8 Teams Who Failed Upwards

Peeze’s Playbook

Week 9

By Paolo Della Rocca

For those who are wondering what Hot Sauce Sports is, it’s a passion project put together by Moe Khan, Terry Tam, my brother (David Della Rocca), and the Eagle at Master Control.  Our concept is to deliver a weekly sports podcast that will serve to be informative while being entertaining and comedic.  We will talk about the topics of the week, make fun of said topics and make fun of the people who talk about it.  Each week we’ll have a guest from a list of athletes, writers and media members.  We want to talk to them about the sports they play or cover but we also want to have a laugh with them.

We want the show to feel like the type of debauchery that results in a group of friends watching a game, talking sports and whatever else comes with that level of inebriation. During games you can expect us to live tweet and begin to collect news, memes and all sorts of ridiculousness that comes with the territory.  Our Facebook page will be an open forum for anyone who wants in on the conversation, our blog page will inform and our podcast will entertain.  Soon we will be announcing a spin off podcast called NSFW: (Not Sauce For Work). This will be an raunchier, R-rated version of our product.  

So far the support from the FPF community has been exceptional.  We have yet to produce a single podcast and people are already engaged and interested.  Thank you all, the has been a project we’ve been putting together for months.  We will make you proud.

Teams That Failed Into Probable Success

Some teams performed well, some performed poorly.  However, these are teams that didn’t quite play as well as they could have and as such are better suited for post season success.  Their failures in this format give these teams the opportunity to hoist a trophy when it’s all said and done.

 

Tier 1

2HD (3-5): Regardless of you thoughts about eventual Hall of Fame Joey Taylor, 2HD are in prime position to win a bowl championship.  The only team to have beat 2HD from this grouping is Les Banlieusards and that wa a game where the Dans were only 5 players.  The biggest knock against Joey Taylor is exactly what landed them in this incredible position; he can’t beat the top teams in FPF.  Domenic Benevento is coming off of a leg injury and has looked great in his return to FPF.  His 43 catches indicate that our thought that he’d be perfect for the 2HD system.

 

Tier 2

Outlaws (3-6):  Give Stephen Harripersaud Kevin Smuda and it’s a homer right?  Well, there is two facets to FPF football.  This team has shown the inability to defend the intermediate pass all season long.  The season has shown a borderline defensive incompetence.  However, this may have served Brad Evans and the rocking flamingos.  The teams they face in the lower end of Tier 2 and teams promoted from Tier 3 may not immediately recognize how to take advantage of this.  Outlaws have the ability to score points and this may cause problems at the knockout stage.  Add this offensive firepower to the fact that their bye means they’re only a week away form a bowl game means that they have a great chance at bowl glory!

Greendale Human Beings (3-6): GHB’s performance has been so egregious that they could only have flopped on purpose.  This was a team I thought would easily roll to a higher Tier 2 seed.  Having gone 2-1 in their last three games and having scored 119 points in their last three games make that case even stronger.  I am worried about 88.9% of the team’s completions going to Danny McFee, Brandon Aylward and Alex Joltopuff.  That is a good trio but this makes them very matchup dependant.  GHB are in a great spot considering I expected them to roll through the first round and now they’re playing teams who were a game away from being relegated and a couple of promoted Tier 3 teams.

Lockdown (2-6): Pat Riot is either an extremely effective quarterback or a skilled quarterback with a limited repertoire of throws.  The issue is that at the time of the first snap of the game we don’t ever know what we’re going to get. Maxime Chateauneuf’s play in 4 games has been impressive. His 25 catches and 7 touchdowns is impressive but while he only played half a season, Riot has formed a bond with Shawn Fontaine (34 catches, 504 yards, 9TDs), and Antoine Martineau (31 catches, 294 yards and 5 touchdowns).  The offence has actually been more consistent than expected (more of the efficient Cialis Pat Riot than Whiskey limp Pat Riot).  Lockdown lost two games by a point each.  In the end, all is well that ends well. Also, something else about ends.  Split ends?  Lockdown gets to move down and play down to their competition.  That is the North American area after all.

 

Tier 3

Unknown Talent (6-2):  With one of their only two losses coming to EZW, who have been promoted to T2. Unknown Talent have been just that.  We didn’t now a ton about this team at the time of registration however with Alessandro Barazzoni throwing for an overwhelming 36 touchdowns and an underwhelming 16 interceptions it has truly been this team’s collection of talent that has allowed them to compete at such a high level.  Rafaelle Morelli recorded 5 interceptions and Walker Joquette’s 4 interceptions paced an athletic and aggressive defence to have just enough possessions to squeeze the life out of their opposition despite their mistakes.  A first round bye helps Unknown Talent who are a group who are due for a tough game that they may only encounter come winter season.

Tier 4 

Trojans (6-2): Trojans were a surprise high seed in the higher end of the Tier 4 bracket.  Alexandre Fafard threw for 25 touchdowns and looked the part of confident quarterback.  However, this is the kind of team that has been effective in games despite having an unrefined offence.  In a higher tier the elite athleticism of Etienne Brisson, Matthieu Pilotte and Guillaume Bolduc  would be negated by higher division experience and schemes.

Teen Stars (3-5): The thing that is the most important to remember about Teen Stars’ season is that they missed two and a half games.  In the games where they were present and account for for an entire game Teen Stars went 3-2.  This is a talented, speedy group.  Falling into the lowest tier, they do not need to deal with relegation or some of the better teams in T4.  Ness Saleh only there 3 interceptions in the part of the tournament where we expect mistakes to run rampant.  Jason Schwartz’s 8 touchdowns have hi firmly supplanted as the team’s number 1 option.. However, I don’t see how any of the teams in the bottom end of T4 will be able to take that matchup away.

Fresh Lungs (2-4-2): The two ties indicate that Fresh Lungs were two points from being a .500 team.  Three of their other losses came by a combined 8 points.  I was excited to see Olivier Dolores develop into a number 1 receiver.  He is a tall, athletic and quick receiver.  Quarterback Matthew Lerner showed growth in the absence of brother in receiving phenom.  The team has played better than their record and has avoided moving into a higher playoff seeding.

 

Saturday’s Syphilis in Stereo

In part two of this series we looked at the best failures.  Monday’s piece will look into the teams that ended in the perfect seeding as compared to our initial impressions. For further info on this division and the rest of the league feel free to tune into Calling the Audible where Terry Tam, the Eagle at Master Control and I will discuss worst slow dance songs, some boss assed bridges and some 90’s assed vibes.

Tune in to the Facebook Live to join the show or to see us on You Tube or download us wherever you get your podcasts.  Good luck everyone!  Please feel free to reach me @peezefpf on twitter or @ Peeze Della Reeze on Facebook to let me know about the various ways in which I was wrong