Word from the Mouth: Poppycock! edition
What a great weekend it turned out to be for football. It was warm, but not too hot. Breezy, but not too windy. And most of the games turned out to be close.
Last season we introduced a new rule about swearing and everyone hated the way the rule was being enforced, so we made changes to it, and it seems to be better this way. You can normally hear at least a few swears every weekend, but this weekend I didn’t notice any. Is it because players are getting smarter about when and how they swear? Are we the refs just tuning it out or has it stopped completely?
Recaps
Division 1
Iron Wolves vs Centurions (45-30)
Demario had 9 more yards running (150) than passing (141) in the game. Anyone who plays defense knows a running QB is so hard to stop, especially if he can throw as well. Avery scored 3 TDs for Iron Wolves. On the Centurions side they had Yvan and Vincent both go over the 100 yard mark, but the next receiver only had 30 yards. Defensively they had 3 sacks, but they found it too hard to contain Demario and that’s why they lost.
A-Team vs Jagerbomb (44-18)
Both teams were missing players and if everyone is there I lean towards A-Team winning, but in a much closer game. Defense was the key for A-Team getting 3 sacks and 3 picks, while scoring on 1 of them. Jagerbomb had issues keeping drives going and that’s where missing JF really hurt them.
Division 2
Idaho Udapimp vs Pocket Rockets (38-28)
At halftime this game was tied at 20 with PO finding Alexis on the last play of the half. Second half rolls around, and Pocket Rockets started with a stop and once they got the ball, they marched down to score and take the lead. Idaho had 3 possessions after that and scored on all 3 of them. Pocket Rockets couldn’t do anything when they had the ball, they had 2 picks and ended the game with the ball not being able to score. In the second half of this game, you could see PO was in a bit of pain and was having a little issue with his arm.
Division 3
Phoenix vs Villains (22-32)
I won’t lie, this was a game I wanted to win and show Terry and Willie we are better than our record shows and the game couldn’t have started better for us. Phoenix forced a turnover on downs and scored a few plays later and then forced another turnover on downs, but this time couldn’t score. Not only did Phoenix have them turn it over twice on downs, they then forced a punt. After that it started to fall apart for Phoenix. We couldn’t score, make tackles, or play coverage. Terry torched us after those first 3 possessions and had a 26-7 lead at half. In the second half Villains struggled as Phoenix crawled back into the game making it a 26 to 21 game. Then Riccardo took all the momentum when he picked off a no look pass and scored on the play to make it 32-21. On the convert Terry was picked off and then beat down the sideline in the slowest 50 yard run for 1 point ever in MFL history. If it wasn’t for the pick 6 Phoenix might have won that game, but it happened and it gave Villains the win.
Division 4
Airborne vs Top Shooters (6-26)
This was a tough game for Airborne since the matchup wasn’t in their favor. Leo is still learning to play QB and Top Shooters have a defense full of ballers that know what they are doing, or at least it seems like it. Nigel is a beast and had 2 picks plus a TD on offense. The thing that stood out most to me was Marvin and how he has progressed as a QB. Last season he would only feed the ball to one or two players and run on almost every other play, this week he was 14 of 22 and completed passes to 9 different players with the top player only having 3 catches. Top Shooters wanted the shutout, but with 1:21 left in the game Airborne were able to score on a pass to Hasan.
Division 5
TD Hunters vs Binettes (19-12)
This match could have gone either way, but it was the little details that made the difference. Albert was playing his first game of the season and it was at the QB position that it was going to happen. Still, both QBs looked comfortable as they both completed over 60% of their passes and most of their drives ended in the red zone. However, TD Hunters had one more touchdown and that's all it takes to win. Also, each team clearly had a favorite target, and it gave us a spectacular showdown between Thomas and Justin. Despite an amazing one-handed diving catch from Thomas, the 3 passes defended by Justin are one of the reasons to explain the low success rate of Binettes in the redzone.
Phoenix vs Los Pollitos (37-30)
I have played numerous times against Los Pollitos and this was the best they have played against one of my teams ever. Sam was only able to score in 2 different ways this week, since he was playing QB all game. Sam picked off a pass early and scored off it and ran one in later in the game. LP balled out for Los Pollitos scoring 2 TDs and making 4 tackles and having 2 sacks. Kat had another monster game this week scoring 2 TDs and a convert on offense while also picking off 1 pass and knocking another away that fell to Jorge who ended up with the pick. With Phoenix missing a few players, Chrissy stepped up and filled the void by scoring twice. Late in the game Los Pollitos got a pick and scored a play later to make it 37-30, but if you were at the game, you know Phoenix controlled the game.
That’s all I have for you on recaps, but look for Terry to post the podcast on Wednesday if you want more.
Studs & Duds
It’s that time of the week where I get to pick who I felt balled out and who failed to make an impact. My picks aren’t always the same as what gets put up on website but sometimes, they are. I like making my picks based off stats and key plays in the game that affected the outcome.
Studs
Division 1
- Demario Cooper ran for 150 yards on 13 carries and scored 2 TDs. Then you add in the 141 yards passing, 5 TDs and 1 1point convert and 1 2point convert, he also made 4 tackles on defense.
Division 2
- Vinny Gualano went 33 of 43 for 330 yards, 7 TDs, 1 1point convert and made 5 tackles.
Division 3
- Ricardo Antonio Gutierrez Orsini (fat Lamar) for securing the win with a pick 6.
Division 4
- Jean-Francois Rolland-Leclerc was 15 of 23 for 143 yards, 5 TDs, 2 1point converts, JF also ran 3 times for 19 yards and made 2 tackles along with 2 picks.
Division 5
- Benjamin Mallette was 21 of 35 for 251 yards, 5 TDs, 1 1point convert, 1 2point convert. Ben also ran 6 times for 53 yards and had 2 tackles on defense.
Duds
Division 1
- Meis 1 catch for 8 yards and 2 tackles, is well below what I expect to see from you.
Division 2
- PO for throwing 8 picks in 2 games and going 0-2 in those games.
Division 3
- Benjamin Malette 3 catches for 10 yards in 2 games. I thought you were better than that.
Division 4
- Alexandre Szalipszki completing 36% of your passes along with 4 picks and averaging 2.88 yards a run.
Division 5
- Curren Dewan for not getting a third receiver involved in the game.
There are your winners and losers for week 4.
Congratulations if you made my list and better luck next week for those that didn’t make it.