The Goal Line Stand (Div 5) – Week 3

Everyone who plays flag-football knows that they’re there because they’re too old for regular football and rugby, quite frankly, scares us to bits. So we make our home in FPF and compete weekly for honors like most yards, least points against, and biggest sack (a game played equally in the locker room as on the field with slightly different rewards).

 

Simon Dagenais, who made his home in FPF’s Division D last season, has since moved up to Division 4 for Winter 2012. He and his Dragons have enjoyed a good start, but it did not come without preparation. Below, Simon walks us through the preliminary stages of making the leap to a higher division.    

 

Le chemin vers la gloire

On a débuté notre première saison en tant que Dragons à l’Hiver 2011. Ce fut une saison difficile et on a, pour ceux qui s’en rappelent, à peine atteint le .500 rating. Faisant à peine les playoffs, on s’est battu pour y demeurer. Affrontant l’équipe qui a fini vainqueur, on a été éliminé assez tôt. Néanmoins, on est revenu plus fort en Spring, et encore davantage à l’Hiver 2012. On savait qu’on montait de Division cette hiver, alors, pendant notre “off-season”, on a pas “niaisé”. Le gym, les pratiques une fois par semaine (pour pas perdre notre chimie), les quelques verres après les pratiques et nous voilà de retour avec une meilleure chimie. On s’attendait à quelques choses de difficile.

 

On a du caractère, un minimum d’expérience et du potentiel. L’avantage d’être une ancienne équipe est qu’on sait à quoi s’attendre; on connait le style de jeu et on peut perfectionner notre playbook avant même la première partie de la saison. Malgré toute cette préparation, on est jamais assez prêt, on croit toujours pouvoir plus se préparer. On est actuellement 2-0-1; des victoires bien mérités contre des équipes talentueuses. On compte se rendre jusqu’au bout, jusqu’à la finale (comme tout le monde). Ceci étant dit, on est pas les seuls à se préparer, à savoir quoi faire et comment s’y prendre; la plupart des équipes ont plus d’expérience que nous. Va tout simplement falloir jouer plus intelligemment. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.

 

Check in intermittently on The Goal Line Stand for updates on Simon and the Dragons’ exploits. 

 

In other news, the once 2-0 Takers are now 0-2 because of their use of a Division 3 player in their Division 5 line-up. The error came as a surprise to the Takers, as they were unaware of the roster restrictions put upon Division 5. The two forfeited games may prove costly for them as it did for the Tyrants of Winter 2011, who relinquished the first three games of that season and never really recovered. This should serve as a thorough reminder to all teams to be aware of the rules to assure their team’s adherence to them.  

Weekly Recap

 

Checkmate’s David

 

Michelangelo’s David may be 17 feet of glorious hand-sculpted marble, but Checkmate’s had 10 catches this week. With an average of 7.5 yards per catch, Alex David is proving to be as effective for Checkmate as he perennially is for the Golden Eagles. Despite the 10-catch performance, what struck me most while watching this game was Checkmate’s uncanny ability to be effective in extra-point situations. 4 of their 28 points were earned in after-touchdown situations. This will prove handy for them in tight games. The Centurions’ weak first half is what cost them this game, never fully being able to recover. It’s their first loss of the season, but they have the chance to get back on track next week against the Mustangs du Gridiron. As for Checkmate, they face an irritated Takers team next week who need to begin the recuperation of their points immediately if they want to make the playoffs.   

 

Mean Machine Soars Over Warhawks

 

Francois Ethier picked up where he left off in week 2 with 5 TDs and 70.8% of his passes completed in week 3. If you did not believe in their win against the Predators, beating the experienced Warhawks has surely got you convinced. Mean Machine’s defense forced an incredible 5 INTs and held Tim O’Hara’s completion percentage to 50%. Early in the game, O’Hara took someone’s name in vain as a ball left his hand awkwardly and was picked off. This seemed to have shifted the momentum decidedly towards Mean Machine. Momentum they would ride for the rest of the game. The Warhawks will have their hands full next week as well, going up against a Buddays team who many have touted as the best in Division 5. Conversely, Mean Machine face up against a struggling TCO team. Look for the result of this game to repeat itself in week 4 for both these teams respectively.

 

La Sauce (Pas la Barbecue)

On ignore à quelle sorte de sauce ils font référence, mais une chose est sure; j’en veux. La semaine dernière, les joueurs de La Sauce ont montré à Crooklyn Dodgers pourquoi toutes les ligues de sports bannissent l’utilisation de cette fameuse sauce. Malgré l’effort remarquable de Tony Testa (6 réceptions pour 64 verges et 3 touchés), il manquait quelque chose. Avec 2 interceptions retournés pour des touchés, la defense de La Sauce en a mis plein la vue aux spectateurs. Francois Raymond a, également, montré ses talents; 123 verges pour 3 TD aériens, mais le plus impressionnant reste à venir; 90 verges pour 2 touchés en 5 courses. C’est à croire qu’il est encore plus dangereux au sol que par la passe. Si La Sauce aurait pu “kicker” le ballon pour faire des points, ils l’auraient fait. Bref, les équipes à venir devront trouver une façon de contenir Francois Raymond s’ils veulent considérer avoir une chance de les battre.     

 

Interviews

 

This week, Kevin Lubin of the Golden Eagles and Terror Squad gives us a crash course on building a solid Division 5 team, Chris Olson of the Warhawks and Golden Eagles tells us how he’s going to help the Warhawks this season, Nicodemo Agostino of the Centurions explains how his team’s upper-Division experience is going to help them succeed, and Alex David of Checkmate and the Golden Eagles tries to confuse me by using big words.

 

www.youtube.com/andrewFPF

 

By the Numbers

 

Some scholars pinpoint the origin of statistics to 1663, with the publication of Natural and Political Observations upon the Bills of Mortality by John Graunt. But most agree that they only became pertinent once inserted into The Goal Line Stand.

 

306: Passing yards for Flying Comics’ Frank Grenier. Next closest was Mudsharks’ Evan Nolet at 227.
1.75: average passes defended in week 3.
7: Number of teams with 5 TDs or more by the air (Big Birds, Coyotes, Flying Comics, Love Cows, Mean Machine, Mudsharks, Team Ethnik).
91: Total combined passing yards in the Blue Mountain State / Green Lantern Corps matchup. Less than the individual yards of 26 different teams.
6: Number of rushing touchdowns scored this week. 2 by La Sauce’s Francois Raymond.
24.625: Average number of points scored this week. Better than last week’s 24.06 and week 1’s 19.5. 
7.54%: Percent of all throws picked off. Thanks to Mean Machine and Big Birds (5 INTs each) for driving this stat up. 
3.56: Difference between average yards per reception (10.99) and average yards per run (7.43) in week 3.

 

Power Rankings

 

A week relatively void of monumental upsets has big movement on the Power Rankings nonetheless. A hint that suggests you should begin panicking the moment you lose your spot, and alternatively demand pay increases once you see your name here.

 

1. Les Buddays (3-0): This team stays atop the rankings with a win over TCO. Will Warhawks or Thunder prove to be their first real competition of the season?

2. No Regard (3-0): Three big wins, but by three small margins.

3. Big Birds (3-0): These guys have the highest +/- in the league. They’re not higher than that because we can’t be sure about who they’ve beaten yet.

4. Flying Comics (3-0): They fly up the charts to 4th this week. Can a young La Sauce team stump them in week 4?

5. Thunder (2-0-1): Thunder take down the previously unbeaten Pendant Publishing and take over 5th spot in the process. The thickest part of their season may be weeks 4 and 5.

6. Coyotes (2-0-1): They beat a veteran Affreux team this week. They don’t look like rookies right now.

7. Team Ethnik (2-0-1): They make their first appearance on the Power Rankings this week because scoring 37 points will get you noticed.

8. Checkmate (2-1): Beating an experienced Centurions team earns them a spot here.

9. Dark Knights (2-1): A close loss this week drops them from 4th to 9th.

10. Mean Machine (2-1): Two straight convincing wins has them peaking their heads into the Power Rankings after starting the season off on the wrong foot. Probably the left.

 

Predictions

 

Week 3’s predictions were a relative disaster for me considering I got to choose which games I had to predict. Testament to the parity of the Division, or am I just setting you up for the tear I’m about to go on? All of the above.

 

1. Spartans vs. Tailgates: Spartans should win this game. They’re better than their record suggests.

2. Big Birds vs. Marvels: This seems like a mismatch in Big Birds’ favor.

3. J’s vs. Green Lantern Corps: I picked the J’s to win last week and they lost. Logic indicates if I do the same thing, I should get a different result. Go J’s.

4. Dark Knights vs. Pendant Publishing: The Dark Knights should bounce back after a loss. Pendant Publishing may have a losing streak on the hands by weekend’s end. 

5. Warhawks vs. Les Buddays: It’s hard to pick against Les Buddays lately. So I won’t.    

 

 

Rolling record: 3-2-0

 

 

As promised, here are the best submissions from last week’s “you know you’re starting to take flag-football too seriously when…” contest. Some were witty, some were inappropriate, and most were incomprehensible. Regardless, here are the ones I thought deserved repeating:

 

You know you’re starting to take flag-football too seriously when…

 

You know who you’re playing next week but forgot where you parked.

You inquire about FPF’s pension plan.

You try to tape the WEPL because you have to work Tuesday night.

You avoid going to the doctor about the exposed bone in your knee because he might suggest you sit out a week or so.

You choose a Halloween costume because it has no pockets.

 

And my personal favorite, and therefore winner of a non-existent prize…

 

You know you’re starting to take flag-football too seriously when you e-mail the writers.

 

This one was submitted by Checkmate’s Paolo Della Rocca. If Paolo’s right, then I hope all Division 5 players start to take things a little more seriously and take the time to e-mail me with any earth-shattering announcements – FPF-related or not.

 

Good luck in week 4.