definately a tough, gritty, character building game as Old Guns would go on to win it 25-24.

 

Punch Drunk Pack

 

Coming into the season, the Pack were one of the favorites.  They had one of the only known commodities at quarterback and a solid roster that had a great deal of chemistry coming into the season. Krebs had a solid game; he threw 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and despite a slow start, he looked poised to bring his team back from a 20-0 defecit.  With one play remaining Krebs threw a ball up and when it fell harmlessly to the turf, TDs and Beer would need to hold off on the celebration as a bright yellow flag lay on the ground not 10 yards from where the ball hit the ground.  With one last chance, Krebs took the snap and a few steps to his left and once again the ball was knocked to the ground.  This was a disappointing loss but the pack’s stars did come out to play.  Ryan Lefcort and Corey Laxer had huge games as the two combined for 14 catches 85 yards and a touchdown a piece.  However, this would not be enough as TDs and Beer were able to hold on to the lead until the final whistle and win it 32-24

 

Leading up to the final four plays that would give the Pack a shot to win the game was a snap on 4th down, in the Pack redzone to Tds and Beer QB Brad Evans that just would not get there.  Actually it bounced and rolled several times.  This seemed fitting for a team that despite a huge lead, simply could not put the game away on their own terms.  The role players for TDs and Beer were doing exactly what the script called for.  Scott Booth helped eat up the field with his 6 catches, Isaiah Allard caught 2 passes for 2 touchdowns and Brad Demers was clutch in catching 2 touchdowns as well.  Meanwhile, one of the many defensive leaders, Joel Watson, recorded 9 tackles and the Keiller seemed to be around the ball at all times.  Still Brad Evans seemed to lack that killer instinct which is a condition that plagues most newand developing quarterbacks.  Nonetheless, this was an entertaining game and was definitely one of the highlights from Wild Card Wednesday.

 

Quarter Final Reacap

 

From Wax To Cream

 

Much as this headline describes, what has affected Wax On, Wax Off all season has been their consistency (see what I did there?).  This time around it was Normand Bellemare.  Stormin’ Norm is an impressive physical specimen for his age but he looked like he simply could not keep up with the youth and speed on the other side of the field. Cream Team intercepted him 3 times and Bellemare simply could not get anything going. Despite the early touchdown, it seemed as though the Cream Team defense was constantly adapting while WOWO seemed stagnant. On the defensive side of the ball David Daoust, Danny D’Amour, Jordan Bellemare and Justin Occhionero all got their hands on the ball but the team only recorded one interception.  Perhaps this was the difference for a Wax On, Wax Off team that looked like they were waiting for a big play to come their way only to wait by the phone with no one to return their calls.

 

Cream Team looked unaffected by the bye week as it was business as usual for this high powered offence. Jared Humphrey scored 5 touchdowns and passed for 207 yards.  Matt and Kyle Monnat and Alex Grace were running down the field with long strikes while Jordan Edwards was the redzone threat in this game.  The key here was the return of Joey Blusanovics who recorded 2 sacks but had an even greater impact on the game as he forced Norm Bellemare to throw three interceptions and many errant passes.  I had a worry that a bye week would affect a team like Cream Team because they need to rely on big plays and a dynamic offence to be successful but my fears were laid to rest as their offence simply did not miss a beat and Cream Team went on to win 38-7 in a blowout.

 

Dogs Trimmed/Minge Continues to Grow

 

Coming into this one, I felt as though this may be the most entertaining match-ups. The Minge are a great all around team and the Junkyard Dogs are just a solid unit who work so well as a team.  However, upon my arrival at the field I did have my doubts.  The Minge were 5 players and they were working hard to convince Matt Young to play despite his knee injury limiting him to Peeze-like mobility. Matt Young did play in the end and the Minge did field a full roster.  Interestingly, the Junkyard Dogs did not attack him when their offence was on the field and let him score a TD from the snapper position. Jeff Rosenblatt threw 7 touchdowns and kept going to his mismatch as Yoni Lehner caught 11 passes for 4 touchdowns.  In what seemed like a risky decision, the Minge allowed the Junkyard Dogs to score late in the game and opted to take the ball back with a handful of plays and march it down before scoring the clutch touchdown thay would give them the win.

 

This was a good effort put forth by the Junkyard Dogs.  Personally, I don’t think they were as effective as they could be given that the Minge defence featured a hobbled Matt Young and a defensively challenged Jeff Rosneblatt.  The big strikes were  there but still it seemed that Rossie turned the ball over when in reality he was facing a defense where I though he could really do some damage.  With as many players as were on the field for JYD this weekend to go up against a team of 6 and lose a battle of attrition seems odd to me.  Moreover, Only three receivers caught passes for Junkyard Dogs and perhaps more surprising was that Julien  “Bob” Lefebvre only had one catch in this game.  In the end The Minge outlasted the Junkyard Dogs 44-39 and they move on to the final four.

 

 

Rants Reflections and Ravings

 

-I left a literary/movie reference that few will catch in this article.  I’m curious to see who’ll recognize it.

-Equi-present is a real word.  Don’t look it up.

-It’s hard to count how many times a football bounces and rolls.  Oblong is a difficult shape to work with in three dimensions.

-Jalapeno Tabasco is very green but no nearly as spicy as I’d like it to be.  It still upset my stomach; I blame the green.

-Corey Laxer finally stepped it up after weeks of being begged to do so on Flag Plus Bromance.  Thanks for listening Corey, best of luck next season.

-This week’s podcasts will feature the press conference.  It’s a little WWE meets the View meets FPF.

-Everyone needs a pet fox.  This way no one would have a rat problem  A fox problem, but not a rat problem.

-The finals are a week away and the road show is the greatest spectacle north of Carnival.  Minus the scantily clad women.  Unless you have particular arrangements with your girl friends in which case, please invite them to the games.

 

 

Conference A

 

The Minge (2) vs. Old Guns (5)

 

Previous Result: Old Guns 30- The Minge 13

 

Keys to Success:

 

The Minge:  The Minge have the ability to put up points.  And they do so very well.  Quaterback Jeff Rosenblatt has put together several 5+ touchdown games and that’s what this team will need to win.  They are ore adept at causing turnovers and they keep the ball secure in their own right.  My one concern is that the Minge seem to have difficulty fielding a full roster.  However, if both Marco Scanlan and Yoni Lehner are in this game I don’t know how Old Gunse will defend against both monsters.  In essence, what the Minge need to do is avoid mistakes, bring players to the game and continue playing Minge football.

 

Old Guns:  The first time these two teams played against one another, Old Guns won.  However, that was in week 1 and I do not put a lo of stock into early season games.  The Old Guns are beatable.  Their defence is easy to read and they will make mistakes on offence.  However, in order to win this game, Old Guns will need to be perfect and avoid the big errors that have plagued them.  Vince Pisano needs to be on fire as he will not be able to rely  on their defence to get hime the win.  Alexandre Gaudet is probably the player who is most likely to caue a mismatch for The Minge as his speed, size and willingness to go get the ball is not common out of the snapper position.  On defines Gaudet patrols the middle of the field like a Lawyer Milloy/Ray Lewis Hybrid and while his positioning gives the defines away, he makes big plays happen as he can get to the ball when least expected.

 

Analysis:  I think the first half will be score for score but the second half will turn like a red sun rising while Superman is trying to save the earth.  The mine will take over and while Pisano will have walked away scott free form his early mistake, the second half interception will lead to a score that will make this a two score game.

 

Predicition: The mine by 12 points.

 

Conference B

 

Cream Team (1) vs. DX (2)

 

Previous Result: Cream Team 26-DX 25

 

Key to Success: 

 

Cream Team: Cream Team has pretty much done exact;y what we expected them to.  They have come in and Creamed everyone (what’s in a name anyway).  However, the one matchup where I thought they would struggle was against DX.  Without rusher Joey Blusanovics, Kyle and Matt Monnatt, Cream Team struggled but still won.  Perhaps this is a telling tale of how good Cream Team really is.  They excel on both sides of the field but it will have to be their offence that takes charge in this game.  They have a big-play offence and they can in fact score on any given down.  This will be their advantage as DX is not a team that will out up a lot of points.  Moreover, everyone knows that DX has a base 4-1 defense.  Jarred Humphrey is a very good quarterback and he knows exactly how to take advantage of a static defence.  I most games Cream Team plays a highly volatile style where they will score a lot of points but they will give up the ball with no regard for having to put their defence on the field with complete trust that they will get the vll back.  I believe that in this game Cream Team will need to be the team that avoids the big mistake.

 

DX:  DX are a brash group.  They show you what they are going to do and bank on the fact that they don’t think that you’ll be able to stop them.  They line up in a 4-1 on pretty much each play but their communication is intelligent and they perform switches like a team that has been playing together for a while.  All season long we have cried for Danny Aylward to have a larger role on the offence.  However, given Anthony Perez’s propensity to spread the ball to many different receivers, I think this may work in his favour.  Cream Team have a lot of playmakers on defence so if Perez wants to be successful he will need to pick the matchup he likes and keep going to it. They drive the field and keep the ball out of their opponents hands and they showed in their week 10 matchup that this style can work against Cream Team despite falling just short. If they play their game they will have a shot.  If they convert after touchdowns they will win.  It is as simple as that.

 

Analysis: Humphrey will make two mistakes.  He will get away with the first, but not the second.  Pereze will throw a touchdown to tie it and then finally make the convert to win the game.  The crowd will go wild, it’ll be special I promise.

 

Prediction: DX will beat Cream Tea by 1 point.

 

Saturday’s Side Show

As of Monday we will know who is heading to the dance and Championship Week festivities will commence.  Watch the press conferences by watching Flag Plus Bromance on www.theunclehood.com. Because the nature of these podcasts will be a little different please expect Flag Plus Bromance to begin at 9:00pm. 

If you have anything to ask any of our contenders you can twee the show live @EagleFPF. You can reach me by emailing me at [email protected] or you can reach me on Twitter @PeezeFPF. Terry Tam (@TerryTamFPF) likes when you send him lots of messages between 3-5AM on weekdays.

Please download and subscribe to ‘Flag Plus Bromance’ our official division 5 podcast, available via iTunes or at http://fpf.podomatic.com. If you haven’t done so by now Uncle Dirty asks, ‘Have You Been Living Under a Rock?”

Have fun, be safe, see you on the fields.