2022 Power Rankings-Week 13

## Introduction

Is Paddock 9 pulling a Papa? Is Pain Train getting Pain Train'ed? Is 1st place Duck Punchers about to miss the playoffs? The Schedule Gawd strikes again this week. We have 1st vs. 2nd, 3rd vs. 4th, 5th vs. 6th, with 7th and 8th facing off against two eliminated teams hoping to play spoiler...and it all happens LIVE in week 13!

## Who's Hot, Who's Not?

Just as a reminder: charts are color-coded on the website but only if you read on your computer. Nothing has color on mobile.

Scoring Over Last Three Weeks
 Paddock 9
 Duck Punchers
 ma ma momma said
 The Stupid Idiots
 Papa's Posse
 Multiverse of Mattness
 The Shotti Bunch
 RIPDab
 Sweet Dee

BAD look for Nate and Shotti to be down here with two non-playoff teams. Last year they were in a similar position and neither survived the opening round of the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Pain Train's massive scores over the last few weeks are all that stand between him and the 7th seed at the moment. Paddock 9's 711 points has been good enough to give him a 2-1 stretch that has him right in the head of things. The league's only 3-0 team, Papa's Posse, is just 6th in scoring over that stretch.

## Matchup Recap

* Papa's Posse continues to ascend with his third win in a row and earns a season split against Mattness (7-14). **Next Matchup: N/A**
* Paddock 9 avenges his early October defeat and pulls a massive upset to stay alive vs. first place Duck Punchers (12-12). **Next Matchup: N/A**
* The Shotti Bunch looks to silence the doubters with yet another season sweep, this time against the scorching hot Stupid Idiots (6-4). **Next Matchup: N/A**
* Ma ma momma said heats up in their first victory since 2019 against top-scoring Pain Train (8-10). **Next Matchup: N/A**
* RIPDab gets a much-needed win and ends the season for Sweet Dee (11-5). **Next Matchup: N/A**

## Stat Chat

* The Shotti Bunch becomes the fastest team to win 100 combined games, doing so in 167 contests. This breaks the record set earlier this year by Duck Punchers, who got his 100th win in his 168th matchup.
* Ma ma momma said becomes the 5th team to reach 90 combined wins.
* Ma ma momma said becomes the 5th team to break 200pts in 100 combined games.
* Ma ma momma said followed up four 8+ win seasons with four 7+ loss seasons, and is now on a new streak with three consecutive seasons of 7+ wins.
* Papa is on a three-game win streak for the third straight season, the longest string of consecutive years with a win streak over two games.
* Papa has won seven games in a single season for the first time since 2018. It is also the first time since that season that he has not had a losing streak over two games.
* Shotti, momma, RIP, and Papa all notched their 7th wins of the season. Three more teams could join them before the season's end.
* Duck, Shotti, and Momma are a combined 22-14, which is the worst record for the top three teams through 12 weeks in LOC history.

## Playoffs??

The biggest matchup of the season for the entire league may come in week 14, when 7-5 Shotti takes on 7-5 RIPDab.

If both teams were to lose this week in matchups they are currently projected to lose, they would each head into the finale tied at 7-6. Because their season scoring is so low, if Pain Train and Idiots both were to win their favored matchups this week, it would put them Shotti in 5th, RIP in 6th, and Papa in 7th place all at 7-6. This would create a near elimination game for the pressure cooker of a matchup with Nate and Shotti, reigniting a rivalry that has lay dormant for years. The outcome will reverberate across the bottom half of the standings as Papa and Paddock 9's lives will depend on the results for entry into the Festival of Champions.

However, there is also an opposite scenario. Shotti and Nate both win this week. Now they are each 8-5 and facing off for a bye in week 15. A Nate and Shotti win means a Duck and momma loss, and makes the week 14 showdown a battle of 1st vs. 2nd with the loser likely falling out into a quarterfinals matchup and the winner claiming the Commissioner's Cup. The impact of their performances will again be massive as 8-5 Duck, 7-6 momma, and a 7-6 or 8-5 Papa all look on for a crack to slip through into the bye positions.

Of course, there is a third scenario where one team wins and the other loses. Shotti could be 8-5 going against 7-6 Nate, or vice versa. This creates a vortex in which every team will have some stake in the contest. The top half of the league might be pulling for the underdog, knocking off the 8-win team and kicking them out of the bye. The bottom half of the league will be championing the better squad, hoping for a beat down so that the 7-win team gets booted from the Festival entirely.

No matter what happens, the most storied and intense rivalry will hold the playoff and bye hopes of multiple teams, including the two teams involved, and will be a showdown nearly a year in the making.

### Magic Number

A Winning Magic Number is the number of consecutive upcoming games a team must **win** to guarantee winning a given playoff spot. These take into account scoring differentials deemed to be significant.

Duck is in first place but is over 100 points behind 7th-seed stupid Idiots in scoring. By facing Shotti and Pain Train in the next two weeks, there is a scenario in which they finish 8-6 and drop completely out of the playoffs. Therefore, it isn't safe to say that any team has clinched a spot.

^ - Means Team will Finish Better Than this Playoff Spot

X - Means Team Cannot Win This Playoff Spot

Number - Indicates the total number of upcoming games the team must win in order to guarantee this spot.

DNCD - Means team Does Not Control Its Destiny, and thus even after winning all remaining games they need help from other teams, be it with scoring or victories.

* - Indicates First Round Bye

### Elimination Number

An Elimination Number is the number of consecutive upcoming games a team must **lose** to guarantee losing a given playoff spot.

^ - Means Team will Finish Better Than this Playoff Spot

X - Means Team Cannot Win This Playoff Spot

Number - Indicates the total number of upcoming games the team must lose in order to guarentee losing this spot.

MW - Means team Might Win this spot even if they lose the rest of their games.

* - Indicates first round bye

## Best Case Scenarios

What is the best case scenario for each team in week 13?

Win and...

1. Duck Punchers - Losses by Momma and Papa
2. The Shotti Bunch - Losses by Momma, Papa, and The Stupid Idiots
3. Ma ma momma said - Losses by Duck Punchers, Pain Train and The Stupid Idiots
4. RIPDab - Losses by Duck Punchers, Pain Train, The Stupid Idiots and Paddock 9
5. Papa's Posse - Losses by Shotti, RIPDab, The Stupid Idiots and Paddock 9
6. Pain Train - Losses by Shotti, RIPDab, The Stupid Idiots and Paddock 9
7. The Stupid idiots - Losses by Shotti, RIPDab, Pain Train and Paddock 9
8. Paddock 9 - Losses by Shotti, RIPDab, Pain Train and The Stupid Idiots
9. Sweet Dee - Losses by Paddock 9 and Commish
10. Multiverse of Mattness- Loss by Sweet Dee

## Absolute Standings

### Combined Absolute Standings

 In the actual standings, Pain Train dropped from 2nd to 6th with his shocking loss this week and Idiots dropped from 3rd to 7th. With the combined standings, it's RIPDab who is four spots below his actual place in the standings.

### Fractional Records

Might as well just keep these for the rest of the season:

Now we add in the W/L records, with a win being worth an added 10 points.

## Power Rankings - Week Thirteen

* APT: Record Against Playoff Teams
* L3: Record Over Last Three Games

### 1(2). Pain Train

* APT: 4-3
* L3: 2-1

Is Pain Train getting Pain Train'd? In 2012, Pain Train started 2-5 and couldn't recover despite finishing the season as the league's 4th highest scorer. Instead, the much lower scoring Why am I doing this won four of five to sneak in as the 6th seed in a jaw-dropping season finale. This year, Pain Train went through a similar stretch from weeks 4-9 (2-4 in that span) and enters week 13 as a 6th seed on the brink of disaster. They are 1st in scoring but could slip out of playoff contention if they lose to Papa's Posse (longest active win streak) and the Idiots takes care of business vs. Sweet Dee (longest active losing streak).

### 2(3). The Stupid Idiots

* APT: 4-6
* L3: 1-2

Last week I said this team needed to get it together and they almost did but even the best game of young Lawrence's career wasn't enough to overcome the might of the Shotti Bunch. The good news is they have an "easy" matchup this week. The bad news is this team is just as likely to score 120 as they are to score 220, and for the life of them they cannot just grab a kicker and stick with him for more than a single game. Holy fuck, it's essentially random. Just plug a guy in and chill! Lose this week and the title defense could be over.

### 3(1). Duck Punchers

* APT: 4-2
* L3: 1-2

Is the winningest team of the season about to miss the playoffs entirely? Games against 2nd place Shotti and top-scoring Pain Train are no walk in the park. And while it's a stretch to say that somehow six other teams are going to reach 8 wins...it's not impossible. If every 7-5 team goes 1-1, Pain Train and defending champ Idiots goes 2-0, and Duck Punchers goes 0-2 while underperforming, the team that spent all year in 1st place could drop as low as 7th.

### 4(4). The Shotti Bunch

* APT: 1-4
* L3: 2-1

Shotti has not exactly been "battled tested," with just one win in five measly games against teams currently in playoff contention. But their win on Sunday night was a defining moment for their season. Trailing by 55.14 points, Miles Sanders put the team on his back with 160 total yards and two touchdowns. Trailing by less than two points late, it seemed like Shotti may fall victim to Philly playing TOO well. But Jordan Love threw a TD bomb to draw Green Bay within a possession and Miles Sanders got called back to action, where he promptly took himself over the 5-point 140 yard rushing bonus threshold, securing the come-from-behind victory.

### 5(5). Papa's Posse

* APT: 4-2
* L3: 3-0

It isn't pretty...and with Papa it usually isn't. But that's the mystique of a manager who can be considered one of the hardest working team owners in the LOC. Researching, trading, waiver adding, and just plain believing in his guys. Through it all, Papa has gone 5-1 over their last six, discovered his keepers for 2023, and earned the right to compete for a bye over the next two weeks. One cause for concern? Papa had one player score 35.2% of their points in week 12, including a 27 point final play for Josh Jacobs that was the difference in their 18.91-point victory. That won't sustain over the final five games of 2022.

### 6(6). ma ma momma said

* APT: 2-4
* L3: 2-1

Perhaps lost amongst all the competing storylines of 2022 is the resurgence of a momma team that started 1-3 and has since gone 6-2. Maybe it's because they are still just 7th in scoring, trailing three teams that are currently out of a playoff spot. And maybe it's because they are just 0.400 against playoff teams. Or maybe it's because they've made just 11 roster moves, 9th-fewest in the league. Whatever the reason, it doesn't matter. Momma sits in 3rd place, facing 4th place RIPDab, with a shot at moving to 2nd with a win.

### 7(10). Paddock 9

* APT: 4-5
* L3: 2-1

Is Paddock 9 pulling a Papa's Posse? In 2011, Papa did the impossible and finished 7-6 after starting 2-6. They snuck into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season after taking down 9-3 Duck Punchers and securing a tiebreaker in points vs. 7-6 Brak and Yellow. In 2022, Paddock 9 started 3-6 but has gone toe-to-toe with three straight playoff teams and come out 2-1. Now the league's 2nd-hottest team, P9 has a realistic chance at finishing 7-6 and would guarantee himself at least a tie for the 6th seed in the process. The bad news? Everything went wrong for Paddock 9 last week. The highest scoring 6-5 teams lost and the lowest scoring 6-5 teams won, making a tiebreaker scenario a frightening prospect.

### 8(7). RIPDab

* APT: 3-3
* L3: 1-2

RIPDab has not won consecutive games since week 5. Since then, they are 3-4 with five sub-200 performances, including 3 in a row. They got lucky with their matchup in week 12 as they would have suffered defeat to seven other teams. With injuries shrouding this team's playoff hopes in darkness, RIPDab could really use a victory vs. ma ma momma said this week. It will lighten the load in week 14, where they will be hurt the most by an insane six teams on the bye.

### 9(9). Multiverse of Mattness

* APT: 0-7
* L3: 1-2

If you removed the two games against Papa's Posse and then swapped both team's schedules, Papa would be 3-7 and Mattness would be 7-3. That's the nature of this beast. And as much as it hurts, fantasy does tend to balance itself out. Last year, Mattness won both his playoff games by minuscule margins against arguably better teams. This year, Mattness has seen multiple games slip away due to one start/sit decision and sometimes, like in week 12, due to one play. It's only fair that those two teams he beat in his magical playoff run are Duck and Shotti, the two teams atop the standings in 2022.

### 10(8). Sweet Dee

* APT: 3-6
* L3: 0-3

Well, it's another lost season for Sweet Dee. They are currently in their worst stretch of losses since 2019, with a chance at matching their longest losing streak of all-time (7 in both 2013 and 2014). It hasn't been all their fault. In week 9 they scored 199.83 and lost. The next week their opponent scored 199.33 and won. Last week they scored 232.98 and lost. This week their opponent scored 196.50 and won. The schedule is often cruel to those who end up down here in the darkness. But Sweet Dee is also the lowest scoring team by nearly 100 points.

## Matchup of the week

In most years, week 13 has been the grand finale. And if that were the case, this would have been one for the ages. Never before has every team been so in control of their own destiny with two weeks left to play. From 1st-8th, the field is wide open. Paddock 9, in 8th, has more points than the team in 3rd. Idiots, in 7th, has more points than the team in 1st. The teams in 9th and 10th, while eliminated, have the chance to directly impact the bubble teams and essentially end the seasons of the teams that are facing. The best part? Those two teams (Paddock and Idiots) will play each other in week 14.

Nobodies fate is sealed, not even 8-4 Duck. This year, nobody will fall into the playoffs. Everyone will have to fight their way in.

As for the "matchup of the week," how can I pick just one? Everything matters, which isn't always the case. SO I hope we all enjoy the matchup(s) and may the best teams win.

## Conclusion

Happy December. Much love and happy hunting.