Peeze’s Playbook (Div D) – Week 3

“To know us, is to adopt us”– One of many, now empty, 2 for 1 pizza boxes.

 

Daron Basmadjian was the first to notice the cryptic and somewhat spine-chilling slogan for a local 2-1 pizza joint.  It was only the next morning, when attempting to clean up the post draft disaster that I realized that the slogan is quite fitting for last night’s events.  On a night where grown men played fantasy general managers their Division D mini-armies, what could be more suitable?

 

To know a player, their level of skill, their potential, their expected production, is to adopt them.  We argued, debated and insulted each other for the better portion of an evening as we decided who we would ‘adopt’ into our fantasy teams.  Now that it is all done and the beers and Pizza slices have been digested, we proudly present the League of Not Quite Legends.  But before we get to that, here’s what happened on the weekend:

 

Weekend Recap

 

They Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts

While still awaiting the arrival of quarterback Stephen Canestrari, Ghosts opted to go with Frederic Martin behind the snapper.  Martin’s debut was far less than stellar as he completed only 33.3% of his passes and threw 2 touchdowns to 3 interceptions. As in most flag football games, 2 touchdowns scored is not enough to win.  With 52 yards receiving and 7 tackles Jean-Daniel Joly’s presence was felt.

 

The Gotham Knights have had trouble clicking on offense in all but one game this season (their week one matchup).  Luckily their aggressive, primarily man-to-man defense has helped carry them through. The Knights defense intercepted Martin 3 times and Marc-Andre Benoit sacked the quarterback twice to lead Gotham Knights to a 19-12 win vs. Ghosts.

 

Playground Invaded by Mongeese (Mongooses?) All Reports Indicate: Playground Safe

We’ve been saying for a while that Playground was the best winless team in Division D.  We can no longer make that claim.  By handing Mongoose their second loss of the season, Playground now looks to be the strongest 1 win team in the division. Playground have looked great offensively in their first two weeks but struggled to make any stops.  Having won 20-16, this clearly was not the case in this one. Michael Claxton proved to be the difference maker on both sides of the ball as he caught two touchdowns and contributed on defense with an interception.

 

For Mongoose, the issue has been their inability to score consistently.  With 90 total offensive yards, Mongoose could not have expected to win this one.  Gaudet has struggled in this early portion of the season.  Chalk this up as another rough outing for him, and the Mongoose offence.  Their schedule does not seem to get any easier as they face Wheel of Fish, statistically, one of the top defenses in the division in week 4.

 

Shamrocks Flourish in Hostile Territory On Hostile Ground

Hostile Territory has looked impressive out of the gate and they seem to be growing as a unit as the season wears on.  Angelo Garofolo came into this season as an unknown commodity at quarterback but he has looked great in the first three weeks.  This week, he simply could do no wrong.  While completing 82.1% of his passes, he threw 4 touchdowns and led his offence methodically up and down the field. Mathieu Lacoursiere, has been his go-to weapon so far this season and he proved to be uncoverable in this game pulling in 8 catches for 45 yards and a touchdown.

Shamrock quarterback Doug McKernan, informed me prior to this game that he had broken a finger on his throwing hand.  While he definitely hasn’t looked like himself in the past few games, he definitely looked better than he did in week 2.  There definitely hasn’t been anything wrong with McKernan’s feet, he added 80 yards rushing to his 106 yards passing.  In the end, as gritty McKernan’s performance was, it simply was not enough to win as Hostile Territory beat the Shamrocks by a score of 29-22.

 

Underdogs, Now Long-shots

Longhorns beat the Underdogs 32-26 in an exciting battle this past weekend.  Of course, no game with Chris Olsen involved will be free of drama.  Late in the game with a chance to tie it Chris Olsen connected with his receiver who caught a short pass and after working his way down the field, found himself standing in the endzone for a touchdown. Amidst celebration, the referee walked onto the field to retrieve his flag, the call: flag guarding.

This game was really a tale of two halves where the first half was a barnburner while the second half was a defensive slugfest.  Of the combined 58 points each team put up only 6 in the second half.  Either style of game suited the Longhorns just fine as that looks to make them a very scary team moving forward. New acquisition Angelo “Aggie” Kalaidopolous caught one of Moodie’s 5 touchdown passes while, 2 more went to long time Longhorn Adam Rosen.  The Underdogs need to start winning or their hopes and dreams may be in the rearview mirror sooner than they could ever have imagined.  For the Longhorns, they just need to keep doing their thing. They face Hostile Territory this week in a battle of unbeaten teams.

 

The League of Not-Quite-Legends

 

It has returned! The leading, and potentially, only fantasy league, in all recreational sports, has finally re-emerged just as week four is set to kick off.  You’ll all remember last year, despite my early lead, the Eagle at Master Control finished strong and took home the metaphorical trophy.  Meanwhile Simon, “Sacko” Dagenais finished in last and has been wearing his shackles of shame for months.  While Eagle looks to defend and Simon is eager for to begin his quest out of the cellar, GM Kolethras and I have spent weeks planning to take our shot at the trophy we narrowly missed out on last season.  Likewise, new contestants, Justin Blanchard, Mat Domon and Terry Tam now enter the arena eager to upset their more experienced counterparts.

 

While many elements of the league stayed the same, we did make a few improvements such as: the addition of a flex player who receives offensive and defensive points, trades and waiver moves have been added and finally we filmed the entire, ridiculous, draft.  While I’m not allowed to post the link here please note that it will be posted on my own Facebook page and on my Twitter timeline (@PeezeFPF).  Another improvement is that each week the leader will have a 60 second rant session on the Div. D podcast, where they will belittle, berate and blast their opponents.  Below are the standings and the rosters for each team.  Heading into week 1, Terry has the lead.

 

Standings

 

 

Rosters

 

 

 

 *Just like last season, I named each of the teams based on whatever nicknames/inside jokes I felt were appropriate.

**All statistical information such as the teams scores, are calculated and provided by Eagle at Master Control @EagleFPF.  May his excel sheets soar and his team plummet.

***For more information on Scoring and roster composition please see the edition Peeze’s Playbook that was posted on Sunday, June 2^nd, 2013.  Or click on this: http://flagplusfootball.com/news.php?article_id=703

 

 

Predictions

 

Another week in the books and my lead over Justin has not grown. As Skeletor constantly threatened the peace and harmony of Eternia, another stagnant week threatens to keep my arch nemesis Justin Blanchard (JBlanch6)  in the hunt as top predictor.  Like He-man, I was able to hold him in check for at least one more week.  The good people of FPF, I will win the battle of weekly predictions, I can feel it! By the Power of Grayskull, I swear that I will do everything in my power to secure the win.  Here are my picks for this week:

 

Bearskins vs. Blue Mountain State

Wheel of Fish vs. Mongoose

Les Affreux vs. Speed Demons

Centurions vs. Warriors

Ballz Deep vs. Black Mambas

Black Ice vs. Playground

Big Blue Wrecking Crew vs. Limetime

Ghosts vs. Project Mayhem

X-Men vs. Vikings

Longhorns vs. Hostile Territory

Pardon My Swag vs. Le Zoo

Lockdown vs. Jaggerbomb

Underdogs vs. Shamrocks

Park-X Streets vs. Tyrants

  

The Tuesday Throw Down

 

The time to make your case that you’ve been snubbed in the fantasy league is now.  Let me know how I neglected you or your teammates by contacting me at [email protected] or reach me on Twitter @PeezeFPF. To trash Terry’s team Tweet (or Twiddle, as he likes to call it) him @TerryTamFPF.

 

Division D, I’ve always said you were the smartest audience.  This week you proved it as you made Calling the Audible,the most popular podcasts as you drove ratings up by a little over 100%! Tune in this week as Terry and I discuss: the toughest division in div. D, whether one team is too good for the division, Kit Kat Depaneur, and a first time quarterback who’s making waves.  Domenic Tessier joins us to talk about his team, the Centurions, and their hot 3-0 start. Mat Domon calls in to talk about the best teams under .500.  Check it out at http://podomatic.fpf.com.

 

See you on the fields, till then, thank you for letting me be myself.