Woofpack Stay on Top; Week 2 Recap

Week 1 saw offensive explosions, game changing plays, defensive stands and even some hard hits. Week 2 was no different. Division 6 has been delivering some real good football so far in this early season.

Week 3 looks just as promising, but before we get there though, let’s take one last look back at the week that was.

Top 11

1. The Woofpack – Although their offense came back down to earth, they hold the top spot cause of their outstanding defense. Their first real test comes this week against The Pocketwatch this Tuesday night. (Last Week 1)

2. L.A’s Finest – I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong picking against these guys in their game against The Pocketwatch last week. While I stand by my reasoning, for ranking them number 5 in the previous rankings, I feel that their performance against their aforementioned Week 2 opponents was definitely an eye opener. Picking up a win this week against a really good Flagrant Fouls team will go a long way for the team L.A.F. (Last Week 5)

3. N.W.O. – As mentioned above they had a gritty and even emotional win over a tough Jean Guy squad. There was even a bit of trash talking and showmanship going on which made the game even more enjoyable.   I don’t know about you guys, but I just love when you a flag game delivers the intensity and passion that you usually only see in tackle. A convincing victory over the better than their 0-2 record Smokin’ Axolotls, would go a long way for the black and white. (Last Week 2)

4.Wax On Wax Off – When you basically average 40 points a game, you know you’re doing something right. Their defense is up to par as well. After pitching a shutout against the Orange Crush last week, they only surrendered two TDs vs Goon Squad Tuesday night. While the dynamic dual of Jordan Bellemare and Dangerous Danny D’Armour get most of the attention, don’t sleep on Justin Santillo and Mark Rinaldi either. (Last Week 4)

5. The Sun Bros – An impressive win over a good Balls Deep team sees T.S.B. rise in the rankings. If the stellar play of QB Justin Lerner and their defense especially in the 2nd half continue, they could rise even higher. (Last Week 10)

6. The Mean Machine – Despite scoring the most points in D6 so far this season, M.M comes in at number because of strength of schedule. As I mentioned above, The Sun Bros beat a good Balls Deep team, and Wax On Wax Off held Orange Crush off the score sheet, while they put up 21 on Saturday vs M.M. Assuming they get by Goon Squad this Wednesday night, the real test for these guys will come in Week 4 when they take on you guessed it…Wax On Wax Off. Stay tuned…(Last Week 7)

7. Obamacare – As I stated earlier, I think their QB Jordan McInnis (who already has some talent) will get better with time. I think that will be true for their entire team. They have playmakers on O lead by not only the aforementioned Andrew Hopkins, but by Matthew Pisaturo and Kyle McGuigan (I told you I’d get you a mention). With all four players making plays on the other side of the ball as well, the sky could be the limit for this team.  (Last Week Not Ranked)

8. Flagrant Fouls – I’m a little hesitant to give them this spot due to strength of competition. But as the saying goes, you can only play who is on your schedule, and they are undefeated. Besides, 42 points is 42 points no matter who you’re playing. Right? (Last Week 9)

9. Pardon My Swag – Defense is the name of the game for this team. After edging a the Diablos in a 20-18 slugfest in Week 1, they delivered a thumping to Team Fourth and Twenty (Last Week Not Ranked)

10. Balls Deep – a tough loss to a really impressive Sun Bros team. The game was extremely close in the first half, but mistakes in the second half doomed B.D. The schedule makers didn’t do Balls Deep any favours as they take on another good team in Pardon My Swag. How they respond in this one will go a long way in determining if they’re a contender or pretender. (Last Week 3)

11. Diablos – After losing a tight one to the aforementioned Pardon My Swag, the Diablos responded with a big win versus the Tigerz QB Francois Martin built on his solid Week 1 performance by throwing for 4 TDs and adding a pair on the ground. Let’s see if he and his team can continue the solid play.

 

 

High Five

 

Woofpack’s Defense.  Although they had the luxury of facing off against two inexperienced teams to open the season, you still have to give credit where credit is due.

In a league that is geared for offense such as FPF, it’s extremely rare to witness dominance on the defensive side of the ball. After allowing only 8 so far this season, the word dominant might not be strong enough.

Ross Oshansky. The Flagrant Fouls’ signal caller flirted with perfection Saturday night going 14 of 17 for 235 yards, and 7 touchdown passes versus the Orange Crush.

 

Danny D’Amour. For the second week in a row, every reception he made went to the house. He also added two picks on D. That gives him 5 interceptions so far this season. If he keeps this up, I’ll have to start calling him Dangerous Danny D’Amour.

 

Justin Lerner. The Sun Bros’ QB had his way with a more than respectable Balls Deep Defense. Lerner wisely used all of his weapons by spreading the ball around, resulting in 4 different WRs catching TD passes, and 5 of his 6 receivers averaging more than 10 yards a catch.

 

Andrew Hopkins. I really wanted to put the N.W.O in this spot after their gutty and physical win over Jean Guy, but I couldn’t ignore the performance of Obamacare’s dynamic 2-way player.

 

Hopkins was all over the field Wednesday night.  Whether it was his Megatron impersonation catching a TD pass by jumping over two defenders 5 plays before the half, to channeling his inner Deion “Primetime” Sanders, and returning his first pick of the game all the way from his own 10 yard line all the way to the house for a TD, the DB/WR definitely came to play.

 

The remarkable thing about Hopkins ‘performance, is that it could have been better than what it actually was. For some curious reason, Hopkins wasn’t used for parts of the game. There were a few stretches where he was on the bench on both on both offense defenses.  What makes this odd is despite the final score, the game only really started to get away from the Smokin’ Axolotls only about halfway through the 2nd half. We’ll have to see if this is a trend, or a one- time occurrence.

 

 

Step It Up

 

The Minge. So far in this short season, last year’s championship runner up has been the most disappointing team in D6. While they have opened the season against two of the tougher teams in the Division being The Pocketwatch and Flagrant Fouls respectively, a lot more was expected out a team led by FPF vets Henri Chelhot and Matthew Young.  Step it up The Minge.

Struggling Offenses. For the second week in a row we saw 5 teams who couldn’t reach double digits in points scored. While nobody laid a goose egg this week (3 teams did it in Week 1) the offensive drought is still alive. Here’s to hoping somebody can get their hands on a couple of those Patriot footballs, and help light up the scoreboard in D6.

Going deep. As I mentioned last week, there were a lot of QBs who thought that going constantly for the home run play was the best course of action.

As I also stated last week, that wasn’t the greatest idea. Clearly some signal callers listened…while others chose to ignore my advice.

For those that listened, congrats. For those that didn’t think, the interceptions speak for themselves. Yes some of those obviously came on short passes, tipped balls, option plays where the ball was thrown by a player who doesn’t play QB, and of course Hail Mary’s, but in some of the games I saw this week, at least 10 of the INTs came from passes of the deep variety that had no business being thrown whatsoever.

As I said last week, short passes are your friend.  Protect the ball, and your chances to win go up dramatically. The deep ball is a good weapon if used properly. But if you use it too much, or you don’t have the arm strength or accuracy to get the ball where it needs to go (that’s also a HUGE problem for a number of QBs I’ve seen so far) than just stick to the short and higher percentage passes. Step it up QBs.

 

 

Picks

 

Beast Mode vs The Sun Bros – The Sun Bros

Orange Crush vs Diablos – Diablos

L.A’s Finest vs Flagrant Fouls – (My pick for game of the week) – L.A.’s Finest

Balls Deep vs Pardon My Swag – Balls Deep

Team Fourth and Twenty vs Tigerz – Tigerz

N.W.O vs Smokin’ Axolotls – N.W.O

Woofpack vs The Pocketwatch – Woofpack

Goon Squad vs The Mean Machine – The Mean Machine

Obamacare vs The Minge – Obamacare

Wax On Wax Off vs Mountain Goats – Wax On Wax Off

TMNB VS Jean Guy – Jean Guy

 

Last week I was 9 for 11. Hopefully I’ll nail the last two this week. Don’t forget to listen to the Super Flag Bros Division 6 podcast on Thursday nights at 6:45 at www.theunclemikeshow.com The show is hosted by Peeze Della Reeze and David Della Rocca. Feel free to tweet either one or both of them at @ PeezeFPF and @DavesRepublic.

 

That’s it for this week; I will be back next with your Week 3 recap. I will be checking my e-mail and twitter regularly for feedback and suggestions from you guys, so if you loved the article, hated it, or simply felt I left something out, don’t be shy. You can shoot me a tweet at @BADNEWS51, or do it the semi old fashioned way and e-mail me at [email protected]