Two more weeks.

With most teams now locked in a playoff seed and a few still fighting to those few last spots, the last stretch, as Moe Khan seems to constantly say, is here. Formerly dominant teams don’t necessarily look as threatening anymore and former bottom feeders are slowly making a name for themselves. Will we have one of the most interesting playoff season ever? Tough to say, but we will, for sure, have a handful of upsets by the time we reach April.

Let’s get started,

Week 9

DK got a ‘big’ win over an Alex Nadeau-Piuze-less Flag Moi L’Sac, Monstars barely got away against Rainmakers, Top Guns got their W over MNX2.0, Montreal’s Finest is looking like, well, The Finest, We P.O lost to STL? #NR struggled and much more. Overall, a pretty good week.

Thoughts of the Week

Must have been nice being Paul Lapierre this week and beating your former team for a playoff spot.
The first ever edition of ‘Behind Enemy Lines’ where referees discuss FPF refereeing is now live on the website; go check it out!
Apparently, ONE bad game and you are no longer elite?
Will Rainmakers finish 0-10?
Who will be this year’s surprise in the D1 playoffs?
There’s 4 byes in Division 2 this season. Do you really want a bye?
Can Served with Ice crawl out of the 13^th seed and make playoffs?
The addition of Paul Lapierre to Gladiateurs had had a HUGE prolific effect. Can it last?
STL had a nice win over We P.O this week. Another good stint this week vs Waste Yout and we might call them contenders once more.
We know the road to the D1 Finals goes through Montreal’s Finest, but who’s the darkhorse team no one wants to play this season? FMS? DK? I don’t consider D-Boys a darkhorse after all these years of success.
When Got-Skills scores more than 30 points, they are undefeated. Sadly, it only occurred 3 times this season.
A .500 team ranked 12^th in Division 2? Power Rankings are crazy this week. I had a rough time going from 1 to 14.
As predictable as D1 playoffs can, potentially, be, I have NO idea how D2 will pan out. Isn’t that the best part?

Recaps

MNX2.0 vs Top Guns: In what was most likely the Play-in game for the last Division 1 seed, Top Guns showed up BIG with a somewhat confusing roster, but their defence made Rapha Beladjat look real bad with 5 interceptions on the night. Paul Lapierre was far from perfect, but he got the job done early in the game with a significant 25-12 lead at half and had a solid game plan. In a game where loser might not make the playoffs when it’s all said and done, MNX2.0 finished with 96 passing yards. Sure, there was plenty of rushing (85 to be exact), but you won’t win key games only with your legs and that’s something MNX2.0 learnt the hard way most of the season. Danny D’Amour had a pretty impressive two-way performance and we might see more of him in the highest division in the seasons to come, but Top Guns officially control their faith and are currently on a collision course to face Montreal’s Finest in week 12.
Braves vs Got-Skills: In what could potentially be a week 12 matchup, Braves dismantled Got-Skills 46-26. The second half for GS was a little bit better as they were able to put up 19 and sort of get into a rhythm, but it was too little too late as Braves hammered them down in the first with a 33-7 lead at halftime. With Braves sort of finding themselves after a slow start and Got-Skills still sort of trying to figure things out, I must admit that both teams are trending in different directions heading into the playoffs. I could see Braves making some waves and creating some ‘upsets’ when end of the March rolls in whereas Got-Skills’ current (and eligible) roster might not have the firepower to really turn games into their favor once their season is on the line. Nicola Centomo is a good quarterback, but their offence will need to score a lot more of they want to be considered amongst the top teams in D1 and, at this rate, I don’t see it.
BYOB vs Wolverines: After allowing 40+ in their previous 3 outings, BYOB finally got their shit together and managed to end their slump in a convincing victory over Wolverines 38-26. It wasn’t all pretty (Mat René with 2 interceptions, Myles Gibbon with 4) and the 13-13 score at halftime kinda trends in that direction, but BYOB really got going in the second half knowing they needed to go all-out and dropping 25 on their opponents to seal the deal and finally get a mark in the right column for the first time since January. After what was a very promising early start of the season for Wolverines, they’ve come crashing down and simply don’t have the offence to keep up with all these D2 powerhouses anymore; the Myles Gibbon experiment didn’t pay off the way they expected it to and all they can do now is ruin other people’s chances at playoff seeding as they’ll get two more games before it’s all said and done.
Terror Squad vs Waste Yout: It’s not that I was expecting Waste Yout to lose this game, but I was expecting Terror Squad to be able to put up a fight and, at least, keep it close and competitive. But I was wrong, so so wrong. Tam Vilaydeth did not look good this week against a Waste Yout throwing 4 interceptions and not scoring in the second half (although it was tied at halftime). Someone needs to cover Jarryd Taylor who went OFF for 6 touchdowns on the day (Yes, 6 touchdowns in one game) and is now the frontrunner for WR of the year in Division 2 by a considerable margin. With only two games left, Waste Yout could, potentially, steal the #1 seed in Division 2 and play ‘more favorable’ opponents the rest of the way whereas Terror Squad are, practically, a lock to make playoffs even if they do lose out the rest of the way (which I don’t think they will).
CLR Forces vs Served With Ice: In what might end up being the play-in game when it’s all said and done, CLR Forces looked pretty good overall out there. We’ve all known that their offence, when Fred Dupuis is present, can score on pretty much any opponents, but their defence has had question marks for the last few weeks; not this week. With 3 interceptions on the night, they’re slowly moving away from one of the bottom seeds and turning into one of those ‘sneaky good’ teams (that Moe Khan seems to love to say) that no one really wants to play when playoffs come rolling in late March. Served With Ice are still fighting for a playoff spot and their schedule isn’t getting any easier; I’m not sure whether or not they’ll be able to ‘sneak in’ and steal that 12^th seed away from, well, CLR Forces or STL. What started off as a promising season is turning out to be a very ugly outing; they’ve had some close games that surprised a handful of bystanders and, honestly, I still believe they could be a matchup nightmare for most teams in division 2, but they are weeks where they simply do not look like contenders and they simply cannot afford to have those kind of weeks in the next few days.
Gladiateurs vs S Club Legion: Can we call this the resurgence of the Glads? When all pieces are present, they’ve got a pretty good team; Francois Lebeau is having a remarkable season, he’s got the right weapons that can really excel in his offence and their defence is forcing quite a handful of bad throws. James Goulet struggled at times if it wasn’t for JF Marquis underneath as a snapper constantly fighting to move the chains or, well, Simon Charbonneau-Campeau making non-CFL players look bad on jump balls down the sideline. Their redzone offence was potent; the Goulet to Goulet connection was awesome and Gabriel finished with two touchdowns and a bunch of PAT conversions, but that one ball in traffic early that Francois Rocheleau picked off and brought back for six (Man this guy is FAST) really took the game away from S Club Legion; Gladiateurs were up 2 scores pretty much the whole way and slowly cruised their way to a victory.

Players of the Week

Danny D’Amour (Top Guns): In his first game playing offence (at least, that’s what it looks like from the stats), he finished with wwo touchdowns and two interceptions; maybe he should play two-way more often!
Jonathan Maheu (Braves): 210 combined yards, 7:1 ratio and 2 interceptions on defence. Slowly building up his pedigree for 2-way player here!
Jordan McLaren (Monstars): Not only did he make a clutch play to win the game, but he was also a dominant factor the whole way finishing with two interceptions and 3 touchdowns on the night.

Sebastien Crisi-Lauzon (BYOB): Not one of the most known commodity in FPF, but maybe more people should get to know him; with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on the night, he’s slowly becoming quite the two-way freak.
Jarryd Taylor (Waste Yout): Maybe, at some point, someone should cover him? 96 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns. Yes, 6.
Marco Masciotra (Clockwork): Coming off a bad game, he went OFF. 8 touchdowns, no interceptions, 294 passing yards. I guess they’re back, huh.

Power Rankings

Montreal’s Finest (7-1): The road to the championship will go through Montreal’s Finest again this season, there’s no doubt about it.
Flag Moi L’Sac (6-2): This close a loss without their QB (and best defensive player) doesn’t concern me. They’re still a top tier team.
D-Boys (6-2): Outside the top 3, they’ll steamroll most opponents, but I’m eager to see how it’ll play out in the playoffs against the other 2.
Braves (5-4): This is what I expected from them coming into this season; I’m happy to see they found their rhythm and got there.
DK (5-3): A close win against a ANP-less FMS concerns me a bit, but a win’s a win!
Monstars (4-3-1): Barely got out alive vs Rainmakers this week seems to worry Moe Khan a lot more than most of us; maybe he knows something we don’t? Probably not.
Got-Skills (3-4-1): Not sure what has happened to Got-Skills, but they only have two more games to figure things out of they want to make a run at that title once again.
Top Guns (2-6): They NEEDED to win and got the job done in fairly convincing fashion. Hopefully they’ll be able to hang on for two more weeks now.
MNX2.0 (2-6): Five interceptions in a play-in game isn’t the right way to play D1 football. It’s actually not over for these guys, but it’s a serious uphill battle.
Rainmakers (0-9): One last game before it’s all said and done in a very winnable matchup; can they avoid the fatal 0-10?

Waste Yout (6-2): Officially THE team to beat in Division 2. It took some time, but they’ve really turned everything around and are where they should’ve been this whole time.
#NR (6-2): Confusing loss this week. Let’s not overreact to ONE bad game.
We P.O (6-3): True contender or overrated? I simply can’t help but think they’re one of the top teams, but this isn’t how top teams perform when they’ve got a shot at letting others sink much deeper.
Clockwork (5-3): At times, they look like a true D2 powerhouse. Can they keep it up and avoid another slump? Will they “flip the switch” when they play their first playoff game?
You Can’t Sit With Us (5-4): Impressive W over #NR this week sees them climb a handful of spots. Don’t sleep on these guys (or sit, really).
BYOB (5-3): Snapped the 3-game losing streak with a decent defensive performance. The real test will be in Week 12.
Terror Squad (3-3-2): A tough loss this week sort of puts everything in perspective. They’re a strong D2 team; can they be considered elite and a true contender? We’ll see.
Gladiateurs (3-4-1): If their defence can “show up” like that every week, they might make a run at that infamous D2 title this season.
STL (3-5): Where has this STL been all season? I’m not shocked, we all KNEW they were able to play this way, but they simply haven’t over the past few weeks.
Braves 2.0 (3-4-1): This week’s loss feels more like the other team proving a point rather than Braves not playing up to their potential; I’m no longer worried.
CLR Forces (3-5): They got the job and are now back in playoff contention. Unless there’s a serious slip-up, we’ll see them in Week 12.
S Club Legion (4-4): An early mistake basically costed them the game and were never really in contention; what now?
Served with Ice (2-6): With what could potentially end up being their play-in game now behind them (and marked as a loss), SWI will have one of the toughest time simply making the playoffs this season.
Wolverines (1-7): Mathematically, it’s not over just yet, but we sadly know it is.

Predictions

Monstars vs D-Boys: D-Boys
Got-Skills vs Montreal’s Finest: Montreal’s Finest
Braves vs DK: Braves
Top Guns vs Rainmakers: Top Guns
MNX2.0 vs Flag Moi L’Sac: Flag Moi L’Sac

#NR vs We P.O: #NR
Wolverines vs Terror Squad: Terror Squad
CLR Forces vs You Can’t Sit With Us: You Can’t Sit With Us
Served with Ice vs Clockwork: Clockwork
S Club Legion vs BYOB: S Club Legion
Waste Yout vs STL: Waste Yout
Gladiateurs vs Braves 2.0: Gladiateurs

That’s it for me this week. Hopefully this will trigger you just enough to drop me a message either via email ([email protected]), twitter (@DagenaisFPF) or in person. Remember, I didn’t do this to you, YOU did this to you. Until next time…! We should start cutting off Moe’s mic more often. C’mon now.

Week 9: Playoffs looming