Here we are again, another week down and only two left to go. It looks as if the Outlaws have secured the number 1 spot unless they lose out and that is possible since they are playing Les Gros Coqs for their last 2 games. So technically there is a possibility that they could fall all the way to number 3, but no lower than that. Both the Trollers and Gros Coqs could finish number 1, but that would mean the Trollers win out. Which is also possible since they play Deep Threats and Revolucion for their last 2 games, but they still need Outlaws to lose out as well. The only way for Gros Coqs to finish number 1 is to win out and hope for a Trollers loss, since the Trollers have the tie breaker. For the fourth and final playoff spot it might come down to the wire if Deep Threats can win out and Revolucion lose out as well. Sorry correction Deep Threats are mathematically eliminated since Revolucion have the head to head tie breaker. Better luck next season deep Threats.

 

Week 8 Recap

 

We had three games over the weekend and only one was an actual close game. You had Outlaws crushing Revolucion 51-20, you also had the Trollers doubling up on the Deep Threats 42-21, and the only close game of the weekend was the Trollers losing to Gros Coqs 25-20 in what was a poorly played game for both teams. Not sure what I should do here, specifically if I should even talk about the games that were blowouts. I will say that Remi did make a beautiful play on the last play of the game while he was rushing. He managed to jump up bat the ball out of the air catch it and run it into the end zone. They really didn’t need it and I know people only care about stats, but at that point you don’t need to score, just take a knee and end it. One thing that shocked me about this game is that neither QB was sacked. You have 3 of the top 4 rushers leading the league and you couldn’t manage one between the three of you? What’s up with that? Maybe we praised you guys a little too early. That’s all I’m saying about this blowout. 

 

This brings me to the next game that was a cake walk between the Trollers and Deep Threats. This game was long and boring and filled with subs on one side. Both teams played pretty poorly in game. Trollers were playing soft the whole day on defense. They weren’t very focused with dropped balls and missed tackles, being spaced out and missed assignments, it was one of the worst games they played all season on defense. Offense wasn’t much better and Max threw 2 picks and was sacked 3 times as well. When Kevin is your leading receiver in yards you know there must be a problem, right? Deep Threats on the other hand didn’t have their QB and a few other guys, but the subs they got were better than the guys they replaced and they still came out and lost the game. They did have two bright spots on Saturday and they both played some good defense and that was Francis who had to come from the other side of the field to tackle me a few times and Daniel their rusher, but other than that they had no hope. Now that they are out of the race for playoffs they can try new things and see how that works. 

 

We are now down to the final game of the weekend between the Trollers and Gros Coqs. This was a first time in a while that the Gros Coqs had their full roster for a game. You could tell that they wanted this game more than the Trollers; they were attacking the ball in the air where the Trollers were just waiting for it to come to them. There were a few plays that I’m not sure what was going on. It was second down and 3 or 4 and Josh runs an out at the sidelines and if I remember correctly he started to lean backwards which allowed Boris to come in and grab the ball. On Max’s second pick the ball just hung up in the middle of the field and our guys just watched and waited for it to come down into their hands. I don’t remember the third one he threw, but I think it was off a deflection. 

 

It wasn’t only the Trollers that were making dumb plays. On fourth and a bunch we were sure they were punting and just wasting the time, but Vince snaps the ball and they weren’t able to get the yards needed for the first. Even though both teams got 3 picks, they both played poorly. Defense was not the strength on Saturday. Trollers couldn’t make the proper adjustments to take care of two guys going out on the same side and Gros Coqs gave up a few big plays. Yes, the Gros Coqs won the game and it could have easily been by a lot more. The Trollers were down 5 with 1:30 left in the game with 3 timeouts and needed a stop and couldn’t do it. It would have been a miracle if the Trollers pulled that one off. Last playoffs they did it with 12 seconds left but not this week. These two teams should meet again in the playoffs and we’ll see what happens then.

 

Upcoming Game of the Week: Deep Threats vs La Revolucion

 

I wanted to go with the Outlaws vs Gros Coqs, but I have insider information that I won’t talk about and keep hush hush. I didn’t want to do the Trollers vs Deep Threats game either, so I ended up going with Deep Threats vs Revolucion. This is possibly the last chance for Deep Threats to get their first win of the season.

 

QB - In this one you have Ben from La Revolucion and JC from the Deep Threats. Ben might not be mobile but takes the snap at least 8 yards away and he makes very quick decisions. JC has struggled for most of the season, but when he uses the whole field instead of just going deep he does well. He is still learning the position and with time he will get better. This is such an easy choice for me to make that I’d be a fool not to give the advantage to Revolucion.

 

WR - In this category you have one of the best guys at attacking the ball at the high point in Svetna, but after that, they don’t have anyone who scares you. Deep Threat need to just change the name or start adding a few guys who will help keep the name alive and strike fear in their opponents. For Revolucion you have 5 guys with over 270 yards and Raph just under 200 with 194. Gabe and JC each have over 400, Ted is close to that mark and David is 1 yard short of 300 on the season. This is one very dangerous group that Revolucion has and they get the advantage by a landslide.

 

Defense - This is an area where both teams struggle. The Deep Treats can’t seem to stop anyone and you can tell by their points against at 45.1, you don’t win many unless you’re scoring. They have only managed 6 sacks all season and 3 came this past Saturday, so they aren’t doing too well there. In the pick department they have managed to pull down 5. There are guys that have more than that individually. Revolucion isn’t much better as they are giving up 41 points a game. They have 11 sacks and 11 picks which is the big difference between the two teams. Revolucion has better numbers, but I’m not sold on the play calling. This game is going to be a shootout, but I wonder if any team will get a stop. I have to give the advantage to Revolucion because of the rusher.

 

Predictions

 

Now I get to pick the winners again since we have 3 games I only need to pick 2 winners as I don’t pick my teams game since more often than not I’d pick my own team to win. So here we go and the winners are everyone just for coming out and playing.

 

Outlaws vs Gros Coqs                              Outlaws

Deep Treat vs Revolucion                         Revolucion 

Trollers vs Deep Threats                          NA (Ed’s note: Surprise Deep Threats victory!)

 

Power Rankings

 

#1 Outlaws (7-1)

#2 Trollers (5-3)

#3 Gros Coqs (4-3)

 

It has stayed the same even though Gros Coqs beat the Trollers over the weekend. That game was poorly played by both teams and when they play again in the playoffs is when we will see who the better team is. I can’t knock Outlaws out of top spot, but I can’t add Revolucion in either. Only 2 weeks left to see some sort of change up here.

 

Studs & Duds

 

This week was an easy one to pick the studs and duds. I had to go and give the Stud award to a QB again, though I almost went with Adam from Outlaws, but he only scored once and only made tackles on defense (Ed’s note: I feel like you meant to put a number in there, unless you wanted Adam to make tackles on offense as well). So I ended up giving it to his QB Steve. He had a great day going 25 out of 36 for 247 yards with 6 scores and no picks. He also ran twice for 8 yards. He even let Antoine throw a pass that went for 20 yards and a score. So he could have had those stats also. 

 

I was going to give this week the Dud award to the Trollers defense as a whole, but I have had a change of heart and decided to give it to Max from the Trollers. He went 1 and 1 over the weekend, but in those 2 games he threw 5 picks and was sacked 4 times. These are not typical numbers that you would see from one of the league’s better QBs. Hopefully he plays better in the upcoming weeks. I mean he can’t play much worse I hope.

 

So this brings us to the end of another article. Like I said in the beginning all the spots are locked in for the playoffs it just comes down to seeding. With that being said I hope that everyone still comes out to play and doesn’t just f*ck off since it doesn’t matter. We come out to play and have fun. Lastly remember keep classy and safe out there MFL. 

Word From The Mouth: Stayin' Alive!

Word From The Mouth: Stayin' Alive!

Kevin Kousaie

Welcome back. I hope that you are all out of your turkey induced comas. It was a lovely weekend and perfect weather for football. We are winding down towards the end of the season. No team will be undefeated this year, but we might have our first winless team ever. I don’t want to see that happen, but if it does they should get first pick from any team that disbands and isn’t coming back next spring. We all want the league to be competitive so something needs to get done. By the numbers the Deep Threats can still make the playoffs if they win out and everyone else loses out so it’s highly unlikely, but still mathematically possible, but with 2 of the next 3 games against the Trollers it’s all but over for them.  

 

Week 7 Recap

 

I’m not sure where I should start. Is it with the 63-13 beating that Gros Coqs gave to Deep Threats or the game between the Trollers and Revolucion which was a one score game? 

 

I’ll start with the blowout game since I won’t need to talk much about it, I mean really it was 63-13 they won by 50 and I’m sure that it could have been worse. I did speak to Gros Coqs afterwards and they didn’t want to run up the score, they just didn’t like their point differential (Ed’s note: It’s points against that’s the tie breaker if it comes to points!). I would like to point out that in this game Dom threw more TDs than he did incompletions, throwing 6 TDs and only 4 incompletions. Everyone on the Gros Coqs contributed on both offense and defense. For the Deep Threats they still need to find a second and third guy to go along with Svetna, he has been their only weapon when he shows up. JC stop throwing deep all the time, I know you were doing it in this game since Bresse was able to walk away with 4 picks and he normally plays safety for them. Smarten up, take what is there, less turnovers equals less points against and you’ll have a better chance at winning. 

 

That’s enough of covering a blowout, so lets move on to the game between the Trollers and Revolucion. This game ended up being a one score game, but it really shouldn’t have been. The Trollers got a pick on the first series and scored on it, with what in my opinion was not a score. It was me who scored and I really think Gab pulled the flag on the 1 or 2 yard line, but I’m not the ref (Ed’s note: What a subtle way of bragging about your pick 6). Even though the Trollers defense managed to get 4 picks, they played really badly giving up constant deep balls and blown coverages. I will also say that before the half the Trollers used a timeout and then threw a pick on the next play with a little over a minute left. Yes, they were able to stop Revolucion from scoring, but guys you need to do a better job of clock management. You guys (Ed’s note: “you guys”?) go no huddle and always rush up to the line so no need to call a timeout with that much time and especially with the field position you had. With 15 minutes left in the game the Trollers were up 33-14 and then they started to play conservatively which isn’t their style, but they were aware that they weren’t playing great defense and felt the game was already in the bag. Revolucion brought it to a 33-26 game when Max hit Ben for a 45 yard score with just over 5 minutes left in the game. Revolucion still had plenty of time to score twice and win the game. They were able to score once but then had to use up their timeout to stop the Trollers, but once they used them all and the Trollers got a first down they were finally being smart and ended the game. Revolucion put up a good fight, but I think that the Trollers let them get back into the game by not putting the dagger in when they had the chance. I’m sure if these two teams play again both teams will take a thing or two away from this one.

 

Upcoming Game of the Week: Revolucion vs Outlaws

 

This is the second meeting between these 2 teams and if I remember correctly the first one was won by the Outlaws on the last play of the game on a controversial call. I hope that this one is as exciting as that one was, but lets hope it goes the other way this time.

 

QB - You have Steve from Outlaws who is playing great this season. Steve doesn’t have the great arm strength that his counterpart Ben has, but what he does have is years of experience playing. He will also get the ball out quickly and more often than not accurately. Steve relies more on his guys making plays after the catch than throwing his guys open. Steve has plays for everyone on his team and will try to get everyone involved. Ben from Revolucion has one of the strongest arms in the league and loves to throw the deep ball. My thing with Ben is I find he goes deep a little too often, but you can’t blame him with the guys he has. I think Ben is a one of the better QBs in the division and has all the tools to succeed, he just needs to tone down all the deep balls and it will eliminate some of his picks. I’m not really sure who is the better QB out of the 2 of them but this season I think Steve is playing better and that is why I am giving the advantage to the Outlaws.

 

WR - This one’s a little tricky since you have Smuda on the Outlaws who is probably the best receiver in the league and leads in yards with 535. Then you have Remy, Adam, Antoine who all have over 200 yards but your main focus is on Smuda so one or 2 of them need to step up and start making sh*t happen if they want to make a deep playoff run. For Revolucion you have JC last seasons top receiver who right now is at number 2 in yards on his team. Leading the way is Gab with 413 yards. Revolucion have the number 2, 3 & 4 receiver in the league right now in Gab, JC and Ted and they also have some good role players in Eric and David if he comes out and plays. At first I was going to give the advantage to Outlaws, but after looking more into it I’d be an idiot not to give it to Revolucion.

 

Defense - If I just go off the top of my head I’d say Outlaws since Revolucion has had a hard time this season being consistent, but I will take a look and see what the number say. Revolucion have 11 sacks with 9 coming from Eric, and they also have 11 picks and 18 batted balls this season, but are giving up 39.6 points a game. For the Outlaws they only have 12 sacks with Mathieu getting 7 of them. Outlaws have ended up picking the ball off 21 times and have knocked away 26 balls and they have the best points against with 23.9. So my gut and the numbers say the advantage needs to go to the Outlaws.

 

Predictions

 

This week there are 3 games to pick, but since my team the Trollers are in 2 of them I only need to pick 1 winner. So without any more delaying here are this weeks winner.

 

Revolucion vs Outlaws                    OutLaws

Trollers vs Gros Coqs                      NA (Ed’s note: Coqs)

Trollers vs Deep Threats                  NA (Ed’s note: Surprise Deep Threats win!)

 

Power Rankings

 

#1 Outlaws (6-1)

#2 Trollers (4-2)

#3 Gros Coqs (3-3)

 

I know nothing has changed, but soon things might as maybe Outlaws start to struggle or maybe Gros Coqs return to last season form. Maybe the Trollers lose one or two down the stretch. One thing is for sure though, the Outlaws have already locked up a playoff spot and everyone else is still fighting to get in.

 

Studs & Duds

 

This section is one of my favorite (Ed’s note: Every week I correct this. “Favourite”, Kevin. Welcome to Canada) to write, I just wish there were more teams to go through stats and see who did what, but with so few teams it makes it easy for a guy to get the award two or three times. 

 

For me it came down to two players both on the same team, one with great offensive numbers and one with ridiculous defensive numbers, but since all anyone cares about is offense this weeks Stud is Dom from Les Gros Coqs. He went out and completely destroyed the Deep Threats and he didn’t even run once. The guy went 13 for 17 for 201 yards, throwing 6 TDs. Yes, he didn’t play any defense this week, but those numbers speak for themselves. 

 

So our Dud of the week is none other than my friend Francis. He went out there and showed everyone what to do to win this award. He caught 1 pass for a total of 2 yards and his defensive numbers were even better 0 all along the board. So if you need pointers on how to win Dud of the week watch Francis’ highlight reel from this week. Francis you would have been better off not catching a ball then I might not have known if you played this week. (Ed’s note: You gotta have more original picks, Kousaie!)

 

Congratulations to our Stud & Dud this week, keep it up maybe you’ll win it again next week.

 

Here we go with my final thoughts on division 1 for the week. I’m glad we have 3 games instead of 2 as it will give me a little more to write about next week. I’m glad but also surprised that the division hasn’t had any major injuries this season, I guess everyone reads all the way to the end of my articles. I have to say that the last few weeks you guys have gotten a lot smarter and figured out that the same color (sic) flags and pinnies belong together so thanks for that. 

 

Now just remember that this is a game and we are here to have fun, get some exercise, and hangout with your team. So be safe and don’t do anything stupid where you can get hurt. See you all Saturday.

Word From The Mouth: Beyond Meat Edition!

Word From The Mouth: Beyond Meat Edition!

Kevin Kousaie

Here we are six weeks into the season and we have one team far ahead in the standings and one team far behind. There is still time for teams to get it together or for a team to fall apart completely. Will either of those things happen? I doubt it but this is football and anything is possible. I was going to do a short midseason review but we covered that on this week’s Podcast that should be out later on in the week so stay tuned for that.

 

Week 6 Recap

 

I’m not going to lie, but both of the games this week weren’t that exciting. You had the Trollers beating Les Gros Coqs 26-6, but they were missing a bunch of guys including Dom at QB but luckily Steve was there to lend his arm. But like we have talked about in the past 4 out of 5 are making the playoffs so it shouldn’t be that hard to get in, so missing a few games here and there is no big deal except for team chemistry. In this game I have to give two big thumbs down to Josh for costing us the shutout and as a team the Trollers might need to cut you going forward. Sorry, the votes just got tabulated and you can stay by a narrow margin of 3-2 so it was closer than expected. In the other game you had Outlaws taking on Deep Threats. I was shocked when I saw the score at half time 24-20 for the Outlaws. With it being like that at halftime I thought that Deep Threats were going to pull off the upset of the season. Boy was I ever wrong and the final was 54-26 Outlaws. JC threw two pick 6s in the second half so that was huge for the Outlaws and gave them an even bigger cushion and dug a bigger hole for Deep Threats to climb out from. I have started to wonder if Steve has a hard time with Deep Threats cause he goes in over confident or do they just have his number and Steve is walking away with narrow victories. I mean if teams don’t know what the other teams are going to do by now you haven’t been paying attention to what is happening in front of you. No one goes out there every week with a different game plan, it’s always the same plays and you need to recognize and react. That is it for last weeks games I hope we get a few more good ones this season.

 

Game of the Week: Trollers vs Revolucion

 

This is a rematch from week 3 when the Trollers were not going to be there and let the Commissioner know they were not going to field a team on Thursday at 3:15pm which is plenty of time to call the game off so the other team doesn’t need to show (Ed’s note: I’m pretty sure that La Revolucion would rather have had the game against a sub team Trollers than the game being cancelled entirely, as it was not going to be rescheduled). So really this will be the first time these two teams meet.

 

QB - This one is a matchup of big arms and guys that like to go deep. For Revolucion you have Ben who can throw it the length of the field with ease. My biggest concern for Ben is that he tries to hit the homerun way too much. That’s fine by me but you need to dink and dunk sometimes. Max has gotten a lot better at reading the defenses and with him being able to avoid the rusher he can then find the open man easily. Max just like Ben can throw it anywhere on the field that he wants. So right now I want to give the advantage to the Trollers, but I am going to go ahead and say that Revolucion have it in the QB department.

 

WR - Revolucion have 4 good WRs in JC, Gabriel, Ted and Eric I’m just wondering if the four of them are really that good or is it because of the teams they face so far this season. I know JC is a top 3 Receiver in the league, Gabe has had a fantastic season so far and has been much under-utilized in the past, Ted and Eric I’m not completely sold on them yet. For the Trollers you have Ben, Andre, and Josh who are the guys that can make something from nothing with every touch. Don’t get me wrong both Lesniak and Kevin (Ed’s note: third person’ing yourself?) can catch the ball but its not like there they are going to make you all miss and take it to the house every time they touch it. I hate doing this but it looks like I am giving the advantage to Revolucion in this one also. Yes they might have the advantage but its really not by much at all.

 

Defense - We have the Trollers who have a great defense and yes they have given up points this season, but what makes them a great defense is that they know what everyone is doing and where they will be. As a team they have 13 picks in 5 games and have also gotten 6 sacks in those same 5 games. Revolucion on the other hand seem to still be trying to figure it out. They have all the pieces to be a good defense, but whether it’s a guy not being put in the right spot of if it’s the wrong play calling, they look out of sync. Yes they have a good rusher in Eric, but after that they don’t have much. JC has 4 picks but imagine if he was put in a better position to succeed how many he might have. So hands down I have to give the advantage to the Trollers, not just because of stats but because of play calling. Why would you double rush as many times as I have seen you do so far this season? C’mon, think about it.

 

Predictions

 

Here I go again picking the winners and loser for the division and it has been easy only having to pick 1 game a week. Im not sure of what I’m at for the season I’ll figure it out and let you all know how close I am to my goal of 75% for the season.

 

Trollers vs Revolucion                            NA (Ed’s note: Trollers)

Gros Coqs vs Deep Threats                  Gros Coqs

 

Power Rankings

 

#1 Outlaws (6-1)

#2 Trollers (3-2)

#3 Gros Coqs (2-3)

 

I know I didn’t change it, but I still feel the Les Gros Coqs are a better team than Revolucion only because I’m looking at the roster as a whole and not just the team’s records. I mean Revolucion beat the Trollers when we didn’t have anyone, should that count? Trollers beat Outlaws by 15 after they lost to them in week 1 by 6 points, so should we be above them? Maybe but the season record is tied. Gros Coqs I think would win 8 out of 10 games against Revolucion if their team shows up. This is how they sit right now but we still have a few more weeks to go and anything can happen.

 

Studs & Duds

 

Here we go again I get to pick my top and bottom performer of the week. Who will have the honour to call themselves a stud and who is going to deny being the dud?

 

For this week the Stud has to be Steve from The Outlaws. He is the first player to win this honour twice in the season. On Saturday Steve went 23 out of 31 for 220 yards and 5 TDs with no picks, oh and he added a whole 1 yard rushing on 3 attempts. Steve was able to do all this and still stop playing with about 8 minutes left in the game. Once he left the game his team scored 2 more times so he could’ve had 7 TDs on the day. (Ed’s note: or it shows how easy scoring was even with a backup in…)

 

This weeks Dud goes to (drum roll, please) Francis from Deep Threats. I mean when I started doing this section at the beginning of the season I figured that this is the only award Francis might ever win and often, but surprising enough he has been decent all season up until this week. Francis c’mon, you only had 2 catches for 8 yards and only 2 tackles? I expect more out of you than that. You better pick up your play or this might become a recurring thing.

 

That’s it for this week, I hope you all enjoyed the read. You guys should know by now that we are here for fun so play have fun and be safe. I also want to say A&Ws finally has my favourite burger of all time back and you should try it out. It’s the Beyond Meat Burger. I was a bit skeptical at first, but I haven’t eaten meat in over 6 months and when I have a craving this is what I turn to. Next season the league will only be allowing Vegetarians and Vegans to play so you might want to start and cut out all that meat now.

Word From The Mouth: Late Because the Editor Was Sick Edition!

Word From The Mouth: Late Because the Editor Was Sick Edition!

Kevin Kousaie

Here we are at the midway point of the season, some teams have finally lost a game and others are still looking for their first win of the season. Are we going to have a team do what only Detroit and Cleveland (Ed’s note: pronounced “Believe-Land”!) have done and go winless all season? Hey, if the Browns can pull off a comeback being down 14-3 at half time and turning to rookie QB Baker Mayfield then it’s more than possible for the Deep Threats to get a win. It might only take a change and you guys can start winning. I’m not saying that’s what needs to be done, but sometimes all it takes is something new Don’t get me wrong, I love what Baker Mayfield did in college, but I still think that Hue Jackson is going to f*ck up and put Tyrod back in next week. So in 3 weeks when he gets fired remember you heard it here first.

 

(Ed’s rant: As a new lifelong Cleveland Browns fan (started this off-season since I figured no one could accuse me of jumping on the bandwagon) I want to vent about the fact that we should be 3-0. First game against Pittsburgh we get a ridiculous roughing the passer call for “landing on the QB as part of the tackle” (terrible rule or worst rule ever?) to go from what should have been a field goal attempt on 4th down to a fresh set of downs resulting in a touchdown. That’s the difference in a game that went to OT. Second game we miss two sub 45 yard field goals and two extra points to once again go to OT and lose, which is technically on us, but damn man, c’mon!)

 

Week in Review

 

I know that last season I broke it down game by game but this season since we are so few teams in the division and that we only have 2 games a week it makes it hard for me to see the games since I’ve been refing a lot in division 2. So this week you had the Trollers taking down the Outlaws in what should have been a great game, but it wasn’t. In years past the Outlaws have always won the first matchup between these two teams and the in the second meeting Trollers always win handily, and there was no difference this past Saturday as the Trollers won by 15 points, with the Outlaws scoring on their last drive which ate up 6 minutes of clock and with 48 seconds left we called the game. I will say this: I can’t wait to see what happens next time these two teams play. 

 

Now I’m going to jump to the more exciting game over the weekend between the Revolucion and Deep Threats. This was a very close game that came down to the wire. Going in I thought it was going to be a blowout for Revolucion, but winning 25-20 and almost losing it with under 2 minutes left doesn’t impress me much. I want to know what Raph is doing trying to argue a PI penalty with the official and then getting an unsportsmanlike penalty. That could have cost you the game, Raph you have to know by now not to argue with the ref. From what I heard and can see in the stats is that Ben played pretty badly. I don’t know when the last time he threw more picks than TDs in a game was. Oh wait, it was in last fall’s finals. Ben has stepped up his game for the most part and has a really good cast of receivers around him, so I’m not worried for them, plus they still won which is all anyone cares about. Teams have started to realize that if you take Svetna out of the game then you have a very good chance at winning. Deep threats need another guy or two to fill out the roster completely and make them more competitive. At the start of the season I thought Alex from Locomotion was going to be joining them but it doesn’t look like that is the case. This off season Deep threats need to ask Steve how to recruit players since he’s the best at it. Steve is almost like Alabama at getting top talent, but Nick Sabin and Alabama win titles and don’t just get there. 

 

After their first possession in the second half Deep Threats were up 20-6 which isn’t a lot of points but if you know how to manipulate the clock and play somewhat decent defense you should be able to win. But of course they couldn’t do that. They allowed Revolucion to score in under a minute and a half to make it a one score game. On their next possession on a third and two how do you not just throw a two yard out to Jon at the side line. I have seen him make that catch dozens of times that would have been an easy first down and 3 more minutes off the clock. Instead you don’t get it and are forced to punt. Nothing happened until Revolucion scored with just over four minutes left, but they needed the convert to tie it up. Deep Threats were able to stop them and it looked like they might be able to pull it off and leave with the win. JC who played solid all day not turning the ball over couldn’t help it and throws one at the worst time possible with under three minutes and deep in their own end. This gave Ben a chance to redeem himself after throwing 5 picks on the day. He was able to hit Ted on a seven yard TD to put them up by five with around two minutes left, which is plenty of time to go down and score. This now takes me back to the beginning with Raph taking two penalties for a total of 27 yards. Luckily for Revolucion they were able to hold Deep Threats to a turnover on downs and seal the win. I spoke to a few guys after the game and they said Deep Threats played really well today. I don’t doubt that they did, but Revolucion played badly also and if they play like this against a top team they will get smoked.

 

Game of the Week: Troller vs Gros Coqs

 

Last season we played the best game of the year against one another in the semifinals and it was a up and down game that came down to the wire. This season we have played once if you want to call it that. The Trollers showed up with their full roster after forfeiting the week before, but Gros Coqs did not and if it wasn’t for Dom being as good as what he is it might have been a complete dismantling of them. Trollers did win, but it’s not one we can be proud of, I feel it was more along the lines of them beating themselves by not showing up. This week hopefully both teams show up and it should be a good one.

 

QB - This one is rather difficult when you look at the stats. Dom has played two games and Max has only played one. Both guys have similar skill set. Dom can, but doesn’t, run around everyone but you always need to keep an eye on him. His biggest problem in the past has been scrambling around and throwing off his back foot, He doesn’t do it as much anymore but from time to time and those are when defense need to capitalize. Max on the other hand has a great hip twist that makes almost everyone miss once. He has gotten better at spreading the ball all over the field so there has been an improvement on that. His biggest flaw is depending on Ben and Josh too often but he has made strides to get away from that. I still have to give the advantage to Gros Coqs cause Dom is the MVP.

 

WR - This one is not that difficult of a choice for me to make. You have Gros Coqs who have a great bunch of receivers who can and will make plays all over the place. My biggest knock on them is that a few are short and sometimes Dom throws a little high. But every one of the need to be guarded and you need to converge and make the tackle right away not allow them to run wild. For the Trollers you have Ben, Josh and everyone else. Andre played great last week with a different QB, but will Max get him the ball? Should the Trollers start incorporating Andre into the mix I think no team will be able to stop them. So I will give the advantage to the Trollers but not by a lot and only if Max includes Andre in the offensive game plan.

 

Defense - Both teams this season have sucked and given up a ton of points. Last season Tommy was the biggest difference maker on defense by rushing and this season I think he’s lost at sea because he has not put up the numbers that I was expecting to see. The Trollers on the other hand play a more bend don’t break style and get turnovers in the red zone, but that hasn’t happened so far this season. For the Trollers to get back on track Andre will need to get after the QB more consistently. So overall both teams have sucked so far this season, but since I have to give an advantage I’ll give it to the Trollers since they always have a good game plan for the Gros Coqs.

 

Predictions

 

This season I have been great at picking the winners and I hope to keep it up all season. I will say that it is pretty easy only having to pick one game a week maybe two once in a while but it is what it is. This week is no different I will only be picking one game and you might or might not get an editors note in here. So without any more procrastination here we go with tis weeks matchups.

 

Trollers vs Gros Coqs                                   NA (Ed’s note: Trollers. I think Dom might be out…)

Outlaws vs Deep Threats                             Outlaws 

 

Power Rankings

 

#1 Outlaws  (5-1)

#2 Trollers (2-2)

#3 Gros Coqs (2-2)

 

I know nothing has changed, and yes the Trollers beat up on the Outlaws, but we need to see what happens this week. Trollers have a tough matchup with the Gros Coqs and Outlaws always seem to have trouble with Deep Threats so who knows where teams will stand at this point next week.

 

Studs & Duds

 

This is becoming one of my favourite sections to write cause I can say anything I want about anyone I want. Just remember to be a stud you need to have the numbers to back it up and a win is a big help. To be named the dud I can base it off anything I want but it will normally go to someone who played pretty lousy and I was expecting more from them.

 

This week my Stud is going to be none other than Andre from the Trollers. This guy has been either extremely hot or ice cold, he gets four TDs in a game or none. This week he was on again and was able to pull in 4 passes for 66 yards, but every one of his catches went for a score. He also got a one point convert and one sack. On Saturday he accounted for 25 points which is the same amount as the whole other team did. Now that’s what it’s like when you’re a Stud.

 

This weeks Dud goes to Ben form Revolucion. He is normally on his game but this past weekend he stunk up the joint. He did help pull out the victory in the last few minutes, but when you throw 5 picks to a team you should have walked all over the I have no choice but to name you this weeks Dud. But it was close if you guys had lost the game and it was from the last drive Deep Threats had the ball Raph would have seen his name here instead.

 

So here we are at the end of another one of my fantastic articles. I want to thank every one of you who seem to have finally gotten the point to put the same color flags in the matching bags and same with the pinnies it makes it a lot easier for you guys the next week. I want you to remember have fun be safe and if you need extra motivation to play some see me before the game and I’ll give you the unedited version of what I really think of you and your team. See you all on Saturday. 

Word From The Mouth: Yum! Yum! Edition! (En francais: "Edition Miami! Miami!")

Word From The Mouth: Yum! Yum! Edition! (En francais: "Edition Miami! Miami!")

Kevin Kousaie

I want to start off by saying hello and thank you for reading to all my many followers for your support. I think that the weeks are getting longer and less interesting from my point of view. I’m hoping that next spring we get back up to 8 or 10 teams cause with 5 teams in division 1 it’s not too fun to show up and know that you are going to whoop the team you’re playing. I love this league and this is where I started playing and will continue to play, but we need full teams to show up every week (Ed's note: are you still on about this?!?)

 

Last Week Recap

 

So I didn’t get to watch any of the division 1 games this week so I have decided to do a full week recap instead of just one game I didn’t see or just covering my teams game. Since this is a league article and not just a Trollers report I think this will make it better. 

 

I will start with the Trollers taking out Les Gros Coqs (39-12). I’m not going to lie, after seeing who showed up for the Gros Coqs I knew we going to win, it was just going to be a matter of by how many points. I know we played decent enough to win, but I really don’t think it’s fair for Dom to be playing running around. We need to establish a pocket for him to stay in. The guy was only down one score at half time which might have been from a weak roughing the passer penalty, but we’ll take it especially since I scored. Second half was a different story they couldn’t do squat. They got it into the red zone once or twice but then were picked off. The final score was 39-12 but this was the same thing as last season when they beat us twice with a depleted roster. Yes, it’s a win, but it doesn’t mean anything the Gros Coqs are still a very good team. 

 

The Outlaws had a doubleheader this week with the first game against the Deep Threats which was a close game until half time the Outlaws blew the doors open and did whatever they wanted. Has JC evolved to the point that Francis gets as many catches as Jon, but was able to get twice as many yards or is it that Francis is that good (Ed's note: Francis is gettng tested for PEDs this week, and if he's not on at least some HGH he's out of the league). My bet would be that Outlaws took Jon out of the game and allowed JC to hit the short to intermediate routes. Maybe Francis made a guy or two miss but since I didn’t see I couldn’t tell you. I’m tempted to contact some of my other sources to find out but I’d much rather say he probably dropped a few early and they just left him wide open  figuring it was 50/50 if he’d catch it.

 

Now for the best division 1 game of the week: Outlaws vs Revolucion. This one came down to the very last play with Remi just getting his hips into the end zone when he made the catch. I know a lot of people were freaking saying the ball wasn’t in, but remember this is the MFL, not FPF where you need hips and ball. I know Gabe was reffing the game alone, but at the end there were two other officials watching the game and both said it was a TD. What it really comes down to is that Revolucion needed to make one final play and weren’t able to do it. It’s never the ref blowing the game for you like you guys all think. One play and you would have gone to overtime where Steve wouldn’t have choked like Daniel Carlson did for the Vikings did on Sunday. Steve would have just thrown a jump ball to Smuda and that’s it. Can’t wait to see how these two teams play each other next time.

 

Game Preview: Outlaws vs Trollers (GotW)

 

These two teams played in week one and Outlaws won by seven points in a game that the Trollers were severely out played and yet they still had a chance to win at the end of the game, but that was then and this is now. Steve has found chemistry with Smuda and the Trollers will have their wristbands and will be able to speed things up. This will be a good one so come out for 10:30 to see which team walks away victorious.

 

QB - Steve has been great for years and yes he doesn’t have the best arm strength, but he makes up for it in intelligence and by setting you up by running the same plays over and over (Ed's note: And the fact that he's a constant running threat!). Steve is good at getting the ball out quickly and knows where he wants to go with the ball so you need to take his first read away and get at him quickly. Max on the other hand has really good arm strength and can launch it the length of the field at any point. Max is also very good at making the rusher miss on his first attempt at flagging him. He's also improved at spreading the ball all over the field which is good for him since defenses need to cover the entire field now. I have to go ahead and give the advantage to Outlaws, but not by much.

 

WR - Outlaws have one of the best receivers in the league in Smuda, but they also have guys like Remi and Vince who are both really fast and are very hard to catch from behind. You also have Adam and Antoine who can make a few plays here and there but are limited on football experience and sometimes might not run the right route. For the Trollers you have Ben And Josh as the top two targets. You also have Andre who is a top 5 speed guy in this league and who just needs to get more touches. You also have Lesniak and Kevin (Ed's note: did you just third person yourself?) who are pretty good at finding the open holes when needed (Ed's note: that's not what your wife told me). I think that I have to go and give the advantage to the Outlaws, but if I was given either of these two groups I wouldn’t be mad or angry.

 

Defense - Outlaws have Smuda calling the shots for them and has been doing a good job of it, but again look at all the speed they have so it’s easy to have a good defense. From a statistical point of view they have the top defense in the division by far. The Trollers have one of the top rushers in Andre and have the top safety in the division in Ben. With the Trollers it is all about scheme and they have played together long enough and have perfected what to do and where to be at all times. You don’t win back to back titles by just being athletic, brains come in to play. The Trollers get the advantage in this one because of years of experience playing together.

 

Predictions

 

Here we go again picking the winners seems to be all I do this season. Right now I have gone 5-1 and that’s pretty good, but it also helps that the division only has 5 teams and only 2 or 3 games a week. This week is no different as we only have 2 games and 1 of them is my team.

 

Outlaws vs Trollers                                            NA (Ed's note: Outlaws)

Deep Threats vs Revolucion                             Revolucion

 

Power Rankings

 

#1 Outlaws (5-0)

#2 Trollers (1-2)

#3 Gros Coqs (2-2)

Sorry Revolucion and Deep Threats, maybe next week you can make this list. Revolucion was so close to a huge upset that I would have had to put them on here if they pulled it off.

 

Stud & Duds

 

Since there were a limited number of games and the Trollers played only half Les Gros Coqs I didn’t even look into that game as I didn’t see a point in it. This week is the first time that the stud and the dud are on the same team.

So this weeks Stud goes to Steve from the Outlaws. I know he doesn’t play defense but he lead his team to a 2-0 record over the weekend. Over the two games he completed 50 of 75 passes for 525 yards and 12TDs and he only threw 1 Pick. That was quite a Saturday afternoon.

Since an Outlaw was the Stud, I also picked one as the Dud and without further stalling your Dud of the week is Mathieu.  The guy went out there and stunk up the place. I thought he was a solid rusher, but you played two games and got zero sacks and no defensive stats at all. Yes, you did catch 4 balls for a total of 38 yards and no scores. I remember a few weeks ago you talking about what the record was for TDs in a game after you had six. How far you have fallen. Now you’re this weeks Dud. Get some sacks,do what you are there for and maybe this won’t happen again.

 

I'm glad that some of you were able to read this far I know there are a lot of words, but thank you. For you guys who can’t read, but have been informed about what I wrote thank you to whoever read this to you. I hope you will continue to read my article each week and if not hope it’s not because I wrote something about you that you didn’t like. Suck it up, play better and I won’t have things to say about your performance.  Now remember to have fun be safe and it’s only a game no one is getting a call to play in the NFL, not even the CFL, you’re here in the MFL.

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