Weekday Quarterback (D5) – Week 7

The playoff push has started for many teams as week 6 kicked off and from what I saw this weekend, we have some teams that made a statement while others saw their chances slip away with key losses. It was another extremely wild weekend as it kicked off with two extremely good games– that I will recap later, where both ended in a tie. I have some news to share with all of you this week that I think you will all like to hear. Many of you (I’m looking at you, Moh Azab) over the past couple of weeks have been asking me about the playoff format, and how many teams qualify. There will be six teams from each conference in the playoffs, which means that only 2 teams from each conference will not get in. I hope that you can use that information to see where you have to place yourself before the season ends. Those wins are now more important then ever to solidify your spot early.

Week 6 Recap
Last week I made a bold prediction that Team USA was the team that could shock everyone down the road. I thought I looked pretty smart putting my money on a team with a veteran FPF Quarterback. This week I watched Team USA take on les Affreux in what I thought would be a high scoring affair. It looked like it was headed in that direction, but then on the drop of a dime USA may have seen their championship hopes go up in flames! QB James Crowe, who seemed to be in good form early in the game suffered an injury to his already hurting knee. The early prognosis is not good from the players I spoke to on the team and it could be the end of the season for Crowe (His Winter 09 season with SWAT in D3 also ended early due to an injury). That would be devastating for this team. To the credit of Team USA, I thought they would roll over at that point and give up the victory, but it did not happen like that. They continued to fight and showed that this team has serious potential outside the QB position. Les Affreux shot themselves in the foot a couple of times in this game, as well, with a redzone interception and a few other missed opportunities. Both of these teams are still obvious playoff contenders, but are going to have to find ways to win close games. Nonetheless, the game ended 20-20 and I was extremely impressed with the pace and talent shown by both teams.
The second featured game Saturday night, was the long awaited matchup between the trash talking Monstars and Park-X Streets. The Monstars were trying to show that they could compete with some of the best teams in the league and they definitely did compete this weekend. Park-X Streets was one of the 5-0 teams heading into the weekend but just did not seem to have any jump from the start of this game. The Monstars should have won this game and if it were not for some missed chances at the end of the game, they would have come away with a huge victory. There are two issues for me when it comes to the play of the Monstars: First, there were way too many dropped passes in the redzone and secondly, some of the play calling for this team was horrendous down the stretch. They had all the momentum at one point and I thought they were going to take over the game before a double reverse was fumbled and cost them 10 yards. They followed that by throwing an interception two plays later. The Monstars showed they could compete with one of the better teams in the division and hopefully this will be a turning point for them. For Park-X Streets, this may have been a blessing in disguise. They needed to be in a tough game and this 12-12 tie may have been a way for them to learn on the fly without getting that first loss.

There were a few other games worth noting this week. The Patriotes continued to roll as they picked up a 39-23 victory over the Dawgs. Do not count out the Patriotes as a potential favorite in Division 5, as they seem to sneak up on teams even halfway through the season. I mentioned in my last article that this team wins and stays quiet. Maybe that’s a recipe for success as no one seems to pick up on them.
In the shocker of the week, The Family, minus QB Maxime Forget, lost to the Recruits 19-12. I’m sure many people were wondering if the Recruits could give you some tips on how to beat the Family you might be out of luck, unless you know how to make Forget miss a few more games! This is still a big win for the Recruits because it gives them a win on their schedule where most other teams are going to have a 1 in the loss column. Congratulations to the Recruits on their big victory and I hope they can use this to take a big leap the rest of the way. I would not want to be the team that has to play the Family next week as I’m sure they will want to send a message to the rest of the league letting them know the loss was nothing more then a fluke. Sorry Monstars, I would not want to be you.
In other news…..

– The Golden Eagles suffered another heartbreaker by losing 6-0 to the undefeated Sphinx in a defensive thriller.
– Pendant Publishing won their second game of the season to take the lead in the very tight North Division of Conference B. They beat the Wonderslugs 19-12 and the Love Cows loss to the Wildkittens meant an unshared division lead for Pendant Publishing.

Tip Drill
Offensive Tip of the Week: Redzone Patience
The reason I am giving this tip is because after watching some of the games this week it seems to me that offences forget that once you are in the redzone you still get more than one play to score. There were a few different occasions where on 1st and goal, teams were trying to force the ball into a certain spot when it was not necessary. Part of being a good offence is knowing when not to make a certain play or throw. If something is not there then get rid of the ball or even take the sack if necessary. Throwing a redzone interception can be an absolute momentum killer for the rest of the game. I’ve thrown enough of them to know how that works! Make sure you take a look before you throw into the end zone and if you see the coverage is there then either take the sack or throw the ball away. Don’t give the other team the chance to take swing all the momentum in their favor with and INT.



Defensive Tip of the Week: Calling Over’s and Moving your zone
When playing zone defense, it is important that you let other players on the team know when someone has crossed through your zone over the top of your teammates zone. They will not always be able to tell when if someone has come into their zone if they are already covering another route. Make sure to communicate with them and more importantly if you are in your zone and no one is there try and help your team out by cheating towards the ball. If you just stay in your spot when there is no one there, then your team is being outnumbered somewhere else so you need to take risks and move out of your spot in order to help make a play on defense. Communicating and taking risks are two big parts of getting big defensive stops.

Power Rankings
1. The Family (5-1) – A loss minus the best offensive player in the division does not change my opinion of these guys.
2. Sphinx (6-0) – Beat the Golden Eagles 6-0. A better performance could have moved these guys into top spot.
3. Run’N’Wild (5-1)- A team on the rise…beat another decent team this week.
4. Park X Streets (5-0-1) – Pretty lackluster performance for these guys, but they are a new team so it was bound to happen at some point.
5. Patriotes (5-1)- Scored a huge amount of points and just keep winning. Can’t say enough about my respect for this team’s character.
6. Recruits (3-2)- Beat the Family…. any questions?
7. Affreux (3-2) Tied a team that lost its best player early in the first half… I expect more from these guys
8. Monstars (2-3)- Were a dropped conversion away from a huge victory. They played a very solid game against a good team.
9. Team USA (2-2-2)- I really liked these guys a week ago, but now I am not sure if they can continue to win. I hope they find a solution at the QB position.
10. Pendant Publishing (2-4)- I figured these guys deserve to be in here since they lead their division. That’s an automatic playoff spot, so it’s good enough for me.

It was another week with some crazy games and we saw the biggest upset of the year. I don’t know if we can top it this week but you never know what to expect in FPF. Here’s to hoping each week gets better and more exciting for the last four weeks of the season. I wish you all the best of luck and I will see you next weekend. For those of you on Spring break this week make sure to enjoy it before getting back to reality.