2020 Power Rankings-Playoffs 2

## Introduction

Holy upsets, Batman! For the first time in LOC history, both the 5th and 6th seeds in the LOC have won their opening round in the Festival of Champions. The lesser of the two upsets was Stupid Idiots (6) over Dee (3). The writing was on the wall for that one. Or rather, the writing was in the "who's hot, who's not" section.

Sweet Dee was the 2nd coldest team in the league heading into the quarterfinals and Stupid Idiots was the hottest. And even though his sub-200 performance ranks as one of the worst for a winning team in LOC quarterfinals history, it still was more than enough to give Idiots their first ever playoff win.

That leaves us with the bigger of the two shockers, Duck Punchers (5) taking down Pain Train (4). On paper, this was a close matchup of season-long contenders. But in reality, Duck was coming off three games under 178 points and a week 13 showing where they couldn't even break 130. Pain Train, meanwhile, had just lost the bye by a single point after putting up 259 and 243 in back-to-back losing efforts. The two teams ranked ranked 2nd and 10th on the hot chart. But everything got flipped on its head. Lamar Jackson, who was Pain Train's keeper, had been below average for fantasy all season. So he got benched for Herbert and proceeded to double up Herbert's score. The biggest letdown had to be DK Metcalf, the talking point of the season. He fell 9 points short of projection. And Noah Fant, who hadn't broken 60 yards since week 1, got sick early in the game and finished with 0.0 points.

While Pain Train may have benched the win, it was clear that Duck Punchers had the upper-hand when Derrick "King" Henry rushed for 215 yards and 2 TDs. It begs the question, is Henry the guy this year? You know, THE GUY? That one player on a championship team who goes bananas in the playoffs and propels a good team to greatness? Almost every Glory Bowl winner has had one of those guys. They might be a first round pick, like Todd Gurley for The Shotti Bunch in 2017. Or they might be someone completely unexpected, like Damien Williams for Sweet Dee in 2018. But they beat their projection in every game.

Check out these "THE GUY" performances through the ages...

## Who is THE GUY?

For the purpose of this, I included all three playoff weeks even if the team had a bye. This demonstrates a clearer picture of just how hot some of these guys were for Glory Bowl champions.

Who might also be this year's "THE GUY?" Well, Nick Chubb certainly has potential for Stupid Idiots. His 31.90 seemed routine on Monday night. Tyreek Hill also dropped 35.85 without dropping a bead of sweat.

And then there are the two teams entering the fold in week 15.

For Paddock 9, Kelce gave him 34.80 during the bye and Stefon Diggs become the league's first 1,000 yard receiver of the year with 36.58 fantasy points.

RIPDab might not have lit it up on the bye, with a total of 183.55 and not a lot to speak of on his bench. But Kyler Murray might be heating back up and with the playoff chase alive for the Cardinals he will be giving it evreything he's got. He showed grit in a 26-7 win against NYG in which he threw up 33.19 fantasy points.

## Stat Chat

* Duck Punchers becomes the 1st team to reach 28,000 regular season points.
* Sweet Dee becomes the 9th team to reach 20,000 regular season points.
* Stupid Idiots becomes the 10th team to reach 10,000 regular season points.
* RIPDab passes GBM to become the team with the most semifinal appearances in league history without a Glory Bowl victory (6).
* The Stupid Idiots joins Paddock 9 as the only franchise to win at least one postseason game in every season of their existence. TSI has won a game in all four of their seasons. Paddock 9 is aiming for a 10th consecutive year with at least one postseason victory this week.
* The matchup series between Stupid Idiots & Sweet Dee has now been tied at 1-1, 2-2, and 3-3.

## Matchup Recaps

* Duck Punchers pulls a major upset victory over Pain Train, completing the season sweep trilogy and advancing to a second consecutive final four.
* The Stupid Idiots gets their first playoff win in franchise history, knocking off ice cold Sweet Dee (3-3).

## Trade Tracker

Starts:

* Mixon: 1
* CEH: 7

Starts (Pain Train):

* Metcalf: 9

Starts (Sweet Dee)

* Chark: 8
* Kelley: 1
* Slayton: 7

Is this the most anticipated Cinco De Lose-O ever? Has to be.

Starts:

* Patterson: 4
* Bernard: 7

Eight rushing yards for Giovani Bernard. EIGHT.

## All-Time Franchise Regular Season Points Scored

There is some unfinished regular season business, and that's updating all the point totals through the first ten seasons.

Below is the regular season points leaderboard.

Even with this rough season, Shotti maintains his advantage in the average points per game and per season.

## All-Time Regular Season Points Against Totals

Not my favorite catagory, as you can see.

Updated through 1/1/21

After holding the record for 2019, Duck succumbs to GBM. Blow Me saw a whopping 400 more points against in 2020.

The Stupid Idiots holds the record for largest average per game total at 221.13.

## Updated Playoff Game Victory Droughts

Updated through 2020 Quartefrinals.

Sortable table, click on header arrows.

Zach breaks one of the longest losing streaks in the league.

## All-Time Franchise W/L Postseason Records

Updated through 12/17/20

I fucking suck, dude.

## All-Time Franchise Playoff Records

With their first Championship Bracket victory since 2014, Duck Punchers shoots way up the all-time win list. They jump five teams, moving into 4th all-time. Stupid Idiots, meanwhile, logs his first victory since team creation in 2012 and leaps out of last place.

## 2020 Festival Quarterfinal Performances

Festival Quarterfinal Performances
 Pain Train
 The Stupid Idiots
 Sweet Dee

## 2020 Bye Week Points

Thanks to Yahoo's updated archival system, I now have the ability to go back in time and update a particular stat that only I care about, bye week points scored! But I haven't gotten around to that yet. All I have are the points scored from 2016-2020.

### Total Bye Week Points Scored

GBM is the bye week king. Even with just three byes in four seasons, GBM has outscored the lone team that has had four bye weeks (MMS). Once again, he killed it in 2020.

I guess the best way to manage a team for GBM is to not give a fuck.

## All-Time Franchise Consolation Tournament Records

In addition to two great semifinals matchups, this week marks the start of the two week sprint for the first overall pick in the 2021 draft. The consolation tournament packs a punch in week fifteen, but let's take a look at how teams have performed in the bottom of the food chain in past years.

Fifteen teams have participated in the Consolation Tournament since the start of the league in 2011.

Below is a list of all teams who have participated in the Post-Season Consolation Tournament and their performances in that tournament.

GregCincoDos, who only played one season but in a year with six consolation teams, is the only team with three wins and no losses. Shotti can become the second with a victory over ma ma momma said.

Three defunct teams never played in the Consolation Tournament in their franchise's history:

* B-2 Hallway Gangstas - Qualified for the Championship Bracket in 2011 when they finished the regular season ranked fourth.
* IAMGROOT - Qualified for the Championship Bracket in both 2013 and 2014, the only two seasons in the history of the franchise.
* Why am I doing this - Finished the 2012 season with a 3-game win streak to qualify for the Championship Bracket. The team folded at the conclusion of its inaugural season.

## Power Rankings

APT = Record against playoff teams

ACT = Record against consolation teams

### 1(1). Paddock 9 (10-3)

* APT: 5-2

The game is on. P9 has spent the season making some of the most subtle and powerful moves ever for a repeat champion. His pick up of Mike Davis has proven to be one of the biggest FA grabs of 2020. You can add Akers to that list and maybe Brandon Aiyuk to that list.

### 2(3). The Stupid Idiots (8-6)

* APT: 3-5

This team hasn't caught a break in two years. They caught their first one in the quarterfinals. They would have lost to either of the other teams. If they had finished 8-5 instead of 7-6, they would have been the 3 seed and gotten taken down by Duck in the 6-seed. So that's it. That was their break. Now they need to bring the heat.

### 3(2). Pain Train (7-7)

* APT: 2-7

This team is 100% going to drop 300 points this week right in poor innocent Dee's grill and then we're getting the off-season of "I lost the Glory Bowl by one fucking point in week 13" and you know what? I'm here for it. I've been there. You can't punish yourself like that, it is a dangerous path. But I've also done it, so I can't really tell anyone what to do.

### 4(4). RIPDab (8-5)

* APT: 6-2

There is some concern about the WR corp here. Keenan Allen is banged up, questionable, and DJ Moore is coming off COVID-19. Not sure what that is, I'm guessing some kind of STD? Either way, it's not the best time for guys to be at 50%.

### 5(6). Duck Punchers (8-6)

* APT: 6-3

Whoa. What the hell just happened? Duck Punchers came out of NOWHERE this week with a quarterfinals performance reminiscent of his entrance into the 2014 Festival of Champions that crowned him a champion. Is this the beginning of an epic run or was this an enigmatic performance from a sub-par team? We'll find out against another team that has made a ton of playoff appearances with very little to show. .

### 6(5). Sweet Dee (8-6)

* APT: 2-5

Sweet Dee ate off of her 7 games against consolation teams and it showed towards the end of the year. Dee only beat one playoff team all season and that was Stupid Idiots, who they lost to on Sunday. It is a poetic, albeit tragic, end to a season mared by injury. The loss of Dak and McCaffrey should have knocked this team on it's ass, but they still got the wins they needed to finish top-three. That's impressive and something to be proud of, but it still doesn't buy you a ticket to the semifinals.

### 7(7). Papa's Posse (5-8)

* ACT: 3-2

Papa deserves better than what he's been dealt. Some recent lapses in judgment have been recently explained by cognitive fog as a side-effect of a COVID-19 infection. It's sad and I feel really bad and kinda shame on anyone who beat him this season? Even though the COV has only affected him the last few weeks, I still kinda feel like all eight of his losses should be flipped to wins in the history books. I'm a good son so I let him beat me, but you guys? Shame.

### 8(8). Garoppoblow Me (3-10)

* ACT: 3-2

I'm feeling good. Feeling strong. On a mental insecurity level from Patrick Mahomes to Carson Wentz I'd say I'm about a Daniel Jones right now. Would love to surprise the world with consecutive victories but we'll see.

### 9(8). Ma ma momma said (7-6)

* ACT: 2-2

Forgot about this team.

### 10(10). The Shotti Bunch (3-10)

* ACT: 1-3

If I'm RIPDab I'm still nervous that Shotti is somehow going to fuck him in the semifinals.

## The History of the 6th-Seed

On Monday, Stupid Idiots became the 5th team to win the opening round as a 6th seed. That's a 50% success rate for the bubble team in the quarterfinals throughout the course of LOC history. Makes sense. But the odds drop after that. Only two teams have ever won the semifinals as a 6th seed. The good news? Both of those teams then went on to win the Glory Bowl.

## All-Time Festival Semifinals Performances

The competition is elevated in the semifinals. But there have still been some historic duds.

## 2020 Festival Semifinals - 1st (Paddock 9) vs. 6th (The Stupid Idiots)

We're hitting the ground running with Josh Jacobs, the major trade acquisition from Shotti to Paddock 9 earlier this season. He goes Thursday night against Stupid Idiots' Derek Carr. It promises to be fireworks right from then until the bitter end, as we conclude Monday night with Chase Claypool. There is also major Saturday action, with Stefon Diggs playing at 4:30 and Mike Davis in the night game. That will give Paddock 9 a lead he will hope to hold.

But the only thing Stupid Idiots will be holding heading into Sunday action is a grudge. This is a rematch of the 2019 Quarterfinals, when Paddock 9 bounced Idiots from the playoffs and then went on to win Glory Bowl IX.

Updated through 11/10/20

Paddock 9 is on an incredible run of scoring against Stupid Idiots. Would be incredible to see that happen this week.

## The History of the 5th-Seed

Whether it's random or a result of some sort of probability eqution that determines 6-seeds have a strong likelihood of being on hotter streaks than 5-seeds when playoffs start, the 6-seed has historicall faired MUCH better in the opening round and beyond.

2019 was the first season that a 5-seed even won a game in the playoffs. Papa lose as a 5-seed two years in a row and Duck Punchers lost THREE times before winning their 4th quarterfinals appearance as the five.

## 2020 Festival Semifinals - 2nd (RIPDab) vs. 5th (Duck punchers)

These two have a long regular season history, meeting 13 times including twice in 2020. But they have nevre met in the postseason in any form. RIPDab swept the season series against Duck.

Updated through 11/28/20

RIPDab has a tough decision to make regarding Keenan Allen tonight, and more decisions to come down the road. He will kick things off with his superweapon of late, Darren Waller, on Thursday night. Duck will roll out a kicker, Carlson, whose first name I don't know and don't feel like looking up. But he is also hoping to capitalize on the injuries to Mike Williams and Keenan Allen as he will start Tyron Johnson. It is a bold and risky strategy and I love the gamesmanship.
On Saturday, Dab will have to decide if DJ Moore is healthy enough to build the lead heading into main action on Sunday. That's also when star RB Aaron Jones activates for what Dab hopes will be a Derrick Henry-esque showing.

Duck will need a huge day on Sunday as he does not have anyone going Monday night. Similar to Stupid Idiots, Dab will have a Pittsburgh WR. The matchup with Cincy is favorable.

## 2020 Cinco De Lose-O - 3rd (Sweet Dee) vs. 4th (Pain Train)

This is the matchup of the week, except for the fact that there is not much on the line. Their marquee trade earlier this year was much ado about nothing. Pain Train, despite amassing an epic array of WR talent, could not get them all going at once. Losing Julio Jones last week proved that Pain Train was not built for injury, similar to Sweet Dee. And while DK Metcalf's 20 points was certainly better than Chark's 3, it wasn't enough to overcome some rough start/sit decisions. So now these two teams meet in a second matchup since the megatrade and a third time since Glory Bowl VIII. It was there that Sweet Dee shocked the world by becoming the first 6-7 team to win it all.

This will also mark the third postseason matchup between Dee and Train. Dee also won the Heart and Soul Bowl in 2016.

Updated through 12/1/20

As far as other Cinco De Lose-O history goes:

Paddock 9 (3-0) has won the most Cinco De lose-O's with three championships, while Duck Punchers (2-2) has won two. Duck Punchers has the most Cinco De Lose-O appearances with four, followed by Paddock 9 and Papa's Posse with three each prior to 2019 and now joined by Pain Train this year. Paddock 9 has the most consecuive appearances (3). Duck Punchers, Papa's Posse, and Pain Train have lost a record two Cinco De Lose-O's. The record for consecutive wins is two and is held by Paddock 9. The only team with multiple Cinco De Lose-O appearances and no wins is Pain Train. The only team with multiple Cinco De Lose-O appearances and no losses is Paddock 9. One current LoC teams have never appeared in the Cinco De Lose-O, including franchise relocations and renaming: The Shotti Bunch.

## 2020 Consolation Tournament

### Consolation Semifinal - ma ma momma said (7) vs. The Shotti Bunch (10)

Apart from Dee and Pain Train, there is one other Glory Bowl rematch in week 15. That is the Glory Bowl V between underrated rivals momma and Shotti. No one has stuck it to Shotti quite like momma, who has won eight games against the 4x champ. He wasn't able to pull it out in 2015 though, falling 223.49-219.05 in the closest Glory Bowl ever played.

Their lone 2020 matchup was not close. Momma won by 89 points. Momma becomes the first 7-6 team in the 10-team era to play in the consolation bracket. Will their quest to prove their worth lead them to Heart and Soul Bowl glory?

This will be their fourth postseason meeting and Shotti holds a 2-1 edge, but this is the first time they will meet in the consolation bracket.

Updated through 10/11/20

===Consolation Semifinal - Papa's Posse (8) vs. Garoppoblow Me (9)
This is just cruel and unnusual punishment. GBM blames Papa for ruining a perfectly good season with the unforgivable 223.65-223.42 game back in September of this year. The two squads met twice, both close games, and Papa won both. While the DiGennaro boys are happy that at least one team will represent the clan in the Heart and Soul Bowl, it does seem unfair that these two guys, who literally get punished constantly in life, have to face each other this week. And I'm going to be honest with you guys. I may have said I was a good son earlier, but I am desperate for a win. Time for me to beat the 'rona out of this motherfucker.

Updated through 12/1/20

## Glory Bowl X Matchups

We have never had a repeat matchup in the LOC championship and we won't in 2020.

We are down to four possible matchups for next week's big game.

* Paddock 9 (1) vs. Duck Punchers (5) - A battle of former roommates and former champions. Who will be the team to join Shotti as the only other repeat Glory Bowl victor?
* RIPDab (2) vs. The Stupid Idiots (6) - A battle of two teams who have never won a Glory Bowl. One will face another season of disappointment while the other will hoist the Eternal Cup of Glory, their faith finally rewarded.
* Duck Punchers (5) vs. The Stupid Idiots (6) - More roommate on roommate crime in this unexpected thriller between the two bottom seeds. It would be the first time the two bottom seeds ever made the Glory Bowl, and fitting after a 5th seed and a 6th seed won the last two trophies.
* Paddock 9 (1) vs. RIPDab (2) - The season's two best teams go at it for the prize. One is the defending champ, the other a manager who has suffered a full decade of heartbreak. The two podcast hosts go at it with glory, bragging rights, and probably their friendship and our show's future on the line.