The Wrath of Khan (DA) – Week 9

 

The road has come to an end for the 49ers and Titans. Both teams will be facing each other in their last game of the FPF season before they start their golf season next week at Royal Montreal.

 

Some may question how the Titans who have more points than the Texas All-Stars will not qualify for the playoffs if the standings finish as is. The FPF committee decided when the All-Stars made the midseason jump to DA. They would determine the last playoff through winning percentage, and as a result, the All-Stars will have a higher percentage than the Titans.

 

How do they improve?

 

If I am Richard Shefteshy, by all means this was not a lost season. Shefteshy admirably played his heart out for this football team (he has passed for 21 touchdowns). But unfortunately, he came up short (he has been sacked 16 times) in having the 49ers qualify for the playoffs.

 

This was a learning experience for Shefteshy who will need to address bringing in players that will be committed to the Notre Dame program.

 

Already, Shefteshy has received a verbal commitment from up and coming receiver, Jacques Void to join the 2010 edition. Furthermore, will Shefteshy consider bringing back Hamid Mahmoudi, and J-M Laplante? Mahmoudi is entering his CFL draft year which will makes me question if he will be willing to play. Laplante is bit trickier. He is the typical swing commitment. He is there for one game, then he disappears for next two matches. Shefteshy will need to be stern with Laplante on whether or not he is on-board.

 

As for the Titans, they will all go back to their respective winter teams. For Patrick Chenard, he will need to address the depth of the Express. It was evident that they lacked the necessary talent to compete in D1. However, given Chenard’s vast connections in the Quebec football community, it will not shock me if he somewhat overhauls the roster and brings in players to compliment the established team members.

 

Chenard has a good core of players to build upon with Nicholas Arsenault-Hum, Bruno Collette, and Mattieu Thuot. But beyond this trio, he needs to address the team by creating talented depth.

 

Finally, will the Express stay in D1 or move back down to D2?

 

My Words of Wisdom to the DA teams!!!

 

Here are my initial thoughts on the four playoff teams and what they must do, or avoid to have success in August.

 

The Unthinkable!!!

 

It has been exhausted to no point of return that the Texas All-Stars posses superior athletic ability, talent, and confident attitudes. However, their achilles heel will be their negative attitudes on the football field. No matter what the situation is, they need to stay calm.

 

But once again they proved their critics correct, as Anthony Thompson was not able to contain his emotions and almost came to blows with Ruff Ryders of Happiness’ Ricky Martin. If the near fight did come to fruition, this would have been comparable to the Brock Lesnar (Martin) beatdown against Frank Mir (Thompson) in UFC 100. It’s examples of behavior like this that shows the regression of the All-Stars in DA.

 

I don’t know where to pinpoint this pent up aggression that they have. But it seems to everyone in the FPF community that the All-Stars carry themselves with a sense of entitlement that they will beat any team with their athletic abilities. It’s because of their arrogance that some pundits think they have lost games that could have easily won.

 

If they can learn how to play the game with discipline, that means keeping their mouths quiet. They might pose problems for their potential future opponent, which in all likelihood will be the Shockers in the playoffs.

 

Could it be possible that the Texas All-Stars can go an entire game without resorting to verbal jabbering?

 

Deep down, is Ros Castleton nervous about facing the All-Stars in the playoffs?

 

What they should continue to do!

 

For the Rainmakers to have any success in the playoffs, they should maintain what has led them to this point of the season. Spreading the football to their receivers!

 

Up until now, all of the attention has been focused on the quarterback position due to the loss of Ryan Kastner for the remainder of the season. But regardless of who is playing quarterback, the team has been triumphant.

 

Led by an unknown ascending receiver, Bobby Mikelberg, who has averaged one touchdown catch for almost every two catches (he has 12 touchdowns on 26 receptions). The Rainmakers have been able to develop talent behind Michael Chitayat in the form of Mikelberg who has become a legitimate number two threat for the Rainmakers.

 

Moreover, consider that there have been 13 players on this season’s roster who have caught at least one pass reception. Seven of them have compiled double digit reception totals. The depth has been on full exhibit for this squad to pull off an upset or two in the playoffs.

 

Finally, we cannot forget that they did reach last year’s DA finals in which they lost to the Kings. The Rainmakers will be no pushovers in the playoffs, and may have a magic trick up their sleeve.

 

Which lineup will show up?

 

For the last two weeks, the Ruff Ryders of Happiness have fielded their full squad. As a result, they have won by an average of 24 points. Furthermore, since their debacle week seven loss to the Titans in which the offense produced a mediocre six points, they have averaged 43 points.

 

My fellow WEPL host, Daron Basmadjian said it perfectly. If the Happiness is able to field a full roster, they will be awfully hard to beat.

 

Moreover, if they are able to have their entire squad in the lineup, it alleviates the pressure of having players play out of position. It seemed that when one player would be missing, whoever replaced that player on that particular day had a difficult time handling the position.

 

Now, with Stephane Cole back in fine form terrorizing quarterbacks this will make it easier on the secondary to do their assignments. Therefore, the Happiness might be fielding the best deep cover safeties in FPF in the form of Ricky Martin, and Marc Champagnie, who have combined for eight interceptions this season! Their abilities to cover the entire deep end of the field will make it awfully tough to throw the long ball against this tandem.

 

If the Happiness can hold serve and bypass a very tough Rainmakers team, the potential dream matchup does come to life against the Shockers. They will need their entire arsenal for the stretch drive.

 

Will the Offense be in Park?

 

It seems in the last three games, the Shockers have found their offensive “mojo” as they have averaged 38.6 points per game.

 

This in compared to their first half of the season where their offense resembled more to a shy guy asking the good looking girl to go out on a date. Granted, their defense has played exceptionally well throughout the season allowing 14.6 points per game. But in a league where offense is the fuel to victories, the Shockers were lacking juice.

 

Taking a look at their first six weeks of the season, more specifically the first-half production in football games, the Shockers averaged 13 points. However, since their run and shoot has been revitalized, they have averaged 23.3 points in the first half. This is a full 10 points that they have gained in the first half of their last three games.

 

The only question that remains about the momentum that they have built is: will it last through August? History in sports dictates that any layoff has hindered team chemistry, and the Shockers might revert to their early-season form. So it will be important that the Shockers get in some practice time.

 

Bloomfield BBQ

 

Finally, I will be filing a report during the DA playoff bye week about the annual Gary Bloomfield BBQ party. I will give the readers my final grade on the food, atmosphere, and locale. Now, all I hope is that I get an invite to this pow wow! Well if there is one Shocker besides Stephen Primeau that adores this scribe, it’s Bloomfield. In fact, I expect my invitation via FedEx in the next five days or so.

 

Percentages%

 

2%, that there will be a tie this weekend in DA competition.

3%, that Bobby Mikelberg will finish with 15 touchdowns.

 

20%, that the Shockers will win every individual DA award.

 

25%, that the Texas All-Stars will behave themselves this Sunday.

 

50%, that there might co-winners for Quarterback of the Year in DA. The leading candidates are Benny Goodfriend, and Kevin Wyeth.

 

Inside The Numbers #

 

2, the number of receivers (Paul Lapierre, Andre Knights) who have 40 or more receptions.

 

7, the number of DA receivers who have 300 or more yards this season.

 

132, total points allowed by the Shockers defense this season.

 

217, the number of rushing yards by Nathan Taylor in four DA games.

 

221, the number of passing attempts by Patrick Chenard.

 

1377, the number of passing yards thrown by the Rainmakers trio of Ryan Kastner, Ryne Bondy, and Paul Calderhead.

 

*Next week, my All-Star selections article!!!*