Round 1 Playoff Preview: There Will Be Upsets (and Maybe Blood, Too)

To the Rainmakers, Lightweight and The Commission, thanks for playing, but it’s time to head home. 

To the rest of you, welcome to the Spring 2015 playoffs. Time to see what you’re really made of.

In Div A, the thought crossing everyone’s mind is whether R&D can beat the Finest in the game that matters most: the Div A final. Will we instead see Legends, Gladiateurs or Maniax pull off the improbable?

In Div B, meanwhile, one could reasonably make a case for any one of the eight teams entering to come out the other side as champions. But can anyone actually imagine the 8th-seeded Raiders hoisting the championship trophy on August 9th?

Maybe not. But the only thing that matters is what happens on the field. And if the playoffs have taught us one thing, time and time again, it’s that anything can happen. 

Players of the Week 

Division A:

QB – Kevin Wyeth (Montreal’s Finest): 19 for 24, 233 yards, 8 TDs, 0 INTs. If you’re on the Finest you almost wish Wyeth had kept that performance for the playoffs, because there’s no way we’ll see another game like that from him this year!

WR – Mike Harrington (Montreal’s Finest): 6 catches for 139 yards, 3 TDs. Shout out to Theo’s 4 TDs, but when you light up a defense that features Pat Jerome and Alex Nadeau-Piuze, you get the nod. 

D – Matt Kirouac, Jordan McLaren, Karim Binette, Nathan Taylor: they all had Pick 6s except for Kirouac, (who dazzled himself with 3 sacks, an INT and two pass deflections); I don’t feel like making a case for which one played better than the other, so they all get the spot.

 

Division B: 

QB – Fred Morissette (Darksiders): 17 for 19, 176 yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs. On a weekend that saw Tony Tabet hit the 200-yard mark and toss 7 TDs, and Phil Cutler throw for 199 and find the end zone seven times himself, Fred Morissette stood alone in one of the most efficient performances of the season with just two incompletions.

WR – François Raymond (Lightweight): 10 catches for 154 yards, 4 TDs. With Lightweight’s playoff hopes on the line, Frank Raymond answered the call and beyond. It’s unfortunate the rest of his teammates didn’t step up on his level, but if there’s a silver lining for Raymond this season it’s that he’s certain to get a few calls to join some D2 teams next winter.

D – Jordan Moses (Predators): 2 tackles, 1 INT, 2 PDs, 1 TD. I’ve now seen three rusher Pick 6s in my FPF career. None made it look as easy as Jordan Moses did when his feet didn’t even leave the ground as he simultaneously deflected and caught Fred Viens’ pass last week before jogging into the end zone.  

 

Picks of the Week

Division A quarter-finals:

4) Legends vs. 5) Maniax

Previous matchups: Legends 41, Maniax 40 (Week 1); Legends 33, Maniax 32 (Week 6)

In Week 1, Carmine Pollice, Sacha Papich and Darnell Lovelace were key contributors in Legends’ win over Maniax. In their Week 6 victory, they had the help of Dave Chitayat, Kevin Boustany and Ryan Lelinowski. None of the aforementioned players will be there for their third matchup of the season against Rapha Beladjat and company.

That’s the problem when you invite everyone and their grandmothers to play for you during the regular season: come playoff time, none of them are eligible. Indeed, just seven of the 21 players that have suited up for Legends this season will be allowed to play versus Maniax this weekend – and who knows if all seven will even show up.

And that poses a problem considering they’ll be facing a Maniax group who showed us last week that they can actually play a complete game when the stakes are highest.

Then again, Maniax might not even have J-R Verger on hand for the game while Godfrey Abu might not be 100% with a leg injury.

That means the only way Maniax may win this one is 1. Rapha Beladjat trusts that guys like Jon Lyristis, Tony Khoury and Eddy Menard can step up and 2. They actually do step up.

I almost have more faith in both those things happening than Legends even showing up with enough players.

 

Division B quarter-finals:

3) 6+R vs. 6) BearSkins N/A

Previous matchup: BearSkins 45, 6+R 42 (Week 7)

 

2) Broccasion vs. 7) Wolverines

Previous matchup: Wolverines 33, Broccasion 26 (Week 8)

It’s not that I don’t think Broccasion don’t have the talent to take down the Wolverines; it’s that they haven’t given me reason enough to have confidence that they actually will.

Ten weeks in, and they still haven’t quite figured out how to best utilize Jon Louis’ abilities on offense. Meanwhile Phil Cutler takes turns putting on his best Steve Young impression one week then throwing the ball with the accuracy of Tim Tebow the next (along with taking a ridiculous number of sacks). And the team has won just one of its last three games, and it came against the hapless Commission.

Granted, Wolverines have had their own share of ups and downs in a season that saw them stumble out of the gate at 1-5. But they have since rebounded, winning three of their last four behind some masterful performances by Tony Tabet and Eric Kavaldjian. 

Unless Broccasion have learned from the mistakes they made the first time they played Wolverines, I think history repeats itself here.

 

4) Monstars vs. 5) Predators 

Previous matchup: Monstars 31, Predators 25 (Week 2)

The last time Ryan Aridi was on the field in uniform for Monstars was Week 6. Monstars haven’t won a game since. Coincidence? I think not. Ryan Aridi completes this offense, and it’s clear that QB Rod Mashtoub has been missing his guy these past few weeks.

Fortunately for him, Aridi should be all healed up and ready to go this week – key word here being “should.” If Aridi can’t rush and/or run routes, it might not take long before Predators start running away with it.

Even if Aridi does show up, the Preds, with all of their issues (dropped passes, a recent second-half meltdown and an even more recent near game-changing last second interception come to mind), remain one of the best teams in this division when they’re on their game.

If the Preds’ roster plays the way it should, I think they take this one.

 

1) Darksiders vs. 8) Raiders

Previous matchup: Darksiders 31, Raiders 26 (Week 2)

The last time Darksiders took on Raiders, in Week 2, Peeze led the team in receptions and tied for first in yards with 8 and 45, respectively. And they still won.

Now they won’t have Peeze to convince QB Fred Morissette to throw him the ball so damn much, and that should be music to the ears of the likes of Jonathan Lyristis, Nicolas Gendron-Vallée, Marc-André Lapointe and and Julien Bellavance. 

And there’s still the fact that Darksiders own by far the best defense in the division – a big problem for a Raiders team that has scored 30+ points in a game just four times this season.

Barring an absolute monster game from Leon Holder and Sean Kennedy on offense and some pick 6s on defense, Darksiders should walk off the field victorious this weekend.

 

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As always, be sure to catch the Div A/B podcast “The Sack Exchange” with Moe Khan and Matt Kirouac on the FPF YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/flagplus every Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. or on demand at the same link afterwards. Don’t forget that you can always reach me on Twitter @JBlanchFPF or by email at [email protected]. See you at the fields!