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Welcome everyone to the Week 4 review! We are halfway through the regular season and things are really shaping up nicely. New contenders are arising and sitting on the top of their respective divisions. There were plenty of rivalry match ups this week, so much that I found myself not sure on which field I should spend most of my time. Fortunately, for the first time this season, there were no shut outs which is always good to see because let’s face it, it is neither fun to play in or watch a game when one team doesn’t score a point. Peachy Platoon put up 62 points on We Back but at this point no one is impressed and most of us just feel bad for We Back after their already depleted roster suffered the loss of their captain. It was a beautiful day for football as the burned faces of many at the bar later indicated. Let’s take a look at how things went…

Let me be the first to say Blitzkrieg is not as bad a team as their 1-4 record might make it sound. Sure there have been some blow outs in which their greenness showed a little more vibrantly but overall this team has the making to be a good team. This week they lost to TMA 31-32 but that’s a very close score against a team that is vet-savvy and just so happens to be on the upswing. Blitz’s QB continued his role as player coach and looking at the numbers I think I’d listen to him. His team is currently sitting in second last place in the division yet has the 3rd most points. It doesn’t take much analysis to see that the 189 points they are letting up on defense is the main cause of their problems. TMA on the other hand, seems to have hit their stride. They were missing some key personnel but the fire lit by the Godfather article calling out Prim for getting burned seemed to give them all an extra spark. It did not, however, prove enough of a spark to prevent Prim from being burned again as he was in the second drive of the game which resulted in a touchdown for Blitz. 

In the Hofbrauhaus/ Slytherin the Endzone game, Newman was a tale of two halves. This has been a common theme for the SITE QB throughout this season. In the first half, SITE could not be stopped. They were up 18-14, more than doubling the score allowed by HB against their past opponents. HB seemed to be having trouble catching Topper’s balls, I counted 4-5 drops in the first half alone. The game was in hand for SITE to start the second and they had the ball. They ran a beautiful play, HB defense completely broke down and left a receiver wide open down field and Newman sailed the pass 7 feet over his head. Two plays later Gary injured his ankle and HB’s defense had no difficulty catching Newman’s passes. HB continued to drive and SITE did not score again in the second resulting in a 36-18 HB win. 

Practice Squad beat Hope N Ruin in a close 49-46 victory. I’m not sure if HNR is aware, but we do have a sub list. They must not because once again they played a girl short. This team seemed to communicate best by yelling at each other and there was no shortage of it during this game. The QB made some really great throws but then they were offset by some really bad throws. I was trying to look for distinguishing characteristics for some of the guys on this team but there really were none so I will just say that the exceptionally tall guy made a great catch in double coverage that was certainly TSL Highlight Reel worthy. In the opening drive of the game Renee put PS on her back to move the ball down the field. Another noteworthy player on PS is McCabe, who may quietly be one of the top receivers in D5. This game came right down to the wire and ended with a controversial pass interference call. HNR might finally have a game go their way this week after a tough start to the season against all of the divisions’ tops teams. 

Come From Behind finally pulled out their first win beating Hung Buffalo 30-22. HB seemed to have a new female that I haven’t seen before and was missing one of their mainstays (not Kate). Conversely, CFB was missing Jenn and Leslie. These teams were pretty evenly matched athletically. Both had a couple tight end-type receivers to offer some height as well as some small, faster guys. CFB’s Sean had a good game and kept his team in it with some phenomenal catches. Paul LoVello was back as well which always gives his team an edge. These teams know each other well and this game as well as the final score are evidence to that. HB hangs on to the 5th place spot in the division despite the loss. 

Buffalo Solar Solutions beat Uncle Rico’s Time Travelers 41-34. This game was actually a good one to watch as UR finally seemed to be getting into the groove of things. Sure their season has been off to a terrible start but much of that can be attributed to attendance issues and team chemistry. Communication on defense was a problem to this point and while I won’t say it was completely resolved in this game, I can see them heading in the right direction. QB Tim is also doing a better job seeing the field and connecting with his receivers. BSS have also had a tough start to the season but have shown they do belong. After losing to Full Throttle and the Stunts, this was a much needed victory for them. Their schedule doesn’t get much better this week facing a double header against the speedy guys of Mountain Dew Me followed by Matty’s Angels. 

Vaspian fought a tough battle against End Game and came away with the win 25-13. The game was actually closer than the score shows. Both teams traded picks back and forth with Warren grabbing two for EG. Vaspian QB Lucas and EG QB Dave both had difficulty adjusting to the wind speeds. People have been asking what is going on with EG this season after their domination this spring and from what I saw they are beating themselves. On one pick in the endzone, an EG defender ran the ball out and was tagged on the 1 yard line instead of taking the touch back. Dave missed Farr wide open on the sidelines pretty much every play. The icing on the cake was Drew coming up with a pick at the 2 minute mark that Vaspian was able to punch in and go up 4. The rest was history. 

I didn’t see a lot of the pAssless Chaps versus The Replacements game but from what I did see the PC need to get some stickum to help out QB Coach Jay. They had a surprising amount of drops and clearly rely on their defense to win them their games. To be fair, I also saw Coach Jay loft a couple passes over his receivers heads, so I won’t put the blame solely on the receivers but overall this team is going to need to put more points on the board if they want to compete with some of the other teams in this division. On the other side of the ball, The Replacements finally had their full team show up. They continue to have their usual defensive issues but I did see on 2 separate occasions defenders laying out for picks. Moon was not afraid to let the ball fly, unfortunately more often than not no one was there to catch it and they fell to the Chaps 14-32. 

The Replacements went on to play the Graves Bros in one of the unadvertised rivalries of the day. Both of these teams are made up of players from the former 5 Star Generals who split up due to creative differences. Both teams were coming off an earlier noon game so fatigue could not be used as an excuse for either. As mentioned, TR had just lost to PC after being unable to score more than 2 TDs while GB tied Bipolar Express. It’s always tough for somewhat new teams to lose to gender teams so I’m sure both teams came into this game ready for a win. The game was a close, back and forth battle but it was TR day to shine and they came away with the win 29-27. 

The Ultimate Warriors got their first win of the season over Sticky Bandits 46-30. QB Scotty continued his deep ball approach which was just what the doctor ordered against SB. The athletes UW have at receivers were in the spot light as they were able to do what they wanted to do and go get those deep balls. Scotty and his receivers marched and sailed the ball down field then Sam Thompson took over at QB to punch it in for 8. SB didn’t have an answer to stop Sam on defense and the Warriors broke their losing streak. Mike Thomas played well for SB so it came down to their inability to get a defensive stop that cost them this game. 

The Matty’s Angels/ Mountain Dew Me matchup was one game of the day I was highly anticipating. I missed the beginning of it but when I heard the score at half time was 8-6 I was flabbergasted. Everyone knows the Angel’s can put up points and MDM is quickly becoming known for their fast guys and scoring ability. I don’t know what Matty Ice and the ladies were doing in the first half but they woke up hard for the second. I’m sure you heard by now Margo Pagano balled out making 3 picks and running one back for a TD. MDM made the mistake most new teams do against gender teams and failed to run out at the 1 after a deep completion. The Angels carried their momentum throughout the half and came away with a 44-18 win. 

Coming off a last second loss to Jabronies at 1:00, No Punt Intended went on to play right away against Frodo Swaggins. QB Kyle tried to take a page out of Peachy Platoon’s playbook and run the ball himself, however, this was proven time and time again to be unsuccessful. I’m not sure if he didn’t trust his receivers or he was nervous about the wind. FS QB Scott (random observation: there are a large number of guys named Scott in this league) was not afraid to throw the ball and use his females to move down the field. Things didn’t go as well for Frodo at 3:00 when they took on a previously defeated 3rd and Schlong. Katie Keller did what she does but the real MVP in this game was the tall guy who FS could not find an answer for. 3&S finally broke free from their losing streak at just the right time. 

All teams in D1 complain about playing the same teams and Tight Ends in Motion must really be getting sick of beating up on Gryffindor. They didn’t shut them out this time so Joey and Co must be improving but Joey did throw several picks, some of which were right to the opposition. Gryffindor was missing Burr leaving Joey with limited options of offensive weapons to throw to. Overall they just did not match up with the athletes on TEs. TE had the female advantage and QB Mike was able to get a great practice in during this 40-15 win. 

Once again a great day was had by all (well maybe not En Fuego, how embarrassing). We are at the halfway point and teams are either establishing dominance of their divisions or finally coming together to hopefully make a playoff run. The next 4 weeks will sort the men from the boys. We will see if Overcompensators can continue domination of D5, who will end up on top of D1, and which of the top 6 D2 teams are for real. Exciting times await, and remember I’ll be watching…

~ courtesy of...The Sentinel