Weekly Extra Point (Div A & B) – Week 13

Another week, another set of crappy picks. I was right on the Rainmakers winning and heading to the DA Finals. I was wrong on BOTH DB games, though I have to admit I had a bad feeling before the game. I went with my gut for one game and with my brain for the other. Turns out that was the right idea, I just used them for the wrong games. My overall record is now 4-4. I’ll try and do better this week, but let’s be honest, no team that makes it this far really cares about what some dorky FPF analyst predicts anyways.

Before I go any further, allow me to drop a quick plug for a very special edition of FPF’s official podcast, Calling the Audible. The boys at CTA will be bringing you our first ever LIVE broadcast from the Division D Finals this Sunday, so if you can’t be there, or you just have a few hours to kill, keep your browser window locked on to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/andrewfpf and listen to a crapload of special guests (including President Robert Campana, WEPL host Moe Khan and Douchebag Extraordinaire Daron Basmadjian; also, Division D people will probably talk at some point).

Just like last time, along with a brief recap, I’ll give you an excerpt from my preview identifying which parts of my analysis were correct (the prophecy) and the parts that were wrong (the lie). Enjoy.

DA Semi-Final Recap: Rainmakers 40, Mercenaries 34

The Prophecy: ”The Mercs do have one ace in the whole, which is big-game experience.”

The Lie: ”The Mercenaries needed a league exemption to be able to use Brandon Pierre (…), adding a little bit of depth to a short bench.”

The Mercs may have lost the game, but they won a ton of respect from everyone watching for the way they competed. They only had 6 players on the roster (Brandon Pierre and Carmine Pollice were unable to play), one of which was an injured Jacques Void. So it was that Paul Lapierre, Shane Williams, Adi Sharma, Jonathan Lyristis, Godfrey Abu and Jacques Void played the entire game without a sub, against the Rainmakers, who appeared to be locked in from the get-go. Their offence, led by the usual excellence of the Ryan Kastner-Teddy Frenette combination and unlikely contributions from Michael Samman, was practically unstoppable. To their credit, the Mercs didn’t make it easy on them, competing on every down, but the combination of fatigue and players playing out of position proved to be too much to overcome. On offence, Lapierre had a solid game, especially considering his top weapon was unable to contribute much due to injury and his number 2 weapon was absent, though Williams and Lyristis picked up the slack in that department. Full marks to both teams – to the Rainmakers for taking advantage of the situation and finally making it back to the Finals, and to the Mercs for playing extremely well in a very difficult situation.

DB Semi-Final 1 Recap: Gladiateurs 35, Triple Sixers 25

The Prophecy:”Frank Lebeau a démontré ce qu’il peut faire si on lui laisse une chance, et si les Sixers jouent un match comme ils l’ont fait en première ronde, il le démontrera de nouveau. ”

The Lie:”Ceci étant dit, je crois que les Triple Sixers ont appris leur leçon et qu’on leur verra confirmer une présence en finales. ”

Les Triple Sixers ont connu une première demie désastrueuse, marquée par l’interception de Simon Rhéaume qui a été retourné pour un touché. Sur la première passe a Karim Chaoual, Rhéaume, qui jouait au rusher pour ce jeu, a bloqué la passe et capté le ballon en une seule geste. Avant que tout le monde ne réalise ce qui était arrivé, il était déjà dans la zone des buts. Ce début de match a prédit l’allure de la première demie, que les Glads ont dominé. Au début de la deuxième demie, les Triple Sixers ont marqué rapidement et ont rétréci la marge, mais ils n’ont jamais pu compléter la remontée. Leur meilleur joueur a été Nicolas Arsenault-Hum, qui a utilisé sa vitesse et son athlétisme a plusieurs reprises pour faire des réceptions de passe spectaculaires. De l’autre côté, bien que Frank Lebeau ait partagé le ballon parmi ses cinq receveurs, Matt Bishara et Nicolas Guimier ont été ceux qui ont été le plus utilisé. D’ailleurs, ces deux joueurs mènent la Division B au chapitre des réceptions de passe en séries éliminatoires. Pour les Sixers, c’est une défaite qui sera difficile à avaler. Ils avaient plus de profondeur, ils avaient plus de joueurs étoiles et ils étaient les finalistes de la Division A l’été passé. Je ne sais pas ce que cette équipe pourrait faire pour s’améliorer en vue de la saison d’hiver 2013. On leur sentait nerveux tout au long du match, et je ne pense pas que la chimie d’équipe était le meilleur qu’il a déjà été. On verra ce que Karim Chaoual planifiera pour son équipe en 2013.

DB Semi-Final 2 Recap: Big TDs 42, Messengers of Happiness 39

The Prophecy:”Rochdi Benabdelkader’s broken hand didn’t do much to hurt the MoH against Darkside. But against a defence like this, any little error can be fatal. ”

The Lie:”They are also facing one of the top rushers in FPF, Matt Kirouac, a guy who is widely regarded as one of the few players who can hope to contain someone as versatile as Springer. ”

If you can’t recall, I picked the MoH to win this one. I have to admit, as game-time approached, I regretted my decision more and more, especially once I found out Matt Kirouac’s presence was questionable at best. This caused two major problems for the MoH. The first was that it obviously made Jamil Springer’s life easier, as he would face Nigel Thomas on most snaps instead of Kirouac (though Thomas did a fairly good job, I have to admit). The second, which ended up being the bigger one, was that Rochdi Benabdelkader was pressed into defensive service, putting his injured hand at risk. And lo and behold, on an attempted tackle in the first half, he jammed his hand and injured it to the point of visible pain. The game was very tight, and the MoH even led by one point at halftime. But in the second half, Benabdelkader’s accuracy dropped dramatically, as did the MoH’s prospects of winning this game. Because of the injury, he had a hard time catching the ball and getting set up to throw, and the extra few seconds that cost him were enough for TDs All-Star rusher David Cesari to get close enough to bat ball after ball after ball (6 batted balls, in total). And that was all she wrote. It should be noted that QB of the Year Jamil Springer had a superb game, finishing with a 154.4 passer rating (158.3 is considered perfect). Ryan Perry, who finished second in all receiving categories with the Big TDs (though FAR behind leader Paul Lapierre) had a huge game, making 5 grabs for 105 yards and 1 TD (and he would have had more, but he had a few drops). Just a dominant performance from the TDs who avoided losing their cool when things were tight in the first half, even when Jamil Springer got an OC for trash-talking and had to sit out 3 plays. Again, kudos to the Messengers who played a very good game despite missing one of their best players for half the game and having an injured QB, but the better team was clearly the Big TDs on Sunday night.

And now, finally, previews of the Division A/B Championship games. These are my thoughts and opinions on the match-ups; for those of the actual players who will be involved in the games, check out the Press Conference edition of the WEPL this week, which featured Jamil Springer (Big TDs), Matt Bishara (Gladiateurs), Ryan Kastner (Rainmakers) and Karim Binette (DA Finest).

Finals: 1. DA Finest (9-2) vs 2. Rainmakers (8-4)

Match-up:

DA Finest offence vs Rainmakers defence: 1^st (40.7) vs 2^nd (29.6)

Rainmakers offence vs DA Finest defence: 2^nd(32.8) vs 1

Previous:

Week 3: Rainmakers 37, DA Finest 33

Week 9: DA Finest 46, Rainmakers 20

Week 12: DA Finest 46, Rainmakers 30

If ever there was a chance for the Rainmakers to win a game of this magnitude against DA Finest, this is it. Every single Rainmaker who has qualified should be there, save Michael Chitayat. Obviously, losing the Two-Way Player of the Year isn’t a small inconvenience, but likely having most of the roster present is a luxury the Rainmakers have seldom had. Beyond that, they’ve had a fairly successful season, they’ve got Ryan Kastner playing his best football in recent memory, and they have depth and talent they haven’t had on the defensive side of the ball since the inception of the team. On top of all that, they’re playing a DA Finest squad missing two of their best players, Rochdi Benabdelkader and Defensive Player of the Year Akked Moore.

That being said, it’s not like they’ll be playing a bunch of back-ups and losers. DA Finest, even missing those two players, is still a team boasting the most notable names in FPF. Wyeth, Thompson, Binette, Shepherd, Knights and Jerome are either HOFers or slam-dunk future HOFers. And despite the plethora of big names, the Finest have always been a team-first organization. They are the standard as far as FPF franchises go, and that’s why they’re the defending D1 champions. Most importantly, in flag football, there is no player more important player on the field than the QB, and as much as I respect what Kastner has done this season, Kevin Wyeth is practically unstoppable. He had a perfect QB rating the last time he played the Rainmakers and while I doubt he’ll put up the same numbers this time, I’m pretty sure he’ll still be the difference in this one.

Prediction: DA Finest win.

Finals: 1. Big TDs (9-3) vs 3. Gladiateurs (8-4)

Match-up:

Big TDs offence vs Gladiateurs defence: 4^th (31.7) vs 8^th (36.3)

Gladiateurs offence vs Big TDs defence: 4^th (31.7) vs 1^st (25.0)

Previous:

Week 5: Gladiateurs 27, Big TDs 19

Well this game just got more intense, didn’t it? I’m referring to the heated press conference between Matt Bishara and Jamil Springer, of course. If you haven’t watched it yet, do so.

Now.

…

I’m waiting.

…

Done? Good. How awkward was that? I don’t know if it was the Glads/Bishara’s intent to piss the entire Big TDs team off, but if it was, mission accomplished. Undoubtedly, this will motivate the TDs to new heights on Sunday night. That being said, it’s the Finals, I doubt they needed much more motivation than that. But the potential that they were going to somehow overlook their opponents is now out the window. They will be focused with one clear goal: victory/embarassment. The intensity will be amped (even for a Big TDs team that isn’t exactly quiet to begin with) and things just may get heated. And that’s okay. But if things go too far, if someone loses their cool and gets kicked out, then it will be a problem. So they will have to be mindful of how they use the fuel given to them by Bishara.

As for the unemotional part of the match-up, it’s actually a fairly interesting one. The Glads defeated the TDs in their only prior match-up, in a game in which Frank Lebeau outplayed Jamil Springer. The key in that game was how well the Glads prevented the TDs from scoring, holding them to their lowest point total of the season thus far. On offence, they move the ball methodically down the field, utilizing Lebeau’s pinpoint accuracy and knowledge of his receiver’s routes to get to the endzone. It’s not the flashiest playbook, but it certainly gets the job done. Just as importantly, it eats up a major portion of the clock, which limits the offensive potential of their opponents. Look for them to do the same in this game. The key for the TDs will be to remain disciplined. If they take too many risks defensively, Lebeau will burn them.

Another interesting note will be the return of Charles Baillargeon (from vacation, not from injury as I erroneously stated in an earlier column). He is one of the best players on this team, a tough guy to match-up with because of his speed and athleticism. His addition (particularly as a rusher) will be vital to any chance the Glads hope to have in this game.

This is such a tough game to predict. The TDs have more firepower, but the Glads are in sync on a level that no other team in FPF can fathom. If both teams play the same way they did last week, the Glads will win. The difference is that while I believe the Glads are playing at their optimal potential, the Big TDs still seem to have something more to give. Between the fiery rhetoric of the press conferences and the big stage that the Finals provide, I think the TDs will finally give us everything we expect of them. That being said, this marks the third time in a row I’ve picked against the Gladiateurs. Given how the first two games turned out, I’m not sure that they mind.

Prediction: Big TDs win.

That’s it for this week.

Special thanks to:

The valiant men and women (okay, just men) of the Daron Basmadjian Fan Club. You have done a vain egotist proud by getting to the Finals and potentially putting his name on a 10$ trophy. Win the big one and we’ll all go to Il Cenone to celebrate.
The Gladiateurs, the Big TDs, the Rainmakers and DA Finest, in advance, for what I’m certain will be a spectacular set of Championship games. Good luck to all of you, and may the best teams win.

Think I’m wrong? Think I suck? Think I’m great? Think anything? Drop me a line at [email protected] and let me know how you feel. Whether it be interesting topics for the column, game facts I may have missed in my coverage or just some good old-fashioned hate mail, I welcome any and all comments.