Minute Rice, Two Day Benders and Stubborn Montreal Pride
Paolo Della Rocca
13-03-2022 09:37 PM
There will be no social discourse this week and no fewer meandering thoughts. My article is late and I’m jumping into it. There is a really good reason for it being late: Beer tastes so good. Some after-work beers snowballed into a healthy (unhealthy) bender. I’m sobering and clear minded-ish so here we go.
Musings, Ramblings, Lies and Other Assortments
- This is a safe place, minute rice is pointless. Take the 15 minutes and just make rice properly.
- Stratton Oakmont hasn’t been great this season but QB Jeremy Elhadad has wheels. The dude has 143 yards over his first 3 games.
- Wildhogs, Zidane ILF, The Step Bros and Team Poland have scored under 40 points in three games. If they don’t fix their offense soon, they’ll be the division’s punching bags.
- It turns out my schedule is wound so tight that if I try to wedge in any enjoyment, I will miss deadlines.
- Brewers Eric Pawlusiak is a great possession receiver. His 337 caches and 3200 yards in the regular season is worthy of note.
- Dusters 2.0 have 1 of each possible game outcome. Figure out what you are boys.
- Luca Lecese of Big Fat Bats has put qbs on notice. He’s averaging two sacks a game.
- Flag Football Team lead the league in 4th down attempts but they also have converted 50% of them.
- Weirdly, despite their struggles, Cavalier du Rohan and Lionhearts have pressured the quarterback successfully. Theu have 11 and 7 sacks respectively.
- For those weirdly picking political sides during a time of warfare or trying to excuse the actions of an invading nation, please remember that the REAL cost of this is human life. A non-renewable resource that is far more precious than any other on Earth.
Memories, Hallucinations and Observations
Week 3
Inpenetrable
While pinned back,VTown looked to fall behind early against The Penetrators. Justin Goodman scanned the field but his attempt was intercepted by VTown’s Vito Rizzuto. This would set up an incredible 44 yard touchdown on the very next play by Jonathan Velasco. For a moment, it looked like this would settle Vtown. However, Velasco’s 56 yards rushing would end up being the highlight for VTown’s offense. He threw for 83 yards and was intercepted 3 times.
A 13-6 game indicates that it was a defensive battle. This game was partly a defensive battle and partly a display of poor execution. VTown’s Gabe Cirillo put apt pressure on opposing quarterback Justin Goodman. Goodman will also turn the ball over three times but he threw a pair of touchdowns and the single score per half. It wasn’t a ton but it was enough for The Penetrators to get a win over VTown.
Stuck in the Mud
Don’t let those slick pink feathers fool you; Flamingos famously make their nests in mud. Maybe that’s why division 6’s Flamingos seem to have their offense stuck in the mud. See, I brought it around. The Flmaingos defense has been solid, allowing only 14.6 points per game. However, in two of their games, the Flamingos only scored a single time. Macabees converted on an early, emotional 4th down to eventually set up a 14 yard TD strike from Ryan Rotholtz to Michael Titleman for his first of two touchdowns.
Flamingos QB Arie Itovitch had his second game where he threw less than 100 yards. Itovitch has come up through FPF Jr and has been inconsistent in the men’s league. This isn’t out of the norm but there are moments where he looks the part. His 32 to yard pass to Ben Levy, his touchdown pass to Levy and well, all the other passes to Ben Levy. The best offenses in the mens league have a plethora of weapons that make them indefensible. Ben Levy looks to be a number 1 receiver, Kyle Rosen looks to be a good complementary piece but the rest of the offensive pieces need to play a bigger role if Flamingos look to rebound from this 26-7 loss to Macabees.
Week 4
You Have Failed this City
As a proud Montrealer it breaks my heart any time a team named proudly for it being outside of the city wins. When I even saw The Off Island Boys team name, my blood began to boil. Being named brazenly for living outside the greatest Canadian city is like bragging about being from New Jersey. Gross
Imagine how I felt watching Primetime losing The Off Island Boys. For all I know Primetime are denizens of an equally lesser city. But, to their credit at least they don’t bear that flag. In any case I had originally ranked Primetime higher heading into the week but had to knock them down a little. This wasn’t a terrible performance. Daniel Spina was largely on target when he threw the ball. His two runs for 54 yards yielded a score and he connected with Matthew Cadogan for two more. The issue was that Primetime got off to such a bad start. The first play of the game Spina was sacked by Joshua Besner for a safety, the second drive saw a pass attempt by Spina intercepted for a pick 6 by Marcus Labropoulos and before Primetime would truly settle down they were down 26-6 at the end of the first half.
It wasn’t all defense for the Off-Island Boys either. Labropolous was likely the Div 6 player of the week (yes I know we only played a single day’s worth of action) as he added two touchdown catches and this would be matched by teammate Jake Lambert who also would score a pair of TDs as well. The Off Island Boys held on for a 32-26 victory.
Declarations of Bravado
For those who have yet to get the program, I take really simple sports media analysis tools and give them ridiculous names. This is a power ranking. You may ask how can this team be ranked ahead of this other team with more wins? To that I say, that’s why there’s a standings page on the website. Other times teams complain: but we beat this team 3 weeks ago how can THEY be rated higher than us? To which I answer: Shut up, that’s why!
- Tropic Thunder (4-0): They answered all doubters who said, “they haven’t played anyone” by bating the top Dog Beer Knights. Mikael Arseneau has been off to a hot start (16 tds:0ints 119.4 QBR)
- Beer Knights (3-1): Their first loss came by a point against Tropic Thunder. Beer Knights were perfect in the redzone but seemed to struggle everywhere else on the field. Gonna chalk this one up to: it happens sometimes.
- 7th Rounders (3-0): In week 3 Vincent Birnbaum-Charbonneau intercepted Terry Babalis to kick off 5 plays and that was the difference between 3-0 and 2-1.
- The Stormers (4-0): Alec Richard-Nantel is making sure we take notice. He’s on pace to throw over 52 touchdowns this season.
- Thunder Buddies (2-1): They took a tough loss to 7th Rounders this week but it was a hard fought game against a good team. Kerano Johnson was herculean in a losing effort. I’m not overreacting yet. Thunder Buddies round out the Div 6 Mount Rushmore.
- Flag Football Team (4-0): In no game this seas has FFT allowed more than 22 points in a single game. This will set you up for success. Nicholas Manolopoulos scored three times threw the air and once by land to keep the worst named team in FPF perfect through 4 weeks.
- FKU (3-0): Alright I’m done hammering on them for the on-field altercation. Their play has been impressive this season. They played a tight game against Henry Pi Sa Gang and that has me building a little doubt for the first time. They didn’t score any second half points and held on for the win. I think they’ll look more impressive Sunday night against a surging Betway Bandits.
- Killer Rays (3-1): Tyler Bianchi had more touchdowns (7) than incompletions as KR whipped the Brewers by a score of 48-18.
- Betway Bandits (2-1): I was hesitant to add Betway to the power rankings as they’ve yet to score more than 3 points in a single game. Tomas Colicchio is the only receiver with double digit targets. The team needs to take a step back and look at how they can be more effective. They’re right on that cusp because winning close games is luck, not skill.
- Primetime (3-1): They took an unexpected loss to the Off Island Boys, still they’re +53 +/- is impressive nonetheless.
Peeze’s Playbook
As this is an article to FPF’s introductory division. I wanted to take some time to talk about some plays that are commonly called by teams across all divisions. I will have the plays drawn up by our graphic artists (the very talented David Della Rocca).
I will then take the time to explain the concept, how/why it is effective and how, in this case a defense should implement the concept.
The first play I wanted to bring up is one that scares new defences. Zones in general terrify new defences because they’re poorly applied. Man defence is great if you have the athletes and win every matchup across the board but veteran QB’s will call double moves and rub routes to expose man if they see it coming. As such man is better served if you dominate the other team athletically or to surprise the QB in key situations.
Play Name: Cover 2
Call in the Huddle (play can be reversed): FPF teams commonly use a numbering scheme to call their defences. The non-rushing defenders are numbered 1 through 5. The defensive captain should call out who’s dropping. Here are three common examples of cover 2 defense:
2-4
1-5
3-5 (or alternatively 1-3)
How to execute the play:
It’s important to note a few things regardless of which zone you call. The flat defenders need to be aware that the flats are divided in thirds and each flat defender is responsible for his third. DO NOT CHASE.
Secondly, flat defenders should always make their first step forward. All defenders should line up, flat in a line between 5-7 yards away. Once the ball is snapped the flat defenders should break to their spot IN FRONT of them. Otherwise, if they back up slants and hooks will be caught in their faces all day. My recommendation is to jump, take one route away and when the receiver leaves your zone, jump back to pick up anyone who has newly entered your zone. If after you pick-up and release your first route then, AND ONLY THEN you can start dropping into the intermediate area.
Deep defenders need to be acutely aware that they are dividing the field in half. Your half is your responsibility. If their are two routes in your area. Try to split them and break on the ball when it’s thrown.
No zone will cover every route. It has its weaknesses and strengths. The goal is to make it as hard as possible for the QB to read. You do this by:
1-Taking away early reads by aggressively playing the flats.
2-Not chasing
3- remaining disciplined and never standing static in your zone (don’t guard grass)
4-nothing over the top and try to force, late deep throws
Visions of the World of Tomorrow
Sunday’s Slow Sociopathy
For those who have any thoughts, commentary or complaints, I am very easy to find. I’m @peezehss on twitter, @pdellarocca and Peeze Della Reeze on facebook. You can also take a chance by emailing me at [email protected] but I don’t check it because it’s a death trap of junk emails all trying to sell me russian sex dolls and silly string. I really need to use incognito mode.
Folks, if your team is struggling, Eagle, Moe, (any of the media guys really), and I love talking flag. Let us know how we can help, let us know if you have any questions. Hey, even if you have some incredible thoughts, I’m always down for an ethereal descent into introspection.
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Till next week, I want to thank you falettineme be mice elf agin!