Div 5a/5b Power Rankings and Bubble Teams

Peeze’s Playbook

Also Week 10

Upon my return to Montreal from Cartagena, Colombia I finally sat in my office and settled in whilst looking at the FPF site and began to look at the playoff situation in division 5. We will definitely focus on the specifics during the podcast but I wanted to take a moment to react to where some of the teams on the bubble find themselves and reflect on what they’re expectations were.

Ice Up (5-4): This is entirely shocking to me. I understand that the team was without low division phenome Jordan Mcinnis has only played a single game all season. However, Shaq Lattimore and Mickey Marini is a superb wide receiver duo so seeing this team hover around .500 is strange. The defense has definitely been more of the culprit as Ice Up have allowed 30 points or more in 6 of 9 games (nice). It does beg the question, whether FPF has become a game now where teams need a trio of stars to truly be an elite offense?

Big Baller Brand (4-4-1): The team started the season with Stefano Spagnuolo at Quarterback. In that time Spagnuolo threw 11 interceptions and not a single touchdown. Evidentally, BBB didn’t win a game during that span. Since switching to Benjamin McMahon at quarterback, Big Baller Brand are 4-1-1. I didn’t think they would make this change but since they have they can expect to upset some teams in the playoffs as this team is surging and very few are paying attention. That said, a playoff berth isn’t guaranteed to this 9 seed.

Bud Knights (4-6): The season is done for BK. All the credit to Mathieu Kieljan and co. for moving up from Division 6D/E. However, his 17 interceptions just kept them out of playoff contention. Laurent Foucault proved to be a great two way addition but this was what I though the ceiling for this team would be. The team has talent but they need to move away from their all-or-nothing style of play to see success in future seasons.

Spartans (5-3): Spartans control their own destiny by virtue of having two games remaining to play. They are GOTW against MTLoud and it will be a tough game indeed. Spartans feature a trio of speedy recievers in Daniel Hernandez, Alexis Bessette and Andrew Grant. Defensively Charles-David Martel is one of the best rushers who doesn’t get the credit he deserves. I think Spartans are as surprised as I am to see this 5-3 team hovering over the 7 seed this late in the season.

Fightin’ Tigers (3-4-2): I haven’t thought much of Seth Galina as a quarterback thus far. He is no doubt a great football mind. For the uninitiated, he is as smart an FPF player as there is. In the past he hasn’t been able to put it together. So I did have my doubts about Fightin’ Tigers heading into the season. I am happy to say I was wrong. Adding Jamie Ojeaha to a team that otherwise lacked true star power was a great idea and he has fit this offense perfectly. The team may be another solid weapon from truly competing but still, it has come together better than expected.

Les Voyous (3-4-2): I’m surprised that Les Voyous find themselves struggling to hold on to a playoff spot. I thought this is where this team stocked with ridiculous athleticism. Marc-Andre Alexandre and Vincent Laganiere are remarkable and will soon be talked about in higher division circles. The biggest issue continues to be stopping opposing offences. They’ve allowed 30 points or more in 6 games and two of those games resulted in ties! The moment it all clicks is soon upon us. For no however, Les Voyous continue to grind.

Tough Lungs (3-5-1): Ok we get it; Justin Lerner is un-guardable. His 18 touchdowns is Ludacris. However, the question with Tough Lungs has been the same as in imrpov. Yes and??? John Madimenos and Olivier Doleyres continue to be additional pieces rather than complimentary to the team’s high flyer. Matthew Lerner has yet to take the next step in his progression as an FPF QB. This is somewhat expected. It is hard not to lean on such a specimen of a receiver but that will be when we see Tough Lungs improve in future seasons.

Ducks and Cover (2-4-3): Three ties!?!!?!?!?!?! So Matt Domon has a lot of good, physical receviers. Renault St-Laurent, Maxime Cote and Tabari Yearwood come to mind. However, the team is missing a legitimate speed threat to help Domon stretch the field. The games where they’ve faltered are games where they needed a game breaking play and did not get one. This is what we said heading into the season and unfortunately for these knuckle puckers, it has played out that way as well.

Arouch (3-5): Having to play two games Arouch is not quite the long shot they may first appear to be. Dimitri Morand was expected (by Moe Khan) to set FPF ablaze. However, the former USports standout has only thrown in two games. With Eric Lalonde present and not throwing this past week, it seems Arouch may be turning to Morand for the playoff push. I still think it will take a moment to adjust to FPF but we will see how it all works out.

Wack Attack (4-5): The team has improved since moving to George Jean Louis at quarterback. It isn’t quite perfect but the team is moving the ball. There was no clear quarterback on the roster so I did worry about this team heading into the season. They seem to have solved that issue and are right on the cusp of making the playoffs. Quietly Antoine Fortin-Lefebvre has had a solid two way season. Six touchdowns and five interceptions in his second campaign is a very good performance so far.

Lockdown (4-5): This one is shocking. We know that Pat Riot is a very good quarterback for this division. We also know that he relies heavily (too heavily on the production of Shawn Fontaine. However, Max Newcastle has become a reliable second option and the defense has been good enough in games where they’ve been expected to have a chance to win. All-in-all this season has gone much better than expected for Lockdown.

A-Town (3-5): The team has a lot of talent. I expected them to be fighting for a playoff spot with inexperience at the quarterback position. Eli Hicks and Gabriel Billette have both been unspectacular. They’ll need help but the season isn’t quite over yet.

Air Force 1 (4-4-1): The tie against Johnny Fireball has made it so that AF1 still need to fend off suitors for a playoff spot. This was a team we met last year who brought back quarterback Simon Blais as well as Chris and David Van Oordt. The team also added game breaker Phil Angers and we expected AF1 to be one of the top teams in the division this season. It hasn’t entirely worked so, needless to say Air Force 1 has not quite delivered but they will be a tough out if they make the playoffs.

Green Monster 2.0 (4-5): The issue with Green Monster 1.0 was the inability to score. They are still only scoring a little over 20 points a game despite having a strong defense. Pat Jazon can do it all but he is so much better served as a receiver especially if paired with Chad and Jesse Dumeignil. The team doesn’t have a natural quarterback ans as such their performing as expected heading into the season.

Broke Boys (4-5): Twenty one players have played at least a single game for Broke Boys this season and twenty three have been listed on the roster. This is an absolute, abject disaster. When Matthew Campbell and Liam Barclay are there, the offense looks better but there has been so much uncertainty that it would be hard to expect Broke Boys to be more competitive than this.

Chocolate Barracudas (4-5): Sonny Elias has had some moments with CB. The issue has been consistency and that hasn’t entirely been improved this season. He has only not thrown an interception in two games this season and in one of those game he completed single digit passes. Without an improvement in his consistency this is roughly where I expected chocolate Barracudas to be.

Thundercats (3-6): Thundercats simply don’t score enough points. I thought we would, at least, get a repeat performance from Xavier Tardiff’s Spring 2019 season. This season however he has thrown nearly twice as many touchdowns to interceptions. The team only has Maxim Sauvageau who has caught more than 20 passes. That is far too one dimensional to be successful. In a word, the team has NOT lived up to expectations. The word was: not.

Team Y.S. (3-6): Teams that are immensely athletic and struggle on defense make no sense to me. Team Y.S. have made huge strides on defense. They could use more turnover but overall it hasn’t been the Achilles heel of the past. However, offensively Ralp Najem is averaging less than 4 touchdowns a game. This was not expected. We expected this team to light up the scoreboard and that simply hasn’t been the case.

Power Rankings

Division 5A

By Paolo Della Rocca

Unknown Talent (7-2): Give me all the Rakim Charles stock I can get! A 9.5 total TD/INT ratio in his rookie season is sheer nonsense.
Pardon My Swag (7-2): Sure the doubters will say “do it in the post season”. They’ll get their chance and every season is its own independent outcome. Brad Evans has been great but the defense is really the highlight. The team has 17 interceptions this season.
Ballz Deep (7-2): Beating MTLoud has put them on the radar. Ballz Deep has now won 6 straight and is deserving of our attention.
Spartans (5-3): The record is deceiving because the team has played only 8 games as of today. However, they’ve won their last three games and in that time Daniel Hernandez has scored 4 touchdowns in that span.
Buffalo Wild Wings (6-3): Someone guard Guillaume Fontaine. His 17 touchdowns has been impressive. Few expected our favorite restaurant chain to be doing this well but they are definitely turning heads.
MTLoud (6-2): Xavier Tremblay is human. Since my departure for South America he’s thrown 3 interceptions. They Lost to Ballz Deep but given their ranking that doesn’t shake the table up much.
Glogang (6-2-1): The record is slightly padded with a forfeit win and they took a tough loss two weeks ago against Tough Lungs. However, led behind Olivier Suri’s 6 interception Glogang is still garnering attention.
The U (6-3): Evan Frank has had a solid season and the duo of Josh White and Kris Schicchi have combined for 25 touchdowns. They stumbled last week but they previously handed a loss to PMS.
Brotherhood Lite (5-3-1): Despite taking a loss to Fightin’ Tigers, Brotherhood Lite have been impressive and consistent posting a 3-2 record over the last 5 weeks.
Bruins (6-3): Bruins have bene a little up and down over the last couple of weeks but they did lay a beating on Ducks and Cover behind Alexandre St-Arnaud’s 3 touchdowns.

Division 5B

By Will Power

Holy Trollers (7-1-1): I played these guys just a little while ago and I really like them. They have 3 receivers who could be a true number one on any team in 5B in Bergeron, Chin, and the underrated Levine. They are a dangerous team on the defensive side of the ball as well.
Leftovers (7-1): I don’t know too much about this team and maybe the media hasn’t given them enough love. They have beaten several good teams and have a big game coming up against Los Banditos.
Warriors (6-2): The Solimene brothers have a truly lethal connection. Stefano Solimene may be one of the best route-runners I have ever played against. These guys have the ability to win it all. I am curious to see who steps up for them when Stefano gets taken away.
Y$L (7-2): Maybe the best defensive team in all of 5B. They have great athletes all across the board. Noah Groper is a rising star in this league and teams may want to consider doubling him if needed.
Tuts and Parlays (7-2): They may not be the flashiest team in 5B, but they find ways to win games and that’s all that counts. Big test for them coming up in their next game against Threat Level Midnight.
Blackouts (7-1-1): Another team I don’t know too much about, but I do know that Ryan Vanslet is a baller and has the ability to score on every play. Potentially the game of the week on Saturday when they play The Leftovers.
Los Banditos (6-2): Any team in 5B has got to be considered elite when you have Vincent Benjamin as a receiver. To add to that they have Savoiz-Seguin and Gauthier and having very solid years. I think this team goes as far as QB Desrochers takes them.
Honey Martin (7-1-1): This team is super solid. QB David Roaldi is putting up crazy numbers and does a great job of spreading the ball around. At times I feel like this team is overlooked and that is exactly what fuels them.
Gryphons (5-3): Not only have they won 5 straight games, but in their last 3 games they have scored an average of 44 points! If any team wants to be these guys their number one priority has got to be stopping Kosta Grillas.
New Wave (6-2): This team probably has the second best defense in 5B in my opinion. They play with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. They have only given up an average of 18 PPG and their 2 losses have come against solid teams. Look for them to be a dangerous team come playoff time.

Picks for Wednesday and Thursday games

By Will Power

Los Banditos VS Leftovers –Los Banditos

Goats VS Warriors– Warriors

Wack Attack VS A-TOWN- Wack Attack

Tuts and Parlays VS Threat Level Midnight- Tuts and Parlays

Y$L VS Mean Girls- Y$L