Week 1 Recap – FlagPlus Football League

Ladies and gentlemen, football fans everywhere, welcome to the 2015 Flag Plus Football Spring season. For those of you that don’t know, I am Brent Bodkin and I will be your Division E writer for this season.

Last Spring saw the Cream Team knock off The Minge 52-30 to capture the Div. E title. Just like in Div.6 this past Winter Season, there will be a new champion crowned when it’s all said and done as last year’s champs have moved up to Div. C, and The Minge after an extremely tough Winter campaign have disbanded.

Another change this season is the amount of teams within the division. Last spring there were 18 teams, this time around we have 20.

Based on a ton of positive feedback I received throughout the winter campaign, I think that you guys generally enjoyed my articles. So I figure, if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. Once again this season, you guys will get my opinion, feedback, support and constructive criticism. As always, I encourage EVERYONE to get at me through e-mail or Twitter (More on that later) in the event that I miss something, or even to just comment on my work. A lot of the D6 players did that last season, and I appreciated it, so feel free to do the same.

Last season in the D6 article, I incorporated a few aspects that were popular among my readers like the High Five, Elite 8, and Step It Up. Since people liked them, and I enjoyed writing them, they will be back this season.

Moving on, let’s get into why you guys are here. Due to the fact that Week 1 is already in the books, and Week 2 starts up tonight, let’s get into a re-cap of last week’s, and a preview of tonight’s games. As always, I will start things off with a few things that caught my eye during the previous week’s action.

Flight of the Conchords, a team who I have had many battles with in the past, really put it together defensively in the 2nd half of their game against the Smash Bros as they held them to just 6 points after giving up 4 four TDs in the 1st stanza and trailing 26-24 at halftime. Let’s see if FOTC can play a full defensive game tomorrow night when they take on One Man Show.

Gabriel Poisson of the Fuzzy-Kittens had a spectacular FPF debut as he registered 3 catches for 64 yards and a TD to go along with 2 interceptions, 2 batted balls, and 3 tackles as his team escaped with a 33-29 victory over The Fat and The Furious. A fish playing with cats, imagine that.

The JeanGuy defense looks primed to pick up where they left off in the winter. Lead by arguably FPF’s best rusher Simon Laporte, they harassed Mile Public House QBs Simon Gauthier and Hugo Dallaire into 4 picks, 9 completions, and a minuscule 64 yards. Well done JeanGuy.

The Bloodmachines are a new team in FPF. They had a good showing in their first game as they knocked off Been There Done That 39-19. B.M quarterback Charles-Olivier Lavigne who is essentially making his FPF QB debut as well finshed the game going 17 of 28 for 176 yards with 6 TDs and an INT. He connected for scores with 4 different pass catchers. That was a strong showing. Let’s see what he and his team can do against the Big Blue Wrecking Crew tonight.

High Five

For those of you that are new to the league or my column, the point here is pretty simple. I will list the Top 5 performances by a player, team, or both. Don’t be mad if you don’t make the list, there are a lot of games and players to watch each and every week. More importantly, your play should be consistent enough that you leave me no choice but to put you on. So, force my hand. (BTW, these are in no particular order, so don’t lose your cool if you’re not the first person or team mentioned.)

Carl Doyon – The JeanGuy defensive back had a phenomenal first game against Mile Public House. The fifth year player recorded a Week 1 Div E high 4 INTs (one of which he ran back to the house) along with 1 tackle.

We’ll see if Doyon has some more magic in his hands when he and his team take on team no name© tonight.

Rino Nappi – The Big Blue Wrecking Crew WR had an amazing day receiving as he shredded the Tigers’ Defense for 6 catches for 138 yards and 3 TDs. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as him team fell 36-25. Let’s see if Nappi can build off of his performance tonight when he and his take on the high-scoring Bloddmachines. Hands down he wins the award for best name in Div E.

Cesar Martinez –Cesar Martinez of the Bloodmachines had a very impressive in his first taste of FPF football, as he almost single-handedly beat Been There Done That. Martinez recorded a game high 2 INTs to go along with 5 catches for 41 yards and 2 TDs.

Royalty Defense – With both the Royalty and their opponents the Looney Goons struggling offensively, (More on that later) the team that made the most plays on the defensive end was going to get the W. That’s exactly what Royalty did. Led by pass rusher Anthony Lucarino who had an impressive 4 sacks, the Royalty D was able to pick off Looney Goons’ quarterback Brain Zenobi 3 times.

After the win, three questions remain. First, can Royalty keep up the defensive intensity Monday night against Los Guapos? Can their Offense get out of 1st gear? And, maybe the most important question of all, should Simon Laporte be worried?

Falcons – Simply put, the Falcons annihilated One Man Show. Although the 44-16 final score was impressive, the fact that it came against a team who is fresh off of making the Div. 6 Finals as Wax On Wax Off, is remarkable in its own right.

Wax On Wax Off/One Man Show is a great team that more than earned my respect in the Winter Season. Could the performance they delivered just be a case of Week 1 rust? Or is it the dreaded Super Bowl hangover with a side dish of things to come. For now, I’m going to assume it’s just the rust. Their game against an explosive Flight of the Conchords team Monday night will speak volumes.

Step It Up

The concept here is simple as well. I will list the top three teams or players that as the heading says, need to Step It Up. Once again for those of you who are new to this, or for those who simply need a refresher course, the best way to make an appearance on the list is to play SOOO bad that I have no choice but to put you on…and suggest you book a field ASAP to get some practice time in.

Basically, if you throw more, or close to as many, or even the same amount as interceptions as you do completions, you will find yourself on the list. The same thing applies for multiple drops and repeated blown coverages.

Hugo Dallaire – the High Five I mentioned a rookie who had solid FPF debuts. Unfortunately for Mr. Dallaire, his first experience in FPF didn’t go so smoothly, as he went 0 for 3 with an INT. As I said above, if you fall into that almost or more picks than completions, you’ll definitely make an appearance on the list.

For this next one, since it deals with two players, I will count this as entries 2 and 3 on the list…

Loyalty and Looney Goons’ Offenses – As I mentioned earlier, it was a real defensive slugfest last week when these two teams locked horns. One major reason for that was the inept play at QB both teams received.

For Looney Goons’ pivot Ben Zenobi, he finished the game going 8 of 16 for 36 yards and 3 INTs. In his defense, he did manage to throw 2 TDs, but the less than 5 yards per pass average, and my rule about picks and completions earns him a spot on the list.

His counterpart James D’Andrea barely fared better. While he was able to reach triple digits in passing yards, his QB rating and completion percentage leave little to be desired as he went a paltry 8 for 24.

Picks

Bloodmachines vs Big Blue Wrecking Crew – Bloodmachines

The Fat and the Furious vs Tigers – Tigers

Smokin’ Axolotls vs Falcons – Falcons

#Baton vs Smash Bros – Smash Bros

One Man Show vs Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Concords

Los Guapos vs Royalty – Royalty

TDs and Beer vs Looney Goons – TDs and Beer

Been There Done That vs Mile Public House – Been There Done That

Fuzzy-Kittens vs Redmen – Fuzzy Kittens

Last Week: N/A

That’s it for Week 1. I’ll be back next week with my Week 2 recap. Enjoy the games everybody!

If you loved the article, hated it, or simply felt I left something out, don’t be shy. You can shoot me a tweet at @BADNEWS51, or do it the semi old fashioned way and e-mail me at [email protected]

It feels good to be back.