Peeze’s Playbook (Div 5) – Week 3 – FlagPlus Football League

Peeze’s Playbook (Div 5) Week 1

By Paolo Della Rocca

“Football Season is Over: No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun.”– Hunter S Thompson

For those NFL fans among us, this time of the year brings us great joy and great sadness. Incredible excitement followed by unimaginable anxiety. In a heartbeat, Super Bowl parties turn to post-season lament. The realization that there will be no football until this fall hits hard.

On the positive side the FPF bye week is over. Media members have had their proverbial muzzles removed, the articles the podcasts and all games resume this week. Interestingly, I received many angry messages via text, email, Twitter and Facebook regarding last week’s media blackout. The questions on everyone’s mind were:

Where the hell is your article?

What kind of person are you? Do you think you can just skip a week on the podcast and that no one would notice?

Who do you think you are?

What gives you the right?

Despite the pitchforks and torches I know that secretly they were messages of love. You all missed me and I was touched (you all missed reading/hearing about yourselves in any case). We are back this week with a full slate of games and full coverage has resumed. Moreover, this year’s hall of fame class has been inducted and our twitter feeds are now available on www.flagplusfootball.com. This of course has the unintended consequence that we need to find a way to censor Daron Basmidjian who’s remarkable brand of vulgarity can make a sailor blush.

Weekly Overview

Not Quite a Wrecking

In a tight, hard fought battle, converts were the difference as Big Blue Wrecking Crew pulled out a narrow victory against Golden Girls (20-19). Ross Taylor moved the steady Big Blue attack down the field and their efficiency was rewarded with a late score. Golden Girls have shown some improvement since week one and avoided the wrecking ball in this one. While they did take the loss, I expect that they will improve dramatically once Jason Rossie learns to work FPF veteran and new acquisition James Floreani into the offence. Floreani is a two-way monster and will help the development of this new franchise.

Rough Night for the Roughnecks

Two and a Half Dans drew a lot of attention to themselves this week, as, via twitter, they demanded that I take notice. After having made my way down to go watch them I was immediately content to see this young group and their electrifying brand of flag football. With just about every player playing both ways these guys never seemed to get tired. With such great speed they were virtually uncoverable on offence and lit up the scoreboard to the tune of 48-19 against a new and somewhat underwhelming Roughnecks team. The Roughnecks have a lot to learn about this game and with 7 weeks left they must keep in mind that there is no better way to do so then to come out and play every week.

Maloudes Superior to Bovine Races

My francophone counterpart (Simon Dagenais) assured me that the term Maloudes was a slang term meaning “a superior human race”. While its implications terrified me in a way that I care not to think too much of I must say that so far this team has impressed me with their overall level of athleticism. While a somewhat seasoned quarterback Yannick Doston should have taken advantage of their inexperience he was unable to put them away.

Les Maloudes fought hard for 44+minutes and while the final score (45-35 in favor of Les Maloudes) may mislead someone who just looked at the box score this was a game that was up in the air until the final three plays. With three plays left in the game the Love Cows were up by a slight margin. A successful Hail Mary thrown by quarterback Shawn LaFortune followed by a Pick 6 by Anthony Beauchamp-Frezza concluded a miraculous finish to a very entertaining game.

OK(aye), They’ve had Enough

C Difficile stole one away from the Young Bloodz in week three as they walked away satisfied with a 34-26 victory that may have turned their season around. There is just something different about C Difficile with Frank Kaye under centre. They look more confident and more ready for battle. Starting 0-3 would have been a tough obstacle to overcome so it was great to see this FPF veteran laden club get into the win column. This was a particularly fascinating game where receivers on both sides went up in acrobatic fashion to pull down big catches for their respective teams. I would have been happy to see either of these teams win but it was especially nice to see C Difficile pull one out with their field general returning from his injury.

Power Rankings

If giants fall in Lachine, and underdogs prevail, does it affect the power rankings? Yes, it most certainly does! Immediately after TCO’s loss to Ecurie Bar et Tables my phone felt like it was having a seizure in my pocket. Texts from FPF analyst GM Koletheras came in as fast as Facebook messages from TCO’s Akeem Hoyte-Charles filled my inbox. This led me to ask the all important question could TCO truly stand for Terry’s Chocolate Orange? (I would like to thank the Eagle at Master Control for that one…I would but I’m not going to. He can get his own article!)

Later that night the Lockdown defense stopped Alex Holowach just short of the endzone to secure the win against Project Mayhem. Mayhem hopes to regain their previous form as Lockdown hopes this is a sign of things to come. For now, this is how I see Division 5:

Turf Toe Inc.- If I was a BCS computer I would calculate that TTI has faced the toughest schedule of any 3-0 team. Since we all know that system is infallible, they take the number 1 spot.
First Downers- Despite a tight win this week the First Downers are showing that they’ve earned a seat at the big boys table.
Speed Demons- A third straight blowout has Bryan Nguyen and co. climbing the ranks.
Checkmate –Great teams need to dominate good ones; that didn’t happen this week. Perhaps that tells us who they really are.
Cougars- They still haven’t faced tough competition but it’s about time they get their due.
TCO –They lost a big game to a team they took lightly. Look at this to motivate these men in black. Teams on their schedule better be ready to face an angry TCO.
Project Mayhem – “I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect”. Tyler Durden’s boys can no longer hope for a complete, perfect season.
Two and a Half Dans- Young, fast and eager. They are learning fast and have the athleticism to overcome their lack of experience.
Centurions- Can’t deny it any longer, the Centurions look formidable.

10. Jaggerbomb – Lost against a veteran team this week; I still think they’re schedule lays out favorably for them.

Other teams receiving votes; these selections are like my office, in no particular order:

Les Affreux- We’ll see where they stand after facing off against C Difficile this week.
Moose- Can’t mark any easy W’s in the bulk of their schedule. Can they rise to the level of their competition?
Aces- They’ve lost their only game against a team of their caliber. As such, they still need to show me something.

All season long I have been telling teams to write to me to tell me about themselves. This week Anthony Bozzo of Ecurie Bar et Tables did, as such look for my interview with Anthony Bozzo in next week’s article.

New Faces

James Taylor, Two and a Half Dans

While not being named Dan he was allowed by team captains to play quarterback for this team. A decision they will not likely regret. Last week was an incredible outing for the rookie QB. Throwing for 197 yard and 7 touchdowns while completing 78.3% of his passes. That is an awesome feat for any quarterback let alone a rookie. With 18 touchdowns to 2 interceptions thrown so far this season this honorary Dan has been a huge part to Two and a Half Dans’ astonishing 3-0 start.

Reflections, Rants, Ravings

With 7 undefeated teams remaining, who will be the next to fall? At least one will lose this week.
Shame on Two and a Half Dans! They’ve gotten a lot of positive press this week. That being said, I was unhappy to see them taunting the Roughnecks after they scored despite being down. Scoring feels good no matter who’s up. Let them have their moment, especially when you’re blowing a team out
A lot has been made about the new rule that allows division 5 players to have 2 division 4 players on their roster. Only 3 of the 7 undefeated teams have used this to their advantage (Cougars, Checkmate and Speed Demons).
First Downers’ Francois Morin has 2 interceptions in each game so far this season. How long can this trend continue.
Team Ethnik, and Love Cows, will win their first games of the season this week.
The 2013 Hall Of Fame Class has been inducted. I have been refereed by both inducted officials and have played against Matt Kirouac. Tune into this week’s podcasts to hear my thoughts on their candidacy and enshrinement.
I think Simon Dagenais had the Dark Knights tie on purpose so that I wouldn’t have beat him in this week’s predictions. It could have happened.

Predictions

This week Simon and I were tied 13-11. They say a tie is like kissing your sister. Imagine if your sister looked like Simon Dagenais. Needless to say, I wasn’t a happy camper this week. On the season I trail Simon’s record of 27-21 with my less than stellar record of 23-25. The new week brings new hope, the groundhog has promised that spring will come early this year and I promise that this week, these will be your winners.

Ecurie bar et Tables vs. Cougars

Primes vs. Crooklyn Dodgers

Those Guys vs. Golden Girls

The Hangovers vs. First Downers

Moose vs. Warhawks

Manatees vs. Pendant Publishing

Fools of the Country vs. Limetime

Dark Knights vs. Team Ethnik

Love Cows vs. Venom

C Difficile vs. Les Affreux

Jaggerbomb vs. Centurions

Aces vs. Ballz Deep

Loose Cannons vs. Big Blue Wrecking Crew

Hamsterdam Cornerboys vs. J’s

Tyrants vs. Green Lantern Corps

Two and a Half Dans vs. Black Ice

Young Bloodz vs. X-Men

TCO vs. Lockdown

Dolphins vs. Turf Toe Inc.

Warriors vs. Flying Comics

Overthrowners vs. Kingdom

Roughnecks vs. C’mon Man!

BearSkins vs. Project Mayhem

Les Maloudes vs. Les Albatros

The Weekly Wrap Up

With the bye week in the books the next 7 weeks will pass us in a heartbeat. We need to enjoy every snap of every game because the playoffs will be upon us in no time. With so many teams and so many divisional games it is time for some to turn it around, others to begin their surge and for some teams to steady their course.

Tell us your tale. Where does your team stand? What do you need to do to take home the Division 5 trophy? Let the FPF world know by appearing on Calling the Audible or by getting featured in my weekly article. Email me at [email protected] or hit me up on Twitter @PeezeFPF. This week’s guests are Doug Mckernan and Brandon Taylor of Aces as well as Pete Kastaniotis of C’mon Man! Kevin Boustany of Young Bloodz will join us on the phone and this week’s musical theme is: The All-Out Playlist

Good luck, play well, be safe.