Week 1 Recap: Unexpected Results — As Expected

Week 1 is officially in the books, and as one might expect, it went very little as expected. Surprise blowouts, big-time performances from little-known or brand new players, teams you would think should be rolling on all cylinders instead stumbling out of the gates and vice versa –the list goes on.

The great thing about it all is that all, some, or none at all of it may matter come Week 11. We’re a long way away from knowing just who exactly is for real and who isn’t. (But it’s always fun to speculate, isn’t it?)

 

Recaps

Les Affreux See a Red Door, and Want to Keep it Painted Red

Premature conclusion from Les Affreux’s 33-6 dismantling of Get on Deck: they’re back, baby.

After a slow start offensively in the first half, Les Affreux’s QB-turned-receiver-turned-QB-again Mat Domon was able to pick up on Get on Deck’s affinity for man coverage – and burned them accordingly. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t long-time leading receiver Mathieu Dubois who reaped the benefits, nor higher division addition JR Beausoleil, but rather Martin Jackson. 

Jackson has long been a secondary target in the Affreux’s receiving corps, but that certainly wasn’t the case this past week after he went off for 7 catches for over 100 yards and 4 TDs – nearly all coming in the second half, and nearly all coming on the same corner route that Get on Deck never adjusted to.     

Defensively, it comes as little surprise that the experienced Affreux defense was able to make the debut of rookie QB Reginald Café’s one he’d like to forget, as he failed to hit the century-mark through the air while getting picked off four times. Better luck next week.

 

Two Shades of Grey

Friends in Low Places entered their matchup versus Bromigos without their usual starting QB, Jordan Bellemare. The team decided to have key receiving target Alex Grey take over in Bellemare’s place – a worrisome move considering Grey was just a day removed from recording a 12.4 QBR in his debut at the position in Division E.

But clearly the Alex Grey from Sunday was not the same as the one from Monday, because the one on Monday was absolutely phenomenal. It certainly helped to have two studs to throw to in Danny D’Amour and Kevin Smuda, with the pair combining for 14 receptions for 143 yards and 5 TDs – but it also takes a QB to feed them the ball. 

The pair made their presence felt just as well defensively, helping hold Bromigos QB Patrick Larose-Laurent to just three touchdowns on the night.

If Friends looked this solid without their starter, it doesn’t take much to wonder how much stronger they’ll be upon his return.   

 

Zoo Leave Frosty Bronsons Needing Some Frosty Bronsons 

Not to take anything away from Zoo’s convincing 33-20 victory over Frosty Bronsons this past week, but it’s clear Frosty didn’t do themselves any favors in this one. From the inconsistent accuracy of QB James Nowakowski, to the bad case of dropsies suffered by his receiving corps, to drive-killing snaps over his head by Terry Tam – including one on a fourth down – it was evident that the team was just… off. There’s no doubt in my mind they will bounce back. 

That being said, Zoo QB Frank Kaye deserve big credit for coming into Week 1 looking anything but rusty coming off the offseason break. Indeed, the Frank Kaye/Pat St-Amand connection was as smooth as ever, resulting in a cool 59 receiving yards and two TDs. Frank was able to get just about his entire receiving corps in on the fun, as had little difficulty reading the Frosty defense and slowly marching up and down the field spreading the ball around to whichever receiver was open first.  

If Zoo are able to keep up with Backyard Bullies next week, they won’t be the sneaky good team I pegged them as to start the season – they’ll be front and centre on everyone’s list of teams to watch out for. If.

 

Power Rankings

1. Backyard Bullies: ByB took on the Winter 5A champs and absolutely dominated without breaking a sweat.

2. 5-Star: Surprising: it’s Jeremy Anderson at QB. Not surprising: 5-Star’s offense was rolling from start to finish regardless.

T-3. Get Off My D and The Alpha-T’s: You tie on the field, you tie in my power rankings. Because I feel like it.

5. St. Lunatics: It’s still early, but it sure looks as though St. Lunatics fixed their scoring problem with the switch to Domenic Benevento at QB.

6. Friends in Low Places: I completely overlooked Friends replacing last season’s leading receiver, James Nowakowski, with a different kind of beast altogether in former Coyote Kevin Smuda. I paid for it by embarrassing myself for not putting this team in my preseason top 10. Fortunately, I won’t be getting embarrassed on the field like FLP’s opponents will.

7. Prestige Worldwide: Seven TDs in seven drives in the first game of the season against an SnC defense that was supposedly improved over last winter’s 5A version? It doesn’t get much more impressive than that. 

8. The Goats: I expected 35+ week-in and week-out. They’re one-for-one so far.

9. Zoo: 5 TDs to just one INT from the ageless wonder known as Frank Kaye against one of my preseason top 10 teams. I tip my hat.

10. Gamecocks: So, about those concerns regarding not knowing who their QB would be heading into the season? Yeah, those are pretty much alleviated.

 

Random Thoughts

-It’s probably going to get mentioned by just about every media member, but the Stade de soccer de Montréal is a damn good looking field. Damn good looking. 

-That being said, I look forward to the day bags and Gatorade are allowed on the field.

-Highlighting this year’s Division D QB carousel: Weapon X officially return to Jordan Maxwell; Les Affreux have decided to go back to Mat Domon in place of Jonathan Lemieux; 5-Star are trying out Jeremy Anderson at the position; St. Lunatics are going with Dominic Benevento in place of Michael Sanchez; Gamecocks have Jordan Prizant taking over for Daniel Richman. I’m looking forward to seeing which changes pan out and which ones fail miserably.

-Shoutout to Joseph Kano. Seeing you burn past Simon Dagenais for a 40-yard TD was painful, but man was it awesome to witness.  

-Leaders for favorite team names: Prestige Worldwide, if it is indeed a reference to Step Brothers, and Two and a Half Dabs, for obvious reasons.  

-Leaders for most annoying names: Taimesaheiiin, because there’s just something wrong about typing three Is in a row.  

-Speaking of team names, Jeff Rosenblatt’s gotta tell me how he successfully got Get Off My D approved. 

-Don’t forget that Picture Week is this week, so make sure to go extra hard on the bench press on Saturday. And maybe get some Sportira jerseys.  

 

Matchups of the Week

Zoo vs. Backyard Bullies

In Week 3 in Division 4A this past winter season, Frank Kaye’s Zoo took on Rich Humes’ Backyard Bullies and got annihilated by a score of 40 to 14. Set to face-off once again next week, it’ll be interesting to see if Kaye and company can keep things competitive for more than just a half versus a ByB team that is without Vinny Gualano and Steve Sanner, and is QBed by Brennan Burke instead of Humes.

Key for Zoo will be solid rushing by Kevin Marcil. Burke doesn’t shy away from throwing intermediate-to-deep routes, which means the less time Marcil gives him to throw, the better for Zoo. Any hope of a Zoo win will also require a big game from top target Patrick St-Amand, who was shut out of the endzone the last time these two teams went head-to-head. 

My expectation is that the Bullies take this one handedly – I’m simply not sure the Zoo defense has what it takes to handle all the firepower on the other side. My hope is that Zoo can put up a good fight and show they belong in the playoff conversation.  

 

Bromigos vs. Get Off My D

This one is not quite a team vs. team rematch, although it’s close enough considering Bromigos took on the Jeff Rosenblatt-led Keyport Lock in Division 4B in Week 6 last winter – and were dominated 27-8. The Bromigos D may not know much about Rosenblatt’s new weapons this season, notably Jad Aridi, Marty Freedman and Rob Bohbot, but their familiarity with Rosenblatt himself should help.

However, I’m not sure exactly how much it’ll help. The Bromigos offense isn’t exactly known to be a particularly potent one, and that may prove to be a problem against a Get Off My D team that is sure to march up and down the field with high efficiency passes and hit 30 points or more. 

Barring a big show from QB Patrick Larose-Laurent, that may mean any hopes of a Bromigos win lies in their ability to get off the field on 4th down and make at least a few red zone stops. Against a team featuring the ever-sneaky Jad Aridi, that isn’t likely to happen.    

 

Junkyard Dogs vs. 5-Star

This is probably the matchup I’m looking forward to the most this weekend, if only because it should give us a pretty good idea of whether Junkyard Dogs can truly compete for a Division D championship this season. 5-Star are coming off a good, but not great showing in 4A this past winter, while Junkyard Dogs are coming off a stellar season in 5A. Despite the changes to 5-Star and the upgrades Junkyard have made to their squad, you would assume a team with higher div experience should easily handle a lower division team, but I’m not sure that will be the case here.

For starters, Junkyard Dogs feature unquestionably one of the best rushers in all the division in Joseph Sifakis, who figures to cause major problems for a QB in Jeremy Anderson that has all of 41 passes to his name in his FPF career. Meanwhile, the three-headed two-way beast that is Hugo Allamanno, Jordan Rossie and Bruno Lajoie should make for a great competition against 5-Star’s own formidable duo of Dilan Daoust and Jordan Moses. I’m expecting big points, I’m expecting a decent amount of penalty flags, and I’m expecting a close game.

 

Picks of the Week 

A 9-7 week (56.25%) to start the season isn’t exactly the way I envisioned things to go, but it is better than Nicolas Belleau’s 8-9 (47.06%) week and that’s good enough for me. Time to build on my lead:

 

Junkyard Dogs vs. 5-Star

 

Zoo vs. Backyard Bullies

 

The Alpha-T’s vs. Get on Deck

 

All Blacks vs. The Goats

 

Magic City vs. Justice League

 

Longhorns vs. Gamecocks

 

Fuzzy-Kittens vs. Supply and Command (N/A)

 

Taimesaheiiin vs. Two and a Half Dabs

 

Ghosts vs. Friends in Low Places

 

Weapon X vs. Hot Boys Hotline

 

Prestige Worldwide vs. More Money-Less TDs

 

Pandas vs. On Les Empêche

 

Gators vs. Frosty Bronsons

 

Bromigos vs. Get Off My D

 

Les Indécis vs. Blue Devils

 

Les Affreux vs. Sabrfc

 

Sticky Hands vs. St. Lunatics

 

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Be sure to check out this week’s Division D podcast with Simon Dagenais and Terry Tam at www.youtube/.comflagplus, recorded live on Thursday at 9 p.m. Until next week, Blanchard out!