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Ladies and gentlemen of the TSL Universe, week 7 has come and gone, which means there is but 1 week remaining in the regular season. As some teams are looking ahead to playoffs, others are sweating out where they will finish, and if it’s enough to get one of those coveted spots. Let’s take a look and see if anyone is starting now to build that playoff momentum.

D1

Lots of drama over in D1 this week with a close contest between Public Enemy and Losing Streak to start our day. Ironically, LS was the one missing more players. Keyon Elias played a big role in this game, getting just as many looks as Chris Nelson and Ralph Finney. LS’s 2 female subs both played really well. Both teams traded picks throughout the game which kept it close and Greg Oiska had some big defensive breakups to keep his team ahead. PE only won by a score which could be the confidence boost LS needed to make a push in the coming weeks. 

Slob Kabobs no-showed against Sticky Bandits, which is dumb but moved SB up a spot in the standings. 

Eyes Downtown and Tight Ends in Motion had a high flying game with neither QB afraid to try out the deep ball. Eric Delecki seemed to be in better form than a couple weeks ago and TEIM’s defense fell apart on numerous occasions. Nick Angelo had a solid game on both sides of the ball for his team and the ED females played exceptionally well. 

ED went on to play Slob Kabobs, who did decide to show up for this game. Another close one that came down to the wire, these two teams match up well against each other with both having a nice combination of speed and height. I do have to give the female edge to ED and Bobby McConnell took full advantage. 

I didn’t see much of the TEIM versus LS game but I heard quite the commotion after the fact. I heard a bunch of different sides of the story but I’m only mentioning the game to say that we need to have more respect for our officials. You have probably all heard by now how much trouble we are having finding refs and shenanigans like this are part of the reason why. All refs are going to miss a call here and there at some point. Whether you are 100% sure it was a penalty or not, they can’t call it if they didn’t see it and if they missed it, that sucks but move on. No ones perfect. F bombing the refs is not only just rude, but if we don’t have refs we don’t have a league so get it together, we’re all adults here. TEIM hasn’t seemed to have their full squad all season and right now it looks like they are just trying to keep their heads above water. 

D2

TopShot took on Notorious BNB with 2 sub QBs. TopShot had Matt Newman filling in while BNB had Travis Cleavenger. Newman figured out the human cheat code- Sean Weisandel- and used him early and often. When they needed a play, it was the Weisandel Show. Defensively, his closing speed is phenomenal and I’m saying it now, I don’t know how D2 MVP goes to anyone else, especially if they win it all. Cleavenger tried to utilize the BNB females, but TS defense was locked on them. A lot of misreads and drops on the BNB side of the ball made what could have been a close game, a blow out. Drama ensued at the half when Steph Czaja caught the ball only to have Blase DeLuca wrestle it away in the closing seconds. BNB dropped a touchdown and wasn’t left with enough time for a second shot at it. 

The rematch between A&A and Bullet Club was more along the lines of what we expected last week. Jeff Easton subbed for BC but could not get anything going. A&A looked to be on cruise control but maybe that’s BC plan? Lull them into a false sense of security then pounce when it counts in 2 weeks? I like the long game you’re running, BC.

Scared Hitless had Dylan Day back at QB and they looked solid as ever against Passed Our Prime. SH had the female advantage but the ladies of POP have some solid hands themselves. Cat Peters made a late debut in the season but she is making up for lost time and Jamie Warren has been playing lights out since the Female Power Rankings came out. POP was, of course, missing personnel but they could be a very underrated 7th seed come playoff time. 

When Dove Cries need to talk to the Master Scheduler and put in a request to NEVER play at 3 again. They got smoked by XTC and I don’t think it was just because Topper and Aaron Balcerzak spent the majority of the morning/afternoon at the bar. They couldn’t get anything going on defense. XTC played flawlessly on both sides of the ball. Brandt Dubey and Mike Rogowski connected like they have been playing together for 25 years, Eric Flynn seemed like he was always open and the females were solid as per usual. 

D3

Last Dance took it to Frodo Swaggins as they finally seem to be connecting at the right time. Matt Newman was in again and looks to be the one leading them to the promised land. Juquan Stevenson is definitely one of the most underrated receivers in the league, quietly making huge plays on defense and offense. Rachel Parker had a huge sack at a point that added insult to injury. Derek Pew took over for the injured Garrett Beesing. The jump in speed of defenders in D3 compared to D5 was overtly apparent. Pew had a couple nice completions and his receivers bailed him out on a couple others, but LD had the edge pretty much all over. 

Frodo Swaggins went on to play Cobblestone and fared much better. Nick Buzcek and Jake Creeley played outstanding defense. Darryl Carr tried to let his receivers go fight for it but it was either knocked away or picked. Blake Fisher had some nice catches for him though but it wasn’t enough.

Cobblestone and The Angels was a fun game to watch, with both teams utilizing the deep ball. If you asked me last year what The Angels achilles heel was, I would have said that was it, but lately they seem to have found a way to defend it despite the usual height disadvantage. Andrew Alessi and Chris Carr were Darryl’s outlets when he needed them and Sam Lattuca had some phenomenal throws to get CB gender TDs, even from just past midfield. The Angel’s Casey Lawler ran a great go route that no one on CB had the speed to match and the ladies came away with the win and moved into 2nd place in the division. 

D4

Cunning Stunts and Breast Friends had a barn burner of a game that looked all but over for BF after the first half. Travis Cleavenger took awhile to get going with several misreads and Joey Battaglia looked like he was running away with it. By the second half, BF were getting in more of a rhythm and CS could not make their conversions. A late safety by Hollie Speroni changed the momentum of the game in the final minutes and BF were able to mount a comeback. BF got the ball and drove down the field where Maddie Norton caught the game winner off a tipped ball by Cheryl Julicher.

The Cunning Stunts went on to play the Titsburgh Feelers Fill-ins. This week Joe K and Jeff Krol were in charge. Joey Batts was nearly flawless this game despite some drops from his ladies. The consummate gender QB though, he kept going right back to them and CS marched as a result. Emily Schilling had a couple nice deep TDs. The Fill-ins had Mike Boccio back in at QB. He had a couple misthrows that he would probably like redos on but overall played fairly decent. James T Hearn does what he does best and got open. He had a couple TDs but The Fill ins had no chance of matching the pace of the Stunts. 

Breast Friends took on 1st Place Vaspian for the second time and once again could not overcome what is quickly becoming their nemesis. BFs may have been in a lull after their big win earlier in the day as they weren’t playing with the same intensity as usual. Amber Hayes had a huge pick in the closing seconds of the first half that they were able to capitalize on with a Hail Mary to Kelly Sabo. Despite being down big at the half, Vaspian rallied back and only allowed 1 TD in the second. They used their height advantage to get them close and BF were not able to make the stops they needed in the red zone. 

Puckett All Stars is making their usual end-of-season push with a win over Today’s Feast. TJ Ferguson is connecting with his receivers and Joe Schwab made a bunch of great defensive plays. The guy on TF with the beard had a nice catch at the opponents 40 that he ran in for a TD. Now that these guys have almost a season under their belt, I’m interested in seeing how they adjust next year. They still don’t utilize their females enough and if it’s a trust issue, now is the time to get those reps in. PAS is looking to be in typical playoff form and I will be watching to see if their momentum  holds up. 

Itches and Ohs took a 33-34 loss to Zack Attack, causing even more shifts in the standings in this division. I&Os relies on their offense to get them wins, averaging almost 40 points a game. This week they struggled to find the endzone and ZA capitalized on their mismatches. Zack Elphick didn’t have his greatest game, and the game-winning 2 point conversion actually came after Jay Elphick’s wife threw him a gender TD to make it 33-32. 

D5

Wasted Potential made it a game against Spinellis Plumbing as everyone knew they could. Both sides came to play and this game gave me hope that PS won’t have another walk in the park come playoffs. The females on both sides came through big and it came down to WP needing a gender TD at the end. Peyton Spinelli made a huge pass break up on the would-have-been game winner and WP was not able to punch it in.

Spinellis then went on to play TOX who look like they may go defeated on the season. No one had any high expectations for this game and it played out as expected. Topper filled in at QB and actually made a game of it, putting up more than twice what they usually score in a game but not making stops on defense isn’t going to get you any wins. 

Come From Behind dominated Not So Sticky for the second week in a row. NSS is sitting in 6th place with the 4th worst offense in the league. Rags threw a pick in the first half and could not get anything going. Their females had some drops and Ricky Recckio threw a pick in the second. CFB was playing perfect football and Paul LoVullo looked like he'd been playing for 20+ years....

D6

Travis Henry’s Kids versus Graves Bros was another fun game to watch. It was a back and forth shootout with John Langley and Steve Miller not hesitating to go deep and let their receivers make a play. It looked like momentum was swinging away from THK when a female pitched the ball behind the line of scrimmage on 5-1 which resulted in a turnover on downs deep in their zone. GB were only able to get a male TD but they did manage to get the 2 point conversion. Langley threw a pick on the first down of the next series but they regained their composure and were able to come away with the win. 

Travis Henry’s Kids went on to play Lenny’s Ladies featuring Topper later in the day. It was a close match up with all the ladies playing really well on both teams. THK took advantage of Topper on defense and that made the difference in this game.

Lenny’s Ladies took on Victorious Secret later in the day with Jeremy Olson at the helm. I’m guessing it was his first time throwing for a gender team and he did really well. They ran some really nice plays to draw the defenders up then Hogan went deep to Steph Czaja for a TD. Victorious Secret couldn’t keep up with LL and that was without Caitlin Mason breaking ankles. LL is a tough team to gauge as we never know who will be throwing with Joe K still on IR. As our next game will show, this division is anyone’s for the taking. 

TMA is in end-of-season form with a loss to last place Blitzkrieg. Maybe they are just trying to shut up the haters saying they should have moved up? I doubt it. It was “just one of those days” for TMA and it was “3rd times the charm” for Blitzkrieg. Johnny Dio was in at QB and the early season chemistry went a little stale as the weeks went on unused. I doubt anyone on TMA is panicking but it’s definitely an ego boost for Blitzkrieg this late in the season. 

That’s all for this week. We enter our last week of the regular season where a lot of divisions will have a playoff preview with seeding matches. Now is the time to make a name for yourself as these are the weeks the Awards Committee will remember the most when it comes time to vote for MVPs. I’ll leave you with my Top 5 Notables for Week 7.

1. Jay Jaskier- had 2 solid game throwing for Wasted Potential and a handful of picks thrown in for them and A&A.
2. Katie Swanson- could not be stopped in her Lenny’s Ladies game against Victorious Secret
3. Brandt Dubey- played lights out for XTC propelling his team up the standings
4. Emily Belfield- had an incredible corner of the end zone catch for Cunning Stunts and played a huge role in Eyes Downtown’s wins
5. Falconies- are quietly sitting in 4th place in their super competitive division but more importantly their bar presence after the games is impressive. 

Until next time, I’ll be watching….

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