2nd-and-Short (Div D) – Week 9

Nine weeks down, one to go. One week in which one game, one drive, one play can make the difference between your team making the playoffs (or earning a better seed, or playing spoiler) and taking the field for the last time this year. Make it count.

Recap

Your Crew is Unwelcome in this Country

When I think of Fools of the Country, the first thing I think of is the fact they lost 62-7 to Grip n Rip in Week 4. The second thing I think of is how well they bounced back from that ugly loss—by winning three of their last five games. The latest of those was a 27-12 defeat of Big Blue Wrecking Crew on Sunday, in which the FOTC defence absolutely shut down Angelo Garofalo, intercepting him three times. Offensively, FOTC QB Etienne Guilmain didn’t dazzle, but he was nonetheless efficient enough as he made the most of Garofalo’s turnovers to put the game out of reach in the second half.

 

Not the Longhorns’ Hood

After losing without their starting quarterback the week before, The BrotherHood got to sit at the other end of the table as they defeated a Jon Moodie-less Longhorns 38-12 over the weekend. FPF veteran Jean-François Trudeau stepped in at QB for the ‘Horns, but simply couldn’t get anything done against a suffocating BrotherHood defence, while on the other side QB Jamal Gittens, back from injury, had no trouble moving the ball, keeping the mistakes to a minimum in the air and picking up first downs with his legs as needed.

Granted, the fact BrotherHood didn’t beat a full-squad Longhorns doesn’t exactly make this the most impressive of wins. But then again, Moodie’s absence doesn’t take away from the fact BrotherHood put up almost 40 points offensively.

 

Ça continue d’être Affreux

On paper, Les Affreux have lost three of their last four games. In reality, they’ve lost their last four in a row, with that one win coming by forfeit. With each game, Les Affreux have continued to look more and more…well…affreux. The latest loss in their swift fall from grace came at the hands of T.C.O., who cruised to a 36-27 win on Sunday. Though everything was clicking for Les Affreux in the first half as they led 21-18 at halftime, that changed quickly in the second half. That’s when everything fell apart for Les Affreux, with QB Mat Domon throwing multiple interceptions and T.C.O. capitalizing on them.

Fortunately for Les Affreux, the Longhorns’ loss puts the former back ahead of the latter in the playoff race. Speaking of which:

 

Playoff Picture

Again, an asterisk indicates a team has clinched a playoff berth; teams in bold are currently holding a playoff spot; teams in italics are eliminated from playoff contention.

Also, a reminder that the top three seeds in each conference go to the subdivision winners and that the tie-breaker criteria are wins, head-to-head, divisional record and points against.

Conference A:

1. Lobster Dinner* (8-1, 16 pts, 2-1, 152)

2. T.C.O.* (7-2, 14 pts, 3-0, 209)

3. Tomahawk Nightmare* (6-3, 12 pts, 3-0, 224)

4. Recipe 4 Disaster* (6-1-1, 13 pts, 3-0, 144)

5. Backyard Bullies* (6-3, 12 pts, 2-1, 251)

6. Los Banditos* (5-3-1, 11 pts, 2-1, 200)

7. Les Affreux (5-4, 10 pts, 2-2, 196)

8. Les Blues Branleurs (5-4, 10 pts, 1-2, 205)

 

9. Longhorns (4-5, 8 pts, 2-1, 274)

10. Fun Boys (4-5, 8 pts, 1-2, 238)

 

11. Tune Squad (3-5-1, 7 pts, 1-2, 240)

12. Angry Birds (2-7, 4 pts, 1-2, 276)

13. Les Rois Lions (2-7 4 pts, 0-3, 303)

14. Scared Hitless (1-8, 2 pts, 0-3, 308)

15. Jagerbomb (0-9, 0 pts, 0-4, 315)

 

Conference B:

1. Grip n Rip* (8-1, 16 pts, 3-0, 175)

2. Primetime* (8-1, 16 pts, 2-1, 116)

3. Ball Busters* (5-2-2, 12 pts, 2-0-1, 213)

4. Monstars* (7-2, 14 pts, 3-1, 200)

5. Show Me Your TDs* (6-2-1, 13, 2-1, 190)

6. The BrotherHood* (5-3-1, 11 pts, 0-3, 199)

7. FOTC (5-4, 10 pts, 3-1, 259)

8. Loose Cannons (5-4, 10 pts, 2-2, 174)

 

9. The Dirty South (4-4-1, 9 pts, 2-1, 223)

 

10. Big Blue Wrecking Crew (3-5-1, 7 pts, 1-0-1, 239)

11. Pardon My Swag (3-6, 6 pts, 0-3, 204)

12. Trapstars (3-6, 6 pts, 2-1, 239)

13. Speed Demons (2-6-1, 5 pts, 0-3, 229)

14. Tyrants (1-8, 2 pts, 0-3, 309)

15. Warriors (0-9, 0 pts, 0-3, 353)

 

Once again, I did all of this myself, so assume I made an error and double-check everything regarding your team’s playoff hopes.

 

Top 10

1. Grip n Rip (8-1): Another day at the office for Vinny Gualano and company.

2. Primetime (8-1): They may have needed a hail mary to win, but they won nonetheless.

3. Recipe 4 Disaster (7-1-1): Can you be a darkhorse to win the championship with seven wins.

4. Monstars (7-2): I can’t drop them down too much for losing to Grip n Rip—they’re just that good.

5. T.C.O. (7-2): Two picks in two weeks for Brent Callender?! Madness.

6. Lobster Dinner (8-1): A solid bounce-back team effort against a good team. Time to find out what we can do against a great one.

7. Show Me Your TDs (6-2-1): The offence is still struggling, but I’ll let it go this week considering the opponent was one of the top defences of the division.

8. Ball Busters (5-2-2): They turned what looked to be a likely blowout into a close loss, but it was a loss nonetheless.

9. The BrotherHood (5-3-1): Gittens is back= BrotherHood are back.

10. Tomahawk Nightmare (6-3): They won—it just wasn’t a very impressive win.

 

Quick Picks

A great week for me in which I went 12-2 in my picks still wasn’t enough to crack the Mat Domon code, as he too finished 12-2. Even with the Angry Birds’ forfeit of last week’s game giving me an extra win, I’m still behind Domon six games as I sit at 80-45 and he at 86-39.

You’ll excuse all my upset picks—it’s time for me to throw a Hail Mary to try and win this thing.

Recipe 4 Disaster vs. Lobster Dinner (N/A)

The BrotherHood vs. Speed Demons

T.C.O. vs. Les Rois Lions

Ball Busters vs. Pardon My Swag

The Dirty South vs. Warriors

Fun Boys vs. Scared Hitless

Backyard Bullies vs. Les Blues Branleurs

Primetime vs. Trapstars

Tomahawk Nightmare vs. Los Banditos

Les Affreux vs. Monstars

Longhorns vs. Angry Birds

Jagerbomb vs. Fools of the Country

Grip n Rip vs. Show Me Your TDs

Big Blue Wrecking Crew vs. Tyrants

Tune Squad vs. Loose Cannons

 

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That concludes today’s article. As always, you can reach me by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @JBlanchFPF. If you missed Monday night’s podcast with Peeze and Brent, you can check it out at www.theunclehood.com/flag-plus-football. Good luck to all this week!