The Thrilla of Flagzilla (Div 6)

So we are officially at the midway point of the season and things are heating up in the D6 standings. I have to say though, the level of play has gotten better on a weekly basis as teams get more acclimated to the league and to their fellow players. No, the scores don’t always tell the whole story, but it is clear to see, from team-to-team, there is drastic improvement from Week 1.

 

 

Also, I finally have a name for my column, so no more ultra-generic “Division 6 Recap” titles. Thanks to Stephen Tirelli of n.W.o. for the suggestion. The “Thrilla of Flagzilla”, is paying homage to the Thrilla in Manilla, between Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier, their bookend heavyweight bout in the Philippines.

 

Game of the Week – Run Levy Run vs. The Minge

 

As I had a chance to witness this game first hand, it was clear to me that these are easily two of the top three teams in the division. Quite simply, Henri Chelhot is a beast. He was able to break into the seam of the Run Levy Run defense and score long touchdowns. His final game totals were 5 catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns. Matthew Young, who I praised last week for being one of the better dual threat quarterbacks in the division, had a nice game as well, completing 10 of 16 passes for 153 yards and 3 touchdowns, while also adding a rushing touchdown to go along with his 3 carries for 36 yards. I’d say he outperformed the Flying Rosenblatt’s, who stayed close for the entire game, but a pair of interceptions, from Rosenblatt was their undoing. Might my presence have been a factor? Who knows? The added pressure of cheering on my first pick in the D6 draft might have made Rosenblatt tentative during the contest. In all seriousness though, this was the first time since Week 1 that the Run Levy Run quarterback had more than two turnovers, one of them being a brutal at the tail end of the first half. On a brighter note, Rob Bobhot was able to continue his hot streak with his 4th straight game with at least one touchdown.

 

After this game, it is clear that The Minge must be taken very seriously as one of the upper echelon teams. Did their defense crack a little against a higher quality opponent? Sure it did. But when it came time to making a key play, they did it and Joe Stock recorded his 4th interception of the season, which was a dagger for RLR.

 

An underrated aspect that I took away from this game were the 5 RLR tackles, combined as a team. That is a dastardly low number and shows how The Minge were able to control most of the action offensively with big plays down the field.

 

Upset of the Week – The Heismans vs. n.W.o.

 

Well, not to say that I told you so, but I kind of saw this one coming. I’m not the type to bash a team, but last week, I said that while n.W.o. had a nice record, their -2 point differential was suspect. Fast-forward a week later and there is absolutely no way I am backing down from that claim. The Heismans, who came in this game with a 0-4 record, were struggling on offence with sputtering drives and a severe lack of big-play ability. There also seemed to have been a quarterback controversy as Kevin Boustany played the majority of the game against The ‘Pack, while the incumbent Stefan Fennes, sat down after just two passes. Well, last week, nor Boustany, nor Fennes were under center, but rather Gautama Swaminadhan, one of the more experienced quarterbacks in all of FPF, having played many season with X-Men, supplanted both incumbents and had an absolutely stellar game. Swaminadhan completed 16 of 17 passes for 210 yards and 5 passing touchdowns. Before Week 5, The Heismans had a combined 5 passing touchdowns in their previous four games. The addition of Swaminadhan as the main passing target has also shown how good Kevin Boustany can be as a receiver, having caught 3 touchdowns passes against n.W.o. The “4-lifers” offence has slowed down over recent weeks and their defense has not been as strong. As I mentioned previously, the label of them being ‘overrated’ at the beginning of the season is not entirely far-fetched and they have struggled as of late.

 

Battle of the winless – Orange Crush vs. Venom

 

The two teams who entered this game 0-4 finally had the chance to climb outside the ranks of the winless. Essentially, the contest was not close. Rob Tessier continued to struggle, throwing 3 interceptions and completing 12 of 36 passes. Aside from forcing two turnovers by Orange Crush, there were very few bright spots for Venom as quarterback Nick Gagne was the Peter Parker to Venom’s Eddie Brock, and disposed of them rather easily. At this point in the season, it seems like a virtual lock that Venom is out of any semblance of a playoff race, while Orange Crush only has a chance at post-season play.

 

Sorry I don’t have an interesting tag line, but it was a great game nonetheless – Maccabi vs. Jeanguy

 

In what was the most heated affair, Maccabi played well enough to just barely squeeze by JeanGuy, 21-18. Emmanuel Cohen scored 3 receiving touchdowns leading his squad to victory and added 3 key tackles as well. Christophe Chartrand had a much better performance avoiding any costly turnovers and managing a solid game for his team. In the end though, Maccabi made more defensive plays with great coverage from Ofir Levy and Alexandre Bobhot. In the end, JeanGuy’s dynamic duo of receivers in Emile Lamy and Simon Laporte, although they each scored touchdowns, while catching for 32 and 49 receiving yards respectively, Maccabi limited them to only those scores while playing tight defense along the way.

 

Golden Girls vs. The ‘Pack have been rescheduled for a March 1^st fixture in Lachine.

 

 

 

Players of the Week

 

Offense: Gautama Swaminadhan – This was an easy selection to make. Swaminadhan came in and was firing on all cylinders about his passing game. He completed 94% of his passes and found three different receivers for touchdowns. If Swaminadhan becomes the full-time starter at quarterback, which would be absolutely preposterous to go against, The Heismans could be primed for a big second half run. I do have to give an honorable mention to Kevin Boustany though, with his 3 touchdowns against n.W.o.

 

Defense: Fred Jamati – Sure, they may have been performances such as the one from Nick Colasudro for the Heismans where he recorded 7 tackles. Ultimately, I had to go with a player who contributed to a team that shutout their opponent; especially considering Orange Crush was not performing up to par during their first four games. For them to do a complete 180, force three interceptions and only allow 76 passing yards is quite an impressive feat. To be quite honest, this was a total team effort, but Assad should be commended for his great play – four tackles, an interception and a pass deflection make him our D6 defensive MVP for Week 5.

 

That’s it for this quick recap of Week 5 action. There was a quick turnaround between Week 5 and Week 6, so I apologize for the lateness of this article. Be sure to check back Monday for my breakdown of Week 6 action, my latest Power Rankings and potential playoff scenarios in our beloved Division 6.

 

As always, please check out The Unclehood podcast with Moe Khan (@MoeKhan19) and David Della Rocca (@DavesRepublic), which can be found at http://www.theunclehood.com. Of course, you can ‘@’ me, talk smack or laugh at my writing on Twitter at @52isthemike and follow my NFL blog at 52isthemike.com, with all the latest offseason news and happenings around the NFL. The shameless plugs do not end there, as you can also listen to my NFL-based podcast, Pick Six Live with my buddies Rob Grosso and Rick Dieudonné.