Reviews and Previews as the Second Half of the FPF Cup Kicks Off

For the first time I missed my self-imposed Wednesday 7pm posting deadline. I was in Philadelphia for the weekend and the 10h return drive definitely took it out of me. Thankfully, Peeze finally decided to pick up the slack. He posted his first article of the season on Tuesday. In case you have not already gotten around to it, be sure to go check it out: https://www.flagplusfootball.com/en/article/a-bear-pun-new-qbs-and-the-best-rusher-in-fpf/

The second half of the season kicked off last week. Teams in Tier 2 and 3 played their first games of the season in their newly formed brackets. For all those of you who were wondering about the playoff dates, they were released Wednesday! Checkout this article for a detailed breakdown of where and when you might play: https://www.flagplusfootball.com/en/article/fpf-cup-knockout-round-tour-elimination-coupe-fpf/

With that, I think I have dropped enough links to other articles, and it is time I dive into my own one.

Week 5 Recaps

Los Siete Amigos (19) vs Pincellos (18) – Tier 2

In this duel between Tier 2 bottom dwellers, Los Siete Amigos rallied in the second half to win the match. What made this game even more interesting was that both of these teams were without their usual quarterbacks.

LSA were missing Alexandre Fafard. In his absence, they turned to David Enault, who did just enough to secure the win. He completed only nine passes for 96 yards and three scores. He added four rushing yards to finish the night with 100 total yards. To score three touchdowns while only producing 100 yards of offense is lucky. That means LSA capitalized on their one interception and from favorable field position after they forced turnovers. In other words, their defence won them this game. That defensive effort started with Xavier Tran-Khanh who had the very difficult job of containing Pincellos backup quarterback Jocelyn Calixte. While Calixte might not be much of a quarterback, he is a hell of an athlete and containing him is no easy feat. Tran-Khanh sacked him a herculean five times. The one time Calixte did manage to get around Tran-Khanh, he ran for 31 yards.  

As for Pincellos, it is obvious that they would much rather have Calixte as a receiver than as a quarterback. For the most part, there is nothing special about Pincellos’s receiving corps. Without Calixte, any team in Tier 2 should be able to man them up with ease. However, there is barely anyone in Tier 2 who can man up with Calixte, which forces opposing defences into playing zone. While Calixte might have struggled as a passer in this one, that is largely due to the fact that he could not throw the ball to himself. That being said, even with Vince Romano back under center, this team will struggle to win games in Tier 2. Luckily for Pincellos, they have a low enough cap to fit into division 5 for the upcoming winter season where they should be able to thrive.

TuneSquad (20) vs Save the Turftles (27) – Tier 3

To my great surprise, TuneSquad managed to hang with the Turftles in the first half of this match. They finished the first half tied at 14 and a late interception from Charles Presser even gave TuneSquad a chance to tie the game up late.

What impressed me the most from the Turftles in this one was that they were able to win without relying on Vincent Cheung. We all know that Cheung is a dominant receiver with ridiculous pace, and in the past the Turftles have been dependent on throwing him the deep ball to score. In this game, TuneSquad held Cheung to one catch on his three targets for seven yards. While TS might have been able to contain Cheung, Guillaume Dubois was a whole other story. He caught all three passes thrown towards him on his way to an impressive total of 80 yards and two scores. Sebastien Noel did a great job of spreading the ball. Five receivers all finished with more than three targets.

While Cheung may have had a quiet game offensively, he made up for it with a great defensive showing. He recorded four tackles, an interception and a defended pass. Simply put, he was a nightmare for Garner Ross and the rest of TuneSquad’s offence. Adding to that defensive effort was Sebastien Noel, who recorded an interception of his own. All in all, the Turftles defence was able to hold TS to three scores and win them the game, but I think they are capable of better. TS’s offence is one dimensional and the Turftles have the athletes to shut them down. If this team wants to finish the season with four wins and try and sneak their way into the cash bracket, their defence will need to step up their play.

As for TuneSquad, they need to start feeding Charles Presser the ball. He is one of the biggest mismatches in this division, but Garner Ross has not been exploiting him enough. I have played with Presser enough times to know that any 50/50 ball thrown his way is a lot closer to being an 80/20 ball. Ross clearly loves the checkdowns to his center. Jesse Dym was targeted ten times in the game versus the Turftles but only totaled 31 yards. By taking a few deep shots to Presser, opposing defences will start to give TS more cushion on defence which means that Dym should be able to transform those seven receptions into a whole lot more than 32 yards.

Week 5 Team of the Week

Every week, I will name 12 players to the team of the week. If you make the offensive team of the week, you cannot be on the defensive one and vice versa. However, you can make the team of the week in multiple divisions. For the Coed division there will always be a minimum of two women on the offensive and defensive team of the week.

Tier 1

Offence

Quarterback: Stephen Harripersaud (Blessed) 19 completions, 180 passing yards, 7 TDs, 0 INTs

Receiver: Justin Lerner (Blessed) 4 receptions, 56 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Quaid Johnson (The Apocalypse) 5 receptions, 58 yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Thomas Coutu (Mangoose) 4 receptions, 54 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Emile Beaudoin (Urgence Medic) 5 receptions, 86 yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Mathieu Houle (Urgence Medic) 5 receptions, 65 yards

Defence

Rusher: Terry Babalis (Blessed) 3 sacks

Defensive Back: Guillaume Beland (KGP) 4 tackles, 1 INT, 2 PDs

Defensive Back: Darnell Kevis Riley (The Apocalypse) 1 tackle, 1 INT, 1 PD

Defensive Back: Kevin Smuda (Blessed) 1 tackle, 2 INTs   

Defensive Back: Jesse Dupuis (Urgence Medic) 7 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PD

Defensive Back: Alexis Gaumont (Urgence Medic) 4 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD

Tier 2

Offence

Quarterback: William Power (Hot Sauce Sports) 15 completions, 213 passing yards, 6 TDs, 1 INT

Receiver: Justin Sarlabous (Ravens) 5 receptions, 81 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Justin Lerner (Tough Lungs) 10 receptions, 102 yards,

Receiver: Michael Titleman (Mean Machine) 2 receptions, 65 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Simon Dufort (Team Ethnik) 5 receptions, 87 yards, 1 TD

Receiver: Hugo Allamanno (Centaures) 5 receptions, 75 yards, 1 TD

Defence

Rusher: Xavier Tran-Khanh (Los Siete Amigos) 5 sacks

Defensive Back: Dylan Catellier (Chocolate Thunder) 1 tackles, 2 Sacks, 1 TD

Defensive Back: Justin Blanchard (Hot Sauce Sports) 2 tackle, 2 INTs, 1 PD

Defensive Back: Jocelyn Calixte (Arouch) 2 tackles, 1 INT, 2 PDs

Defensive Back: Antoine Prefontaine (Arouch) 4 tackle, 2 INTs, 1 PD

Defensive Back: Benji Ziegler (Mean Machine) 3 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD

Tier 3

Offence

Quarterback: Samuel Granger (Two Inch’s Gang) 11 completions, 168 passing yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs

Receiver: Vincent Ponton (Two Inch’s Gang) 5 receptions, 93 yards, 3 TDs

Receiver: Craig Browning (Pardon My Swag) 7 receptions, 76 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Kareem Anthony Chilcott (Post Malone Knight’s) 4 receptions, 74 yards, 1 TD

Receiver: Guillaume Dubois (Two Inch’s Gang) 3 receptions, 80 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Benji Ziegler (Warriors) 7 receptions, 84 yards, 3 TDs

Defence

Rusher: Jake Newman (FSU) 3 sacks, 1 PD

Defensive Back: Luke Emblem (Lockdown) 2 INTs

Defensive Back: Alexandre Meunier (Trailer Park Boys) 2 tackles, 2 INTs

Defensive Back: Marvin Steinberg (7^th Rounders) 1 tackle, 2 INTs, 1 PD

Defensive Back: Matthew Caponi (The Penetrators) 5 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD

Defensive Back: James Nguyen ((Two Inch’s Gang) 5 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD

Coed

There were only two games in Coed last week. That is not enough to create a team of the week for the division. Tune back in next week for a Coed team of the week.

Week 6 Predictions

Warriors (4-1) vs Pardon My Swag (4-1) – Tier 3

Last week, the Warriors suffered their first loss of the season in a shocking game versus FSU. They will certainly be out for blood in their matchup this week against Pardon My Swag. The key to stopping the Warriors is simple in theory. All you need to do is take away Benji Ziegler. So far this season, Ziegler has accounted for more than half of his team’s touchdowns. In practice, taking away Ziegler is a lot harder. Thankfully for Pardon my Swag, they have a number of options all of whom could matchup with Ziegler. Both Craig Browning and Riley Pincombe have the necessary mix of speed and size to be able to keep up with the Warriors star receiver. With Ziegler out of the equation, Pardon My Swag will lose their #1 deep threat and will be forced to march the field. The question then is: does Mitch Fergenbaum have the patience and accuracy to drive the field without making a mistake. Ultimately, I do not think he has the patience and that is why I am choosing Pardon My Swag to win this one.

Prediction: Pardon My Swag

EZW (1-4) vs Mangoose (1-4) – Tier 1

Both of these teams were stuck in an awkward position before the season. They were too good for Tier 2 and not quite good enough for Tier 1. Instead of making the difficult decision to cut a player, they both took their talents to Tier 1. Neither team has had a great start to the season, but they now have back-to-back games versus each other and a chance to get their seasons back on track.

This is definitely not the first time these two teams have faced off. They have come up through the FPF ranks together and are very familiar with each other by now. The matchup to watch in this one will be between EZW’s quarterback Jeremy White and Mangoose’s rusher Thomas Coutu. While White may not run for a ton of yards, he does love scrambling in the pocket and buying time. There is nothing harder for a defence than to maintain its coverage while a quarterback extends the play. As a general rule, after 5 seconds, a receiver will always spring free. If Mangoose hope to win this one, Coutu will need to keep White’s scrambling antics to a minimum. The last time these teams played, Mangoose were able to win without Coutu rushing. With Coutu back from injury, I think they will take this one as well.

Prediction: Mangoose

Good luck to everyone in Week 6! Feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions, comments or critiques about the article.