Week 6’s recap along with a look ahead at Week 7’s action

Hit or Miss

This week’s theme is all about FlagPlus Football, ‘cause, let’s face it, nothing else really matters.

We all try to put together the best roster to make it all the way and see our names on the trophy in August. We all ball in hopes of enjoying ourselves and finishing the night with the W. After 6 weeks, I can say I’ve seen many hits and many misses; teams I expected to nail it down and missed, some I expected to miss, that literally broke the hammer.

At this point of the season, it’s not too late to tweak things and make the playoffs; no one is OFFICIALLY out, although some are in better positions than others.

Projected playoff standings will begin next week. Week 6 is too early, trust me, it’s not laziness.

Week 6

What have I learn this week?

Not much, honestly.
Justin Blanchard had the impact I expected him to; Team Ethnik is dangerous.
I wonder who’s more consistent in Div C; Masthoub or Harry
Laval’s Finest tying No Fly Zone is a serious facepalm.
I don’t want to get into it, but the forfeit from KGP Champs was kinda lame.
ZOO can win without Frank Kaye. Maybe the real key component is Pat St-Amand after all !
The Division’s leaders in interceptions are Jeff Rosenblatt and Vince Nardone. They’ll face each other this week.
Matthew Bourbonnière-Morin put up crazy numbers, sucks mine were simply better.
Way too many people missed Tuesday nights’ game. St-Jean is starting to be a problem for the FPF Nation.
These articles are better when I do more than one-sitting to write them.

Recaps

Vince Nardone’s Top Sauce took on Predators Lite on Sunday night and I expected Top Sauce’s defense to actually put up a challenge for SBB’s ground and pound offense. I was wrong. It’s not that Top Sauce’s defense isn’t good, they are, but they are constantly on the field. They create turnovers (2 interceptions and some turnover on downs) and limited the passing yardage and forced many 3rd and 4th down completions. I’m not sure what else you’d want from your defense at this point, but the problem is really their offense and how Nardone runs it. You will not win games when you complete 8 passes, even if there’s 3 of those 8 that are for TDs (37.5% of your completions for TD is pretty impressive). It’s not too late yet, Nardone needs to find a way to run his offense in a scheme that works for his talent and not someone else’s. 5-5 is still a possibly and that’s a playoff seed. Turn things around. Also, much needed win from Predators Lite who improved to a limping 2-4.

Two weeks ago, Les Blues Branleurs took down PRIMETIME in a battle of the deep ball. This week, they faced a different kind of monster in Team Ethnik who just got brand new reinforcements in Justin Blanchard (and God did he pay dividends right off the bat). Taking away Minh Ton-That’s deep ball seems to be the key to shut down his offense and win games. Team Ethnik played intelligent football and countered LBB’s strength. Ton-That is smart enough to adjust properly and will have to find ways to do so even when his primary strategy is taken out. They can’t be so one-dimensional, not with the depth Div C has. Team Ethnik just increased value and LBB will have to do so soon, very very soon.

I decided to recap Snatchers vs Keyport Lock because I, honestly, didn’t see many games this weekend that were Division C and, well, I did see this one, first hand. I’ll put aside talking about my performance and simply state the impact Gabriel Wiseman made in his debut with Snatchers, on both sides of the ball, and how dominant Philippe-Olivier Dutrisac was. He kept on being tested, and kept on showing up; finishing the night with 3 PDs, 3 INTS and a pick-six is scary. Truth be told, he took half the field away from Rosenblatt. Speaking of, Jeff Rosenblatt didn’t play up to par, but wasn’t bad neither on Monday night; he faced a strong defense, but kept his head on straight and found ways to score late. The real problem with Keyport Lock is roster instability and the lack of weapons; he had his snapper, Yoni Lehrer and Daniel Goloff; a team needs more than 2 receivers. I haven’t lost faith in them yet.

Both teams came in hungry and expecting this game to be THE game on their schedule, well, it really didn’t play out that way. I even nominated it for Game of the week knowing two contenders were facing off, but Grip n Rip really ripped through PRIMETIME in a bad way. Gualano had the Daoust’s number from the get-go and never took his foot off the gas. It got ugly, fast. GnR’s new rusher, Nick Impellezzeri was an instant impact and forced so many hurries from Daoust that he had issues completing passes, let alone score. GnR dominated the game from start to finish. Although their offense wasn’t scoring all that easily, their defense was simply a brick wall and Daoust forgot his sledgehammer at home. If this was any indication of a playoff rematch, PRIMETIME will have to keep their temper in-check if they want to prevail.

ZOO were without Frank Kaye at QB this week and Patrick Lefebvre took care of business adequately. Veteran QB in the league, Lefebvre looked comfortable in the pocket and used Pat St-Amand the right way when he faced against a QB-struggling TOPSZN. With Khalil Kerr missing, TOPSZN brought in Pat Riot, another veteran QB, but couldn’t deliver anything else from passes to Akeem Hoytes-Charles. Basically, ZOO had Pat St-Amand driving the field and TOPSZN had Akeem Hoytes-Charles. At the end of the day, when the coverage was steep in the endzone, ZOO had other guys step up and catch TDs whereas TOPSZN had Riot miss or force passes and couldn’t connect. Don’t get me wrong, Riot played decently and started off really well, but crashed in the second half and couldn’t get anything going when his team needed him to. Unless TOPSZN solve this QB dilemma, they might drop out of the playoff race.

Players of the Week

Philippe-Olivier Dutrisac (Snatchers): 3 tackles, 3 pass deflected, 3 interceptions and a pick-six; crazy numbers, crazy performance. Welcome to the freak show!

Ameet Pall (Westpark Boys): To push his guys to victory, he mustered 3 TDs, 55 yards on 6 catches and an INT. Congratulations, heck of a performance.

Kevin Marcil (ZOO): The heart of the defense, Marcil finished the night with a tackle on the only run and 5 sacks along with a TD on offense. Impressive.

Matthew Bourbonnière-Morin (The Punisher): 20/31, 246 yards, 7:0 ratio. Hard to lose when your QB puts up those kinda numbers.

Power Rankings

Grip n Rip (6-0-0): Okay, so I called out GnR after losing Zenobi and they demolished PRIMETIME… Take the first seed back. Gosh.
Two and a half Dans (6-0-0): The Dans keep on being impressive and keep on winning, what can I say?
STL (5-1-0): We (Terry, Moe and I) keep letting STL fly under the radar, but these guys are dangerous. Well earned 3rd spot this week boys!
The Punisher (5-1-0): Sitting with a great 5-1 record, The Punisher are exactly where they wanted to be and I can’t blame them. When calmed and composed, these guys are top contenders.
Damps 25/8 (4-2-0) : Damps have been playing GREAT football. It just sucks they couldn’t prove it to us last week, but I’m sure they will in week 7.
Snatchers (3-3-0) : With Gabriel Wiseman’s return, Snatchers are dangerous. Ranking my team fifth for a reason.
Killer Instinct (5-1-0) : Killer Instinct has been playing great football, but the scores worry me. We’ll just have to wait and see if they can put up with Snatchers’ offense on Sunday.
No Fly Zone (4-1-1): The tie is very disappointing if you ask me, but it was still without Eddy Martinez. He’s back now.
PRIMETIME (4-2-0): A bad loss to the #1 seed isn’t too worrisome. It’s the way they lost that worries me the most.
Hitmen Retro (3-3-0): A loss to one of the division’s great team will keep you in the Ranking for another week. Get back up.

The Famous 5 Questions

My 5 questions segment is back after a week of hiatus and Peeze Della Reeze joins us once more with 5, well, oh-so relevant question about Division C and the world of FPF. Here they are, enjoy.

6 Weeks in, who are your top three candidates for QB of the year?

I’ll restrain from mentioning myself, so I’ll go with who I believe are the top 3 right now and should by either winning or runner-up if things remain the same :

Joey Taylor (Two and a half Dans) : 998 yards, 31 TDs, 3 interceptions, 11 sacks, 82.4% completion. 124.5 QB Rating.

Vinny Gualano (Grip n Rip): 933 yards, 31 TDS, 3 interceptions, 8 sacks, 72.7% completion. 120.7 QB Rating

Matthew Bourbonnière-Morin (The Punisher) : 1001 yards, 30 TDs, 6 interceptions, 7 sacks, 64.8% completion. 105.8 QB Rating.

The Longhorns went from 3-0 to start the season and 0-3 since. Why are they so streaky? Who are they really?

Longhorns started off the season on fire with 3 strong wins, but have been struggling recently. Before pointing out fingers, their schedule did get tougher in the middle, but they have an easier back-end. Longhorns have always been good, but they are very streaky; if Jon Moodie plays well, Longhorns are dominating. When he isn’t doing so well, he doesn’t have the defense to bail him out too often and it ends up in L’s rather than W’s. They’ve hit a tough patch, but I don’t see this trend maintaining itself.

Which bubble teams will fall off the table completely and which will surge in the final weeks of the season? Let’s face it, not all schedules were created equal and some teams will get off easier than others.

With the following teams sitting with either 2, 3 or 4 wins :

ZOO, No Fly Zone, Westpark Boys, Served With Heat, Longhorns, Hitmen Retro, TOPSZN, Damps 25/8, PRIMETIME, Team Ethnik, Game Changers, Predators Lite, Snatchers, The Brotherhood, Les Blues Branleurs

I’d be inclined to toss them in two categories (well, basically, the two you named) when I take their schedule into consideration (and the way they’ve either improved or not in the recent weeks)

Will surge: ZOO, No Fly Zone, Served With Heat, Longhorns, Hitmen Retro, Damps 25/8, PRIMETIME, Team Ethnik, Game Changers, Snatchers, The Brotherhood

Will fall off the table: Westpark Boys, TOPSZN, Predators Lite, Les Blues Branleurs.

How many times did FPF media member, all-star and finals MVP Justin Blanchard message you about his stats with Team Ethink last week? Is he truly that full of himself?

Honestly, he is. I was scorekeeping that night and he came up to me just to mention “Got 3 interceptions tonight and something like 2-3 PDs. This is so easy. I’m the best”. If this doesn’t say “full of himself”, well, I’m not sure what else could.

You and I attended a “Celebrity’s wedding” last weekend. Name and describe 3 of my sweet dance moves. Here’s the catch, you must name the dance moves after current Div C players.

Peeze Della Reeze walked into the room looking fresher than Danny McFee’s FreshMTL with a clean suit and a not-so-clean breath. I heard pre-drinking at weddings was in this season. Anyways, the night went on without too many hiccups until he decided to impress his Colombian girlfriend with a few, how can I say this, latin dance moves à la Eddy Martinez and things just went from bad to horrible. Peeze can’t do any latin dance moves whatsoever. He did manage to lock in many “bros” in “brohugs” (just another way to say he touched fit men’s butts, really) so I guess I’ll call his third and final move the way it should be called, The Alex D’Aquila.

Previews

Last week, Damps 25/8 had a taste of high division caliber QB when they faced a KGP Champs led by Phil Cutler. This week, they’ll face similar experience in Vinny Gualano and Grip n Rip. I love how Damps 25/8’s defense matched well with Grip n Rip’s receivers, but my real concern comes from both rushers and their inexperience. In fact, Damps’ rusher is fast, but isn’t the most effective rusher and will face a very mobile QB; it’ll be a serious boom or bust. If he’s efficient, Gualano’s offense may struggle, if he isn’t, GnR will be unstoppable. On the flip side, GnR’s new rusher is all about speed, but is still learning the ropes at the rushing position; it’ll be an intriguing matchup against Treffeisen and if he can force him into hurried throws or not. This is my game of the week this week.

The very unstable CREAM Team are facing off against a slumping Longhorns. In fact, Longhorns started off 3-0 and are now 3-3 whereas CREAM Team simply never got moving. With so much talent and potential, it’s tough to bid against CREAM Team week-in and week-out, but their offense is struggling so much that I simply don’t see how they’ll fare against experience. The Monat’s will take away some of Moodie’s favorite targets, but he’s good enough to adjust and make others shine. It’ll be a battle of the unsung hero and if other players can step up when their stars are covered. That is considering CREAM Team actually fields a full roster.

Hitmen Retro have been playing really well recently and they’re facing a struggling Laval’s Finest team who can’t seem to catch a break. In fact, Laval’s Finest is based around Mashtoub, Jad Aridi, Theo Bekelis and newcomers and it’s hurting them deeply whereas Hitmen Retro is pure experience all across the board. Sometimes, a few star players can elevate a team for a game and get a win, but Hitmen Retro bids on the exact opposite even if they do have Carmine Pollice playing both sides of the ball. In a matchup that will test Moufrage’s accuracy deep and Mashtoub’s wits, the winner will be whoever manages to adjust the best in the 2nd half and avoid stubbornness.

To my surprise, Brotherhood got a much-needed win against Served with Heat last week and Jamie Harry keeps improving as a QB in FPF. This week, they are facing a whole different beast in Team Ethnik who just got reinforcements. I’m assuming we’ll be seeing a duel between Blanchard and Gittens most of the night even if his teammate, Omar Jackson, lines up on the other side of the field. It’ll be interesting to see what Brotherhood does when their #1 receiver is covered and how Jonathan Brown adjusted to a faster pace of game against such ball-hawks. If Jon Brown keeps doing his thing and keeps things short, he’ll make some very angry DBs and it could translate into creating separation, even on the scoreboard. Otherwise, things could get messy.

Westpark Boys have been on a roll recently and the move to put Tonye at QB has really been beneficial. They’ve been winning games and winning is everything. This week, they are facing a serious contender and juggernaut in The Punisher. With guys like Ameet Pall and Matt Bond, I expect Westpark Boys to put up a serious challenge for the Bourbonnière-Morin brothers and turn this into an intellectual battle. With such high football IQs, I don’t foresee a blowout, but a game that will see one team pull away from the other late in the second half once the opportunity presents itself. It’ll be a better game than most would expect out of this matchup.

Expecting Frank Kaye back under center for their matchup against No Fly Zone, this could, potentially, be a preview of a playoff game in 4 weeks time. With both teams in a good seat in Conference A, it wouldn’t surprise me to see both these names feature in the playoff race when Week 11 comes in and takes its toll. Kaye’s offensive is methodological whereas Walwaski’s isn’t really; it relies on big time players making big time plays. I expect Patrick St-Amand to agro interesting coverage, but he’s too good to be shutout. Nonetheless, the rest of ZOO’s receiving corps will need to step up big if they want to win this tough matchup. The problem isn’t that one team’s better than the other, NFZ are simply a matchup nightmare for ZOO. ZOO doesn’t really have an answer for Martinez+Humes+Sanner+Bishara. In fact, no one really does.

Predictions

9 / 12 feels pretty good to me. I’d give 10 / 12, but friggin Laval’s Finest had to tie NFZ. Gosh. Regardless, GM’s poor 7 / 12 has me back on track. I’m catching up fast and ain’t slowing down. Looks like this season ain’t over just yet, George Michael.

Here’s a reminder of our totals:

Simon : 42 / 72

GM : 46 / 72

As usual, his picks are in italic, mine in bold.

Two and a half Dans vs TOPSZN : Two and a half Dans

Killer Instinct vs Snatchers : —-

Grip n Rip vs Damps 25/8 : Grip n Rip

STL vs Predators Lite : STL

Top Sauce vs Keyport Lock : Top Sauce

CREAM Team vs Longhorns : Longhorns

Laval’s Finest vs Hitmen Retro : Hitmen Retro

Les Blues Branleurs vs Game Changers : Game Changers

The Brotherhood vs Team Ethnik : Team Ethnik

KGP Champs vs PRIMETIME : PRIMETIME

Patriotes vs Served With Heat : Served With Heat

The Punisher vs Westpark Boys : The Punisher

ZOO vs No Fly Zone : No Fly Zone

That is it for me for this week. If you have any comments regarding the article, don’t hesitate to hit me up on twitter @DagenaisFPF or at the fields. I’ll be scorekeeping games on Sunday and Tuesday nights, so I’ll get to see most of you guys. My official FPF email [email protected] also works, but get with the times, Twitter is where it’s at. Feel free to yell at me if you see me walking around, always glad to talk some football. Sorry for the delay, I’m not good with keeping my liver in check on the 24th.