Week 8 Recap: (Playoff) Picture Day

Two weeks.

That’s all that separates us from the postseason – in other words, the real season. Though a good portion of the playoff spots are already clinched in both Div A (three of five) and B (four of eight), there’s still much left to be determined. All the seeds are still up for grabs, some teams are still fighting for their playoff lives, and there’s still time to make one final push at the individual awards (let’s be real though, it’s all about the ship).

These next two weeks could be the momentum-building victories that lead your team into the playoffs with the confidence that a championship trophy awaits you. Or, they may be the ones that determine whether you make it to the big dance at all. In both cases, remember to never put yourself in a position where the referee decides the game’s outcome for you. If you do so and lose (or tie), you have no one to blame but yourself, as two teams were reminded this past week. 

 

Recap

The Catch That Wasn’t

To be clear, the Glads should never even had been in position to tie let a lone win their game against Roosters & Donkeys this past week. Up 20-6 at the half, and then extending that lead to 32-14 early in the second half, R&D were in total control of this game. 

Until they weren’t.

For their next three consecutive drives, R&D looked all too human, hampered by uncharacteristic drops from the likes of Theo Ojeaha and Jamal Gittens, ugly interceptions from Marco and a defense unable to force a single stop. R&D’s 32-14 lead quickly shrank to 32-20, then 32-27, before the Glads finally took the lead 33-32. 

A 17-yard touchdown run by Marco with just a handful of plays left gave R&D back the lead 38-33, setting up the most controversial Div A finish of the season as the Glads got themselves in position around midfield for one last-ditch effort—a half-field Hail Mary that was miraculously caught by Pat Jerome in the front right corner of the endzone before he fell out of bounds. Call on the field: one foot in, pass incomplete, game over. Video evidence later showed: two feet in bounds, possession of the ball throughout the catch. 

 

Non-Stars

I was expecting fireworks when Monstars took on Darksiders on Tuesday night. Instead we got your average soccer game result: a hard fought defensive game in which neither team is awarded outright victory, with this one ending in a tie after Darksiders fought back from a 20-6 deficit early in the second half to make it 20-20 at the final whistle.

This game was particularly memorable for one particular instance, when a holding penalty committed a member of the Darksiders when Rod Mashtoub had intercepted a Darksiders convert attempt resulted in Monstars being awarded a convert attempt of their own. They found the endzone, to turn what would have been a 19-6 lead into a 20-6 one, a point that proved to be all the difference between a win and a tie.

Despite what the final score shows, however, it’s clear one team walked away from this one feeling victorious while the other was left with a bittersweet taste in its mouth (I mean you kissed your sister dude, what did you expect). On the one hand are Darksiders, who showed up to this game without their starting QB, and missing key role players in Alex Gauthier, Nic Gendron-Vallée and J-C Binette. Even with Ryan Aridi still nursing a leg injury, Monstars should have taken Darksiders to the wood shed.

Instead, Darksiders are now one 6+R loss away from taking the 1st seed, while Monstars remain a big question mark with a 1-1-2 record in their last four games.

 

Players of the Week

Division A:

QB – Kevin Wyeth (Montreal’s Finest): 16 for 28, 185 yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs. What else is new. 

WR – Godfrey Abu (Maniax): 4 catches for 89 yards, 3 TDs. Abu has built his FPF reputation for his defensive exploits, but he reminded us of just what kind of damage he can to do opposing defenses as well.   

D – Viktor Amédé-Soltendieck: 3 tackles, 2 INTs. Yeah, it came against Jeff Rosenblatt, but a dominant performance is a dominant performance nonetheless.

 

Division B:

QB – Frédéric Viens (6+R): 25 for 27, 289 yards, 8 TDs, 0 INTs. His only two incompletions were drops. None of his passes were touched by a member of the Raiders defense; not once did he get sacked. No need to wait until Week 10 – this was very clearly the performance of the season by any Div B QB.

WR – Marco Bertoldi (BearSkins): 6 catches for 132 yards, 5 TDs. He comes with short shorts, a headband and serious talent. Gloves sold separately.   

D – Danny D’Amour (Predators): 1 tackle, 2 INTs, 2 TDs. Granted this came against a 5-man Commission squad, but let’s see you take two picks to the house in a single half regardless.

 

Power Rankings

Division A:

1. Montreal’s Finest (7-1) /–/: Remember when we were all freaking out when the Finest lost in Week 1? Man those were some good times. 
2. Gladiateurs (6-2) /+1/: Pat Jerome told the R&D bench to thank the refs after his would-be game-winning catch was called incomplete on the last play of the game. Video evidence proved he was correct in saying so. I don’t care what the boxscore says – the Glads deserve this spot, and I’m going to give it to them.   
3. Roosters and Donkeys (7-1) /-1/: If it weren’t for a blown call to end the game, R&D would be sitting at 6-2 after their catastrophic second half on Sunday.  
4. Legends (3-5) /–/: So the Legends have had 19 different players suit up for them this season. 
5. Maniax (1-7) /–/: Monday night’s one-score loss to the Finest was just the second time this season that Rapha Beladjat threw zero interceptions and finished with a passer rating over 100. The other time he achieved both? Eight long weeks ago, in the season opener.   
6. Rainmakers (1-7) /–/: They finally get their first win of the season. It counts on paper, but to defeat a Cory Pecker-less Legends team is nothing to write home about. 

 

Division B:

1. Darksiders (6-1-1) /–/: No Fred Morissette, no NGV, no J-C Binette, no Alex Gauthier, and they still managed to shut down a deadly Monstars attack and come away with a tie. I’ll give you a pass this week, Peeze.
    
2. 6+R (7-1) /+1/: Notching Div B’s first 50-burger of the season is a noteworthy achievement.   
3. Monstars (5-1-2) /-1/: It feels like forever ago that Monstars dominated a team.   
4. BearSkins (4-4) /+1/: Yeah, keep thinking this team is dead in the water without Papich. Go on. Neil Etinson dares you.
    
5. Broccasion (4-4) /-1/: I give up trying to figure out who this team is.  
6. Predators (5-3) /–/: As impressive an outing that was, I can’t really give them points for beating up on a team that at this point would struggle in Div C.  
7. Wolverines (3-5) /+1/: Freakin’ Tony Tabet, man.  
8. Lightweight (2-6) /-1/: Forced passes, dropped balls, virtually non-existent defense.  Yeesh. I forgot how ugly things can get without Marco around.  
9. Raiders (2-6) /–/: When you give up 50+ points in a game, a week after allowing 45, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.  
10. The Commission (0-7-1) /–/: I just hope they’re going to finish out the season at this point.

 

(Un)official Playoff Standings 

Division A: 

 

Conf A	Team	GP	PTS	W(P-F)	DIV	PA		Legend
1	Roosters & Donkeys (CP)	8	14	7	[7-1-0]	234		Clinched Playoff (CP)
2	Montreal’s Finest (CP)	8	14	7	[7-1-0]	310		In Contention (IC)
3	Gladiateurs (CP)	8	10	5	[5-3-0]	305		Eliminated (E)
4	Legends (IC)	8	6	3	[3-5-0]	320
5	Maniax (IC)	8	2	1	[1-7-0]	317
6	Rainmakers (IC)	8	2	1	[1-7-0]	334

 

Division B:

 

Conf A	Team	GP	PTS	W(P-F)	DIV	PA		Conf B	Team	GP	PTS	W(P-F)	DIV	PA		Legend
1	Broccasion (IC)	8	8	4	[1-1-0]	245		1	6+R (CP)	8	14	7	[2-0-0]	249		Clinched Playoff
2	BearSkins (IC)	8	8	4	[2-1-0]	277		2	Darksiders (CP)	8	13	6	[1-1-1]	168		In Contention
3	Wolverines (IC)	8	6	3	[2-1-0]	256		3	Monstars (CP)	8	12	5	[1-0-1]	199		Eliminated
4	Lightweight (IC)	8	4	2	[1-1-0]	269		4	Predators (CP)	8	10	5	[1-1-0]	201
5	The Commission (IC)	8	1	0	[0-2-0]	266		5*	Raiders (IC)	8	4	2	[0-3-0]	282

  

Random Thoughts

 

• Conference A in Division B still has yet to see a single team clinch a spot in the playoffs, and all of its teams remain playoff eligible. And it’s Week 9! Crazy. 

• It took 37 games before Div B saw a team hit the 50-point mark in a single game this season. By contrast, Div A saw its first 50-burger in just its third game of this season. 
• I nominate Justin Cerantola’s sick juke on Theo Bekelis as the juke of the week. Dude’s move was so nice Brent Callender fell down, and he wasn’t even playing. 
• TO ALL THE NON-BELIEVERS, ESPECIALLY YOU PEEZE DELLA REEZE. Anthony Garant leads Div B in sacks with 18, 5 more than the next guy. “6+R desperately needs a rusher, they need Justin Blanchard back at rusher blah blah blah.” No. Garant is doing a better job than I ever have and ever could. Keep it up, Antho! 
• So Rehan leads all Div B players in pass deflections with 10. That’s a lot of dropped interceptions!
• Still on the topic of stat leaders, somehow J-R Verger is tied for first in TDs with 13, while Godfrey Abu leads all receivers with 10+ catches in yards-per-reception with 17.1. How is this team just 1-7 again?
• Um, not sure if anyone has noticed, but Cory Pecker has now missed three of the past four Legends games. The team’s record in the three games he missed? 0-3. Their point differential in those games? -71 (128 points against, 57 points for). With all those guys on the Legends roster, it shouldn’t be hard to set up a search team to find him and bring him to their next game.
• Why isn’t anti-stain clothing a thing yet?
• Following Terrence Dobson rupturing his Achilles’ heel on Sunday, the latest in a slew of gruesome FPF injuries that have included broken arms, broken fibulas and torn ACLs this past year alone, I’m now convinced FPF is more dangerous than real football. Get well soon Terrence! 

 

Picks of the Week

A measly 4-3 week puts me at just 37-19 (66%). So yeah, that FPF media team prediction isn’t happening, not with Brent Bodkin standing at a ridiculous 51-17-1 down in Div E. Next best thing is to finish ahead of Peeze. That shouldn’t be too difficult.  

 

Division A:

 

Legends vs. Montreal’s Finest: Is Cory Pecker going to show up? Will it even matter if he does? I don’t think so, not if the usual Finest come out to play.

 

Rainmakers vs. Roosters & Donkeys: Something tells me R&D are going to make damn sure last week’s debacle doesn’t happen again.

 

Gladiateurs vs. Maniax: the Maniax offense looked good last week. The Glads have looked great as a team all season. I’ll go with the depth in this one.

 

 

Division B:

 

Broccasion vs. Lightweight: Marco Masciotra is questionable for this game with a leg injury. Considering Lightweight looked nothing like a Div B team last week without him in the line-up, I’m not taking any chances – even against a team as streaky as Broccasion.  

 

Wolverines vs. Raiders: Raiders took Wolverines by surprise with an 8-point win four weeks ago. But the Raiders had the help of two pick 6s in that game. If I had to choose between predicting that the Raiders take two more back to the house in this game versus Tony Tabet scoring more than three touchdowns, I think the smart money’s on the latter.

 

6+R vs. Monstars (N/A)

 

The Commission vs. BearSkins: BearSkins took down 6+R and beat up on Lightweight in back-to-back weeks. The hapless Commission should be easy prey.

 

Predators vs. Darksiders: Can Darksiders win? Absolutely. Do I have a concrete reason for picking Preds in this one other than wanting to see Peeze lose to his self-proclaimed arch-nemesis? Nope.  

 

*** 

As always, be sure to catch the Div A/B podcast “The Sack Exchange” with Moe Khan and Matt Kirouac Peeze Della Reeze as well as G.M. Kolethras on the FPF YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/flagplus every Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. or on demand at the same link afterwards. Don’t forget that you can always reach me on Twitter @JBlanchFPF or by email at [email protected]. See you at the fields!