The Thrilla of Flagzilla (Div 6)

Folks, there are four weeks left and the playoff races are starting to take shape. The top four teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs and at this point, you can pretty much eliminate Orange Crush and Venom who are respectively 1-5 and 0-6. Aside from those two squads, teams are still jockeying for positions, vying for the top seeds.

 

Caption: Sammy Feder is not a D6 mainstay, but his seven touchdowns were a season high for any quarterback this season.

 

Week 6 saw some of the more lopsided set of games this season as the schedule gets easier for certain teams. Let’s take a look at the action from this past

 

Run Levy Run wins a close tilt against the Heismans

 

I’ve been very impressed with the way the Heismans have played since inserting Gautama Swaminadhan as the starting quarterback. Admittedly, they had their struggles on offence, but have been able to stay close with the upper echelon teams in the Division. Unfortunately for them, their offense was held to zero points in the second half and Run Levy Run, led by quarterback Jeff Rosenblatt (who shaved the neck beard to my disappointed chagrin) and receiver Rob Bohbot, who’s been on fire as of late, had the lone score in the second half, to win 19-18. Bohbot had a nice game with a touchdown catch, five tackles and two sacks. Rosenblatt had yet another three touchdown performance and is proving to be one of the most consistent players on a week-to-week basis. His 73% completion percentage marks the third straight game in which he is above 69 percent completion. He bested his counterpart, Swaminadhan, who started hot with three touchdowns in the first half, but none in the second, while also throwing an interception. Kevin Boustany continues his hot-streak with his fourth touchdown in two games. Over the last two games, he’s caught 10 passes (5 in each game). Boustany has been a consistent contributor to the Heismans success. Run Levy Runs improves to 4-2, while The Heismans drop to 2-4, two games above Venom who are in last place in Conference A.

 

JeanGuy drops third straight in loss to n.W.o.

 

Although JeanGuy stayed close in this game, it never really felt like they had a chance at victory, as they succumbed to defeat in a 18-6 loss. Two interceptions by Christophe Chartrand and another one by Emilie Lamy on his only pass attempt were their undoing. On the flip side, n.W.o were able to capitalize on the mistakes, while Michael Sanchez had another solid performance going 11-16, 122 yards and two touchdown passes. Over his last four games, he has 12 touchdowns and only one interception. He’s made big progress from the last year, as he was a guy who was turnover prone and struggled with accuracy issues. He hasn’t done it alone though. Stephen Tirelli has been a defensive stalwart and his improvement on that side of the ball has paid major dividends for n.W.o. His two interceptions, two tackles, two pass deflections and one pick six are numbers worthy of a defensive player of the week nomination. Foreshadowing much? I think so. 

 

The “for-lifers” bounced back nicely after a disappointing game against The Heismans last week and improved to 4-3, while JeanGuy drops to 2-4, one game behind n.W.o.

 

The Minge suffers worst loss of the season to The ‘Pack

 

Woah. I know the ‘Pack were the undisputed best team in the Division, but The Minge have been unforgiving on defense this season. Before this game, they were the top team in point differential as well the fewest point allowed. That run ended when the ‘Pack hounded their opponent like raging wolves, beating them 30-6. Daniel Krebs has had a wonderful season and that continued with a 5-touchdown performance on 200 yards passing.  He found Andrew April and David Baarth for two touchdowns apiece. To date, he has 29 touchdowns and only three interceptions. My bias aside for Jeff Rosenblatt, who is fantasy quarterback, Krebs has been the offensive MVP this season. The Minge, who have been as stout as a black St-Ambroise beer, could not contain the passing attack. Matthew Young has played great as a passer and defender but was held relatively ineffective throughout most of the contest. Henri Chelhot, again, had another touchdown, continuing his dominant season, but it was not enough. Outside of his production, The Minge receivers caught a combined 5 catches for 25 points. That is simply not good enough to get it done. Chelhot is still performing despite teams keying in on him. It is up to the Minge to find some alternative options that can take pressure off of number 33.

 

Maccabi reduces Orange Crush to a grainy Pulp

 

Well, Maccabi posted the first 50-burger of the season with a 55-18 victory over Orange Crush. OC didn’t have very long to celebrate after their Week 5 victory against Venom. Emmanuel Cohen scored an amazing four touchdowns; while Alexandre Bohbot had a line most receivers would be jealous about: eight catches and 105 yards for two touchdowns. Maccabi simply has better athletes and their receiving tandem has been one of the best in the Division. Cohen now has 11 touchdowns on the season and 22 catches. Not to be outdone, Matthew Tamilia had a nice stat line with three touchdowns on his only three catches. Otherwise, Tamilia was the lone bright spot for Orange Crush.

 

Excuse me for not even mentioning the Sammy Feder, the architect of their terrific performance, who threw all 7 touchdowns and added a rushing touchdown just for good measure. If Feder sounds new to you, it is because it was his first game in D6. He generally plays in D4 for the Coyotes, where he’s posted very efficient numbers, with 24 touchdowns and only 8 interceptions, while completing an impressive 65 percent of his passes. Maccabi’s usual signal caller, Ofir Levy was unavailable during this game. With all due respect to Levy, it does not seem he was missed. It will remain to be seen if Feder will be a mainstay for Maccabi, but if he is, they are easily a dark horse to come out of the Conference A, or at the very least, surpass Run Levy Run, who is a game above Maccabi.

 

Golden Girls with Golden Globes worthy performance against Venom

 

Another trying game for Venom concludes, as they stay winless in D6. Over the last two games, they’ve been outscored 71-7 with only 115 yards. I’ve been in this situation before when your team is trying as hard as it can to stay competitive, but simply cannot mount enough plays to get a win. The key here is to play loose and you obviously have to have a team of players with a lot of pride to not completely fall off the wayside. 

 

Golden Girls improved to 4-1 after their win and are flying under the radar. They now have the second best point differential in the Division while allowing the fewest amount of points with only 50 in five games.

 

Jason Rossie had a stellar game with 5 touchdown passes and one on the ground. Conversely, he completed 14 of 18 passes for 175, displaying premier accuracy to his band of receivers in Jason Kokolakis, Steven Choi, John Roll and Matt Trudeau, each of whom recorded touchdown passes. Rossie is tied for the team lead in interception with three, proving he is a complete two-way player. 

 

Venom had such a hard time completing any passes or mounting any type of offense that the Golden Girls defensive players combined for only three tackles combined. Rob Tessier fought admirably, but he could only complete 5 of 22 passes for 41 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

 

Power Rankings

 

1. ‘The Pack – Still unbeaten and have scored the most points in the Division

2. Golden Girls – Now the best defense in the Division with second best point differential

3. Run Levy Run – Rob Bohbot has been one of the more underrated receivers.

4. The Minge – Have fallen off a bit over the past few weeks. Still have a very complete team

5. Maccabi – Win against Orange Crush may have been skewed, but may have best pair of receivers in D6

6. n.W.o. – Stephen Tirelli has been the best defender in the Division and is leading D6 in picks

7. The Heismans – Tough loss against Run Levy Run. Kevin Boustany has been on a tear.

8. JeanGuy – Have lost three in a row and reeling. Lamy and Chartrand will have to steer the ship straight

9. Orange Crush – Brutal loss against Maccabi.

10. Venom – Morale must be low for Venom. Tessier and sack leader Choo-Foo must ensure team finishes relatively strong.

 

Offensive Player of the Week

Sammy Feder – Maccabi: Look, I know he’s usually in D4, but a great performance cannot be discounted. His seven touchdown passes were the most by any quarterback in the division this season. 

 

Stephen Tirelli – n.W.o.: Tirelli had another multi-interception game, this time capping it off with a pick-six. Defensive impact is not always evident unless you get the stats to back it up, and Tirelli is providing the production to keep n.W.o. in the race for top spot in Conference B.

 

Fantasy Results Week 6

 

Moe: 122.77 – Roger: 89.17

Duke: 99.50 – Brent: 68.73

 

Standings

 

1. Brent Bodkin (1-1, -15.77)

 

2. Duke (2-0, +36.80)

 

3. Moe (1-1, +27.57)

 

4. Roger (0-2, -48.60)

 

 

Pick ‘Em

 

The Heismans vs Maccabi

Venom vs JeanGuy

Run Levy Run vs Golden Girls

 

That does it for the Thrilla this week. As always, please check out The Unclehood podcast with Moe Khan (@MoeKhan19) and David Della Rocca (@DavesRepublic) which can be found at http://www.theunclehood.com. Of course, you can ‘@’ me, talk smack or laugh at my writing on Twitter at @52isthemike and follow my NFL blog at 52isthemike.com, with all the latest offseason news and happenings around the NFL. The shameless plugs do not end there, as you can also listen to my NFL-based podcast, Pick Six Live with my buddies Rob Grosso and Rick Dieudonné.