Peeze’s Playbook (Div 5) – Week 4 – FlagPlus Football League

Shortly after the apparent death of Superman, residents of Metropolis were left on their own to fend for themselves against all of horrible evils of the DC Universe. That was until 4 new Supermen appeared on the scene. One of the four was a Cyborg named the Man of Tomorrow who played a huge part in the destruction of Coast City, home to Green Lantern Hal Jordan.

I promise there’s a point to all of this.

Infuriated by the destruction of his beloved hometown Hal Jordan violated the terms of the oath sworn by the Green Lantern Corps (never to use the ring for personal gain). Driven mad, Hal Jordan slaughtered every Green Lantern he could find, using the combined power of their rings in a failed attempt to save his city.

Wait for it:

Maybe it was Hal Jordan’s betrayal to his oath, but for some reason I have not given the Green Lantern Corps their due. After losing week 1 to the Young Bloodz I have been very skeptical with GLC. Since then, they have won three straight games against tough opponents (Tyrants, Jaggerbomb, and Ecurie Bar et Tables).

Jerson Previllon improves every week and paired with receiver of the year candidate Mendy Cardichon, the GLC offense looks scary. Cardichon has been virtually unstoppable as his stat-line indicates 21 catches for 332 yards and 10 touchdowns. Adding Loic Savoiz-Seguin will prove to be a huge acquisition as well, as his experience will help guide them throughout the rest of the season.

I promise that this will be the last time that I allow prejudice from my teenage years interfere with my journalistic integrity. Teams facing Green Lantern Corps in the following weeks better circle the date because they are as tough as they come in division 5.

Weekly Overview

Primed for Success

The Primes vs. Crooklyn Dodgers: Two east-end teams, facing off as far east as the island stretches (CSJV) in a battle that would spare no Cannoli (nb. There are no such things as Cannolies. In its singular form it’s a Cannolo when you need a serious sugar rush you eat many Cannoli).

All food and intercontinental translation issues aside, this turned out to be one of the most exciting games of the season. Going to Marco Testa at quarterback, the Crooklyn Dodgers looked solid and competed for the entire game. Crooklyn scored on fourth down with no time left on the clock to take the lead and put the ball in Adamo Iadeluca’s court.

A collective gasp escaped the lungs of Primes players, when Adamo Iadeluca heaved the ball to an open Tony Testa only to have the ball fall through his fingertips. Iadeluca seemed unfazed however as he threw up another 40 yarder that was caught, this time by a diving Bobby Owen ending the game at 32-30. On a week where the Pope gave up papacy for lent (thank you GM Kolethras for that reference) the Primes made sure that all their players prayed Hail Mary.

Cougars Pick up the Tab

Mark down another big performance by touchdown-leading quarterback Erminio Iadeluca, throwing 6 more bringing his total to 26 touchdowns on the season. Among the many touchdown passes, the one handed catch in stride on a deep post to Matthew Preiss stood out above the rest.

Ecurie fought hard and found ways to exploit the Cougars defense. Anthony Bozzo is one of the less talked about quarterbacks in the league, but he has been remarkable so far this season. Hopefully the interview at the end of this article will help get more attention.

Demons Run When a Good Man goes to War

Or, good men in any case; and Checkmate have been very good this season. Starting out 4-0 and having dethroned Kingdom last week, the navy blue bombers knocked off another undefeated team in Speed Demons this past week. A team that is known for their high-powered offense seems to have put together the most feared defense in division 5. Michael Carbone and Julien Bellavance have transformed the Checkmate defensive backfield into a veritable no fly zone. Propelled by their combined 9 interceptions and 7 PD’s, Checkmate has only allowed 54 points against this season (fewest in the division) and have not allowed an extra point to be converted and we are nearly half way through the season.

Conversely, the Speed Demons, a defensive power in their own right, fought valiantly but came up short as they lost 19-12. On a positive note, Eric Pawlusiak had a career day catching 7 passes for 30 yards. Speed Demons need to have their whole team play at that level as their schedule does not get any easier from here on out; they play Aces next.

What time is it? Limetime!

Limetime picked up another big win as they beat Fools of the Country by a final score of 30-26. Bringing their record to 3-1, Manning and Co. are starting to make some noise and showing that perhaps they too should be talked about as one of the division’s contenders. Despite their apparent poor taste in beer (Bud Light Lime…seriously guys?) Limetime have been quietly hitting their stride as they enter a four way tie in Conference B’s East division. David Daoust had a huge game snagging 6 balls for 68 yards and a touchdown.

On the other side, Fools of the Country still strive to pick up their first win. Etienne Guilmain had 4 carries for 37 yards and a touchdown in a losing effort. This doesn’t even truly indicate how many yards he ran for behind the line of scrimmage. If Guilmain can figure out how to use his incredible scrambling skills to get his receivers open this historic division 5 franchise will begin piling up the wins.

As Cold as Ice

Black Ice burst out of the gates and beat up on Two and a Half Dans to the tune of 27-6 in the first half. Ian Einheiber would go on to throw 7 touchdowns as he continuously exploited the young and inexperienced Two and a Half Dans defense. Black Ice continued to pour on the points when Joey Taylor finally did wake his offence up but it was far too little, too late. When the dust settled Black Ice handed Two and a Half Dans their first loss of the season. Notably, usual rusher Dan Lepore did not play this game. In either case, Two and a Half Dans need to find ways to solidify their defense or this season, which began with so much promise, may end as a nightmare.

Project Mayhem Barely Win…by the Skin of Their Teeth

OK, I’ll admit it, the headline was a stretch. It is more entertaining however than the alternate headline: Project Mayhem beat BearSkins 33-26.

Often the boxing reference that is made when two teams trade blows is that of two heavy weights. That would not accurately describe this game. This was more like two underground bare-fisted brawlers throwing punches so quickly you had no idea who was up until one team couldn’t stand anymore.

Marco Bertoldi and David Stein of Incredibles fame (just google: that FPF team that scores a million points every season) have put together a very good looking squad. Quarterback David Souaid had another strong outing and their offence moved the ball well. However, BearSkins may not see any success until they address their defense. This is especially true for games that come down to the wire much like this one.

Normand Bellemare hit Alex Holowach with a short hook with three plays left in the game. Upon bringing the ball into his chest ‘The Young Holow’ twisted and turned like an animated movie about dancing corkscrews (hands off Disney, this is my idea). When he finally came to a halt he was standing alone in the end zone and Project Mayhem took the lead and held it for three more plays.

Power Rankings

With 4 teams remaining unbeaten we can see who top tier of the division is. Who falls beneath, and in which order? See for yourself:

Turf Toe Inc.- Kevin Lubin talked a lot of trash about the Dolphins when he appeared on Calling the Audible. They got away with one here, but has the #1 team in the division shown some vulnerability?
First Downers- They continue to impress me each week. Beating a perennial contender like the Hangovers is a big deal.
Checkmate- 4-0 and they haven’t played their best football yet; starting to smell the blood in the water in divison 5.

Cougars- They look great but having given up 91 points, they may have the worst defense of all the remaining undefeated teams.

TCO- They bounced back this week, beating an experienced Lockdown squad.
Jaggerbomb- Beating a previously undefeated Centurions team has them rising through the ranks.
Project Mayhem- Won a tight game against the team that resides in the cellar of their divison; can they step it up with a very difficult second half of the season ahead of them.
Black Ice- Grabbed a hold of Conference B’s top spot. Can they hold it?
Kingdom- Perhaps still reeling from week 3’s loss, they won a tight game against the Overthrowners. I thought they should have won by much more. Black Ice will be a bigger challenge for them and as such, they need to play much better or they will see another L in their record.
Moose- Frédéric Morissette has been hot and I can’t ignore the Moose any longer; they grab a hold of the tenth spot.

Other Teams receiving votes (Just my vote of course. I texted Simon Dagenais to get his opinion and he less than politely reminded me that it was 2:18 in the morning):

Aces- A win this week against the Speed Demons would go a long way to proving that this team isn’t a flake.
Speed Demons- Losing against a divisional opponent in a battle of unbeaten squads won’t keep you in the power rankings.
J’s- Don’t know what to make of them just yet.
Two and a Half Dans- Got smacked down when they played an experienced team. Will that happen every time they play a seasoned crew?
Limetime- How will they match up moving forward in a very tough division?
Les Affreux- Antoine Del Bello looks to be having a career year. Who else will step it up for these ‘awful makers’?
Centurions- I was hesitant to put them in my power rankings last week. I can see why!
Green Lantern Corps- Ok…straight up, it’s the Hal Jordan thing; it’s stronger than me, sorry guys.

Keep in mind that the list above is in no particular order.

New Faces

Nyle Anderson – Black Ice

Getting my first chance to see Black Ice was exciting. Having played against an earlier incarnation of Blackwood, Joseph and Mancini (I’d hire that law firm) in their Average Joe’s days, getting to see the team they’ve put together for Winter 2013 was a treat. Despite all of my expectations, it was not one of the familiar names on the roster that caught my eye but rather an FPF rookie by the name of Nyle Anderson.

Due in part to the fact that he had no catches in the first two games, Anderson doesn’t have great receiving numbers this season. This week, Nyle flipped the beastmode switch and caught 3 passes for 73 yards and each catch was a touchdown. 24.7 yards per catch merits attention; keep an eye out for Nyle for this season and in those to come.

*Erratum: In last week’s New Faces I wanted to shine the spotlight on Joey Taylor, unfortunately I referred to him as James Taylor. Although, considering I accidentally gave him 5 Grammy Awards, Joey can’t complain too much.

The League of Really Ordinary Gentlemen

Every year someone on the Facebook wall suggests that there should be an FPF fantasy league. So I did some research, I looked into what would be required for the league to meet all the necessary qualifications to allow for gambling on recreational flag football game. The due diligence alone would be an exhausting task and then I compared it with how long it would take for Pete Rose-inspired players to begin fixing games (roughly 3 seconds) and I realized that this could never work.

Instead the lower division FPF analysts, Simon Dagneais, G.M. Koletheras, and myself as well as FPF Swiss Army knife Alex ‘The Eagle’ D’Aquila decided that we would have a fantasy draft and allow you all to follow along week after week. Rewards for winning in this league are as prestigious as you could imagine: bragging rights and the losers pick up the beer tab for the winner. I almost feel bad that I will be bankrupting three colleagues in one sitting.

Here are the rules:

Rules :

Roster limitations: 2 QB’s, 5 WRs, 1 Team Defense.
1 player/each mini-division.
Can’t pick a player from your own team.
Can’t pick a player who also plays in a higher division

Scoring :

Quarterbacks :

1 point/ 10 yards passing. 3 points/Passing TD
1 point/5 yards rushing. 5 points/Rushing TD
-2 points/INT
-1 points/Sack

WR :

1point/5 yards
5 pts/TD

Defense :

1 point/3 tackles
1 point/2 PD
2 point/Sack
3 point/INT
5 poits/Pick-six
5 points/FTW (For the Win)

Teams:

Pos.	G.M. Koletheras Dances with Love Cows	Peeze The Big Poppa Peezes	Simon Dagenais Dragonateurs	The Eagle Birds of Prey
QB.	(1)Doug McKernan (Aces)	(1) Mark Andre Theberge (First Downers)	(1)Frederic Morrissette (Moose)	(1)Joe Taylor (Two and a Half Dans)
QB.	(7)Mathieu Domon (Affreux)	(5)Simon Duchesne (Jaggerbomb)	(2) Shawn Lafortune (Les Maloudes)	(5) Brad Puklicz (Kingdom)
WR	(2)Tony Testa (Primes)	(2) Matthew Priess (Cougars)	(3)WR: Alexandre Chasse (Js)	(2)Michael Carbone (Checkmate)
WR	(3)Frederic Fortier (First Downers	(3)Dave Daoust (Limetime)	(5)Jonathan Frate (Big Blue Wrecking Crew)	(3)Jonathan Legault (First Downers
WR	(4)Anthony Da Ponte (Black Ice)	(6)Alex Haddad (Young Bloodz)	(6) Simon Lahaie (Love Cows)	(4)Derek Daoust (Aces)
WR	(5)Andre Frederick (Tyrants)	(7)Patrice Clement (The Hangovers)	(7)Niel Etinson (Bearskins)	(7) James Nowakowski (Prj. Mayhem)
WR	(6)Emilio Cecere (Kingdom)	(8) Alex Lewis (Speed Demons)	(8) Akeem Hoyte-Charles (TCO)	(8) Suhael Brohi (X-Men)
DEF	(8)Checkmate	(4) Defense: Kingdom	(4) Turf Toe Inc	(6)Jaggerbomb
Scoring	685.0	700.5	553.1	675.3

*I have taken the liberty of naming all of the analyst’s teams based on what I think they should be called and because it’s my article and they can’t stop me. With great power comes immense irresponsibility.

**The number next to the player/team picked indicates which round they were chosen in.

As you can see, everyone’s favorite FPF analyst (Peeze) has jumped out to an early lead. This is fairly impressive since I do not play any form of fantasy sports and don’t truly understand how they work. My players were picked partially at random and mostly in consultation with my neighbor’s cat. Oh Zsasz, you furry little genius!

Reflections, Rants, Ravings

Last week I predicted that at least one undefeated team would fall and in fact 3 teams have now seen a 1 fill their L Column. This week, my picks indicate that I expect the Flying Comics to upset Turf Toe Inc. Do I really have the power to bestow a kiss of death? I think so.
Dear C Difficile, 3 quarterbacks in 4 weeks, can you please make a decision?
Congrats to the Loose Cannons on their first victory and only having allowed 5 completed passes; very impressive.
Related to the post above point: Big Blue Wrecking Crew, allowing 8 points off of bad snaps is unacceptable. After your quarterback, your snapper is the second most important player on the field. More on this in this week’s Calling the Audible.
I’ve seen too many teams not send a rusher in the red zone this season. STOP DOING THAT!!!
There has been a lot of talk this season about a great disparity between strong teams and weak teams in division 5 this season. So far 19 teams have winning records, 10 teams are batting .500 and 21 teams have losing records. Not sure what this means, I just thought it was interesting. We’ll keep an eye on it as the season continues.
Mathieu Dumont threw for the Centurions this week. Is he really Mathieu Domon in disguise? Perhaps the good old Nixon Mask costume.
Every week I seem to call someone out, this time it’s Lockdown’s Alex D’Aquila. If a CEO truly had no idea that insider trading was taking place in his company he should be fired anyway. Why? Because it’s his job to know. Starting a game with 5 players is unacceptable. As team captain it’s your job to know that guys will be missing.

Predictions

Despite having a good week picking games this past week, with a record of 16-8, I fell just short of Simon Dagenais’ big week where he finished 17-7. This has our running totals at 39-33 and 44-28 respectively. Just like those teams whose records are less than stellar, I need to remember that the season is still young. Here are this week’s picks:

Primes vs. Young Bloodz

Centurions vs. Lockdown

Les Maloudes vs. First Downers

Fools of the Country vs. Overthrowners

Loose Cannons vs. The Hangovers

TCO vs. Love Cows

C Difficile vs. Dark Knights

Black Ice vs. Kingdom

Les Albatros vs. Roughnecks

Project Mayhem vs. Tyrants

Warhawks vs. J’s

Two and a Half Dans vs. Golden Girls

Limetime vs. Hamsterdam Cornerboys

Jaggerbomb vs. Team Ethnik

Crooklyn Dodgers vs. Green Lantern Corps

Big blue Wrecking Crew vs. Manatees

Warriors vs. Ballz Deep

Speed Demons vs. Aces

Flying Comics vs.Turf Toe Inc.

BearSkins vs. Moose

Cougars vs. X-Men

Les Affreux vs. C’Mon Man!

Dolphins vs. Those Guys

Ecurie Bar et Tables vs.Venom

Interview with Ecurie Bar et Tables’ Anthony Bozzo

Peeze: Tell us a little bit of how your team came together?

Anthony Bozzo (pronounced Bot-so, for all you non-Italians out there): We have 5 cousins playing together on this team, including two sets of two brothers. I have really wanted to get a family team together for some time now and I’m ecstatic that we got it done this year.

Peeze: Is your team name the name of a bar? If so, where is it and do FPF media members get a discount?

AB: Ecurie Bar et Table was the discovery of 2012 for me. It’s great on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and I go there for most Habs games ($2 beers and 25 wings for $7 during Habs games). As a bonus, it’s on Rachel and St.Denis and right next to La Banquise – meaning that 3AM poutine is right next door!

I had never been to French bars before but Ecurie opened my eyes to the ‘talent’ that rural Quebec has to offer. If you’ve never met women from Beauce or St Adele, I highly recommend going.

Best icebreaker to use at the bar: “Rive-Nord ou rive-Sud?” as there is not a single girl there from the 514!

Peeze: You’re the captain of this team. You play quarterback and I’ve seen you be heavily involved on the defense. How have you managed to handle all the responsibility?

AB: I love it. When I organized the McGill MedGames outdoor football team I did the same thing: made the playbook, coached the practices, captained the team and played QB.

We took gold that year and, while beating nerdy medical students isn’t the same as winning in FPF, I expect similar results this from team Ecurie this year.

Peeze: What did you guys think about the atmosphere at your first FPF game with your new, untested team?

AB: Week 1 was a learning experience for our team. Besides me, there is a total of 1 year of football experience, touch or tackle – at any level, on our roster. We are a very raw team and winning in week 1 was an important confidence boost for our team and really set the tone for how I see our season playing out.

Peeze: You’ve started this season with a respectable 2-2 record. Is this where you expected to be at this point in the season?

AB: Frankly, we are a 2-1 team. Week 2 may be an L in the FPF standings but it doesn’t reflect the real team Ecurie.

When the Hebert dome collapsed, the week 2 game was unfortunately rescheduled to a weekend when the 5 cousins were out of town and couldn’t make the game. Compounding the issue, there was also a miscommunication with our subs (my bad) and only one player showed up for the 7PM game time. Following FPF rules, the game was 30-0 by penalty once enough players – 5 total, showed up to play at 7:30. The entire game was then played 5 on 6 and finished 49-14.

Needless to say, it wasn’t team Ecurie out on the field that day. We accept the loss and it just drives us to play harder as we try to rectify the +/- of our team and get it to where it should be.

Peeze: In week 3, you guys surprised many and beat TCO. What was your recipe to success against one of Division 5’s strongest teams?

AB: TCO is a strong team, they have talented receivers that can get up high and make tough catches. That being said, I believe our roster, while raw, is among the deepest and best in the league. What happened that day was no fluke.

Peeze: You’ve had a fairly successful start in your first season as a QB. Prior to this season you were known as a feared rusher. Has that given you some insight and helped you develop as a quarterback?

AB: I think playing running back and wide receiver throughout high school and CEGEP football gave me a solid understanding of offensive football. Playing wide receiver in this league since 2008 definitely taught me what works and doesn’t work in flag. As a receiver you can’t help but think to yourself, “If only I was the QB, I’d hit the open guy every time!” Now I get my chance!

Surprisingly, I don’t even notice the rushers so all that time I spent rushing doesn’t really add to what I do on offense now. However, I have so much respect for those who rush – it’s the toughest mentally and most physically demanding position on defense. A top rusher can make a good defense great.

Peeze: You seem to have found your favorite target in Richard Bozzo. Tell us about that.

AB: He’s my brother. ‘Nuff said.

Peeze: Tell us about the game against the Cougars. Are they all that they’re hyped up to be?

AB: The Cougars are a fantastic team. They have solid players up and down their roster but their best asset is their QB. He uses his eyes so well and is tough to defend against. Erminio understands the game and could easily play in higher divisions.

Peeze: You’ve been around the league for a while now. What do you think of the talent level in division 5?

AB: Perhaps it’s because 2 of our 3 games have been against some of the top D5 teams (TCO and the Cougars), but the talent I’ve seen in D5 easily matches what D3 had just 3-4 years ago. Many of the players I’ve lined up against could play in higher divisions.

Peeze: Favorite pub food; wings, nachos, other?

AB: Give me Simon the bartender’s custom sweet potato fries and spicy mayo at Ecurie over anything else!

The Weekly Wrap Up

If you’re sitting at home and you are thinking to yourself, “I want Peeze to make me famous just like he did with Anthony Bozzo” I would gladly feature you and your team in my article. Email me at [email protected] or tweet me @PeezeFPF if you’d like to see your thoughts in print or record them in a podcast. However, if your emails are profanity laced tirades send them to [email protected] because he gets too much positive reinforcement by FPF personnel on a weekly basis. Fight the good fight; help keep Simon grounded.

Please tune into and subscribe to our podcast ‘Calling the Audible’, available via iTunes or at http://fpf.podomatic.com. This week join me and this week’s co-host, David (Deeze) Della Rocca as we discuss divisional news and topics. Lockdown’s Alexandre Guertin will be calling in this week and this week’s musical theme is: White Boy Plays that Funky Music.