2015 Power Rankings-Playoffs 2

<---Previous Week

## Introduction

Ladies and Gentlemen, history has been made. Congratulations to FreeOJ for finally winning a playoff game! And what a game it was.

Now I know that this is the biggest fantasy week of the year. All ten teams playing a post-season game at once, it only comes around a single time every 365 days. I wish I could bring you guys a great Power Ranking writeup this week but the odds are against me. I’m in the midst of a cross-country road trip with my boss and her two cats. I’ve been driving an eternity every day through corn fields and cow pastures, living off of pop tarts and regret, hoping a cat doesn’t get free of its kitty carrier and fly out the window, thus ending both my career and my life. I’m tired, I’m annoyed, I’m wearing the same underwear for the third day in a row, and the internet at these crappy mid-western hotels is terrible. So we’re going back to the basics, no pictures, just straight up words. Mostly bullet-pointed I know, terrible. I let the league down when it needed me most.

## New This Week

1. Added a 2015 scoring leaders to the Franchise Post-Season Scoring Statistics page.
2. Eight team bios are updated up until the playoffs. If you want to relive the magic, check out your team page. The Shotti Bunch and TEAM MANBEARPIG, I’m sorry but I didn’t get around to updating your pages. You guys are at the bottom of the alphabet and I ran out of time at work...Yes I do most of this shit at work. You guys will be updated for next week though!
3. As always, the stats for all pages are up to date, including post-season.

## Join the Club

* Dee joins the elite 30 combined losses club with her quarterfinals pummeling.
* Dee joins the 800 post-season points club. It took her two seasons and a game to reach the total that GregCincoDos reached in one season.
* Dee joins the 8000 total combined points club. Finally!
* MMMS and Papa’s Posse become the first two teams to play ten post-season games and the third and fourth teams to reach 2000 post-season points.
* MMMS becomes the second team to join the 16,000 total combined points club.

## Quarterfinals Rewind

In the opening round of “The Best vs. The Bottom,” the two sides drew even. Former champ MMMS took down perenial bottom-dweller Deez Sons of Bitchez, while FreeOJ (underdog by every metric except this year’s standings) pulled off the major upset over Papa’s Posse.

### FreeOJ vs. Papa’s Posse

* **The Fantasy Gods Chortled:** The major storyline coming into the matchup was the loss of Mark Ingram. It is well documented that the Fantasy Gods and FreeOJ have butted heads over the years, but FOJ has spent all season trying to get into their good graces. Unfortunately, they slipped up and got cocky before the game. As a result, the Gods fired a warning shot in the form of a season-ending shoulder injury to Mark Ingram. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as John Brown subbed in and had a stellar game.
* **Motor City Miracle:** The matchup was back and forth all afternoon. It looked like Papa’s Posse was pulling ahead when things in the Detroit game took a turn for the worse. Golden Tate was heavily featured, while Calvin Johnson was held to one catch.
* **Cooper vs. Olsen:** One major storyline that didn’t exactly play out the way many expected was Cooper vs. Olsen. Amari Cooper was held without a catch. Earlier this season, Cooper was traded to the Posse by FreeOJ in exchange for Greg Olson. Hard to say this trade had an effect on the game, however, as Olsen was held to just 9 points.
* **All Down(Jeremy)Hill from here:** Darren Sproles once again beat all expectations and projections, but Jeremy Hill finally cooled down. Hill scored over 16 points in each of Papa’s 3 wins coming into the matchup and managed just 4.80 when it mattered most.
* **Remember the Titans (for sucking against the Jets):** When the Titans game went final, it was clear that FOJ had also made the right start at defense. The silver lining for Papa is that they too finally started the right defense, but it was just a little too late. Finally, there was a lot of doubt over whether FOJ made the right call at QB, starting a different signal caller for the fifth week in a row. In reality, they DID make the incorrect choice. Fitzpatrick put up 45.20 points against the Titans. But the 40.43 from Bortles was just as effective.

#### Implications

* So for Papa’s Posse a tremendous late-season run comes to a screeching halt. With his loss, he becomes the first of the three former champions to be defeated.
* FreeOJ gets their first playoff win and just their second post-season win all time.
* This is now back to back one and done years for Papa’s Posse after failing to make playoffs two years in a row following their Championship run.
* FreeOJ secures a top 4 finish for the third time in five years.

### Deez Sons of Bitchez vs. ma ma momma said

* **Not the droids start you’re looking for:** Things could not have gone worse for Dee on Thursday night, when their premiere WR Larry Fitzgerald let them down for really the first time all season. Meanwhile, David Johnson, playing just the third game for MMMS all season, scored 25.60.
* **Never Say Never:** There was a glimmer of hope for Dee when MMMS’s Freeman, Crabtree, and Bryant combined for a measly 16 points. Seattle defense didn’t reach its projection and Jonathan Stewart just barely reached his. Unfortunately, 8 of Dee’s 10 players failed to reach projection as well and Kansas City Defense wasn’t enough to make up for it.
* **He’s a baaaaaaaaaaaad man:** Somehow, Dee needed to hope the NYG attack was held under 40 points. But the best friend duo of Landry and ODB Jr. was too much to handle. Manning and ODB alone combined for over 100 points, and MMMS had two other players on MNF on top of that. He could have benched Landry, Brown, Freeman, Crabtree, and Bryant and still won.

#### Implications

* MMMS may not have kept their undefeated streak vs. The Shotti Bunch alive, but they do manage to move to 5-0 all-time against Deez Sons of Bitchez.
* Dee will have to go 15-0 next season to get within one game of .500 all-time.
* For now, ma ma momma said moves to a tie for first all time in Championship Bracket wins (5) and stands alone in first place in all-time playoff wins that include 3rd and 5th place games (6). MMMS currently has the highest combined winning percentage among all playoff teams, while Fire Goodell has the lowest.

## Consolation Round Preview

Hot vs. Not is the theme of this year’s consolation round. Two teams come in blazing hot, while the other two haven’t won a game in quite some time.

### (7) TEAM MANEBEARPIG vs. (10) Paddock 9

Paddock 9 is 0-2 vs. TMBP and this is TMBP’s first fucking season. Lucky for us all, Big Ben and Antonio Brown are not in the Championship Bracket because they are a force to be reckoned with. Among the big questions in this one:

* Can Matt Ryan gain positive fantasy points?

* If Eddie Lacy gets a start, will he score more than 0 points?

* If Eddie Lacy is benched, will he score under 50 points?

### (8)Reign Maker vs. (9) Fire Goodell

Fire Goodell is the clear favorite in this one. FG has overperformed for the last month while RM’s team has choked. Keys to the game:

* Can Derek Carr put aside the fact that he looks like Patrick and play without throwing ten picks?

* Will the Great Woodhead be more than Average Woodhead?

* Can McCoy and Watkins keep up their insane performances?

## 5th Place Game Preview

### (5) Papa’s Posse vs. (6) Deez Sons of Bitchez

Papa put up a good fight in the first round while Dee couldn’t break out of the late season slump in time to put up a fight against MMMS. Papa plays notoriously well in games that determine finishing positions (5th, 7th, 9th place games). Dee is the worst post-season performer the league has ever seen. Key Questions:

* Do the Fantasy Gods still care about Papa’s Posse?

* Can Dee not suck just one time and salvage some of her dignity?

## Semifinals Preview

Round two of The Best vs. The Bottom is also rivalry week in the Champions Bracket. Both Bottom Dwellers face off against the teams that knocked them out of the playoffs the last time they qualified. Similar to last week, one matchup will be in the books after Sunday night, while the other will come down to how players perform on Monday Night Football.

### (1)The Shotti Bunch vs. (4) FreeOJ

* In 2013, FreeOJ fell to TSB in the semifinals. TSB would go on to win the trophy that year. This is FreeOJ's first trip to the playoffs since.
* Both teams come into the matchup with a win against one another this season.
* Their combined points against one another this year is FOJ 399.13 - 390 TSB. About as close as it can get.
* Last week, FOJ beat their projection by 9.98 while TSB failed to break 200 for the second time in three weeks.
* Gronk came back in week 14. That is a huge break for TSB who not only gets his star TE back but also doesn’t have to deal with the “will he/won’t he” situation he had to go through this week, while he was luckily on his bye.
* FreeOJ has decided to stick with Bortles at QB vs. Atlanta’s terrible defense. But Cam Newton, the hottest QB in football, goes against a NYG defense that is also rather porous.
* Current projections predict a victory for FreeOJ. The team has never made it past this round.

Players going Thursday night: 2 (both TSB)

Players going Saturday: 0

Players going Sunday: 17

Players going Monday night: 3

#### Injury Report

* **FreeOJ:** Olsen is questionable but should play. Sanders is probable but Manning is out, which means Brock is still Emmanuel’s QB. So far that has not been a good relationship.

* **The Shotti Bunch:** Tupac Back. DeSean Jackson is questionable and iffy with that leg injury he’s been nursing all season.

### (2) GaroppoblowMe vs. (3) ma ma momma said

* In 2012, GaroppoblowMe fell to MMMS in the Championship Game. GBM had not played a playoff game since and now has the rematch in the first playoff game since 2012.

* GaroppoblowMe would have beaten every other team in the league last week except ma ma momma said.

* MMMS is 1-0 vs. GBM this season.

* Matchups for GBM are far more favorable than they were last week, when the team was on the bye. Brady and the NE defense get the Titans, while Peterson gets the Bears and AJ Green gets San Francisco. Difficulty could arise for Barnidge and Murray, facing Seattle and Green Bay respectively.

* Matchups for MMMS are less favorable than last week. The NYG unit will have to contend with Carolina’s vaunted defense, while Crabtree will be facing Green Bay and Reed will go up against Buffalo.

* How will Dez Bryant perform? He has been a huge letdown for MMMS. On the other side, how will Hurns perform? He was nursing an injury for several weeks and was bailed out in week 14 by a long TD pass.

* Can Baldwin and ODB keep up their hot streaks?

* Current projections favor GBM by default as MMMS has a player with 0 points in the starting lineup.'
* How will MMMS manage his team from Australia? Is he in the air right now? Has Australia invented the internet yet? Will be become lost at sea, similar to in the hit ABC show "Lost," and be forced to battle with smoke monsters, polar bears, and his own beliefs, thus neglecting to replace Jonathan Stewart at RB and giving GBM the advantage?

Players going Thursday night: 0

Players going Saturday night: 2 (one for each team)

Players going Sunday: 20

Players going Monday night: 0

#### Injury Report

* MMMS: Jonathan Stewart has been ruled out for this week, a huge loss for MMMS. CJ Anderson, the best possible replacement, is scheduled to return and play vs. the Steelers.

* GBM: Edelman, who was dropped weeks ago when ruled out for the rest of the season, is back at practice and back on GBM’s bench, though he isn’t going to go this weekend. Otherwise the team is in peak physical condition.

## Next Week

Scoring and schedule reform will be discussed (don’t worry we’re randomizing the schedule), as well as Semifinal themed superlatives for all ten teams,  matchup recaps, Championship Game preview, Patriot game update, and pictures! You all come here just for the pictures anyway.