
Word from the Mouth: The Mouth Gets Told! edition
Pre-article ed’s note: As Kevin mentioned that Meissa made some trash talk post game during the winter players, Meissa has asked for me to add this statement from him.
In response to the defamatory and untrue statements made last week by Kevin about our discussion following the Winter D1 Finals, I would like to rectify that in no way or shape did I minimize nor undermine the opposing teams for whom I have the utmost respect. The sole target of my banter and mockery was Kevin who is deservedly known as the “Hater-in-Chief” of the league. My dear Kevin, as the ancestors would say: “Don’t hate the player, hate the game!”
Kevin has been put in his place, so on to the article!
Week 1 is in the bag and just 11 more weeks until playoffs. This week if you played at 9:30 you played on a decent field, but as the day went along the field got worse and worse. As you read this Terry is in contact with the city about getting a second field near Le Ber. If that doesn’t pan out, Jon will need to find somewhere to play. Jon has been in talks with the city about fixing up where we play now, but like any government, it is a slow process.
With it being week 1 we saw lots of sloppy play from teams and some teams won big and looked good, but then you have to look and see who they were playing against to see if that was a fair assessment. In a few weeks we will know more about where teams stand, but right now it’s too early to tell. Plus, some teams haven’t even played a game yet.
Week 1 Recap
With Terry and Will doing a weekly podcast, covering all the games just doesn’t seem plausible and I have to leave games for them to cover as well. Plus, with so many games going on each week I can’t see them all. I will only be covering 2 games per division per week, and I will try to get every team covered at least once over the next 12 weeks.
Division 1
D1 this week only had 2 games and in one of those games Terry was facing Will, so I’ll leave that to them and in the other matchup between Centurions and Gros Coqs, Will was there live seeing what was going on and should know more about the game than I do, but it is Will, so you never know.
Division 2
Redzone vs Nice TDs (41-7)
What do I say about this game? Redzone were missing a few stud players from last year’s team and were still able to score at will and made it look easy. Last year Redzone was plagued by big drops in key situations, but this week Mike was all smiles as his team caught nearly everything thrown at them. Kris “I’m always willing to sub” Hope ended up subbing for Redzone since they were only 6 and Mike doesn’t play defense. Kris made his presence felt by picking off 2 passes against the team he used to QB for. As for Nice TDs, what were they thinking trying to go play in D2, especially with this roster? Other than Francois and Thomas, they really don’t have anyone that can keep up with the players in the division. I know the long game is for them to get into D2, but you have to build a team that can compete or you will have lots of games like this one. Nice TDs is trying to break in a new QB in Eric, but they really should have gone D3 at least this season.
Division 3
Old School vs Manitoboys (12-14)
This game looked like it should be a complete blowout and turned out to be a struggle for both teams. Dahic was stuck behind a train and was running late. With Old School only being 6 players with Dahic, Roxanne stepped in and helped her old team. It looks like Manitoboys have found their new QB moving forward in Leon. It took Leon a while to get going with his new team and it will be a work in progress, but at times he did look good. I was able to talk with a few players from Manitoboys and they all seem to think Leon will be a good fit with them, he has loads of experience and spreads the ball all over the field. Dahic also needed a few drives to bang off the rust. Both teams were able to punch one in before half. The way Old School scored on the last play of the half, I’m not sure how this happened. Jo looked to pick the ball off then it just looked as if the ball falls out of his hands right into the hands of Max. It wasn’t like it was seconds later it was almost right away, so it was ruled a TD. Second half more of the same as the teams struggled moving the ball, but each team found the endzone once to make it a 12 all game. Then the play that won the game for Manitoboys was when Jeremy sacks Dahic with just over 5 minutes left and gives his team the ball back. Neither team did anything offensively after that.
Idaho Udapimps vs Panaches (31-12)
For the third time in 3 weeks these teams end up playing against one another, and Panaches are up 2-0 going in. This time Idaho decided to bring a full team with them after struggling all winter to get guys out to play because of injuries. Idaho went out and did some recruiting and showed up with 10 out of 11 players for this one. I was joking with Amile before the game that they could just forfeit the game and they would still hold the advantage in head-to-head, but its week 1 and no one wants to lose week 1. This game wasn’t even close as Idaho took control and dominated in the first half though in the second half Panaches was able to get going, but every time they did Idaho responded with a score of their own. With Brady having a full roster and more than just Kyle to throw to, he was able to pick apart the Panaches defense. The one play that I remember about this game was a pass that was incomplete. The ball was thrown up and it looked like there was no way this ball is going to be caught but somehow Calvin was able to catch it over his shoulder, but was only able to get one foot in. There were a few of us that were all there seeing this happen and were like, how? Let me tell you Calvin is a big guy and might be a great player, but at first look doesn’t look like much. Teams are going to be surprised by the skillset this guy has.
Division 4
Free Agent #2 vs Phoenix (0-22)
In this game you could see all the struggles happening right in front of your eyes. Steve was playing QB for Free Agents and that’s not his possession. With it being their first game playing together you knew that it would take some time to get it figured out. They did happen to make a few plays on defense by getting 3 picks and 5 sacks, but offensively they had nothing going. Phoenix also had a long day and a bunch of struggles as well. Let me start by saying it all starts with a good snap and this weekend I didn’t get many of them, they were either high and floating or low and away from me. That lead to most of our struggles on offense, it set the timing off and led to defenders being able to undercut the routes or allowed the rusher to get right up on me before I could read the defense. Phoenix played decently on defense, but against a better team they need to capitalize on picking the ball off when they have the chance and not batting it away. Both teams are a work in progress. I think Phoenix will have an easier time fixing their issues than Free Agents, but you never know.
Cereal Killers vs Wizards du Groupe SC (20-6)
Where should I start in this one? Last time I saw Cereal Killers they had a different center who has been replaced with Matthew who must have the hardest snaps in the division, if not the league. They were coming in fast hard and high, but George didn’t have any issues with them so that’s good, but wait until its wet and raining and then we will see. At no point in this game was I worried Cereal Killers weren’t going to win. Wizards ran some weird formations like when they scored their only TD of the game, they had 4 of 5 receivers in the backfield and only 1 player ran a route and yet somehow, he came down with the ball with 3 defenders all around him. Wizards have talent, they just need to figure the game out. On almost every play they had someone in the backfield which doesn’t make much sense since you can only run every second play and you lose a receiver this way. I was able to speak with their QB Remi after the game and let him know that they have talent, but that he should just try and simplify thinks until the team gets a better understanding of the game and he feels more comfortable with the team.
Division 5
Drama Club vs Phoenix (20-6)
The score might seem close, but the game really wasn’t at all. Phoenix couldn’t move the ball against a team of veteran players and their only score came on a pick 6 from Vince at the end of the game. For Phoenix we just weren’t in the game, routes were being ran at wrong depth or they were being delayed instead of going right away. It will take time to iron out the kinks, but we will get it done. For Drama Club their offense is ok, but they have a top defense that just smothered us all game long. They don’t miss tackles and have players in the right positions jumping routes all day long. On offense they have players that know what they are doing and where to be this is why they should be the top team in the division, even though they should have been in D4 not D5. They can make the argument all day long about how last year they were getting beat every game and that might be true, but that was last year, and this is this year. It also helps that Simon is an experienced QB playing with players he knows and has played with before.
Mimosa Crew vs Hard Target (14-6)
Hard Target were without their QB and their jerseys, so Iggy stepped up and filled the QB spot for them. Once I saw Iggy going to play QB for them I thought it was going to be an easy win for Hard Target, boy was I surprised. Iggy struggled all day long getting picked off 3 times by 3 different defenders. With Hard Target being a new team, it will take some time to learn how to run proper routes and where they are expected to be on defense. Iggy threw some nice balls that just went off the receivers’ hands, but I feel that a few weeks from now after a few more games they will be catching everything throw their way. Mimosa Crew, who are back from last year and took their lumps then, looked decent this week. Curren is back at QB and healthy this time and you could tell by the extra pep in his step when he was running all afternoon. If Curren wants to be considered a QB he will eventually have to get more completions and passing yards, then rush attempts and running yards. Sorry, my mistake, Curren you had 1 more pass attempt and 1 more yard through the air then on the ground. Both teams did just fine for week 1, but they both could use some work as well and the only way to get that is to play games. I want to point out that we are here for fun and exercise and pushing and shoving is not acceptable so keep it clean.
There you have my recaps from week 1, hope you enjoy, and I will see most of you this weekend.
Player of the Week
Last fall I only picked 1 player per division and then over the winter season I picked players that performed well in each game. I figure this season I’ll just pick 1 player on each side of the ball, this way you get more of a chance to make my list. Let me also point out that if you play in multiple divisions, you can only get my vote for the highest division you play in unless you are playing a different position. I haven’t decided if I should do some sort of prize like in the winter, but I will think about it and see what I come up with. Stay tuned and see what I come up with by next week.
Division 1
Offense
- David Gutkovsky only had 5 catches for 25 yards, but found the endzone 3 times this week.
Defense
- Xavier Collette made 2 tackles and had 3 picks in a closely fought game.
Division 2
Offense
- Michael Roy completed 25 of 29 passes for 251 yards, 6 TDs, 3 1point converts and he threw 1 pick. He also ran once for 7 yards.
Defense
- Antoine Saint-Amant Proux made 4 tackles and had 2 sacks not bad for week 1.
Division 3
Offense
- Felix Fontaine Larouche grabed 5 balls for 67 yards and 3 TDs.
Defense
- Nick Egley only had 2 picks this week.
Division 4
Offense
- Matthew Iuliano made 10 catches for 56 yards and 1 TD. Those numbers eye popping, but for a center that size to make some of the catches he did, its pretty impressive.
Defense
- Gavin Drohan in his first game ever in MFL picked off 2 passes, not bad for a rookie. If he keeps up that pace all season Steve might bring him to the Outlaws in the fall.
Division 5
Offense
- William Braun was 14 of 21 for 136 yards, 6 TDs, 2 1point convert and threw 1 pick. He also ran twice for 22 yards.
Defense
- Mickael Carreau made 3 picks and ran 1 back for 6 points.
There you have it, my week 1 picks for player of the week. Don’t worry if you haven’t seen your name up here yet, it’s only week one which means you still have 9 more games to show that you are player of the week material.