Sunday Previews

Hello FPF community and happy New Year! Wishing you all lots of success, good health, and an amazing winter season.

I’ll start by introducing myself for those of you who don’t know me. My name is AJ Gomes and I’ve been playing in FPF for 5 years (this will be my 10^th season). I started my flag career in Division 5 and worked my way up into Divisions 1,2,3 (where I’m currently playing). This is my first year as a writer for the league and I look forward to sharing my views and opinions with all of you.

• Flag Moi L’Sac vs Got-Skills: This weeks veteran showdown between some of the sharpest minds in the game. Got-skills recently acquired Zach Jauniaux who is sure to add some more firepower to an already explosive offence with young studs like Jeremy Murphy to help lighten the workload. On the Flag Moi side of the ball we see that no changes were made to their roster going into this season so I think it’s fair to assume that Alex Nadeau-Piuze will continue to dominate with his veteran squad and his calculated play calling that is greatly complimented by his smart receiving core which has some sure handed guys like Anthony Vandrame and Guillaume Robert. I think the key matchup in this one will be between Sebastien Deschamps and Alex Nadeau-Piuze. Offensive play caller vs Defensive play caller, two smart minds, two veterans, two huge competitors. I’m taking Got-Skills for this one, I’m sure we won’t have a shortage of points in this game and I think that if Got-Skills can muster up 1 defensive stop they will take home the W in week 1.

PREDICTION: Got-Skills 42-38

• Pension Plan vs MACDO: Young athletes with speed vs Veteran athletes with experience. Pension Plan is back for another year and definitely not easy to write about because in their last season together we’ve seen them put up 60 and we’ve seen them put up 2. With that said, they are still my pick to win this game. MACDO is coming back without one of their biggest assets this year with the loss of Etienne Cardinal so it will be a question of who will step up to fill his shoes, will it be Victor Nolin, Julien Proulx or one of the new season acquisitions? Only time will tell and either way I’m expecting Anthony Siggia to lock it all down on the defensive side of things and Vince Pisano to capitalize after every turnover ending this one earlier than expected.

PREDICTION: PENSION PLAN 35-12

• Terror Squad vs No Cap: Two polar opposites in terms of experience and play style. Terror Squad has been around since winter 2011 while No Cap will be making their FPF debut this year. Terror Squad’s QB Tam Vilaydeth will take what he gets and eat the field slowly if needed whereas the No Cap QB Jimmy-Lee Janvier is notorious for throwing and forcing the ball deep. I think the No Cap offence will have no problem putting up points in this game, especially with a young superstar like Wedens Alexandre and the brotherly connection between Jimmy-Lee Janvier and Jean-Jaques Janvier. The difference in this one will come down to the lack of defensive experience from No Cap as I expect the Terror Squad Offence to take huge advantage and abuse Serge and Alex Pilon reminding us all that they have the best brother duo in the league.

PREDICTION: TERROR SQUAD 52-32

• #NR vs Les Studs: Both teams have a history of inconsistency and I’m sure that both QBs are hungry to prove themselves as they climb the ladder to become one of the best in FPF. Samuel Carron has come a long way with his team beating some big names in the past seasons only to fall short and remain one of the best yet to win a championship. Let’s see if he can make this his year while his boy Felix Laflamme is sure to be the team’s leading target, don’t get caught sleeping on Emmanuel Kerfella because I expect him to play a much bigger role this season. Now when it come to #NR their leader has proven himself to be the real deal as Corey Pecker always manages to put together an incredibly balanced roster mixed with speedy athletes like Jordan Moses, experienced role players like Paul Lapiere and defensive studs like Jermaine Parrish-Lewis. The only question is which squad will show up come game time because they do have a history of finishing the season with 20 man rosters and leaving us all asking who will show up this week. I’ll give this game to #NR (assuming they have their real team) because I’m feeling like the Defensive presence of Jermain Parrish-Lewis and the offensive play making ability of Quaid Johnson will be too overwhelming for Les Studs.

PREDICTION: #NR 33-27

• Rancerz vs Brotherhood: We should see Brotherhood run away with this game as long as they stay focused and play the way they can. The brotherhood curse is that they tend to play down to the level of the opponents who are clearly beneath them. I’m counting on Quaysie Gordon-Maule to ball out on both sides of the ball along with the new addition and young stud Nick Cenacale who lacks FPF experience but is well known for his undeniable talent. Rancerz will need to step up and be ready to compete in game 1, they currently have a 7 man roster and not one player with a 70+ rating on the offensive side of things. Now we all know that ratings don’t and won’t tell the whole story but it can’t help but raise some flags for me especially going into this match up. Jeremie Ledoux and Phillip Enchill are good players but will be heavily relied on going into this one, certainly on the defensive side of things because the key to beating brotherhood all comes down to slowing down and stopping the fast paced offensive team.

PREDICTIONS: BROTHERHOOD 46-20

• Les Prince De La Rives Sud vs Outlaws: By far one of my favourite matchups from week 1 because I feel like these two teams are very evenly matched. The last time these guys met we saw the Outlaws take it 28-25 and I expect a similar outcome. Les Princes have an exceptional QB in Julien Fiset-Cyr who can change the flow of a game with a quick score any time he has the ball because he isn’t afraid to take his chances. I know he will heavily favor his top target Marc-Antonie Viens which is understandable given his skillset but let’s not forget about Mathieu Girard-Provost who can make a play when they need it most. They need to limit turnovers and punch in all extra points in this game. The Outlaws are coming into this one HOT after rolling their way through a holiday tournament that saw them as the winners in a cinderella story for the ages. Outlaws have tremendous team chemistry and that’s why I’m going to pick them to take this one. Expect to see big things from Justin Lerner and Isiah Allard not just in week 1 but all season long as their veteran QB Stephen Harripersaud keeps getting better year after year and recently looked sharp in the preseason tourney they won.

PREDICTION: OUTLAWS 28-27