Defense, Clutch Plays, Nail-Biters, and the Raptors

Welcome to Week 3 of the FlagPlus Football Spring Season.

After the schedule conflict at Bois-de-Boulagne to kick off the regular season, we finally got our full slate of games this past week.

The delay proved more than worth it, as all ten games delivered a wide range of football, from blowouts, to edge of your seat thrillers.

Despite some lopsided scores, and one possesion games, the biggest thing that Week 2 showed us, is that defense matters.

Look no further than the blowouts that took place this past week. They all resulted in one team shutting down another on the defensive side of the ball, and their offensive benefitting from punts and multiple turnovers.

The Stoics, are one of those aforementioned teams who rode that momentum to their first win of the season, with a (33-0) victory over Gym Class Heroes. Great job on the shutout boys, that’s impressive!

Defensive Back Meïssa N’Garane, intercepted GCH Quarterback James Donald twice, and the Stoics offense led by Chris Rivest, was able to capitalize on the extra possessions, as he threw for five touchdowns in the contest.

Three of those TDs, went to two-way player Jonathan Chevalier, (he also threw a 28 yard pass) who made a huge impact on the other side of the ball as well, with a game-high 7 tackles, to go along with 1 sack, and a pass deflection.

The Stoics, also got a solid performance out of Jason Armenti, who finished second on the team in tackles with 6.

For Gym Class Heroes, the loss dropped them to (0-2) on the season, and they have an offense that is struggling to put it nicely, with only scored 14 points scored through two games.

Unfortunately for them, the schedule doesn’t get any easier, as they next face (1-1) P.O.P, and their offense, which through two weeks, is averaging 35 points a game.

While the Simon Says Quarterback Simon Dagenais, threw for 4 touchdown passes, including two to AJ Gomes, it was the team’s defense, that was able to record a pair of pick 6’s (Gomes and Justin Blanchard), that really stood out in their (40-20) victory over All Hooks.

The Simon Says defense also got help from Defensive Back Jean-Daniel Joly, who had an interception, as well as game-high 7 tackles, and Rusher Nicholas Groppini, who had 2 sacks.

In defense of All Hooks, they were without their number one Quarterback in Charles-Olivier Lavigne, which forced them to insert Wide Receiver Jeremy White as their QB.

While the 3-time All-Star did throw for EZW in Division 5B this winter, the jump in competition to Div C, is a little tougher.

Putting White at QB, also meant that All Hooks, was without their best Wide Receiver for the game.

 

Speaking of lower division Quarterbacks, Stephen Harripersaud, filled in for an injured Rocco Christiano, in Sweat & Beers’ game versus The Commission.

In the first half of the game, the former All-Star, went toe-to-toe with TC QB Jean-Félix Marquis, as both threw two touchdown passes, and each side entered the break tied at (12-12).

The second half was a completely different story, as the TC defense turned up the heat on Harripersaud, and forced two interceptions, and a pair of turnovers on downs, headlined by Marc-Antoine Lapointe, and the underrated Kenny Boutilier, who both came up with defensive touchdowns, a number of key pass deflections, especially on fourth down.

Marquis, took advantage, of the turnovers, and threw two touchdowns to help seal the win for The Commission.

In fairness to Sweat & Beers, they were not only without Christiano, they were also missing Receiver Rob Robinson.

On the flipside however, they did bring in Div B two-way player, and 4-time All-Star Chris Milard, so that more than made up for the holes in their lineup.

After having to wait an extra week to start their season, Easy-Jake-Oven, used a stellar defensive effort highlighted by four interceptions, in their (32-12) win over The Huffmen, Monday night, at Stade de Montreal.

The team’s defense got in on the scoring, as both Marty Freedman, and Yoni Loeub, returned two interceptions to the endzone.

The always lethal EJO Quarterback Jake Applebaum, completed just ten passes, but three of them went for touchdowns in the win.

Let’s see is the team can make it two wins in row, when they take on the Backyard Bullies, this Thursday, in a must-watch game at Stade de Montreal.

Despite both teams combining for 59 points, the Dream Breakers versus KGP matchup, was decided by defense as well.

After the Dream Breakers, found themselves trailing (25-20) at halftime, they pitched a shutout in the second stanza, as they were able to intercept KGP Quarterback Phil Cutler twice (Diego Vincent Villeneuve and Pierre-Alexandre Taché), and turn the turnovers into touchdowns, as their QB Sebastien Dallaire, was able to find the endzone twice, on the way to a (34-25) win.

Pierre-Alexandre Taché, would have a phenomenal game, as the fourth year player, caught a game-high 8 passes for 138 yards and 3 touchdowns, to go along with 7 tackles (also a game-high), and the aforementioned interception.

The 138 receiving yards put up by Taché, led all Division C Receivers this week.

Taché’s Dream Breakers teammate Francois Dessureault, had a game to remember as well, with a game-high 4 sacks of the mobile Cutler. As a Receiver, Dessureault, would add 3 receptions for 69 yards and 1 TD.

 

Unfortunately for KGP, the loss wasted an impressive performance by Gabe D’Amico-Mazza, as the FPF veteran, led his team with 3 sacks.

 

While the theme of this article has been about defense, I have to give a tip of the hat to a couple of performances on the other side of the ball as well.

One of those performances was by a Hall-of-Famer.

Last week, I talked about how Mercenaries Quarterback Gino Di Fazio, appeared to have found a time machine, as the veteran threw for 4 touchdowns, and completed just under 73% of his passes, in his team’s Week 1 win over Sweat & Beers, despite the fact that he was missing some members of the team.

This time with nearly his full roster, the FPF Hall-of-Famer, was even better Tuesday night against P.O.P, as he threw for 6 TDs (leading all Div. C Quarterbacks), and completed 85.7% of his passes, in his team’s (53-32) win.

The biggest beneficiary of Di Fazio’s play, was Wide Receiver Kendal Mayers, who had 6 catches for 83 yards, and 3 TDs.

The defense had some fun too, as they were led by Isiah Allard, and Justin Weir, who both had a pick 6’s. The Mercenaries, were also able to get an interception from David De Andrade.

Let’s see if Di Fazio, and the Mercenaries defense, can keep up their solid play going tonight, when they take on the Stoics.

 

Another performance that stood out, was that of Pineapple Express Quarterback Chris Olson.

 

The veteran passer, played a huge role in his team’s thrilling come from behind (28-27) win over Jagerbomb, as he threw for a really impressive 270 yards, to go along with 4 touchdown passes.

Olson, pulled a Gino Di Fazio, and found the time machine as well (I can’t confirm if there was a hot tub or not) as he played some solid defense as well, finishing the game with an interception, and a sack of Jagerbomb QB Simon Duchesne, to seal the game, completing the Gordie Howe hat-trick of football.

Pineapple Express Wide Receivers Julian McLaren-Thompson, and Joel Malkin-Cone, came through in the clutch for the team as well, as they combined for 8 catches for 135 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The speedy duo saved their best performance for last, as with the game tied at twenty with just over a minute to five plays left the team marched down the field, and tied the game up on a TD reception by McLaren-Thonpson, with two plays left in the game.

Electing to go for the 2-point conversion and the win, Olson found Mr. Convo himself, Malkin-Cone, in the back of the endzone for the game-winning score, giving the team their first win of the Spring Season.

Let’s see if Pineapple Express, can make it two in a row, when they take on a beat up Sweat & Beers squad tomorrow night at Stade de Montreal.

Jordan Allard, was like a one-man wrecking crew in the Backyard Bullies (19-12) win over the Junkyard Dogs.

The 2-time All-Star, had 5 receptions for 35 yards and 2 touchdowns, including the game-winner, with two plays left, and an interception on defense, to help his team win start the year (1-0).

In his first year with the Bullies, good guy, and underrated Kevin Marcil, played a key role in the win, as he caught a TD pass, and registered a sack on elusive JYD Quarterback Jason Rossie.

The loss by the Junkyard Dogs, also wasted a superb  4 sack performance by Rusher Denzel Eadie-Lowe.

As I have said numerous times before, this is a league that is tailored toward offense. In my team’s (The Commission) game against Sweat & Beers, I played defense the whole game, which is a rarity for me. It honestly was a lot of fun, and brought back some memories.

 

In tackle football minus my first year of Junior ball with the Chateauguay Raiders (I played there for 4 years), where I played Fullback, I have always played defense. Even when I played for the Stingers, I stuck to defense. Being a 5’8 Nose Tackle wasn’t always fun, but having a REALLY low center of gravity, a little bit of speed, and some strength behind it, helped. Plus, I LOVED hitting QBs.

Naturally, this league is mostly about speed, especially on defense. It felt nice knowing I can hold my own out there. I digress…

In case you were wondering, no, that’s not the reason why I wrote the article. I decided on this theme, after watching a few games, and looking at various box scores, and saw that ten teams failed to score more than 25 points this week.

In an average game, each team gets between 3-4 possessions a half. Not counting conversions, if you score every time you have the ball, that would give you somewhere around 36-48 points a game.

Accounting for interceptions, dropped touchdowns, bad throws, errant snaps, and other mistakes that wipe away drives, that should still average out to about 32 points a game, minus convos.

This week, Division C saw a total of 512 points scored. The Mercenaries, led everybody with 53, while Gym Class Heroes, were shutout. While the latter almost never happens, the former is most likely an outlier.

In Week 2 of last Spring Season, 658 points were scored. Yes, there were 22 teams in Div. C last year compared to 20 this year, but that is still a difference of 146 points. I don’t care if Da Finest, Braves, The Alpha-T’s, the New England Patriots, or my 9ers led by the G.O.A.T Joe Montana, were on the field, no two teams are combining to score that many points (73 apiece) in just under 50 minutes.

Of course, that leads to the question, were the 512 points scored the product of stellar defense, or average Quarterback play by some teams, or both? I guess we will find out soon enough.

Finally, GREAT job by the Raptors last night! Team showed a ton of heart once again, coming back from a double digit deficit, for what felt like the 100th time this post-season. I know a lot of people said throughout the series that Kawhi Leonard is the best player in the game. I was still giving the edge to Kevin Durant, but after the last two games, I think I am starting to cross over to the other side.

Leonard, dominated the soon-to-be named MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo, and seemed to get better the higher the stakes became, not just in the Bucks series, but the entire playoffs.

While it’s not Durant’s fault he got hurt, the Warriors, haven’t really missed a beat without him.

It is possible that Golden State doesn’t go down in double digits in game 4 versus the Portland Trail Blazers with KD in the lineup, the defending champs also didn’t need him to come back either.

As of this morning, the Warriors were -320 favorites to beat the Raptors. Obviously, no Durant, and DeMarcus Cousins, makes beating Golden State a little easier. Although, just like the rumors say, and everybody expects, I am sure we will see one or most likely both, during the Finals. Even with them, I don’t want to guarantee a three-peat for Steph Curry and company, for three reasons.

Firstly, Toronto, plays GREAT defense, with not just Leonard, but Marc Gasol, Pascal Siakim, Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, Norman Powell, and Danny Green too.

Secondly, on offense, Leonard will get his, but the key will be the other guys, including Fred VanVleet, to get theirs too. Toronto has the edge on the bench. As we saw versus the Bucks, they played a big role in the series win. If Green can get out of his slump, that would be huge for the Raptors.

Thirdly, and most importantly, Kawhi has been here before, (also don’t forget, he and the San Antonio Spurs were up three games to one when he got hurt in their 2017 opening Round matchup with GSW) and he has been everything and than some for Toronto.

A lot of people are predicting a Warriors win, and understandably so. I know I am betting with my heart here, but I am calling a Raptors upset in 7. The whole country is behind them, and Scotiabank Center can match the Oracle, in terms of noise and atmosphere.

This team has had the tougher path to the Finals. Portland isn’t ready yet, plus they were missing Jusuf Nurkić, and the Rockets are chokers. Who says Leonard and the Raptors, don’t have one more round left in them? We have seen crazier things before.

 

Before I get to the Picks, I  just wanted touch on the death of legendary Green Bay Packers Quarterback Bart Starr. The Hall-of-Famer’s passing, was announced on ESPN just a few minutes ago. 

 

The former face of the Packers, long before Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers, the 85 year old led the franchise to five NFL championships.

 

Starr, was named NFL MVP in the 1966, and had his number 15 retired by the franchise 1973.

 

I never had a chance to meet him, but apparently, he was an even better person, than he was a Quarterback. That’s pretty remarkable. 

 

R.I.P Bart Starr. 

 

● In case you weren’t aware, the games that were cancelled Week 1, will be made up this Thursday at Stade de Montreal, so please check here, and the schedule for details.

 

 

Picks

The Commission vs Simon Says – N/A

All Hooks vs Jagerbomb – Jagerbomb

Mercenaries vs Stoics – Mercenaries

Pineapple Express vs Sweat & Beers – Pineapple Express

Dream Breakers vs The Huffmen – Dream Breakers

KGP vs Game Changers – KGP (Upset Special)

P.O.P vs Gym Class Heroes – P.O.P

Easy-Jake-Oven vs GloGang – Easy-Jake-Oven

A-Squad vs Backyard Bullies – Backyard Bullies

Keyport Lock vs Junkyard Dogs – Keyport Lock

GloGang vs Dream Breakers – Dream Breakers * Thursday SDM

KGP vs Keyport Lock – Keyport Lock * Thursday SDM

Backyard Bullies vs Easy-Jake-Oven – Backyard Bullies (My pick for Game of the Week)

* Thursday SDM

A-Squad vs Junkyard Dogs – Junkyard Dogs * Thursday SDM

Last Week: (6-3)

Season: (9-5)

 

That’s it for this Week. I’ll be back next time with a Week 3 re-cap, and a Week 4 preview. Wow, the quarter point of the season is already here.

Good luck to everybody in their games tonight, and later this week.

If you loved the article, hated it, or simply felt like I left something out, feel free to contact me at [email protected] or on Twitter@BADNEWSB51

Cheers!