Peeze’s Playbook (Div D) – Week 10

 

“Life is absurd and nobody truly understands anyone else.”- Moredecai Richler

 

I haven’t started an article with a quote for quite sometime.  I thought this one would be fitting since it indicates the truly absurd nature of the FPF playoffs.  A undefeated team falls, rematches look almost identical to the first time the games were played and a team won with 5 players.  The playoffs are truly a set of capricious circumstances.  The games have been set for the next round and you can take all previous considerations and throw them out the window.  As we saw this past Tuesday anything can happen. I’m certain that the quarter finals will yield similar unpredictable results.

 

Centurions Overrun on Playground

 

Sphinx, Eagles, Golden Eagles, No Regard, Checkmate are all franchises that have gone undefeated in the regular season, only to lose in the playoffs (after going 9-0-1 in Winter 2012, #NoRegard did win the championship after a 10-0 season).  You can now add Centurions to that list.  What they’ve accomplished is nothing to sneer at.  It takes an incredible amount of talent, discipline, and desire to go 10-0.  However in the end they share the fate that 28 other teams will by the end of this season. 

 

In a game where Centurions had to score a lot of points to keep pace, they fell short.  Quarterback Philippe Giguere had not thrown an interception all season yet saw two drives end in his opponents hands.  Amazingly, two-way stalwart JF Clouthier managed only one catch and 8 yards in the 39-20 loss.  Moreover, what seemed to be even more impressive was that the Centurions defense that had looked so strong all season crumbled against the methodical, intelligent Playground offense.

 

I had said in last week’s Calling the Audible that I thought Playground would win the game.  Many thought I was insane but having played for a team that went 10-0 last season and found itself ill-prepared for the playoffs due to a light schedule, I felt that I understood the Centurions’ mindset.  Another thing to consider is how difficult a road Playground had heading into the playoffs.  Given that, it seemed, that week in and week out they played championship contenders Playground have been in playoff mode since early on in the season.  Having to win two games to making it to the show Playground seems to be peaking at the right time and it was evident in this one.  Gabriel Côté was very efficient and he hit Laurent Foucault all game long to the tune of 7 catches, 53 yards and a touchdown.  Playground advance and they will meet Les Affreux on the dance floor for a rematch.

 

Rerun?

 

In their first matchup of the season Blue Mountain State beat Limetime by a score of 28-12 and did so with Kevin ‘Deisel’ Gauthier at quarterback.  Not wanting to take a chance in the playoffs they turned to former division 2 quarterback Nicholas Lafond for the rematch.  While the result was practically identical (BMS won 24-12, completely shutting Limetime out in the second half), BMS looks to be a more dangerous team moving forward.  In addition, to their experienced quarterback Blue Mountain State take the field with three U of M Carabins (Archambault, Bissonnette and Zepeda).  While the ethics of putting a team of this caliber on the field can definitely be debated, one thing is for certain; their talent is unquestionable.

 

Limetime was in a familiar situation as they have been in the past. For the third time in their history they have failed to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs.  Given that this was the best roster they had put together since their inception I had hoped that this season would be different.  Unfortunately, my hopes and best wished will have to be extended to next season.

 

Vikings Put Down by Batman

 

In last week’s article, I picked the Vikings to beat the Gotham Knights.  Wow, I could not have been more wrong.  It seems as though everytime I pick against Gotham, they show up and play huge.  Bruce Candussi, the biggest bat in town showed up and looked ready to play.  He and Chris Rivest teamed up all game long as the two of them drove the Vikings defence crazy all game long. I wonder: does that make Chris Rivest Robin to Candussi’s Batman? It is worth considering.  Either way, looking just as heroic was the Gotham Knights defense as they intercepted Rick Cummins 4 times.  As close as the game was in the first half, the Vikings would dominate the second half of the game and walk away with a 32-6 win.

 

In my last article, I mentioned that this was the first times the Vikings had made the playoffs.  This is not correct.  The last time they made the playoffs was the Spring 2011 season (I should have remembered it as it was the season that debuted the infamous Punch Panda franchise).  Either way, they did make the playoffs without having been given much f a chance.  It was a tough loss but definitely something to build on for the future.

 

Chess Masters Advance

 

Amidst rumors that Fred ‘Big Moose’ Morissette would not be present, the reigning quarterback of the year did in fact make an appearance and looked just as dominant as he had been all season.  Interestingly, it wasn’t this season’s receiver of the year James Floreani or FPF veteran Alex David who did the bulk of the damage.  Minh Tôn-Thât looked indefensible in this game as he racked up 6 catches, 113 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead Checkmate to a 38-31 victory over Hostile Territory.  With this win Checkmate has no advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs for the first time in their franchise’s history.

 

Angelo Garofolo looked quite good in his own right throwing 5 touchdowns and only one interception.  Unfortunately, Checkmate’s Maxime Lachapelle intercepted a pass intended for François Deslauriers in the endzone to halt what would have been a Hostile Territory scoring drive.  Benoit Demchuck , David DeAndrade and Mathieu Lacoursiere all played their hearts out but it would not be enough to prolong their season.

 

Night of the Longhorns

 

The Jaggerbomb normally field 12 players (a full offence and a full defense).  In this game they could only muster 6 and with quarterback Jérémie Gauthier missing the outcome looked to be rather ominous. Benjamin Dore lined up all game behind the snapper but it cannot come to anyone’s surprise that the playoffs is not the place for someone to learn how to play quarterback.  While he did manage to put up 12 points he also threw 5 interceptions. With that, the Jaggerbomb can now begin to prepare for next season.

 

Jon Moodie on the other hand had another strong performance and seemed to be taking advantage of players that were clearly playing out of position.  He added two running touchdowns to his 3 passing scores.  Perhaps the best performance came from Angelo ‘Aggie’ Kalaidopoulos who intercepted 4 passes and knocked down 3 more.  The Longhorns have lloked strong but having not been challenged this week they will need to prepare hard for their next round and make sure that their collective ego doesn’t get to inflated.  Given their experience in this league, I do not think this will be a problem.

 

5 Guys, the Recipe to Success

 

Mongoose played an entire game without Cedric Nuckle.  Moreover, they played the entire game with 5 players.  You would think that that would mean an easy win for the Bearskins.  You would be wrong.  David Souaid was praised on last week’s edition of Calling the Audible.  However, while the stat line indicates that he played well, I would like to draw attention to his play calling.  With only four men in coverage, risks become uneccessary and going into half-time with a two score lead, Bearskins should have coasted to victory.  Instead, the were only able to put up 7 second half points.  In my mind, this is unacceptable.  The game did end with the Bearskins taking one final shot at the endzone.  A leaping Marco Bertoldi caught the ball on the final play but the season ended abruptly as he landed just out of bounds.

 

Mongoose now move on to the second round.  One would hope that they could man a full roster for this game and that Cedric Nuckle would be available.  However

 

Mutants Caged

 

So Terry Tam, are the X-Men too strong for division D?  Le Zoo would beg to differ.  We have said all season long that when Frank Kaye has a lead there are few quarterbacks who are better.  In this game he had to get the lead and hold on without his new found BFF Patrick St-Amand.  Kaye did what he does best.  Move the ball consistently and spread the field.  While he did connect with Martin Bergeron 7 times, all five of his recievers got looks.  This included the highly talents but somewhat underused Kevin Marcil who took both of his catches in to the endzone on Tuesday.  Amazingly, Le Zoo won the game without forcing a turnover. Instead they put the X-Men in a series of compromising spots and this allowed the to make a couple of key fourth down stops.

 

X-Men 2-way superhuman, Wade Williams made his mark on this game.  He caught 6 balls for 100 yards and found the endzone twice.  Quarterback Gautama Swaminadham looked togrow frustrated as the game wore on and the X-Men were never able to recover from having started the game down.  They loses this one 24-19.

 

Les Affreux Turn the Wheel

 

When my FPF colleague Justin Blanchard informed me that the Viens would not be present for Wheel of Fish this week I figured that this would be a tough game to win.  However, WOF didn’t help themselves in this one as they failed on 3 consecutive 4^th down attempts to start the game. Conversely, when they had Les Affreux pinned down fourth down Wheel of Fish allowed them to convert on both occaisions. Jonathan Brown did all he could to help his rookie quarterback catching 8 passes (2 for touchdowns) and amassing 58 yards.  However, it would not be in the cards for Wheel of Fish this time.  They had a promising start considering it was their first season.  I look forward to seeing Avi Yayon take snaps in the future as well.  Given the success in his rookie campaign I do expect to see him in a similar role in the future.

 

Jonathan Lemieux is in his first seasonas quarterback for Les Affreux.  He is however an experience quarterback and he looked the part this past Tuesday.  He went 20/28 and threw 6 touchdowns.  Mathieu Dubois caught half of them and his efforts helped Les Affereux win 39-21.  They face Playground in the next round and as Playground has been somewhat of a giant killer thus far (already toppling a 10-0 giant) we will need to see if that trend can be continued.

 

Playoff Breakdown

 

So my playoff picks were 4-3 during the introductory round of the playoffs.  It just goes to show you that the teams are matched so evenly that essentially a coinflip can decide the battle.  Of course I mean a metaphorical one and not necessarily the coin flip that takes place to start the game.  Here are my picks for the next round.

 

Conference A:

 

Les Affreux (2) vs. Playground (8)

 

For Les Affreux, they are at their best when the defense is making stops and getting turnovers.  As good as their offence is, their defense needs to set the table or their three course serving of whoop ass looks more like a McDonald’s trio.  They are athletice and intelligent and in order for that to work in their favor they will need to stop Playground early.  On the other hand Playground has a very mature and efficnet offense.  They move the ball well but can score on any given play.  They use Côté’s strong playcalling to flood zones and get rid of the ball quickly.  If they can turn this in to an offensive showdown they will have the advantage.

 

Predicition: Playground by 2

 

Mongoose (3) vs. Blue Mountain State (4)

 

Mongoose won with 5 players and without Cedric ‘Moose’ Nuckle.  They will need him against one of the most rugged defences in the league.  Gaudet will need to be at his best in this game and they will need to force Blue Mountain State to put up a lot of points.  BMS are imposing when they get on the field.  They are large, fast, freakishly athletic human beings. They allowed only 166 points all season and that is just as threating.  If they can force Gaudet to make mistakes this will be another playoff win.  The key here is rusher Hermes Zepeda.  He needs to get to Gaudet before he gets rid of the ball.  However, given his quick release and intelligent play-calling this may prove to be difficult for Zepeda.  Either way this game should be as entertaining as they get.

 

Prediction: Blue Mountain State by 6

 

Conference B

 

Longhorns (1) vs. Le Zoo (6)

 

Frank Kaye needs to be able to march down the field.  The challenge will be that the Longhorns defense typically annihilates teams that operate that way.  The Longhorns weakness is that they are not the fastest team around.  I don’t think the Zoo has the matchups to be able to take advantage of that.  Instead they need to beat the Longhorns at their own game.  Using rubs and getting the Longhorns defense to take too many chances may yield positive results.  For the Longhorns, they need to get a lead early and force Kaye to have to chuck the ball down field.  Defensively, they need to take away Patrick St-Amand and have Le Zoo beat them with their other receivers.  If Moodie can put points up early this game should get ugly fast.

 

Predicition: Longhorns by 16

 

Gotham Knights (2) vs. Checkmate (5)

 

In my last article I mentioned that I didn’t like picking the winner of a previous game in a rematch.  However, all three rematches did go the way of the first game this past Tuesday and yet we see another rematch on the card for Sunday.  In the last game Gotham Knights played almost flawlessly and defeated Checkmate 26-24.  Checkmate was unable to guard Mikey Candussi in the redzone and the Gotham Knights capitalized on two stops (one turnover on downs and interception) to beat Checkmate.  In reality the game came down to extra point conversions.  The game may go down a similar path.  If the Gotham Knights can convert in the redzone and force Checkmate to make mistakes we will see a repeat of week 4.  However, Checkmate is clearly not the same team as week 4.  Including their playoff win, they are perfect in their last 6 weeks. Unlike previous seasons Checkmate seems unfazed by injuries as a new hero seems to arise on any given week.

 

Going for One/Going for Two

 

In the playoffs you can’t afford to take unnecessary risks so I’m going to be going for one rather than two this week.  My subject for my almost weekly rant is: Should TSN/RDS pick up the rights to broadcast FPF games?

 

I think this is a no brainer.  RDS used to show Mini-putt on Sunday mornings (admittedly a great way to prepare for 12 hours of NFL football), roller derby late Sunday nights and they still show the Canadiens hockey despite their futility.  This has come up on the Facebook group and I ask, what do they stations stand to lose?

 

Imagine coming home Sunday morning at 2AM armed with blurred vision and a Lafleur poutine (could also be a Milano’s sub, Dunn’s smoked meat or any other variety of alcohol absorbing grease that is open 24 hours a day).  You are now somewhat poorer due to having to pay your bar tab and an overly chatty taxi driver.  Seriously, that dude never shuts the hell up.  I’m tired, hammered, I barely staggered into the cab and you want to share your thoughts on who the Montreal Canadians should play on the third line (true story)!

 

But I digress…

 

So you finally get home.  Your choice of guilty pleasure is still warm in your hand.  You want to unwind with your pile of carcinogens and what you promise to yourself will be your last beer.  You flip on the TV and get to watch FPF action.  There would be no greater way to end a night.  Look at our podcast.  We have higher ratings than some late night radio shows. 

 

I do warn that this is a slippery slope. In the end, I fear that the league would start to increase it’s rating to the point where athletes could make money playing in FPF and we’d all be replaced by real athletes.  Then I fear that The Eagle at Master Control would develop robots to play for Lockdown.  Infuriated by still not being able to win the championship, the robots become self-aware, we reach the point of singularity, destroy the league and then the rest of humanity. 

 

As I said; it’s slippery slope.  In my opinion it’s worth the risk/inevitable future. Such is the dream of Carl Carmoni (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqmvWndeOyQ)

 

Thursday wrap-up

 

I truly enjoyed the games that I watched on Tuesday.  Obviously, I could only be in one place at a time (damn you phyisics!) so whenever I wasn’t around my crack staff of field reporters were feeding me information.  Since they operate in shadows you can contact me directly to tell me what they got wrong. Email me at [email protected] or reach me on Twitter @PeezeFPF.  I feel bad that Terry has so few followers so here’s his handle in case you feel like being charitable: @TerryTamFPF.

 

For more in depth coverage throughout the playoffs please tune in to division D’s Calling the Audible. Check us out at http://podomatic.fpf.com or by subscribing on iTunes.  See you on the fields, till then, thank you for letting me be myself.