Categories: Co-EdCo-Ed 2ComplementaryDivisionWomen's

Tips, Tricks and Analysis from Coed and Women’s Divisions

Coed and the Women’s division are finally emerging from their mid-season lull, and we are about to enter the end of season rush. Roughly half the games remain to be played and only two or three weeks to fit them all in. With the playoffs looming closer and closer, I think this is a good time to throw in some important reminders. For starters, any player who wants to qualify for the playoffs needs to play a minimum of five games with that team. You can verify the number of games someone has played on your team’s page under the roster button. It is important to note that according to FPF roster regulations if you do not have a jersey, have a jersey of a different colour/shade from the rest of your team or do not have a number on your jersey you will not receive stats or a game played for that match. Long story short, make sure you and everyone on your team has a proper jersey. Since this is a condensed season the league has implemented a new policy in order to help qualify players for the playoffs. If you have a double header and a player is unable to attend both games, you can contact the league at [email protected] to request one game played credit for that player.

On a lighter note, the playoff schedule for Coed and the Women’s division has come out. The big date to mark off on your calendars is August 14th. All of the finals will be played on that day in Brossard. The Coed 1 finals will go at 1:10pm, the Coed 2 finals at 2:20pm and the Women’s finals at noon. The semifinals in Coed will be played on Sunday August 7th and the Women’s semis will go on Monday the 8th. The full playoff schedule can be found here.

Now that the formalities are out of the way I figured that I would take the opportunity to share a few more technical insights into how the FPF game is played on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Since there are so many new teams in both Coed 2 and the Women’s division I figured it would be useful to explain a few of the very basic play calls that have led teams at all levels of FPF to success and championships.

Defensive Notes:

There are a few different kinds of defence that teams will use in FPF and knowing how and when to use each is key to success.

Man to man: Man coverage just about speaks for itself. Every defender matches up against a defender and they cover them. While this is an effective coverage, it has a number of shortcomings. For starters, if you are facing a mobile quarterback, it makes you vulnerable to the run game. Since all the defenders are looking at their receivers instead of the passer, if the QB beats the rusher they can usually amass quite a few yards.

For man coverage to be effective you also need to be confident in every single matchup across the board. If there are any weak links on your defence they will be exposed in man coverage.

Finally, man coverage is especially vulnerable to rub routes. If opposing quarterbacks realize you are consistently playing man defence they will create congestion and hope that defenders will get lost in the mess of bodies.

All in all, man coverage can be an effective tool, but it is not what you should be running most of the game. If you use man to man defence as a tool to surprise your opponent, the element of surprise can make it an extremely effective tool.

Zone Coverage: This is the most commonly used form of coverage in FPF. Instead of every defender being responsible for a receiver, each is responsible for an area of the field. The way zone defences are generally called is with numbers. The corner on the defence’s left is #1, the slot on the left is #2 the safety is #3, the slot right is #4 and the right corner is #5. The defensive captain will then call numbers and the numbers called are the players that will be covering the deep. The players who do not hear their number called are covering the shorts. While this is an extremely strong way of calling a defence, diversity is key. Nothing is easier for a quarterback to beat than a zone defence that never changes. To keep opposing quarterbacks you need to vary the players that are dropping deep.  

If you are facing a quarterback who likes throwing short and into the middle of the field then calling 1&5, thereby dropping the corners deep and keeping everyone else short, is an extremely effective way of taking away the middle of the field. That being said, 1&5 leaves you vulnerable to vertical routes from the interior receivers. If you are facing a quarterback that loves going deep then a call like 1-3-5 will drop the corners and safety deep which should neutralize the deep passing game. Essentially, every zone coverage has an advantage and a weakness. The more different zones you call the better you will learn the pros and cons of every call.

Lanes: This is a call most often used by teams in the red zone. The field is divided into five and every single defender is responsible for their fifth of the field. This call does a great job of taking away the goal line but is vulnerable to routes attacking the back of the endzone.

Offensive Notes:

While it might be counterintuitive, I started with the defensive calls because the offense is reacting to what the defence gives it. Accordingly, offensive calls can be broken down into man beaters, zone beaters and lane beaters.

Man Beaters: The easiest way to beat man coverage is to have at least one receiver who can consistently beat the defender covering them. If you look at the top teams in Coed, they all have a man beater on their roster. The Justice League have Serge Pilon, Kiss My End Zone have James Drysdale, etc. If you do not have a receiver who can consistently beat man coverage then you need to call specific kind of plays. Double moves such as in-and-outs or post-corners will have a higher success rate against man. Finally, crossing routes often beat man coverage because defenders will wind up running into each other.

Zone Beaters: This is an extremely broad category of plays and there are quarterbacks who take years to perfect a playbook to beat different types of zone coverage. To simplify things, the way to beat zone coverage is to overload a specific area of the field. Since there is one defender for a fixed area, sending two receivers into the same area will result in the defender having to choose one receiver and leave the other open. The simplest form of this is calling all hooks. The quarterback then just needs to read which defender is dropping deep and throw the ball to the receiver in front of that defender. Another classic zone beater is triple slants. In this play the three interior receivers all run a 1-yard slant in the same direction. The wide receiver on the side that the slants are being run towards will run a fly and the receiver on the other end of the field will run a hook. The quarterback then reads who is dropping deep and throws to the slant that will be entering the zone where the defender is dropping deep. Beating a zone defence is all about finding the hole.

Lanes Beaters: Lanes beaters are essentially a variation of zone beaters. If you know that every defender will be stacked on the goal line then you need to have two of your receivers in the same lane. That will force the defender to choose one of the two receivers, leaving the other open. For example, if a wide receiver runs a hook at the back of the endzone and the slot receiver runs an out at the front of the endzone, one should be open. The key to beating lanes is to have one short receiver and one deep receiver in the same zone. Any play call that achieves that should beat lanes.

I know that I have rambled on for too long without mentioning any teams so I will use the rest of the article to analyze the week that was and the week to come.

Week 5 Game of the Week:

Les Princesses (31) vs Sneaky Snakes (28)

Sneaky Snakes have one of the best defence in Coed 2. In six games they have conceded only 100 points. If they keep this up they will be on pace to concede less than 200 points all season which is very impressive. While this Sneaky Snakes defence might be good, Les Princesses’ Emil Bartélémy is even better. He had an absolute monster of a game in this one as he went off for 94 yards and a herculean five touchdowns. Having played against Bartélémy in the game after this one, I can safely say that he is the best deep threat in the division. He has top level speed and an amazing ability to snag the ball out of the air. He made one handed touchdown catches over a defender look routine. In my power rankings just last week I said that Les Princesses needed a second weapon to add to their offence. Well, it looks like they have found one. The prospect of needing to cover both Bartélémy and Dimitri Melsbach, is an imposing threat for any defence. That same duo also made the difference on the defensive end in this one since they each recorded an interception. Going forward, this Les Princesses team is one that opponents will need to keep an eye on. With Dimitri Melsbach, Emil Bartélémy and Mikael Arseneau they have the most athletic core in Coed 2. As their experience continues to grow this team should be able to take on just about anyone.

As for Sneaky Snakes, this is still an impressive showing. They kept the game close despite missing arguably their best player in Julien Proulx. They lost this game because they had no answer to Emil Bartélémy, who caught all five touchdowns against them. With Proulx in the lineup I am sure that Bartélémy would have had a much tougher time. This Sneaky Snakes roster does a lot well. They do a great job of spreading the ball and including their female receivers. Defensively they have six different players with interceptions. This is a team with a lot of weapons and with their full roster, I have a feeling that they would be walking away with a win against Les Princesses.

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. The team of the week will be composed of players from Coed 1, Coed 2 and the Women’s division. Only stats will be considered when choosing players for the team of the week. That means 100 receiving yards in Coed 1 is equivalent to 100 receiving yards in Coed 2. In the spirit of the Coed division, every team of the week will have a minimum of two female players on the offensive and defensive team.

Offence

Quarterback: Ignacio Valdes Manzanedo (Kiss My End Zone) 21 completions, 214 passing yards, 5 TDs

Receiver: Emil Bartélémy (Les Princesses) 7 receptions, 94 yards, 5 TDs

Receiver: Joey Notaro (Kiss My End Zone) 6 receptions, 135 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Isiah Allard (Kiss My Outlaws) 5 receptions, 97 yards, 2 TDs

Receiver: Laurence Pontbriand (Fitsquad) 5 receptions, 57 yards, 1 TD

Receiver: Kailey Delia (Strangers) 7 receptions, 78 yards, 1 TD

Defence

Rusher: Hugo Lépine (Fitsquad) 1 tackle, 2 sacks, 1 PD

Defensive Back: Diana-Janes Landry (Strangers) 2 tackles, 1 INT, 3 PDs

Defensive Back: Charles-Olivier Lavigne (EZFun) 2 tackles, 1 INT, 2 PDs

Defensive Back: Cassie Levy (Strangers) 1 tackle, 2 INTs, 3 PDs

Defensive Back: Alexi Dubois (Kiss My End Zone) 5 tackles, 1 INT

Defensive Back: Dimitri Melsbach (Les Princesses) 4 tackles, 1 INT

Week 6 Predictions:

Red Nation (3-1) vs Les P’tites Miettes (2-2) – Women’s

This is the last matchup of the season between Red Nation and Les P’tites Miettes. With both teams already jockeying for the top spot, the winner of this game will be in a great position moving forward. As a matter of fact, if Red Nation win this one they would be just one win away from clinching the top seed.

The last time these teams faced off, Red Nation escaped with the narrow 14-12 victory. Critically in that game, RN quarterback Allyson Sobol did not throw a single interception whereas LPM’s Morgane Cosimano-Valois threw two, one of which was returned for the deciding touchdown. I expect this game to come down to a turnover battle once again. Whichever quarterback protects the ball best will lead her team to victory. While Sobol might have got off to a disastrous start to the season, throwing five INTs versus Villa, she has redeemed herself of late. In her last three games she has only been picked off three times. On the other hand, Morgane Cosimano-Valois started off the season strong but has thrown two interceptions in each of her previous two games. This is not going to be a high scoring affair, but I see Red Nation escaping with the win.

Prediction: Red Nation

The Justice League (3-2) vs Fast Not Furious (1-3)

You might be wondering why I am bothering to analyze a game between the top seed and sixth seed according to my power rankings. Well, Fast not Furious handed The Justice League one of their two losses of the season in week 1. In that week 1 game, it was very clear that Sara Parker was still shaking off some rust. She threw two interceptions and was thoroughly unimpressive in her first outing of the season. Justin Weir was slightly better. He threw for just 171 yards and was intercepted once but that was enough for his team to escape with a 32-28 win.

I see this matchup going very differently. Sara Parker has been getting better and better each week. After starting her season with an abysmal five interceptions in two games, the star QB has only thrown two in her past three games. While Justin Weir has also been protecting the ball, he has not been posting stellar numbers. He has only thrown for over 200 yards once this season. The best case scenario for FnF is that this game becomes a shootout with each team scoring at will and a single stop deciding the game. If this game becomes a defensive battle, it will unequivocally lean in favor of The Justice League. They have the superior defenders and defensive IQ. Even if this game is a high scoring affair, I have a hard time seeing FnF coming out on top. Weir has never played on a team where he needs to score on every drive to be able to win. This game will come down to who will make the most mistakes and in games like that, it is extremely hard to bet against the experience of The Justice League.

Prediction: The Justice League

There you have your week 5 article! It was fun to see the podcast breakdown my power rankings in their last edition. That being said, they could have simplified their segment by saying “we agree with everything Alexi said.” This week the podcast will have to find their own materials I guess!

Good luck to everyone this week and feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions or concerns.