Week 4: Weekend Recaps and Monday Night Previews

Happy Monday FPF community!

Welcome to the Week 4 edition of the Weekend Recap/Monday Night Preview article. With some great games on the weekend, Week 4 is in full swing. Wow, already 1 month into the season! In this week’s article, I’ll be recapping games from the weekend, including Underachievers 2.0 vs Bad Boys, Masters of Coin vs. Stack Your Roster and Chocolate Thunder vs. Outlaws. I’ll end the article by previewing tonight’s matchups at Saint-Laurent between Ducks and Cover vs. GLC and the Trapstars taking on the Average Joe’s. But before that, here’s what’s on my mind…  

 

– Of course, I have to write about what’s on everyone’s mind… the sudden, shocking, and tragic death of legend Kobe Bryant. I won’t write a whole lot since the ESPN’s of the world have spoken about it a ton and have done a good job in paying tribute and respect to the Black Mamba. What I’ve realised in watching all the clips and interviews, are the emotions elicited by those on television. I’ve never seen a sports player’s death cause so many reporters and analysts to choke up and cause their eyes to water up. I think this is true for 2 reasons. One, media members were forced to talk about it in almost real-time, instead of having a night to digest it all. Second, and more importantly, it would suggest that Kobe had a personal relationship with many analysts and reporters that went beyond a superficial level; that he was someone, on a human level, that, from what I’ve been hearing at least, cared about people by reaching out when they were in trouble, gave advice and pushed them in the right direction, and inspired people to be better in all aspects of their lives through his uplifting character and the standard of excellence he held himself to. Rest in Peace, Kobe. Take the time to reflect. Cherish your friends and loved one’s, because it can all go away so quickly.

– Superbowl week is upon us. Let the food, beer and all things party begin! It’s a crazy close spread that Vegas has, that I’ve seen go from a pickem’ to a -2 spread for the Chiefs. Can’t get a closer matchup than what we’ve been provided.

– If you have a bye week next week, enjoy the time off, heal those midseason injuries and enjoy the SuperBowl!

 

Be sure to catch my weekly Div 6 and 6D Power Rankings in Peeze’s Saturday article and follow my head-to-head matchup vs. Peeze in the Picks of the week for the same divisions. In week 3, I was able to sweep both divisions from Peeze going 6-3 to Peeze’s 5-5 record in Div 6, and posting a 10-2 prediction record to Peeze’s 9-3 score. Overall, I’ve taken 3 of 4 weekly matchups, and am also keeping track of cumulative scores. So far in Div 6, I’ve picked correctly more often, going 10-8 to Peeze’s 9-11 record, whereas in Div 6D, we are at a tie, both holding an 18-6 prediction record.  Goodluck in week 4, Peeze!!

Div 6 – Week 3 Picks	Peeze	Iggy
Record	5-5	6-3
Prediction %	50.00%	66.67%

 

Div 6D – Week 3 Picks	Peeze	Iggy
Record	9-3	10-2
Prediction %	75.00%	83.33%

 

Weekend Recaps

 

Underachievers 2.0 vs Bad Boys (Div 2)

I liked Dylan Taylor’s decision-making throughout this entire game. When he had no one open, or the rush got to him, he would intentionally overthrow his receivers on the sideline and live to play another down. In the first half, he utilized the left side of the field more, throwing hooks to Gabe Wiseman. His snapper however, Theo Bekelis, he used him throughout the whole game. Bekelis would often catch a pass going to his right, and make a smash back inside AFTER having caught the ball while dipping his hips just enough to evade the defender. He did this multiple times, including for the game’s first score, a 7-yard TD to put his team up 6.

On the Bad Boys 1st drive, much like the whole game, they were able to move the ball up field, often in a short number of plays by being able to get extra yardage after many, many missed tackles by the Underachievers. On this drive however, with Wiseman rushing, he was able to get just enough of his hands on the ball, which fell into Bekelis’ hands for the INT. 8 minutes into the game, and Bekelis already made his mark in this game. After the pick, The UA’s 2.0 started their drive on their own 11, but after a penalty on one the first 3 plays of the drive, it landed them in a 4th and 12 that they decided to go for. I guess the thought process was that if they punted, they would have given Chenard the ball at midfield, and taken more time off the clock on their way to an eventual score vs. attempting to get the first down and giving Chenard the ball closer to their goal line, and taking less time off the clock. Well, the latter happened, and after not getting the 1st, Chenard was able to score on the next 2 plays, a 4-yard out route to Nic Arsenault. The score was 7-6 after the successful convert by the Bad Boys.

After a couple of hook routes, Taylor set up the Bad Boys defence, sending Wiseman on a hook and go, and hitting him in stride on the left sideline for a 25-yard score. They would go on to convert the 2-point conversion to go up 14-7. The tackling struggles continued for The Underachievers, as Nic Arseneault was able to gain chunks of 20+ yards on simple crossing routes. He brought them all the way to the 10-yard line, until the drive almost stalled, leading to a 4th and goal situation at the 5. Luckily, Mathieu Thuot was able to get open on a quick drag route for the key touchdown. Bad Boys once again converted for 1 to tie the game at 14.

Once again, Taylor was able to body punch the Bad Boys defence with the short game, and was accurate on his deep shots, this time a fly from the right slot; a 25-yard TD strike to Julian McLaren-Thompson.

In the last 5 plays of the half, an entertaining 5 minutes ensued. First, Chenard attempted to score off the 40-bomb, but was picked off by Jordan McLaren as the deep pass was about 5 yards too short. With 2 plays remaining, a 9-yard hook to Zack Zwirn got Taylor closer to the endzone, but his last heave to the endzone was picked off by Matt Bond, and almost went back for a pick-6!! A great tackle by Julian McLaren-Thompson insured that The Underachievers were up 20-14 at halftime.

The Bad Boys were starting the 2nd half with the ball, and needed to score to stay in the game. Again, the tackling woes continued for The UA’s, as Arsenault got another 24 yards up field. After that catch and run though, only an 8-yard catch was what the Bad Boys could muster. Back-to-back dropped passes on 3rd and 4th down led to a big turnover on downs where Dylan Taylor had the game in his hands, and never looked back. They converted on a key 4th down early in the drive, with the sure-handed Zack Zwirn. Whereas the first-half saw Taylor use Wiseman on the left side of the field more often, in the 2nd half, it was Zwirn on the right sideline getting fed the rock with hooks and slants. A note-worthy play on this drive is when snapper, Theo Bekelis, made a nasty, yet seamless one-handed catch on a quick out. The 10 play drive, which milked tons of  clock, ended in McLaren-Thompson’s 2nd TD of the night, a 4-yard out route.

While Arsenault and the Bad Boys did score while going in the hurry-up offense, the next drive by Dylan Taylor was perfect, converting twice on key 3rd down situations, and ended in Bekelis making his nasty out route catch, smash back in, dipping his hips and juked his way to a 15-yard score. The 5-minute drive left only 3 minutes on the clock for the Bad Boys, down 2 scores.

Needing to score quick, Chenard’s 20-yard pass in the middle got tipped by Rocco Christiano, and into Jordan McLaren’s hands to seal the victory for The Underachievers 2.0.

 

Final score: The Underachievers 2.0 38 – Bad Boys 20

 

Players of the game:

The Underachievers 2.0: Theo Bekelis (9/75/3, 1 INT)

Bad Boys: Nic Arsenault-Hum (7/76/2, 3 tackles)

 

 

 

Stack Your Roster vs. Masters of Coin (Div 6)

The game started off super bizarre, with Max Dayan lightly tossing it to Zak Sigler and taking a 1-yard loss by taking a knee. Of course, I later realized by asking the team what was up with the kneel down, that Sigler usually wears and was wearing Kobe’s #24 jersey. Not only was the gesture/tribute to Kobe, but also a statement of confidence in Masters of Coin own offensive ability to get the first down 1 less play. They got the 1st down and more, capping the 7-play drive with a 1-yard TD to Adam Rabinovitch.

This game took an early turn by Stack Your Rosters first offensive possession. After Stack Your Roster could only gain 8 yards on 3 plays, they decided to for it on 4th and 2 and were unable to convert, as Emile Janda overthrew the out route while facing good pressure from speedy rusher Zak Sigler. With the ball 18 yards away from the score, a quick hook to Nahon, and a crossing route to Rabinovitch, brought Masters of Coin 7 yards away from the score. Dayan converted the TD with Sigler snagging the ball out of the air on his out route to put up another 6 on the baord. Unable to convert on either XP, the score was 12-0 early for MOC.

After Stack Your Roster punted after a quick 3-and-out, MOC went back to work. Dayan connected with Wiseman twice on this drive, two 12-yard completions, the 2nd going for MOC’s 3rd score of the half. This time though, MOC convert on the XP with a great route run by Benji Ziegler, a slant, up, out route from the left sideline to put MOC up 19-0.

With 4 plays remaining, a big 29-yard play to Younnous Bello got SYR believing again. They hoped to score before the half, and would be starting with the ball in the 2nd half. Unfortunately for them though, another 5 yards is as far as they would get, with Janda overthrowing the left corner route to their best weapon, Arnaud Prince-Duthel, who finished the game with 6 receptions for 94 and 1 TD.

 

Halftime score: 19-0

 

Stack Your Roster absolutely needed to score on this opening drive, and in 1 play, Janda was able to connect with Prince-Duthel on a 27-yard corner route, plus a 10-yard UR penalty on Rabinovitch, putting the ball at the 3-yard line. A big PD by Nahon, and even bigger 4-yard sack by Sigler, in addition to the SYR’s crazy long huddles, combined, took another valuable 3 minutes off the clock and led to a 4th down play where WR’s Noel and Prince-Duthel ran into each other at the goal line, preventing each other from getting a score.

With the ball back in Dayan’s hands, I expected a long, methodical drive from MOC. Instead, feeling trigger-happy, he took a deep shot to Benji Ziegler that got picked off by Max Pichet to spark the last bit of hope to his teammates, as he was able to bring the turnover back to midfield for Janda and the offense to work with a short field.

The drive inspired the team and Prince-Duthel, as he made a beauty 11 yard-TD catch, diving towards the left sideline on a corner route from the slot. The only negative on the drive is that the by the time the play was called, and the ball snapped, it took all 40 seconds of the play clock. It hurt me so much to see the clock tick away, that I went up to Janda after the TD to mention that he’s gotta go in the hurry up offense. Unfortunately, he was down 2 regulars with Mendy Cardichon and Thomas Courboin absent in this game. To replace them, he had 2 new guys, who needed to be explained routes in the huddle, which is why the huddles were taking so long.

After being able to convert on one 3rd down early in the drive, another key 3rd down came up for MOC after 2 straight incompletions. With the score 19-6, Dayan threw another ill-advised pass over the middle that got tipped, which led to a great diving catch by Max Pichet for his 2nd INT of the game. The next series for SYR continued with Janda using star weapon Prince Duthel for 1st downs, and I began seeing Janda letting his receivers know to hurry back into the huddle and run to the line to get the snap in faster. They used their timeouts to save some time, but it was all for none, as all the routes were predictably going to Prince-Duthel, and Janda was picked off by Josh Jagodnik at the 1, sealing the deal for Masters of Coin’s 2nd straight victory to go 3-0-1 on the season. The loss puts Stack Your Roster in a 3-game losing streak and 1-3 on the season.

 

Final Score: Masters of Coin 19 – Stack Your Roster 6

 

Players of the game:

Masters of Coin: Zak Sigler (3/30/1, 2 sacks)

Stack Your Roster: Arnaud Prince-Duthel (6/94/1)

 

 

 

Chocolate Thunder vs Outlaws (Div 5A)

Joe Kano and the Chocolate Thunder offense were on fire last night in Lachine, scoring on every single drive in this game. On the first one, QB Joe Kano made a great read and an even better touch on his 25-yard lob pass to Justin Peress for the TD.

On the Outlaws 1st possession, Steve Harripersaud was stopped on 4th down in a very quick 4 and out drive on their 1st possession. It didn’t take Chocolate Thunder long to make the Outlaws pay, as Kano called a “Whiskey” audible, which turned into a 22-yard TD strike to Tim Horner, his first of 4 on the night. In the blink of an eye, CT was up 12-0.

Twice Harripersaud tried to connect on the Justin Lerner go route wide left, but was off the mark both times. It wasn’t until 3rd down that Isaiah Allard started to make his impact felt in this game. Steve lobbed one into the middle of the field, putting it right over Nikki Papich (if you’ve seen the height on Papich, you’ll know I’m describing a pretty high ball over the middle) and Allard high-pointed it to snatch it for a big, 18-yard first down. A couple of hooks later brought them to the 7, where Steve once again put one up in the back of the endzone with Allard going from right to left, and tipped it to himself before making the catch and getting both feet in bounds for the score, all with a defender draped all over his back.

On the next CT drive, Kano went for the kill shot deep over the middle, until a scary moment occurred in the game. Both Allard and Craig Browning were coming in like missiles from both sides of the safety position and were able to interfere with the pass, but a nasty collision ensued between the two safeties, which saw Browning hit the ground hard, and lay motionless for a few seconds. The game was stopped for a few minutes, as he gathered himself and made his way to the sideline. Hopefully he didn’t sustain a concussion on the play. After that play, the key play that got Chocolate Thunder into scoring position was a sideline hook and juke move by David Miron for 23 yards, and an illegal contact call on Jonathan Svetna gave the Thunder a 1st and goal, topped off by a Papich TD quick hook.

With 4 plays left, the Outlaws needed the score before the half to be only down 1 possession. With a 23-yard wheel route to Allard on the 1st play, it setup Harripersaud to hit the incredibly tall Jonathan Svetna on an 11-yard, 2-play Touchdown drive. What a drive, what an answer.

But that gave Joe Kano 2 plays of his own to put up another score. It was good to see, before the half ended, that Craig Browning checked back in on defense. But that was not enough for the Outlaws, as Kano hit Tim Horner on an incredible 40-bomb, getting behind the Outlaw defenders to go up 26-12. Just a thought, but Kano might have one of the best deep balls in FPF. With 1 play left, I would have expected the Outlaws to throw a Hail Mary pass, but decided to punt instead. I was unsure why they didn’t take the deep shot.

Peeze has mentioned this in the past, but as great as Harripersaud is at QB, he’s even better when he has the lead. Although he wasn’t able to mount the comeback, I did see him score quickly and often on his drives, in fact, he put up 4 scores for 27 points in the 2nd half. This one is definitely not on him. For every score that Steve put up, it was answered by mostly the trio of Kano, Horner and Papich, with deep balls completed and evading flag tackles off hooks. The Outlaws just couldn’t come up with a key stop on defence in this game. 

It quickly became a shootout between Allard vs. Horner and Papich, as Allard for the Outlaws is incredibly difficult to stop. He has the height, the wingspan, the long strides, and the soft hands to make seamless catch in stride that makes him close to impossible to defend. For Chocolate Thunder, Tim Horner, as I mentioned previously, had an incredible night, finishing with 4 TD’s, including a sideline corner route, which saw him plant his feet on the sideline in the endzone as he ran out of real-estate, and waited for the perfect pass from Kano to drop right in the bread basket; a great throw and catch for a 19-yard TD.

Kano’s constant precision on his deep passes in the first 30 minutes of this game eventually opened the short game for Chocolate Thunder, and had the Outlaws defense going nuts, unable to stop Kano and his squad. As previously mentioned, Chocolate Thunder was flawless on offense, as Kano put up 229 yards and SEVEN touchdown passes on 16 for 22 passing (with 0 interceptions). He did it with a variety of throws, showing off his arm talent. He threw darts, lobs with a touch over defenders, deep balls with a great arc over tall defenders like Svetna and Allard. It was an incredible display of quarterbacking. On the other side, Harripersaud himself had a game, going 21 for 33, 199 yards and 6 TD’s (no INT’s), but it’s crazy to think that they lost the game on their 1st offensive possession when they failed to convert on 4th down. That is the reality of high divisional play, which looks like it has trickled down into 5A. Insane!

 

Final Score: Chocolate Thunder 46 – Outlaws 39

 

Players of the game:

Chocolate Thunder: Joe Kano (16/22, 229, 7 TD’s, 0 INT’s)

Outlaws: Isiah Allard (8/81/2, 2 tackles, 1 PD)

 

 

 

Monday Night Previews

 

Ducks and Cover (1-0-2) vs. GLC (2-0-1) – Div 5A

This is a slightly bigger game for Ducks and Cover than it is for GLC, as they come into this fierce matchup with a bizarre-looking 1-0-2 record vs. GLC’s 2-0-1 record. Both teams are coming off ties from their previous week (Ducks and Cover tied Glogang 18-18 and GLC tied Brotherhood Lite 26-26), so both teams are looking to stay undefeated and come out of week 4 with the W.

On GLC’s side of things, Hai Minh Luong is back, and the team is sporting a new-look jersey that looks sleek. Luong has already gotten 3 receivers over the 100-yard mark after 3 games in Said Azizi, Kevin Lubin and Mendy Cardichon; quite the 3 headed monster on offense. Lubin is also having a great impact defensively so far with his 3 interceptions and 4 PD’s. If GLC looks to come away with the victory tonight in Saint-Laurent, these 4 names I mentioned above will need to put up big stats on the scoresheet.

As for Ducks and Cover, who are also launching their new green and white jerseys this season, are still adjusting on offense to the better 5A competition. No receiver has eclipsed the 100-yard mark yet (Renaud St-Laurent is at 99 yards, so I’m splitting hairs, really), but the yards and TD’s have been split amongst 5 receivers: Vanier, Blanchet, Cote, Yearwood and St-Laurent. A low key free-agent signing for the team was acquiring the speedy #4, Raphael Blanchet, who looked impressive at the FPF combine. His shiftiness and speed remind me of a Ben McMahon type-of-player. He’s contributed nicely so far with 4 sacks on defense and 1 offensive TD.  The Ducks and Cover defence, and team in general is a big, physical, heavy team to play against. It’s not an easy task to get balls around or over them. They do however, need to turn their 14 PD’s into more INT’s (only 2 on the season so far).

I think that GLC’s longer tenure in FPF’s higher divisions gives them the edge in this one over Ducks and Cover. Hai Minh Luong can slice and dice a defence apart, and Kevin Lubin is playing hot right now. Both teams have played in close, tightly contested games, and this one will be no different. Give me GLC in a 1 possession battle between both teams.

 

Prediction: GLC 28 – Ducks and Cover 21

 

 

 

Trapstars (2-1) vs. Average Joe’s (3-0) – Div 6

This Div 6 matcup is a very interesting on, taking place right after the GLC-Ducks and Cover game; same stadium, same field. The Average Joe’s will be looking to cool down the hottest duo in the division, in Ryan Garber and Cooper Young. In the past 2 games, Garber has completed 30 passes for 334 yards and 12 TD’s, while Young has caught 15 of those passes for a nasty 233 yards and 8 TD’s. Not only is Garber throwing the ball well, he’s also 3rd in the division in rushing, with 134 yards on the ground. As for Young, he’s only leading the division in Yards (267), TD’s (10 – already in the double digits after 3 games!), and is T-1st with 20 receptions with Joey Taylor, who has played 1 more game than Young. When your name is thrown around in the same sentence as Joey Taylor, you’re definitely doing something right. Needless to say, that if the Trapstars are going to beat the Joe’s tonight, these 2 will have to be the best players on the field.

For the Joe’s, they look to remain undefeated and go 4-0 to keep up with Suicide Squad. For the Joe’s to win tonight, the balanced attack will have to continue rolling, as the top 5 receivers have a yard spread from as low as 64 yards to 118. Of course, to win tonight, they will have to shutdown Garber and Cooper which may be easier said than done. Try containing a running QB who can throw precise passes. That will be the task Andel Thomas-Gordon will be faced with tonight, as one of the team’s leaders on defense. They will need to force Garber into 1 or 2 interceptions to win the turnover battle and get Iggy VM (me) an extra offensive possession.

This will definitely be a fun, close game; one that I think comes down to converts. Give me the Joe’s in a 28-27 thriller.

 

 

If you made it ’till the end, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the analysis and previews as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’m always open to new ideas, suggestions, or shoutouts, so feel free to email me @ [email protected], or message me on Facebook (I’m definitely not hard to find on FB). If you feel like you prefer talking FPF over a pint, I sometimes host trivia and often attend trivia as a player at NDG’s own local pub, Honey Martin, on Tuesday nights. Come swing by and we’ll analyze divisions, teams and game strategy.

Cheers!