Hello and welcome back everyone, hope you enjoyed last week. It was freaking beautiful out there. I just wonder how many more weeks of great weather we will get before it turns cold and we have to play in weather like the previous 2 weeks.
Some of you may have noticed that I look a little more distinguished than normal and that's because I'm getting older and I'm about to rotate around the sun once again and needed to get glasses.
As an athlete growing up people who wore glasses were nerds (ed’s note: still are!) and it looks like I am joining that click (ed’s note: sic). I just need the brain to go with being a nerd as after 12 concussion the brain is like mush. Yes, I already know 12 is a lot but one thing for sure is that I've never thrown up gang signs after getting knocked out like Tua.
Does the league allow Tua to keep playing or force him out? The NFL talks a big game when it comes to player safety, but that's all talk.
If you look back at the game played in Brazil, the field conditions were subpar at best, but they played the game. If this was a FIFA soccer game, they aren't playing that game. The NFL talks a big game about safety, but bottom line all they care about is the cash flow.
I want to say I feel for all you fantasy owners that picked Christian McCaffrey number 1 and now have to sit and watch their fantasy season go down the drain with him being put on IR. Should MFL allow a team to put players on IR for a set number of games where you are able to replace that one person with a player of equal cap numbers or lower. I know it's not going to happen, but with most of us getting older and more fragile, some teams might be able to use this and it would help them out.
Recap
D1
I wasn't able to catch any of the D1 games this week, so I'll leave it to Terry and Will to talk about on the podcast.
D2
Average Joe's vs RawSauce (31-14)
This RawSauce team was down players and needs subs to fill out their roster and not make it a forfeit, but with their top 2 players out they didn't have much of a chance or at least shouldn't have. Ludovic struggled most of the game with the elite defense he was facing. James picked him off twice and Devin and Anthony both had 1 sack. Jason slung the ball around getting everyone touches. I would have liked to see James get a few more touches on offense, but he limited his time on that side of the ball. One player that will get overlooked on this team is Anthony. He is a solid defender and a big target that should be a huge redzone target. Average Joe's are a very good team that will go far as long as they stay as a team and don't bicker with each other.
D3
I missed all of D3 this week, but I was really hoping to catch the Ducks vs Turf Ninjas game which would have been my game of the week. We also had the return of Marvin after weeks away with a hip injury.
D4
Slot Machines vs Sour Peeps (32-8)
This Slot Machines team is really good and are loaded all over the place. Giovanni is a top 3 QB in the division and his main target Eric has to be a top 5 target, but those aren't the only 2 players they have. This week the player that took over this game was William Lalumiere who scored 2 TDs and had 2 sacks. Karmina, Zoe, and Marie-eve might get overlooked, but all three of these ladies can play. Marie-eve is a very dependable snapper with capable hands. Karmina normally lines up as rusher and she gets after whoever is QB and then we have Zoe who doesn't miss many tackles. This Sour Peeps team is struggling because they have a new QB in Simon who is learning and struggles against the better teams. Slot Machines were in complete control of this game right from the get-go and the only time that they might have been in a worry was when Sour Peeps opened up the second half with a score making it 20-8. After that Giovanni took 3 plays to get those points back when he connected with Eric from 27 yards out. After that score you could see the air being deflated from Sour Peeps.
Action Squad vs Nothing but D (19-15)
I'm very surprised how this game turned out. Nothing But D seems to be struggling with the move up to D4. This team was scoring at will last season and got stops left, right, and center, but now this season they are struggling to keep drives going. Alec, if you want to win you need to get your best player Marcel more touches, 1 catch for 4 yards isn't going to cut it. On the Action Squad side Gold needs to work on his ball placement, far too many drops because players are stretched out just to get their hands on the ball. Gold, I don't want to tell you what to do or how to run your offense, but Big Sherm was open all game long and not just a little, like wide open. I think Nothing but D got lucky that there were so many drops from Action Squad because the score would have been worse. With just over 2 minutes left, Yavar scored to put Action Squad up 2 scores and let them sit back and force Nothing But D to use the clock with nothing big, essentially ending the game, but Jon scored from 10 yards out as clock expired making the game seem closer than it was.
D5
Phoenix vs Budget Cats (34-6)
This game started out with Phoenix getting a stop on downs then scoring a few plays later. After this score Budget Cats started playing defense and managed to get 3 picks and 2 sacks in the game with Matthew Newell leading the way for them with 2 picks and he also got their only points of the game by returning 1 of his 2 picks for a score. On the Phoenix side of things Yann was dependable not dropping any balls and kept the chains moving, Gabriel all he did was score 2 TDs and get a pick and we'll Ilias who is better known as a good rusher is playing safety this season and had 2 picks. Phoenix once they got rolling were too much for Budget Cats to handle and even with them getting help from the sideline the lack experience was too much for them to overcome.
Phoenix vs Bear Hood (44-8)
Bear Hood just came off a huge win against 28-3 and were feeling like they were king of the world, then this game began and the score tells it all. Phoenix walked all over them using their secret weapon to do so. Our secret weapon was Nico from 28-3 who had the inside scoop. Offensively Bear Hood went with Emilio at QB, and it was an upgrade over what they had before, but he needs to be more consistent. There were numerous times where balls were dropped or he just had the ball get away from him. I knew Bear Hood was going to be disorganized on defense, but I didn't think that it would show from play 1 when Nico caught a 1-yard hook as the slot and ran through the defense for 40 yards. Pierre-Luc dominated on the offensive side of the ball, scoring 2 TDs on his 7 catches and 63 yards. Ilias picked off another 2 passes on defense scoring on 1 of them. I want to apologize to Bear Hood for calling the timeout before half on fourth down, it's just a force of habit, plus I never know the score since I never ask about it. (ed’s note: yet you call people out for running up the score. Maybe they just don’t know the score either.)
Women's
Sorry ladies, I missed the 1 game in the division this weekend, but I'll be back watching your games in no time and now with my glasses I'll be able to see everything happening.
That's all I have for reviews this week if you need more look out for MFL Total access when it comes out on Wednesday.
Studs & Duds
I'm on vacation and in a bit of a time crunch so I'm going to get straight to it and tell you who balled out this week and should have stayed home.
Studs
D1
- Justin White scored 4 Total TDs 3 as a receiver and 1 on defense.
D2
- Jason Edwards scored 2 TDs on his 4 catches totaling 49 yards, plus 1 tackle on defense.
D3
- Kayla Gauthier 6 catches 95 yards and 2 TDs.
D4
- Alec De Lafontaine-Jovani for his game 3 performance. He went 24 of 27 for 272 yards 8 TDs and ran 6 times for 47 yards.
D5
- William Shlien for handling the scenario like a boss. Last week they got whooped and this week when he started to throw picks, and the team started to bicker he stepped up and took control and lead his team to their first victory. Along the way will went 22 of 29 for 134 yards and 3 TDs. He also added 57 yards and a TD on the ground along with a pick on defense.
Women's
- Viviane Plourde 3 TD passe, 2 TDs catching and 1 on the ground.
Duds
D1
- PO threw 5 picks.
D2
- RawSauce for being a big roster and still needing subs and this landing to struggling with constancy.
D3
- Banged up Marvin for playing defense when we all know he isn't 100% and is going to get hurt again and I get that it's only D3 but why risk it.
D4
- Thomas Svoiski for throwing 5 picks.
D5
- Les Last Calls for playing the defense they did, allowing Luca to run as much as he did and for as many yards as he did and that's what cost you the game.
Women's
- I'm not putting anyone here this week. Call it what you will. (ed’s note: I call it blatant sexism!)
There you have it folks, my Studs & Duds for week 5. Remember if you want to see your name up here, then you need to show me that you need to be included on my list. And if you want to make my Dud list, just do what Saquon Barkley did on Monday night and drop that simple third and 3 pass to all but and the game and walk away with the win.
