
Word From The Mouth: Stayin' Alive!
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.