Word From The Mouth: Barfacudas Edition

Here we are coming to the last week of the season and all but the last spot is locked in. We can still have some movement for placement though. Right now the 6 and 7 spot are locked in. I really hope I get to see the game between Team Mustard and Krakens with a playoff spot on the line, win and you're in.

This week we have some interesting matchups that should result in some good games. We will all be watching and waiting to see what happens, so we can figure out who is playing who in round 1. I think that the playoffs will be quarters played one weekend and semis and finals the following weekend. I personally think it's better to do quarter and semis the same weekend as this way you can game plan for the finals and be fresh for the game. It's not my call just how I would do it.

Barracudas vs Nice TDs (20-24)

Let me start by saying that Barracudas are the most over rated team ever in MFL history (Ed's note: By who?), you guys suck and should all retire. On Saturday you were 6 division 1 players and couldn't win the game. You guys should be called the Barfacudas because you make everyone sick at how poorly you guys play. I'm not saying Nice TDs are bad, but Kris only completed 9 passes and won the game. Barracudas need to find a new QB before the playoffs because Raph has thrown 20 picks in 7 games. We all joke that the over under on how many picks he throws is 3 and he was right on this week throwing 3 picks with the wind in the first half. I will also add that there were a few balls that were dropped by the defense and one of them even went for a score so the number of picks could have been higher. In my opinion Kris should be the division MVP in a landslide, but he won't win it because he has only been on the roster for 2 weeks so stats are low. This was a game that was back and forth all day no team ever had a two score lead and after giving up a score with 2:28 left in the game the Barracudas had a chance to win it. On the final drive of the game Raph was only able to get 1 completion for 5 yards while having 3 passes knocked away. If you want to be a championship team you need to make plays when they count.

Rest of the Week Recap

Bitter boys got beat down but I don't really see it that way. These guys have a top 2 spot guaranteed and had nothing to play for, plus JS wasn't there so they went with a new guy at QB. It wasn't like he played horrible for his first time, but it wasn't great. Chuck Norris has come leaps and bounds since they played in week 1 and a lot of that has to do with the QB play from Ted. At the half way point we had them as a bottom tier team and they have moved up to mid-tier but they might be able to pull off an upset and do a few things in the playoffs. The final score was 24-6 in favour of Chuck Norris.

In the other game between Krakens and Iron Wolves it turned out to be a lot closer than I figured it would be. Iron Wolves had a few guys missing and needed a sub or two to help them out. Krakens had a new guy play QB for them this week and he didn't do a bad job and can only get better. Is this something that they might consider moving into week 10? I don't think it can hurt them, if he improves even a little bit I think that they might be able to sneak in with a win in week 10. Iron Wolves won the game 18-13 but I'm not sold on them yet. Will Jon choke in the playoffs again? Only time will tell and we'll need to wait 2 or 3 weeks to see that happen again.

Game of the Week: Team Mustard vs Krakens

This game might not be the sexiest game of the week, but it is the one with the most on the line. This is almost a championship for these two teams as I can't see them beating either Nice TDs or Bitter Boys, but stranger things have happened in this league before. Both teams struggle on offense with constancy. Both of them have a hard time finding the end zone and both give up a bunch of points. The question is are they both going to struggle on offense or are they both going to light it up? They both need to remember if they don't win they don't get to play in the playoffs.

QB - So really not sure who will be playing this position for both teams. A few weeks ago Brian was QBing for Team Mustard but gave the reins to Tom. Both of these guys have had a hard time moving the ball and not sure what their strengths are. I tried to give a few pointers to them about going short and allowing your receivers to make plays for you. For the Krakens you had Mathieu who played QB up until last week when Francis took over. I will say that Mathieu if he is playing QB needs to use his legs more and run and when you start to run around the defense has their eyes on you and someone can sneak out behind them. Francis played decent last week but needs to get more comfortable at the position. To me it seems that no matter who the Krakens have playing QB they tend to throw way to many picks. I have to give the advantage to Team Mustard who have way fewer picks thrown as a team then the Krakens did.

WR - For both of these groups it's really hard to put up good numbers when you don't have a decent QB throwing you the ball. For the Krakens they have one good target in Raphael. The rest of the guys aren't anything special and you don't need to really worry about them (Ed's note: Damn, shots fired). If they did switch QBs then Mathieu is also a very good target as he is fast and can make you miss after he catches the ball. For Team Mustard they have 2 or 3 decent targets. Their top targets are John and Scott, Tom is decent but has been playing QB the last few weeks. Overall I have to give the advantage to Team Mustard because as a group they are a better from top to bottom.

Defense - To start I want to say both teams can't stop teams from scoring. Team Mustard is giving up 30.5 points a game, they are poor at sacking the QB having only gotten 5 on the season so far. As for pass defense they managed to knock 19 passes away while picking off 9. Krakens are a little bit better with the points against only giving up 27 a game. They have only managed 4 sacks and 10 picks, plus batted 27 passes. Since I'm giving an advantage I'm giving it to the Krakens. I'm not sold on either of these defenses and it could be an ugly one on Saturday.

Predictions

So my goal for the season was 75% overall and right now I'm sitting at 68.4%. I blame this on buying into the roster of Barracudas and them being trash. I have gone 26 for 38 so far and to get over my goal need to get 7 games correct but we only have 5 games left so I won't be hitting my goal.

Nice TDs vs Raccoons Nice TDs

Bitter Boys vs 7th Rounders 7th Rounders

Team Mustard vs Raccoons Raccoons

Iron Wolves vs Barracudas Iron Wolves

Team Mustard vs Krakens Krakens

Power Rankings

#1 Nice TDs (7-2)

#2 Bitter Boys (7-2)

#3 Iron Wolves (6-3)

I hope that the teams realize that winning now and get hot for playoffs is all that matters. The only team that has any excuse for their team struggling is Bitter Boys since they are missing their QB.

Studs & Duds

This week I am giving the Stud award to Kris from Nice TDs, he went and balled out this weekend and made his team win the game. Kris only completed 45% of his passes going 9 for 20, but those 9 completions went for 117 yards 3 TDs and 0 picks. He was also able to run for 19 yards on 4 carries plus 1 TD. On Defense is where he really showed his talent picking off 3 passes while also getting 2 tackles. Not too shabby for one player with a bad knee and being so old.

This weeks Dud award goes to Greg from Nice TDs. Right now you sit at number 2 in sacks and this week you did nothing. For the game you had no catches no defensive stats and only had 1 rush for 4 yards. C'mon, you got to do better than that. Hope next week you get your crap together and figure out how to play again.

Here are my final thoughts of the week (Ed's note: some would say first). So we are all looking forward to the GOTW to see who gets the last spot. I picked the Krakens, but I flipped a coin and it came up heads so I went with the Krakens, but I'm not confident in that choice. I hope that everyone has had fun this season. I want you all to go out have fun and be safe. See you all on Saturday.