Peeze’s Playbook (Div 5) – Week 6

 

I guess when you see established teams struggling the argument can be made that would be an encouraging sign to new teams that are in the same boat.  It shows that FPF is not an old boys club and between one season and the next, teams have strong seasons and weak ones often with a very similar roster.

 

Looking at the rosters of teams that are so far out of the playoff picture I am truly shocked. The Love Cows are a team that I keep expecting to turn around but it seems as though they are just spiraling out of control at this point.  The X-Men can seriously use some super powers because they look to be in trouble. The BearSkins have had their bare bottoms beaten red on most weeks and they are stocked with talent. C Difficile and Fools of the Country seem to have struggled out of the gate. Finally, perhaps the issue with the Warhawks and the Tyrants were that our expectations were too high, as they both seem to face quality competition every week.

 

C Difficile (this time with Frank Kaye) and the Warhawks are coming off of wins and are still mathematically in the hunt. They would need to turn it around now if they want to have a chance.  It would be cool to see a team that has been struggling make a Cinderella run and do some damage in the playoffs.

 

That figure of speech makes no sense.  How would one run with only one slipper? At best it’s a hobble.

 

Weekly Overview

 

Crooklyn’s Finest Make A Statement

 

It seems as though every time Adam Santorelli is picking off a pass he is in his own endzone.  This was the case this game and it was the story of the game for the Roughnecks. Every time they drove down the field they seemed to stall in the redzone. This was possibly their best outing against a strong Crooklyn Dodgers team. 

 

On the Crooklyn side of the bridge, Marco Testa looked impressive again as he continues to develop into an FPF quarterback.  It is clear that he can’t make all the throws but when he plays within his capacity he is a very effective quarterback.

 

Warhawks Mobilize Against Pendant Publishing

 

Moe Khan looked much better this week, throwing 4 touchdowns for Pendant Publishing and in the process kept the ball away from the Warhawks defense. When I saw Khan and company take the field without Shakeel Phinn I figured Pendant didn’t stand a chance.  I was pleasantly surprised that they looked as good as they did as they competed until final whistle blew and the Warhawks would win it 38-27. 

 

Early in this game, the Warhawks made a goal-line stand and that proved to be the difference as Pendant Publishing would never regain momentum. Robert Moores inhaled 6 passes and turned 4 of them into touchdowns. The Warhawks should enjoy this win but be mindful that their schedule does not let up.   They face Checkmate, Limetime, Two and a Half Dans and Black Ice to end the season (a combined record of 21-3).

 

Moose Charge In, Take Aces Out

 

In, what was the most entertaining game of the week the Moose beat the Aces 45-33.  Morisette threw 7 touchdowns with 4 going to to Etienne Moisan.  Moisan gave QB of the year candidate Doug Mckernan difficulty as he rushed the quarterback on the defensive side of the ball as well. Mckernan worked through it and had a solid game himself. 

 

What plagued the Aces were the continuous drops. Usually sure handed receivers Evan Ely Nolet, Derek Daoust and Jordan Alexis made sure that the turf got its fair share of looks. Either way the Moose are justifying the claim that they are one of division 5’s finest.  The four way tie for Conference B east is still deadlocked with 4 weeks left on the schedule.

 

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

 

The Dolphins seem to have packed it in as quickly as they would have pending an attack from a Vogan Destructor Fleet (Wikipedia time gentlemen). Seeing their most skilled and seasoned receiver (John Papadimitriou) playing quarterback sends the message that they just didn’t want to get blown out.  The game was a little more out of hand than a 27-13 loss to the Flying Comics would have you believe. The Dolphins did score a late touchdown in this game. 

 

Grenier looked like he was destroying his opponents’ homeland to build an intergalactic Hyperspace by-pass (I told you to look it up). Grenier was poised all game long and carefully selected receivers as the comics flew up and down the field in the slow but effortless fashion that we have come to expect from the yellow humorists.  Despite their slow start the Flying Comics look to be heading in the right direction.

 

For those of you who are as wise (old) as I am you may not have yet heard of Wikipedia, I would urge you to slip in the Encarta disk for this write-up.

 

Turf Toe Lose Control Against Black Ice

 

Kevin Lubin was not able to maintain traction in this one.  Throwing 3 interceptions and taking 5 sacks (one of which being a safety) is not the kind of play we expect from former quarterback of the year.  Lubin is one of the top three quarterbacks in division 5; this much is indisputable.  However, anyone who has played with Kevin will be able to recognize his alter-ego Angry Kevin. Angry Kevin is what happens in some games when things don’t fall into place.  After a couple of bad throws and plays that don’t develop Angry Kevin goes into super-competition mode and tries to win it by himself.  Angry Kevin made an appearance yesterday when he saw passes being dropped all around him.

 

Omer Nayek, one of the league’s premier rushers, was a menace to the TTI offense.  Nyle Anderson also played like a monster in this game catching a long touchdown pass from quarterback Ian Einheiber and adding two interceptions.  Anderson has been one of the up and coming players who I mentioned in a previous article, it makes me wonder if the boys from Turf Toe even read my article. They should have because then they would have known to look out for number 5.

 

On a positive note for Turf Toe Inc. despite losing 15-13, this was a close game and their rusher Matteo Meccola also had 4 sacks in his own right.  They need to fix the offence quickly because averaging 13.5 points per game (as they have in the past two weeks) simply won’t cut it.

 

Power Rankings:

 

There was a lot of shifting in the rankings this week.  The fact of the matter is, with so many teams playing well it was difficult to decide among who the strongest teams were.  So instead I based it on how cool their jerseys are.

 

1. Checkmate- With both sides of the ball now rolling they look a lot like the boulder chasing Indiana Jones.  Now wouldn’t be an appropriate time to reach back for your Stetson!
2. Moose- Morisette has been on fire and after a week one loss, so have the Moose.  They jump up to two this week. If I truly based it on jerseys they would be first.
3. First Downers- As the Moose seem to be hitting their stride First Downers seem to be hitting a rough patch. They’ve played several close games leading up to their first loss of the season.
4. Black Ice- Made an undefeated Turf Toe a one loss Turf Toe.  Black Ice look like the real deal.
5. Cougars- Lost to a new and improved Lockdown in an early week 6 matchup.  Have we started to see their weaknesses?
6. Turf Toe Inc.- For two straight weeks Kevin Lubin has struggled and his receivers have dropped everything. They will continue to drop in the power rankings if this doesn’t get fixed.
7. Les Affreux- Heading into a huge matchup with Project Mayhem, Les Affreux need to win in order to stay in the power rankings.
8. Jaggerbomb- They win again; and again it was a tight game.  They will need to step it up if they want to beat Ecurie Bar et Tables.
9. Two and a Half Dans- They seem to keep adding players to the roster and keep looking just as good.
10. Limetime- Playing well, they’ve moved up into the power rankings. However, I’m still looking for them to have a statement win.

 

Other teams receiving votes (the Eagle at Master Control submitted his vote this week, saying I lost them would not be as accurate as I purposely deleted his email).

 

1. Project Mayhem- Former playoff MVP and division D quarterback Alex Holowach had to step for Quarterback Norman Bellemare this week.  Durden’s orangemen need to find a way to get back on course.
2. TCO (Tallest Cartoon Orators)- Has Calling the Audible adapted the Madden curse?  TCO gets featured in the Division 5 podcast and then loose an important game leading to a fist fight between two teammates.  Time to get it together!
3. Aces-For the first time this season their defense was truly exposed.  Will this trend continue?
4. Kingdom- Rebounded after last week 5’s loss.  This week, they face Turf Toe Inc, who have struggled in the last couple of weeks.  Can they take advantage?
5. J’s- Led at the half against Checkmate but then got blown out in the second half.  They will need to right the ship if they expect to play Kingdom for top spot in the division in week 10.
6. 6.             Big Blue Wrecking Crew- They need to grab the wins while they can because the tail of their schedule looks tough.

 

New Faces

 

Mike Addona-Checkmate

Danio Addona-Checkmate

Anthony Addona-Two and a Half Dans

 

Filling a roster with brothers seems to be a proven means to win games in FPF.  This was a remarkable week for the Addona brothers who are a set of three brothers playing for two different teams this season. 

 

Mike, the eldest had his break out game this past week as he picked off the J’s Hai Minh Luong twice in the second half to bring Checkmate back from behind and pick up their eighth win of the season.  In addition to his 2 picks he added 7 tackles.

 

Danio has the oddest first name I’ve ever seen.  The dude also has the biggest hands on any human.  Ensuring that the middle child would not be forgotten, Danio has been a consistent performer on Checkmate and this week was no exception catching 2 passes both for touchdowns.  So far this season 67% of Danio’s catches have been touchdowns and he has not shied away from the spotlight that already shines down on his teammates Alex David and Anthony Carbone.

 

Playing in his first game of his career, youngest brother Anthony Addona had an interception.  This in itself would not be impressive if he wasn’t the rusher.  All game long he had Ballz Deep quarterback Anthony Pitoscia staring down the barrel and eventually he got his hands on a ball as soon as it left Pitoscia’s hand.  Combine that with 3 catches and an offensive touchdown and that’s one hell of a debut.

 

The Addona’s have begun to make their mark on FPF.  Expect to see them on the stat pages for seasons to come.

 

The League of Really Ordinary Gentlemen

 

For the first week since we started the fantasy league I am worried.  Not because GM Kolethras will look smug all week because he has pulled ahead ever so slightly.  Rather, because I found out that one of my star receivers and my first pick Matthew Preiss will be missing the next two weeks (I guess it’s a hit for the Cougars too).  I expect that the rest of my boys to work just a little bit harder to pull it together. Let’s do this!

 

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	1008.8	1006.4	833.5	989.6

 

*For information bout scoring please refer to Week 5 of my article, Peeze’s Playbook.

 

 

Reflections Rants and Ravings

 

1. 1.             After my midseason breakdown I truly expected to receive hate mail.  I guess teams are bottling it up and preparing their ‘I told you so’ speeches (not atoadso Ricky, it’s not rocket appliances).
2. Shawn Lafortune is playing QB for the Maloudes and doing it well.  How much did Dagenais pay him to take snaps again?
3. This week Hamsterdam Cornerboys will face off against the Manatees and someone will HAVE TO win this game!
4. It’s Tuesday night and I’m submitting my article…Finally beat Dagenais!
5. I’m calling out Etiene Moisan of Moose this week.  I think he should have been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct at least twice during this game.  Seriously, act like you’ve scored before.
6. 5 teams have scored 200 points but only two (Cougars and First Downers of them lead their conferences, I guess defense isn’t pointless after all.
7. What is the plural of Moose? Meese? Mooses? More Moose?
8. 8.             More undefeated teams lost without me blowing the kiss of death, conceivably I do not control the cosmic flux of the universe…no that would be ridiculous.  Of course I do! These losses were flukes.

 

 

Predictions

 

For weeks, those of you who wanted advice on picks were more likely to hit up Simon Dagenais on twitter @DagenaisFPF because no matter how well I did he was always slightly more accurate.  This week Simon had a rough week. Unfortunately, so did I as I went 14-10 to his 15-9.  This can be expected when two undefeated teams lose, we see another tie and two heavily favored teams (TCO and Project Mayhem take on losses).  Still I make no excuses.  I may have to start taking chances…

 

TCO vs. Les Albatros

Moose vs. Speed Demons

Ballz Deep vs. Golden Girls

Loose Cannons vs. Fools of the Country

Overthrowners vs. The Hangovers

Pendant Publishing vs. J’s

Venom vs. Team Ethnik

Hamsterdam Cornerboys vs. Manatees

Ecurie Bar et Tables vs. Jaggerbomb

Crooklyn Dodgers vs. Limetime

Those Guys vs. Aces

Green Lantern Corps vs. Roughnecks

Two and a Half Dans vs. Warriors

X-Men vs. Lockdown

Tyrants vs. C’Mon Man!

Black Ice vs. Flying Comics

Turf Toe Inc. vs. Kingdom

Dark Knights vs. Love Cows

Les Maloudes vs. Primes

Dolphins vs. Big Blue Wrecking Crew

BearSkins vs. C Difficile

Project Mayhem vs. Les Affreux

Cougars vs. Centurions

Young Bloodz vs. First Downers

 

Playoff Picture

 

Below are the standings for each conference.  I’ve emboldened the top 12 teams in each conference that would make the playoffs should the season start today.  Remember that the four division leaders will occupy the top four spots and have a bye during the opening weekend of the playoffs.

 

Important to note is that no one has clinched a division yet and no one is mathematically eliminated.  It’s time to close it out or cling closely to hope.

 

Conference A		Points	Wins	+/-	Divisional
1	Cougars	10	5	87	2-0
2	Jaggerbomb	10	5	52	2-0
3	First Downers	10	5	86	1-0
4	Young Bloodz	6	3	34	2-0
5	Les Affreux	10	5	22	2-0
6	TCO	8	4	76	2-0
7	Project Mayhem	8	4	51	2-0
8	Centurions	8	4	26	1-1
9	Ecurie Bar Et Tables	8	4	-9	1-1
10	Les Albatros	8	4	21	1-1
11	Dark Knights	7	3	-15	1-1
12	Primes	7	3	-18	1-1
13	Crooklyn Dodgers	7	3	-28	0-2
14	C’Mon Man!	6	3	-6	2-0
15	Green Lantern Corps	6	3	32	1-1
16	Les Maloudes	6	3	-1	0-2
17	Lockdown	6	3	-35	0-2
18	C Difficile	4	2	-19	0-2
19	Venom	3	1	-78	0-2
20	Tyrants	2	1	-16	1-1
21	X-Men	2	1	-56	1-1
22	Love Cows	2	1	-33	1-1
23	Team Ethnik	2	1	-10	1-2
24	BearSkins	2	1	-58	0-2
25	Roughnecks	0	0	-154	0-2

 

 

Conference B		Points	Wins	+/-	Divisional
1	Checkmate	12	6	82	2-0
2	Black Ice	10	5	35	2-0
3	Turf Toe Inc	9	4	42	2-0
4	Kingdom	8	4	35	2-0
5	Limetime	10	5	104	1-1
6	Two and a Half Dans	10	5	66	1-1
7	Moose	10	5	103	1-1
8	J’s	8	4	9	2-0
9	Aces	8	4	29	1-1
10	Big Blue Wrecking Crew	8	4	12	1-1
11	Speed Demons	7	3	57	1-1
12	Flying Comics	7	3	37	1-1
13	Those Guys	7	3	56	0-2
14	The Hangovers	6	3	10	1-0
15	Ballz Deep	6	3	-17	1-1
16	Overthrowners	6	3	-24	1-1
17	Warriors	6	3	9	0-2
18	Warhawks	4	2	-16	1-1
19	Pendant Publishing	4	2	-16	1-1
20	Golden Girls	2	1	-31	1-1
21	Dolphins	2	1	-82	1-1
22	Loose Cannons	2	1	-92	1-1
23	Fools of the Country	0	0	-73	0-2
24	Hamsterdam Cornerboys	0	0	-112	0-2
25	Manatees	0	0	-175	0-3

 

*This chart and any other facts and accurate name spellings were provided by the Eagle at Master Control.

 

The Weekly Wrap-Up

 

Once again I’d like to reiterate that you can sen me any thoughts, critiques, drunken midnight ramblings [email protected].  Or you can hit me up on twitter @PeezeFPF.  If you want great advice about picks but the worst advice on fantasy sports ever, you can email Simon Dagenais ([email protected]).

 

Last week’s episode ‘Calling the Audible’ caused quite a stir. Subscribe via iTunes or at listen in at: http://fpf.podomatic.com, to see what the fuss is about. This week join this week’s co-host, Deeze Della Reeze as we break down the micro divisions Aces’ Evan Ely Nolet and Flying Comics’ Jonathan Brown will be calling in this week and this week’s musical theme is: L Train Rapsicle.