
Word from the Mouth: It's almost time!
Yes, finally Montreal has moved into the Orange zone which will allow us to get a full week of games in. I know a lot of us from around the league have been waiting for this weekend for a while now.
This week will be a full house with 23 games being played on 4 fields at 6 different time slots. I want to point out that no one is allowed between any of the fields and if you are caught you will be flagged at the start of your game. Last year this was a major discussion with the city to allow us to play and it needs to be the same this season.
Some of the new teams will need flags and maybe even pinnies, but you need to arrange that with Jon prior to showing up at the field.
I’m looking forward to see everyone out there this week and want to let everyone know to stretch beforehand you don’t want to get hurt week 1. Most of us have just been sitting around waiting for Covid to end and now that we can go out and play ease you way back into it.
Week 2 Recap
This is the last time that I will be covering all the games. Moving forward I will be picking one from some of the smaller divisions and two games from the larger division to recap and then Terry and Will should cover the rest on their weekly podcast which should air on Wednesday night.
We will work on who gets what games to cover and we will mix it up so we don’t always do the same teams.
Here is a recap of what happened this past weekend.
Division 1
Outlaws vs Centurions (47-20)
Outlaws are looking like a well-oiled machine out there to start the season. Ok, they didn’t look perfect and they have room for improvement. Going into this game I thought it was going to be a very close game and a lot tougher. It didn’t turn out that way. Centurions didn’t look like they have the past few seasons. I will point out it was their first game of the season and they were missing players. Steve was able to pick apart the normally strong Centurions defense all day long. I know Outlaws did have the lead most of the game and Centurions relied on their better players to make plays, but allowing 185 yards to 2 players just doesn’t seem like something that happens often. If Centurions want to exact revenge for this humiliating loss then they will have to wait until the playoffs should both teams make it in.
Henchmen vs Ninja Turtles (33-12)
Going into this game no one knew who was going to be throwing for Ninja Turtles and once they showed up, we all learned that it was going to be Wade. This is a huge jump in competition for him going from D4 to D1, but with the players around him he will be fine in time. It looks as if Jason learned from last week and kept control of the game and kept the ball short. From the few glimpses of the game I saw, Henchmen brought their defense picking off balls left and right as well as getting a sack and constant pressure. This is the Henchmen team I expect to see every week with the roster they have. As for Ninja Turtles, there is no reason to keep your head down, you just jumped 3 divisions, played a very good team, and were also missing a few players. Once these 2 teams play again don’t be surprised if it goes the other way this time, but for that to happen we will have to wait until playoffs.
Division 3
Deep Threats vs Old School (22-8)
This was a decent game, or at least the first half was. Going into this game I thought that Dahic was throwing so I felt it was an even game, but it turns out that Charles was throwing and it wasn’t pretty. All I can really remember about this game was a catch that Svetna made where it looked to be falling incomplete and he comes out of nowhere and hauls it in less than an inch from the ground. Each QB threw 5 picks, which is a ridiculous number, and neither of them threw for 100 yards, but it was week 1 and you have to guess they have nowhere to go but up from here. I know Old School is playing in division 3 for fun, but after a game like this it can’t be long before we see Dahic under center. All and all this was an ugly game I wish I could have skipped.
Division 4
Thunder Buddies vs Airborne (13-7)
This game came down to the last minute, before Thunder Buddies were able to pull off the win. I know Airborne lost, but to me it feels like a win. I picked Thunder buddies to win and I expected it to be completely one sided. Airborne started out really strong getting a stop and then ate a bunch of clock as they marched their way into the end zone for 6, then they were successful on the convert. Then who would have guessed it another stop and another long drive, but this time it didn’t end with points. At half the score was 7-6 and very few would have guessed that. Second half both teams couldn’t keep control of the ball, it was a few turnovers, a couple of punts, and the clock started to dwindle down. Was an upset about to happen? It clearly looked that way. All Guillaume had to do was waste 4 more minutes of the clock and Airborne would win the game. As each play rolled along it looked more and more like Thunder Buddies were going to lose. Now here is the play that turned it around in my opinion, the false start by JP. I know you all are wondering how did that change the game? Well with it went from first and 10 to first and 15 and it made Guillaume take bigger risks to get the first down and end the game. First and second downs were incomplete and on the next play it was a pick. After the turn over it took Terry 2 plays to punch it in and seal the game.
Les Beautes vs Les Improbables (27-6)
I had seen Les Improbables practice a few weeks back and walked away from that not impressed. In the game, Les Improbables missed simple tackles and allowed uncontested catches and it was just a complete cluster ping-pong right from the start. As the game went on, Improbables did start to look better, but by that point Les Beautes were just going through the motions. Simon looked good for Les Beautes and any time you have a 3-1 TD to interception ratio its great, but he will need to get that completion % (ed’s note: why use the symbol here?) up. 50% isn’t good even in division 4. Both teams have lots of experience, but today Les Beautes had the better game. Les Improbables will get it together at some point this season and when they do expect Alex to be smiling more than he already does.
That is it for this week’s recaps. Tune in next week to see what I have to say about the games I get to write about then.
Top Performance of the Week
This is the last week before I will be picking an offensive and a defensive player for each division. In case you didn’t know these are my picks and, no, you don’t want to be that guy that comes to me and points out how well you played and how you should be the player of the week as you won’t like the outcome.
Now let’s get to it and see you balled the Bojangles out this week. With a few more games this week and the stats working it made my picks a little more difficult, but I was able to get one player per division.
Division 1
This week I went with Will Power as my player of the week. I know his offensive numbers weren’t great with 1 catch for 6 yards, but he got it done on the defensive side of the ball with 4 tackles, 2 picks, and he even managed to take one of them back for 6 points. In sports today all we care about are points, well what about the guys who keep those points off the board? That is why Will is this week’s top performer from division 1.
Division 3
I was going to go with JC because of his pick 6, but then I realized he also threw 5 picks to the other team. I had to go over the stats a few times, but every time I did one guy kept popping out at me and that player is Felipe Emond. This guy was able to get 2 catches for 8 yards and 1 TD on offense, his defense wasn’t too shabby either with 2 tackles to go with 2 picks. I think this was Felipe’s first game ever if I’m not mistaken, if so that’s a hell of a first day and I wonder what he’s going to be like once he knows the game better?
Division 4
For this pick I had two players in mind with similar stats so it was looking like a hard choice, but then I looked at when those players made their plays and then there was no doubt who I had to pick. My pick for this week goes to Simon Duchesne. Simon had 3 catches for 45 yards, 1 TD, and a 1 point convert. On defense he made 1 tackle and had 2 picks. I picked Simon because at the crucial time in the game he stepped up with a pick and then scored the game winning TD with under 1-minute left in the game.
Congratulations to this week’s winners it will be much harder to make my list since we will have a lot more games going on. I’m looking forward to seeing who busts their ass to get up here and who crumbles under the pressure.