Categories: Division D

Week 3 Recap: When You’re So Wrong, You’re Right

Intro

 I mentioned a couple weeks back of the dangers of coming to conclusions about teams this early in the season. You tend to get burned for it. Fortunately for me, I only felt it in my predictions record. Others among you weren’t so lucky, and others still were exactly that – lucky, having escaped by their skin of their teeth (my own team included). 

The silver lining for those who did slip up is that, well, there’s still time to correct your mistakes. As Simon Dagenais likes to say about the regular season, it’s 10 weeks of practice. There are still seven more to go.

That being said, midseason is now just a week away. If you still haven’t hit at least second gear at that point, chances are you’ll get left behind long before the finish line — especially if you’re in Conference B (more on that later). But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.      

Recaps

Dabb On ‘Em

A week after pointing out their general inability to score more than 4 TDs a game over the past three seasons, Two and a Half Dabs decided to let me – and Les Affreux – know what’s up as they dropped a whopping 38 points on Mat Domon and company in a Sunday night game that came down to the wire.

Indeed, a few drops and a couple of off-target passes in the redzone aside, Domon had little trouble driving up and down the field as he spread the ball around rather evenly among his dominant receiving trio of J-D Joly, Mathieu Dubois and Martin Jackson.

Of course, THD’s own offense deserves credit for driving the field with perhaps even more ease. Eric Mairoino’s lone interception came on a pass that was bobbled by his receiver; otherwise, there simply was no stopping his gameplan of short passes to Alex Joltopuf and Joey Taylor mixed in with some effective runs to keep the defense constantly on its toes.

The result was a score-for-score battle that saw THD up 38-31 with a few ticks to go. At that point, it wasn’t a score, but rather the lack of one that ended the game.  An incomplete pass in the endzone from Domon to Dubois late in the night meant Les Affreux went home as losers by seven points instead of having a chance to tie (if not win) the game on the ensuing convert. 

In A League of Their Own

Okay, maybe that’s exaggerating things a bit, but you get the point: Justice League finally put in a performance good enough to earn them a spot at the big boy’s table. Taking on All Blacks this past Sunday, Jerson Previlon and company faced the tall task of going up against a QB coming off a 7 TD showing just a week prior.

The 38-7 final score is a clear enough sign that they passed with flying colors.

Previlon was on point from start to finish, making excellent reads and tight throws as he had no trouble feeding his beasts in Mendy Cardichon and Max Kevin Jocelyn.

Perhaps even more impressive was the Justice League defense completely shutting down Anthony Lapointe and company, making some strong defensive stands when Cardichon wasn’t picking off passes.

To be fair to Lapointe, this loss doesn’t fall entirely on his shoulders; numerous ugly (and I mean, ugly) drops kept the All Blacks offense from ever getting going, while Lapointe was also missing the services of some key players including go-to deep threat Alex Poulin-Rioux.

Nonetheless, it’s clear JL came to play while All Blacks had their minds somewhere other than the field on Sunday.

Gators Chomp Down on St. Lunatics

Well, nibbling is maybe a better verb here given the defensive, low-scoring affair that was their 19-13 win over St. Lunatics this past weekend. To recap this one simply: both offenses struggled; Gators’ struggled a bit less than St. Lunatics’.

It took a while for Gators QB Corey Walwaski to get into any kind of rhythm versus the Lunatics’ feisty secondary, getting bailed out with some great catches from top receiver Eddy Martinez when he wasn’t finding Kevin St-Pierre underneath.

Speaking of KSP (yes, he’s officially gotten to three-initial-nickname level), his own battle with QB Domenic Benevento went pretty much as expected: three sacks and many more pressured passes. More importantly, St-Pierre successfully took away any hopes of Benevento making use of his legs to either gain time in the pocket or move the chains, giving the rookie QB just enough time to set up for quick, short passes in hopes of his receivers getting some YAC. As evidenced by the 95 yards Benevento amassed through the air, there was little YAC to be gained against a well-tackling Gators D.

The cherry on top for the Gators defense is their successful containing of playmaker Jovan Cober: 3 catches for 39 yards and a lone score isn’t much to write home about. 

Power Rankings

  1. Backyard Bullies (3-0): Another week, another win by two scores or more.
  1. Gamecocks (3-0): Things we already knew that were reconfirmed this week: Les Indécis are bad, Gamecocks are good. Andrew Langburt is a beastly defender. Red jerseys are cool. Things we didn’t know that we learned this week: Jordan Prizant’s got some nice wheels to go along with that cannon arm.  
  1. Prestige Worldwide (3-0): Between just Paul Santache, Joseph Kano and Dylan Catellier, there are simply too many weapons at Jonah Cohen’s disposal to hope to slow down this offense. If you’re not planning on scoring at least 40, you might as well stay home.
  1. Two and a Half Dabs (3-0):I guess Week 8 came early this season. I only wonder: will Weeks 9 and 10 follow, or was this a one-time thing?  
  1. Blue Devils (2-1): Can’t really fault them for coming up just short against one of the clear contenders in the division.
  1. Gators (2-1): Eddy Martinez clearly paid someone off, because there’s no way in hell this guy should be rated in the 70s on both sides of the ball and he knows it.
  1. Fuzzy-Kittens (2-1): From 19 points allowed, to 38 points, and back down to 14. Will the real Fuzzy-Kittens defense please stand up?
  1. 5-Star (2-1):14 points versus a Gab Poisson-less Fuzzy-Kittens isn’t very reassuring. If I’m on this team I’d be worried, but not panicking just yet.
  1. Justice League (3-0): Just as I was starting to doubt their offense could actually do enough damage to carry this team to the playoffs, they pop off 38 points against a team that last played in Div 4.
  1. Hot Boys Hotline (2-1):A loss is a loss, and that’s why they fall. But not all losses are created equal. I tip my hat for their effort versus Junkyard Dogs.

Just missed the cut:

  1. Ghosts (2-1): They’re coming off a gutsy win vs. Get Off My D, took down a tough opponent in Friends in Low Places the week before, and now their Week 1 loss to Two and a Half Dabs looks a lot different in hindsight.
  1. St. Lunatics (2-1):With all the impressive wins this week, their fall out of the top 10 is a matter of timing, more than anything else. They’ll be back in due time.
  1. Les Affreux (2-1):And with that single defeat, I’m left to wonder whether their first two wins were a matter of a good team beating bad teams, or a bad team beating worse teams…

 

Random Thoughts

 – I thought losing to Simon Dagenais would be the low point in my FPF career. Then I lost to La Sauce.

 -There’s no actual link between the previous two sentences – losing to Simon is still the lowest point in my FPF career.  

– How does POTUS and his family watch the latest movie releases? Do they have like, their own private movie theatre? Do they get copies in advance and watch them at home? Personally I like to imagine that the President rolls up to his nearest movie theatre like we all do, except that a Secret Service agent gets out of the car ahead of him, goes to the booth and tells the teller, like: “the President is here to see Neighbors 2 at 7:35. We’ll take it over from here.”

-Mat Domon tosses 3 picks each in Les Affreux’s first two games, they win both. Domon goes 4:1 on 226 yards passing and they lose. I don’t get it.

-I found myself struggling more than usual to write up my top 10 this week. That’s a good thing.

-On the topic of parity, 12 of 17 teams in Conference B currently have a winning record, versus just 6 in Conference A. Fitting that 12 teams per conference will qualify for the playoffs. Not fitting that there’s a good chance a strong team will end up in 13th place in B, while it’s entirely possible some 4-6 and maybe even 3-7 squads squeaking into the A postseason. But such is the nature of the beast I guess.

-Mind-boggling stat of the week: Gab Wiseman has one more completion (67) than Joey Fiorillo has attempts. As one would expect, Wiseman has the lowest YPA of all QBs to have thrown full-time in all three weeks. And yet, you can’t really knock it – the biggest dink and dunker in all of Division D has a 101.5 QBR and his team sits nicely at 2-1. Those QBs in Division E’s GOTW might have something to learn here…

-Meanwhile, Dan Lazzara is coming off a game in which he threw 272 yards and 9 TDs on just 21 completions in Div B, so I guess forget what I just said?  

 

Matchups of the Week

The Alpha-Ts vs. Ghosts

A tie, a shutout, and a loss to a team without its starting QB — while missing their own starter — makes it pretty hard to properly situate this team within the division. Hopefully their matchup versus a Ghosts team on the rise will help clarify things.

Ghosts themselves are coming off an emotional last-second win on a goalline stand versus Get Off My D, and it’s great to see Gab Wiseman getting solid production out of a bevy of players.

One in-game matchup that will be interesting to keep an eye on is Wiseman the rusher versus Alpha- Ts QB Jesse Dupuis. Dupuis is one of the more mobile QBs in the division, and is almost certain to take off for a big gain at least a few times a game. Wiseman plays the position similarly, which means that if he’s also rushing full time, there’s no question he’ll be tired as a dog all throughout this game.

Will that have such a significant impact as to cost Ghosts the game? I wouldn’t go that far. The Alpha T’s have yet to face such a smooth-running offense as Ghosts’ yet this season, and I have a feeling that will give Wiseman and company just the edge they need to sneak past their opponent this week.   

Friends in Low Places vs. Sabrfc

The Friends offense is coming off a pretty dominant showing versus a team new to the league. But Jordan Bellemare and friends (see what I did there) are sure to have their hands full this week versus Sabrfc.

That’s because Sabrfc have given up just 53 points all season long, fifth-best in the entire division. They get INTs, they get PDs, and Surya Chandel gets sacks. That’s bad news for a QB that has a tendency to float his deep passes and is coming off a winter season that saw him get deflagged in the backfield a whopping 14 times.

With the deck stacked in Sabrfc’s favor, I think this game will ultimately come down to whether Friends’ playmakers Kevin Smuda, Danny D’Amour and Justin Santillo make the plays they’re expected to. I predict that they will.

 

The Goats vs. Frosty Bronsons   

On the heels of their first win of the season, Frosty Bronsons look to get back to .500 versus the 2-1 Goats. I think they’ll give Goats a good game, but I’m foreseeing the Bronsons falling short in this one.

For starters, Frosty have yet to prove that they can properly contain an explosive offense. And with the Goats fielding the fourth-best offense in Division D with 104 points scored thus far, Joey Fiorillo’s attack certainly fits the title. 

Meanwhile, James Nowakowski doesn’t yet look all that comfortable throwing the ball, still depending heavily on his legs to move the chains. Facing a Goats team that has yet to even record a sack, that actually bodes well for Nowakowski. That being said, Fiorillo and top receiver Joseph Buffone are sure to connect for a ridiculous number of catches and yards en route to putting up some major points. My question then becomes whether the Frosty offense, with all of its inconsistent play, will be able to keep up.

 

Picks of the Week

A slew of upsets has me at 10-6 this week, bringing me to 31-17 (64.58%) on the season. Meanwhile, Nicolas Belleau managed to pick one better than I did, finishing 11-6 on the week and putting him at 31-20 (60.78%). He may have gotten the win this week, but I’m still ahead on percentages for the season. Here’s how I plan on keeping it that way:  

Fuzzy-Kittens vs. Junkyard Dogs 

The Goats vs. Frosty Bronsons

Two and a Half Dabs vs. Bromigos

Weapon X vs. Prestige Worldwide

More Money-Less TDs vs. Gamecocks

Longhorns vs. Les Indécis

The Alpha-Ts vs. Ghosts

Blue Devils vs. Supply and Command (N/A)

Les Affreux vs. Taimsaheiiin

5-Star vs. Hot Boys Hotline

Friends in Low Places vs. Sabrfc

Get Off My D vs. Get on Deck

Gators vs. Magic City

Sticky Hands vs. Zoo

Justice League vs. St. Lunatics

Pandas vs. All Blacks

Backyard Bullies vs. On Les Empêche

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Be sure to check out this week’s Division D podcast with Simon Dagenais and Terry Tam at www.youtube.com/flagplus, recorded live on Thursday at 9 p.m. Until next week, Blanchard out.