Categories: DivisionDivision ADivision BMen'sSpring

Week 1: Upsets and miscues

A change of pace.

It’s been a few days now since FPF Spring 2017 debuted and I already feel like we’re in mid-season form with all these upsets and power struggles. I’m not sure whether it’s the week 1 woes or we’re in for a hell of a season, but I must say, I’m really happy with how Week 1 turned out.

I’m sure I’m amongst many, including currently winless teams *cough* DA Finest *cough*, that’s glad to see newcomers get Ws in their very first week. Parity is at its finest, pun intended, and I’m sure many of you will enjoy it.

Let’s get started.

 

Week 1

Starting off with the biggest upset of the week in Braves taking down DA Finest and followed by Rainmakers’ win over Rare Bears, it was eventful. I’m still uncertain whether or not Monstars beating Top Guns can be qualified as an upset, but there’s no doubt Drop The Mic’s performance comes as a shocker to many of us.

 

Thoughts of the Week

  • I know the team picture isn’t this season’s, but I hardly had a choice. 
  • Ryan Kastner ran for 40 yards and a touchdown? What?
  • Some serious shift in this week’s Power Rankings. Luckily, I can pretend it’s due to preseason and not lack of knowledge.
  • Marco Masciotra IS human after all.
  • Rod Mashtoub made THE catch of the week for Kings. I’m still impressed he caught that AND dragged his toes in-bounds.
  • Paul Lapierre played with keys in his gloves for like 20 minutes. Is it just me or does that feel super uncomfortable?
  • This week’s best miscue goes to Paul Lapierre and Rob Robinson: Paul fakes the hand-off infront of him while Rob runs behind him. They still completed the pass on the play though, but it was a funny sight.
  • I’m secretly cheering for Rainmakers to remain on a winning path. Well, I guess it ain’t a secret no more, but still.
  • Is STL weaker than I envisioned or does a lot of credit go to QUAN for their performance?
  • Gordon Hogan was dearly missed on KGP’s defence Tuesday night.
  • Alex Pilon turning a 4-yard hook into a 40-yard TD is slowly becoming a thing in FPF. Sadly, it’s also very demoralizing to play against.
  • Patrick Chenard rushing isn’t something you see everyday in FPF.
  • Our new roster tab is quite tricky; don’t flip out too early.
  • I’m still unsure who’s the best acquisition so far.
  • Ryan Kastner and Rod Mashtoub are the only Qbs in Division A to not have thrown a pick in week 1.
  • Mario Porreca is leading Division B with the best QBR (147.3) after week 1’s action.
  • The only player with over 100 receiving yards in Division A barely played offence last Spring; Patrick Chenard.
  • Don’t forget to tune in to Division A/B’s podcast to hear what Marco Masciotra and Vinny Gualano has to say about you. Oh, there’s also Peeze hosting, so there’s that too.

 

Recaps

Division A

  • Braves vs DA Finest: For those of you who knows me well, you all know I hate talking about games I haven’t witnessed first hand, but an exception is in order this week as Braves managed to upset DA Finest in a 27-26 victory on opening Sunday and I’ll be the first to say I DID NOT see it coming. Vince Nardone was quite happy to let me know they took down DA Finest few hours later, trust me. All jokes aside, both defences stepped up and this stats sheet does not remind me of a Division A game. With 3 interceptions thrown (2 by Kevin Wyeth), some could say he missed Akked Moore and Adam Bailey dearly. Patrick Chenard stepped up to lead the Finest’ receiving corps with 111 offensive yards, but couldn’t clinch the endzone. Georges Gariepy’s physically came in handy against tough opponents as he finished with 75 receiving yards and a TD; not bad at all. My early prediction of Jonathan Maheu stealing the two-way award in Division A looks a lot less foolish now.
  • Top Guns vs Monstars: I wasn’t too certain which way to lean going into this game, but Top Guns emerged as the early favorite going into halftime leading 27-19 after a huge sack from Jonathan Lyristis on Rod Mashtoub who tried to juke him to buy time in the pocket; needless to say that didn’t work out as planned. Paul Lapierre looked very comfortable in the pocket firing darts to a bunch of new receivers and Top Guns’ offence looked like a fine-tuned engine for the first 22 minutes. Sadly, the second half was an entirely different story. Monstars’ offence found success in short dump-offs to Jad Aridi and Sam Mashtoub (yes, you read that correctly) and breaking tackles for big gains. Rod Mashtoub took what the defence gave him running 4 times for 25 yards and taking very few shots deep, but connected on most of them. Down 5, Paul Lapierre went for Rob Robinson on a third down attempt, but Theo Bekelis was in tight coverage and the contested ball fell to the ground in the endzone. Going for it on 4th and long, I was expecting something deep down a sideline, but he went back to Rob Robinson, but Theo Bekelis, once again, was right up there and made, potentially, the play of the game knocking the ball out of bounds in the back of the endzone. Monstars quickly answered back with a score and there simply wasn’t enough time left for Top Guns to make a comeback.

 

Division B

  • Rich & Famous vs Incredibles: I don’t know whether it was because he was nervous to play his first game in Division B or he simply had a bad outing, but Rich Humes struggled against Incredibles on Monday night. Even with his astonishing receiving corps, they couldn’t move the ball properly and they even made Terry Tam look good defensively. There is no doubt Chris Milard’s rushing had an impact as Rich Humes’ ability to move in the pocket and to roll one way or the other was cut down drastically and impacted his game. I’ve talked a lot about how strong of a defensive unit Incredibles have this season and don’t require much out of Greg Stern to be successful and this was exactly it; they allowed 19 points and 140 passing yards was sufficient. Don’t get me wrong, Greg Stern played well, but it wasn’t spectacular. If their defence can keep games in check like this, there’s no doubt Incredibles might just emerge as one of the, if not the best team in Division B this Spring.
  • KGP vs Drop The Mic: Vinny Gualano and I watched this game and came up with very similar conclusions: defences were basically absent. On one side, Mario Porreca looked great in his team’s debut throwing dimes to wide open receivers such a Timothy Godber who never seemed to be covered or throwing up jump balls to Troy Trench who’s basically Moss’ing everyone. On the other, Phil Cutler kept chucking it deep to either Justin McLean or, well, Justin McLean. It’s not so much that he was open, but that he just gets the football regardless who’s on him. James Crowe also made some pretty nice sidelines catches to move the chains every now and then. Overall, we had an offensive shoutout on our hands until Phil Cutler made an ill-advised throw that Jeremy Anderson saw from a mile away and brought back for 6. Turning a 5 point lead into an 11 point lead was simply the dagger late in the second half and there was nothing KGP could have done to overcome the deficit. As much as both offences looked great out there, the defences looked flawed; either they left someone wide open for Mario Porreca to pick apart or they allowed guys to go up for balls uncontested and carve them up for big gains. With guys like Jelani McLaren and Patrick Chenard on a roster, you’d expect bigger things defensively.
  • Kings vs Coyotes: Without Sammy Feder, Coyotes simply aren’t the same team. Ryan Lelinowski is a fantastic WR, but his QB skills aren’t up to par in Division B and it showed on Tuesday night against Kings; sure he made some plays and ran for some huge chunks of yards and allowed Dave Chitayat to make absolutely ridiculous sideline catches to bail him out, but otherwise it was lack-lusting. Mathieu René looks awfully comfortable in the pocket with a makeshift snapper and an offence riddled with penalties in the first half; with his receiving corps, he’s bound to have a very successful season. Marc-André Lapointe lost no time making an impact as he batted down the first pass of the game; 40-yard bomb on his side of the field and nudging 2 interceptions deep in his own territory. Kings looked like the real deal out there and if they can have some sort of roster consistency throughout the regular season, they’ll climb the rankings quite a lot.

 

Players of the Week

Division A

  • Hugo Allamano (Rainmakers): In his first ever Division A game, he stepped up with 2 redzone interceptions to help his team clinch their first win of the season. Oh, and he caught a TD.
  • Jacob Bernett (Top Guns): Although the stat sheet shows 5 receptions for 81 yards and 3 touchdowns, he didn’t get enough targets on a night where he looked impossible to cover. Very impressive performance.
  • Bobby Mikelberg (Rainmakers): 9 receptions for 91 yards, 3 Tds and a brilliant jumpball catch. Rare are the players who can say they’ve caught a jumpball against Sasha Papich in this league; he is now one of them.

 

Division B

  • Timothy Godber (Drop The Mic): 7 receptions, 130 yards and 3 Tds in his season debut is pretty impressive.
  • Mathieu Lepage (Kings): 6 receptions, 65 yards and 4 touchdowns doesn’t go unnoticed in this league.
  • Francesco Spanti (Lightweight): Making me look good with 3 touchdown receptions and an interception.

 

Power Rankings

Division A

  1. Braves (1-0): The new guys in town knocked the previously top seed. They’ve earned themselves a nice target on their back now.
  2. Rainmakers (1-0): If we put history aside, I’m super impressed with Rainmakers’ debut. Can they prevent recent years’ struggles to resurface?
  3. DA Finest (0-1): Losing by 1 or 20 is still a loss. Spring 2017 won’t be a cakewalk.
  4. Monstars (1-0): Fought back adversity and made a pretty impressive comeback on Tuesday night.
  5. Top Guns (0-1): As impressive as the first half was, the second was a complete letdown. Will they adjust properly in the upcoming weeks?
  6. Rare Bears (0-1): From many angles, their week 1’s performance was simply far below expectations. Still plenty of time to bounce back though.

 

Division B

  1. Six Fast Guys Minus Ryan (1-0): From what I gathered so far, they should steamroll the first few weeks of their regular season schedule.
  2. Incredibles (1-0): They’ve allowed this week’s lowest score against one of the top teams in the division. What else is there to say?
  3. STL (1-0): Fell a few spots simply due to how others played. Don’t sleep on these guys.
  4. Kings (1-0): They’ve impressed me quite a lot in their week 1 outing.
  5. QUAN (0-1): Although they’ve lost, the fight they’ve put up against STL is remarkable.
  6. Rich & Famous (0-1): One bad outing doesn’t define a team. Let’s see how they bounce back in the next few weeks.
  7. Drop The Mic (1-0): Their offence played lights out; they climb a few spots.
  8. Coyotes (0-1): Without Sammy Feder leading the offence, this team simply isn’t the same.
  9. Lightweight (1-0): A convincing victory in week 1 has them climb a few spots.
  10. KGP (0-1): Their offence was good, but their defence struggled way too much. Hopefully, Gordon Hogan will be back week 2.
  11. OTF (0-1): They did not look like a team able to compete in their Week 1 outing against 6-R. A new QB takes some adjusting, time will tell who these guys really are.
  12. Broccasion (0-1): The roster feels like it’s missing a spark. Can they find it before week 2?

 

Matchups to Watch

Division A

  • Marco Masciotra vs Kevin Wyeth. It’s a thing. It’s been a thing for the past few years now and this is their first duel of the season. Both coming off losses, it’s bound to be great.
  • Emile Piché against Paul Lapierre and Rob Robinson. We all know how much Top Guns love to use two different quarterbacks on many key downs. How will Emile Piché adapt?
  • Rod Mashtoub vs Bobby Mikelberg. I know Rod Mashtoub plays a side of the field rather than an actual player, but he’s their best bet against Bobby Mikelberg’s size on jump balls; can he prevail?

 

Division B

  • The Meshesha brothers against the Incredibles defence. I’ve talked way too much about Incredibles in two articles for my own liking. Let’s see how they fare against highly underrated players this week.
  • Alex Pilon’s speed against KGP’s secondary. Can anyone on KGP really keep up with him for a full hour?
  • Sammy Feder’s debut vs QUAN. I’m taking a chance here hoping he’s back in time for his week 2 game. He’s played against practically everyone on their roster before.
  • Troy Trench’s jump ball ability against Lightweight’s safeties. Can anyone actually keep up with him?
  • Alec Cerantola against Rich Humes. We noticed last week how a good rusher can influence a game when he’s facing Rich Humes. Will he be able to do exactly that and give his defence a chance?
  • Theo Ojeaha against Jacques Void. The two best player on each squad will most likely want to line up against each other. It’s bound to be the best 1 on 1 of the week.

 

Picks of the Week

Division A

  • Rare Bears vs DA Finest: DA Finest
  • Top Guns vs Braves: Braves
  • Monstars vs Rainmakers: Monstars

 

Division B

  • OTF vs Incredibles: Incredibles
  • KGP vs Six Fast Guys Minus Ryan: Six Fast Guys Minus Ryan
  • Coyotes vs QUAN: QUAN
  • Lightweight vs Drop The Mic: —-
  • Broccasion vs Rich & Famous: Rich & Famous
  • STL vs Kings: STL

 

That’s it for me this week. Hopefully this is what you’ve all grown to love and expect out of me for your weekly readings. If it isn’t, you can send any sort of formal complaint to Paolo Della Rocca via twitter (@PeezeFPF) so I can keep tab and act like I didn’t know about it. Otherwise, if you have any comments, feel free to hit me up either via emails ([email protected]) or twitter (@DagenaisFPF). Until next time.