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

What a great weekend it was for football. It was a beautiful fall day that wasn't too hot, not too cold, and no one end up getting heat stroke. This has now become the best weather for football, if we could only allow fumbles it make it so much more fun. People would have to carry the ball properly. I just wonder how many Cam Newtons from the Super Bowl a few years back we would have, where he fumbles the ball steps up then back kind of puts his hands in the air and once everyone is already on the ball decides to jump on the pile. C'mon when you as big as everyone else at a critical point in the game you put your body on the line; it wasn't week one, it was the Super Bowl with under 3 minutes if I remember correctly. Since then I've had no respect for that guy and don't think I'll ever get it back. Enough ranting already and lets get back to the MFL.

Everyone did a great job this week with the flags keeping them all together and matching and I only needed to let two teams know they needed to switch flags. If you have a double header and are not playing on the same field you need to leave the flags you were using and go to the new field and use those flags.

Game Reviews

Bitter Boys vs Raccoons (19-12)

Going into this game I thought it was going to be an easy game for Bitter Boys to win, but I didn't realize that they were playing in the game before. Yes, the Bitter Boys are a very good team and could probably play in division 1, but they wanted to play in division 2 and so be it. The big thing with Bitter Boys is that they like to chirp when things aren't going their way (ed's note: or even when they are!), but who doesn't do that? These guys show up with a big roster every week so now with the heat dying down won't get as tired and need to sub as often and should become easier to know who will be playing where.

In this game Bitter Boys came out flat and it looked really sluggish. What they should have done knowing they have two games to play and won the first game easily was rest some guys so they could be fresher in the second game. I don't want to take anything away from the Raccoons and what I think is a top three defense in the division as they showed up and took control of the game early. Raccoons jumped out quickly to a 12-0 lead and it looked as if Bitter Boys were going down. Then JS stated playing better and was able to find some holes in the Raccoons defense. In the beginning of the game Bitter Boys were more worried about getting calls or calls made on them by the refs then playing the game. Yes, all the refs know the rules and yes we are all supposed to call it the same way, but it all comes down to what angle the ref sees it in and so sometimes you get calls for or against and other times you don't. So don't focus on the refs, focus on the game. Bitter Boys were up 13-12 at half and in the second half there wasn't a lot of excitement. Both teams stuggled to get anything going until Bitter Boys scored with just over three minutes left. I will say that being up seven with just over three minutes left I would go for two points instead of one make it a two score game and even if I don't get it I'm still up seven. Going for one puts you up eight but that is still a score and two point convert. You need to know the situations. Bitter Boys still won but it came down to Raccoons last possession which they couldn't punch it in. This was a game I really wasn't expecting to see on Saturday.

7th Rounders vs Chuck Norris (24-19)

7th Rounders had a double header on Saturday and after a heartbreaking one point loss (converts are big, practice them) how would they rebound. Would they come out firing on all cylinders or would they just show up and play half a** thinking about how they just lost. This game started out great for Chuck Norris as they jumped out to a big 19-0 lead with under five minutes left in the half. This is when the 7th Rounders kind of woke up and started to take control of the game and they were able to score with a little over two minute left in the first half and then kept it up through the second half where they were able to get a 24-19 lead with 1:32 left on the clock. We let the teams know that at the start of the Chuck Norris drive that they had 1:32 left with 3 timeout remaining. This is where the game management baffles me, you only get 5 plays off in that time and end the game with all 3 of your timeouts? How do you let that happen? You had a chance to win with a score and you guys just let that one get away from you. Teams need to pay attention to what the score keepers are saying. You normally get a 5 minute warning and a 1 minute I give a 3, 2, 1 and I let you when there is 30 seconds remaining in close games. Teams need to start paying closer attention to this, it really helps you out plus you can always ask how much time is left. Better luck next time Chuck Norris and great way to come back 7th Rounders.

Game of the Week

I'm skipping this section this week because I personally don't see a great game coming from these matchups. I was going to with one of the Nice TDs games, but I'm not sure who will be playing QB for them and if they don't have Kris playing them I don't see this being a game. I have reconsidered (ed's note: after one sentence!) and am going with Iron Wolves vs 7th Rounders. This one could become very interesting or it could be really boring, it all depends on which teams show up. Do Iron Wolves show up with a complete roster and do 7th Rounders come out right from the start to play or do they want to wait to second half to start playing.

QB - In this one you have two completely different style of QBs. You have Jon who is going to eat up the clock with short accurate passes and force you to come up and cover it then take a few shots here and there just to keep you honest. Julien on the other hand will look for the big play early and often but is getting better at taking what the defense gives him. When you play Jon you need to know that you will only get so many possessions and you need to make them count. I like how Julien is playing but I still have to give the advantage to the Iron Wolves just because of experience.

WR - For 7th Rounders you have 4 solid guys each with over 200 yards and at least 3 scores but if I had to play them I would keep an eye on Angelo and Terry and make the rest of them beat you. For Iron Wolves you need to watch Mauricio the center but you need to worry about Catherine, Dom and Vince that is if the last two guys show up (ed's note: all three of them are out!). I think that Iron Wolves have a better bunch of receivers, but they haven't played up to expectations this season so I am giving the advantage to 7th Rounders.

Defense - So you know your team has a problem when Jon is your leading tackler and also leads the team in picks (ed's note: or he's amazing!). Catherine rushing has not been up to her regular standards and as of right now she only has 4 sacks on the season. Overall as a defense they have been pretty lousy and I hope when their whole roster shows up it will improve. 7th Rounders have a top defense with Angelo leading the team with 9 picks out of the teams total of 16. Terry has been killing it on the rush this season leading the league with 13 sacks. This is a defense that I wouldn't want to go up against. I am giving the advantage to 7th Rounder by a landslide.

Predictions

Now comes the fun part of picking my winners for the week and make some of you happy and give some of you motivation to play better.

Team Mustard vs Raccoons Raccoons

Nice TDs vs Chuck Norris Nice TDs

7th Rounders vs Iron Wolves Iron Wolves

Barracudas vs Chuck Norris Barracudas

Krakens vs Nice TDs Nice TDs

Bitter Boys vs Krakens Bitter Boys

Power Rankings

#1 Bitter Boys (5-1)

#2 Nice TDs (4-1)

#3 Barracudas (3-2)

Studs & Duds

This week didn't take me long to figure out who I wanted to put as my Stud this week. So the winner of the Stud award goes to Jafar from 7th Rounder. This week I think he did what no one has done before by getting 15 catches in a single game (ed's note: Wait, what?). For the game he had 103 yards 1 TD on his 15 catches and on defense he lead his team with 7 tackles and 1 pick. These are pretty solid numbers and he is well deserved of being this weeks stud.

It was tough for me to pick my Dud of the week, but I narrowed it down to a few people and I ended up choosing Mathieu (ed's note: Gratton) from the Krakens. He was chosen based on the first game he played in where he threw 5 picks. In that game he went 20 out of 37 for 111 yards threw 2 TDs but also 5 picks. He did rush for 44 yards but you are here to play QB and throw the ball around. Yes, your team did get blown out, but cut back on the picks and maybe it's a closer game.

So that's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed the read and I'm more than willing to listen to any feedback. So show up, have fun, be safe, and remember I see and hear all and can and might write about it.