Div C Play-in Round and Quarter Finals

Alright, I’ve loved covering this division through articles this year, but I’m even more excited to cover these playoff elimination games, starting with the Divisional/Play-in rounds beginning on Friday Sept. 10th. The first thing to report unfortunately, is that due to Covid, 2 games have been postponed. First, the Silent-Ticklers vs. EZW play-in game, originally scheduled for Friday Sept. 10th has been pushed to Monday Sept. 13. Second, the SHIT vs. Sheeeesh Quarterfinal game which was scheduled for Monday Sept. 13th, has been pushed to Friday Sept. 17th. The hopes of the league, of course, is to reschedule these games in order to give players enough time to get tested and prove a negative result in order to prevent a spreading of Covid and avoid any additional game postponements. Everyone wants the playoffs to continue and have a conclusion this time around, as Rob mentioned, it has been 769 days since we last played a playoff game.

That being said, let’s dive in with a review of the playoff matchups.

**Please note that unfortunately, I am one of the players that has fallen victim to Covid, and I’m feeling under the weather when writing this article. I mention this because I have written this article with only the Top Sauce and Blue Dreamers playoff preview as of Friday night and will post it on the FPF Facebook group on Friday night. Since I have nowhere to go for 10 days, I will write the remaining playoff previews on Saturday and re-post the link to this article a 2nd time on the FPF FB group and you will be able to read the updated playoff game reviews, again, on this same article!

Play-in/Divisional Playoffs

#8 Top Sauce vs. #9 Blue Dreamers

Both teams come into this one with a 4-6 record and both believe they can come out on top. For Top Sauce, they need to decide on whether it will be Vince Nardone under centre or Patrick Jazon. Since August, Top Sauce has gone with Nardone, and while he is the better of the 2 as a natural QB, even he would likely admit that he didn’t put up great stats. He threw 13 TDs and 8 INTs in his last 4 games and was sacked 14 times.

While the Quarterback play has been more erratic on Top Sauce’s side, Alessandro Barazzoni is the clear QB1 for the team. However, he too did not finish on a hot streak, throwing 10 TDs and 9 INTs in his final 4 games, and getting sacked 9 times. And the most meaningful of those last 4 games in the context of this play-in game, is of course the final, Week 10 matchup against Top Sauce, where despite throwing for 190 yards, Barazzoni threw more interceptions (4) than touchdowns (3). In that last matchup on August 26th, Top Sauce bested the Blue Dreamers 31-20, and the Dreamers couldn’t contain Darnell Kevis Riley as he went off for 111 yards and 3 TDs on his 3 receptions. They were touchdowns of 32, 30, and 49 yards, so clearly the Dreamers will need to respect Nardone‘s deep ball to Riley if they want to win. On the other side, Bekim Borova was the leading receiver with 3 catches of his own for 78 yards and a TD. Of course though, the biggest asterisk in the Aug. 26th game, was that AJ Gomes did not play. This is a game-breaking player that stretches the field, can bail out his QB, and neutralizes Chris Milard on Top Sauce’s defensive side of the ball. Not only does it maybe wipe out Milard‘s pick 6 from their regular season matchup, but Barazzoni naturally plays with more confidence when Gomes is out there, so he likely doesn’t throw 4 INTs again.

While Riley balled out last game offensively (he also had 2 picks and a Pass Defended on D), the depth at WR looked weak for Top Sauce, as Milard has 1 catch for 9 yards, Chad Dumeignil (not playoff eligible) had 2 catches for 8 yards, Lonnie Johnson had 1 catch for 5 yards and Jazon 1 catch for 3 yards. For Blue Dreamers, after Borova‘s 78 yards, you had Anthony Siggia with 6 catches for 50 yards, Sebastian Gomes catching 2 balls for 28 yards and Nic Risso hauling in 3 receptions for 20 yards and a TD. In other words, the spread on offence was more dynamic and harder for Top Sauce to contain. Look for this to be a key to success for Blue Dreamers in the playoff matchup, especially with AJ Gomes in the lineup.

There’s also 1 play from their last meeting that MIGHT have a slight influence in the playoff game, for pride reasons. If I’m not mistaken, Vince Nardone had a crazy TD run on the last play of the game for 36 yards that made the Blue Dreamers look silly and had them shaking their heads. I believe there were multiple spin-o-rama’s, multiple sideline tip-toes to stay inbounds, and perhaps even a Jeremy-White dip move on his way to the endzone, all surrounded by the background noise of his teammates best interpretation of Chris Berman’s “WHOOP!” . This alone might motivate Blue Dreamers to not give up on plays and ensure tackles are made.

While both defenses have roughly the same number of interceptions, the big difference goes to the Blue Dreamers and their Div C Defensive Player of the Year, Raff Morelli and his 21 sacks. Top Sauce might want to slow Morelli down by having some double QB option plays or firing quick slants and hooks and let the receivers do the work.

So it’s prediction time, and honestly, this one is a coin flip…

But for the depth reasons at receiver, and the disruption that Morelli can cause, give me the Blue Dreamers to prevail in a tightly contested matchup that ends up being decided by converts!

Prediction: Blue Dreamers 26 – 25 Top Sauce

Okay, here’s the continuation of my article after watching some NFL games! An All-Football Sunday.. how better to spend my time in quarantine??

First up, the Silent Ticklers vs. EZW Play-in game.

#7 Silent Ticklers vs. #10 EZW

The Silent Ticklers go into the playoffs winning their last 2 games with Jordan Panetta at the backbone of those wins and their entire season to be frank. He made a seamless return to FPF, putting up a season just 18 yards shy of 2,000 passing yards, while posting 47 Touchdowns and only 8 INTs, all in just 9 games. In his last 4 games he put up 20 TDs and just 2 interceptions, so he’s definitely on fire as of late. Back on August 5th, the last matchup against EZW, I think it’s fair to say that Panetta dissected the notoriously weak EZW defense, completing 66% of his passes, throwing 5 scores and getting picked off once. And to make up for his pick thrown, Panetta showed his defensive prowess, picking of Jeremy White himself for a pick 6 no less. So he’s not only capable of making up for his mistakes by putting up scores, he can rectify his mistakes with his defensive efforts.

On the other QB side, we’ve got Jeremy White, who is more high risk, high reward. Between giving up 29 sacks and throwing 15 picks, it’s obvious to say that between the two, he should rather get sacked than throw the pick. Not only for the obvious turnover reason, but because I have no doubt that the offense is capable of getting those lost yards back on the very next play. The question Jeremy needs to answer for his team is whether he can score 5 or more TD’s. In terms of passing TDs, he’s done it only twice. If you take into account his rushing TDs (and why wouldn’t you), he’s done it 4 times, whereas Panetta has scored a minimum of 5 times on seven different occasions. The advantage White has over Panetta is that he can pick up first downs with his elusive running ways and can buy his receivers time to get open while scrambling outside of the non-existent FPF pocket.

If you were betting on this FPF game, specifically on the quarterback play and wanted the safe pick, you would go with Panetta. If you wanted the higher payout, you would go with White.

Talking receivers, the Silent Ticklers are led by their Big 3 of Adam Rosen, Dan Mancini and Vincent Dagenais, all of which had 340+ yards and 8+ TDs. I don’t know much about the last 2, whether they are possession receivers, skilled route runners, or Moss machines, but I do know that Rosen‘s speed is to be feared by the EZW defense. In likely their best win of the season against Blessed, this trio put up over 300 yards receiving and 7 TDs combined. Suffice to say that if they are to beat EZW, getting these 3 as involved as they were against Blessed is an obvious key to success. To defend these guys, I can see CO Lavigne‘s athleticism being just enough to cover Rosen, and Jeremy White‘s defense has gotten better over his FPF years, and will say he will be able to cover one of Mancini or Dagenais enough to limit the damage. What both these defenders need to avoid are the 2 TD performances from both guys they’re covering.

The answer to the Tickler’s big 3 is EZW’s trio of JC Ferland, CO Lavigne and Nicolas Blais. These guys are freakishly good athletes that are just as hard, if not harder to contain than the Silent Tickler’s attack at WR. The key differences in offensive style is that Panetta can hit his guys for the deep ball whereas White is very comfortable letting his receivers do the work gaining YAC yards, as their deceiving side steps, dips, jukes, spin-o-ramas, and any other athletic maneouvre you can think of.

Also in their previous matchup, a 37-25 victory for Silent Ticklers, Charles “Chaz” Presser sacked Jeremy 4 times, something they will not have this time around as Presser will not be present in this game. I think this allows the score to be closer in this playoff game.

The favourite in this matchup is Silent Ticklers with the more consistent QB play, but don’t sleep on EZW; they can definitely pull off the upset. In fact, I like them to come away with the victory and move onto the next round because of their conversion rate on XP’s. They are hitting on 54% of their 1XP to the Ticklers 44% and have outscored them 18-13 overall. The one thing Silent Ticklers have over EZW in this regard is that they have converted twice on 2XP attempts, while EZW has yet to even attempt a 2-pt play. If ever EZW needs to, they would clearly go for it, but it’s nice to know you’ve gone through 2-pt plays during the season to see what can work and what doesn’t. However, knowing Jeremy, with his cool and calm persona, he’s confident his team will come up clutch when they need to. Give me that same confidence in them, whether false or not.

Prediction: A high scoring affair, EZW 40 – 39 Silent Ticklers.

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Quarter Final Playoffs

#3 BBALLERS vs. #5 Les Gros Coqs

Alright, so I know that Les Gros Coqs haven’t lost a game since July 15th, and that they even trampled over the BBALLERS 37-6 back on August 26th but I also know that their top players, Gianni Casati, Will Paquette, and Will Trottier were all missing in that game, and in fact, the BBALLERS were playing with just 5 guys. In other words, throw away the regular season matchup, because there’s nothing to read into here.

Hopefully Les Gros Coqs cleared with the league the double 3 GP profile of Alexis Ferand and Alexis Ferrand, which is the same player, because they will absolutely need him to be present if Les Gros Coqs want any chance of beating this high-powered BBALLERS team. He’s not the first player you think of when thinking LGC, and I’m not suggesting that he’s their saviour, but what I am suggesting is that he is a very valuable, serviceable and very good player, and LGC will need as many players of this caliber available to them if they want any hope of beating BBALLERS. Of course, their big guns are Alex Bresse, Thomas Lemay and Dom Lefort, but don’t count out players like Boris Gagnier, Vincent Granata, and Julien Proulx. That’s a solid core, but can it go against these set of tackle football players who have seamlessly integrated their play into flag and have excelled in FPF.

Dom Lefort has been on absolute fire since their last loss, throwing 29 TDs and only 2 INTs in that span, where he had a QBR of 123 or higher in half of those games and in 2 of those appearances had a QBR of 132+. He will have to continue that hot play of his, limit the turnovers, and do what he does best: avoid getting sacked and play that cat-and-mouse game with opposing defenses, where he either gets them to attack the line of scrimmage to try to stop him from running so he can simply lob the ball over to his receivers, or have the defenders stick on a receiver as he buys time and runs up field. Him and Ben McMahon give my ankles pain just watching how they juke defenders off their feet and scamper down field for an extra 10-15 yards until they are forced out of bounds. It’s a part of LGC’s offense, and when he picks up a first down (11.2 yds/rush att), I’d mix it in as often as possible until the defense proves they can stop it. The thing is, Lefort has the arm strength to hurt you down field if you crash the line and let your receiver go, so it’s a tricky position for defenders.

But don’t let Casati‘s 68 rushing yards fool you. He is athletic enough to run for yards as well. He is however, first and foremost a pocket passer, but give him the time and space in a man-to-man defense, and he will gladly take the free yardage if he can get around the rusher. And that’s where the Thomas Lemay factor will play a pivotal role for LGC in the rusher-QB matchup. Even though he only has 4 sacks, Lemay is a great rusher and could be a difference maker for LGC.

Overall though, there’s too much firepower on BBALLERS for LGC to contain and while there are a few scenarios where LGC can upset, there are just too many more where BBALLERS come out victorious, so gimme the Ballers.

Prediction: BBALLERS 40 – 30 Les Gros Coqs

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Week 11 Game Picks Results

Final Season Prediction Standings

Congrats to Alexi Dubois, the FPF Prime Minister, who had the best overall record in deciding FPF games on the season. As for Div C, Moe Khan knew you guys best, predicting Div C games at a 75% clip.

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And this will be the last time Eagle appears here, as he lost his playoff game this week to Arouch

Cheers,

Iggy