Weekday Quarterback (Div D) – Week 2

 

 

After two weeks of play we are quickly getting a look at what teams possess enough talent to make themselves serious playoff contenders. While teams such as the Golden Eagles, Snookers and Lockdown have lost their way, others such as Mongoose, X-Men, Cowboys and Patriotes have emerged as the cream of the crop through two games. The question remains however, which of these teams are playing above their capabilities and which teams are yet to find the groove that we all know they are capable of finding? We can start by looking at what teams are real contenders this spring and next week I will continue by giving my picks on who are the pretenders and teams on the bubble.

 

Contenders

– X-Men: Led by Gautama Swaminadhan and Nicholas Abelhauser, this division 4 winter team has got off to a hot start that is forcing a lot of teams to take a second look. Swaminadahn has already reached the 10 touchdown mark at QB and 4 of those have been to the half man half giant Nicholas Abelhauser. Prepare to see a lot of teams game planning to take away that threat at receiver. Can the X-Men continue to succeed when that happens? The answer to that question might decide whether this team wins their conference or not.

 

– Mongoose: Sometimes stats do not tell the whole story but through their first two games, Mongoose is averaging 40 points a game. Anytime you can get between 35-40 points you are putting yourself in an extremely favorable position. If they can continue to score at this rate, Mongoose can succeed with even a less than mediocre defense. It would nice to pick out a player to focus on but this team has an extremely balanced attack which is scary in itself.

 

 

– Cowboys: Another veteran team in FPF who can lean on that experience to help them win games. They have played in enough games to know what it takes to win and I think that is their most decisive advantage over others teams. That being said, they also have some very good athletes including a member of the FPF All-Name team, Vince Mancini. Scott Broady has also been a major part of their success through two weeks with 129 yards receiving. Expect this team to be at the top of the standings come July.

 

 

– Patriotes: I have been high on this team ever since their season in the winter 2010. They competed until the end with some very strong teams in their conference. I believed they could have made a serious run in the playoffs but came up a little short. They will be successful again this season and I expect them to be even better come playoff time. This will be the best team to come out of the winter division 5 crop.

 

Weekly Recap

Let’s start with some of my comments from last week about teams and how successful I thought they would be. I gave Maximum Carnage a lot of praise, which I do not regret, and this week they seemed to take a step back in their progression. I have no concerns after their 18-8 loss to Park X Streets. Park X Streets are a very good team who were hungry and needed a bounce back win after two straight losses dating back to last season. Sometimes new teams like Maximum Carnage will have slip ups that teach them a lot about winning and losing. If I am a member of Maximum Carnage I take this loss as a lesson and grow from it. Park X Streets deserve a lot of credit for their win and according to one member of the team that I spoke to, they thought this was their most complete effort in two seasons and that the score does not reflect how well they played. Both of these teams are on the upswing in my opinion.

How about those Monstars? This is a big win for them without their QB Andrew Funamoto especially over a team like the Time Bombs. Granted the Time Bombs were without QB Chris Rivest, but when it comes down to it, a win is a win and they do not mean any less when a team is missing a player. Congrats to Moh Azob on his first win as QB but do not expect too many others with him behind center.

A team that has not received any credit for their success yet is the Tyrants. The Tyrants had a tough season in division 4 in the winter but have come back with a vengeance in the spring. A 34-8 win over Lockdown brings them to 2-0 on the season and puts them atop their division and conference so far. John Kaliotzakis has been good for them early in the season with 9 touchdown passes in two games and if he can continue to minimize mistakes and keep the moving his team downfield, you can expect a much better season from the Tyrants. It seems as though Lockdown maybe a bit overmatched right now but they have suffered from losing streaks in previous seasons and bounced back with wins when they really needed them to get into the playoffs.

 

 

 

 

A Minute with Moh

So I got a warning about “bullying” smaller players on the field this week. Please remember to stop and apologize to everyone that gets in your way when you’re running with the football…
Scorekeeping is probably one of the harder jobs to do in FPF, but at what point are stats awarded vs randomly distributed? Remember that if you’re going to complain, do your part to help them in the first place!
On a side-note, Maximum Carnage got their welcome to the league in a game that saw Park-X Streets wake up and distribute the ball to more people than just Niko Zarmalis! Good job guys, keep it up!
Finally, in my opinion, the Recruits need a new coach if they’re going to win a game soon, all this play-calling from the side-lines is doing nothing to help them!
See you guys this weekend!

Power Rankings

1. Mongoose (2-0) – beating teams handily with their high scoring offense

2. X-Men (2-0) – proven they can win playoff games in division 4 and are rolling right now

3. Cowboys (2-0) – experience and continuity is the key for this team

4. Patriotes (2-0) – won 8 games in the winter and have won 2 to start this season, can’t argue with success

5. Tyrants (2-0)- highest point differential in the league but have beaten up on weaker opponents

6. Eagles (2-0)- still not convinced about this team even though Jonathan Goyette has been very good so far

7. Park X Streets (1-1) – got the big win they needed to get rolling, can they keep it u p?

8. Maximum Carnage (1-1) – lost this week and maybe learnt a thing or two, can they bounce back?

9. Time Bombs (1-1) – lost without their leader and QB but I expect them to bounce back next week

10. Monstars (1-1) – in right now on the strength of their win over Time Bombs

 

Who Impressed this Weekend?

1. Etienne Chauvin, Patriotes (242 yards passing and 6 touchdowns)

2. Nicholas Abelhauser, X-Men (111 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns)

3. Kory De Nie, Cowboys ( 5 sacks and 1 tackle)

 

That concludes this week’s edition of the Weekday Quarterback but like I stated last week, there is still plenty of football to be played and the season is still very young. I will mention again that I am looking for any members of new teams to contact me by email at [email protected] to let me know a bit about their teams. I wish you all a good weekend and we will see you on Sunday.