2022 Power Rankings-Week 5

## Introduction

Battle lines have been drawn. Four teams are 3-1 or better, leaving four teams 1-3 or worse. It's the first time four teams were below .500 and four teams were above .500 through the first month since 2016. In that season, both Sweet Dee and Papa began 3-1 before finishing their seasons 5-8. Paddock 9 started that season 1-3, then finished in the playoffs with a record of 7-6. Could something like that repeat itself here in 2022?

Sweet Dee has the league's second-best record but is just 7th in scoring. We know from experience that the first four games are Dee's strongest. She boasts a 0.528 win percentage for the month of September but just a 0.205 win percentage for October. She's already officially 1-0 on the month (week 4 ended 10/3 and in LOC we count the MNF date as the official date of the league week). She faces the top two teams in Duck/Shotti, but also the bottom two teams in momma/Mattness.

On the other end of that spectrum, we have Paddock 9. A fluke MNF miracle win away from being 0-4, Paddock 9 has lost to 4-0 Duck but also 1-3 momma. He is 9th in the league in scoring but has also seen the 7th most points against, a bad combination (by the way, 0-4 Mattness has seen a league-high 935.25 points against, so maybe cut him some slack). If things turn around for Paddock, the schedule needs to lighten up and his own scoring needs to pop.

One thing is for certain, there are some underperforming fucking teams in the LOC and there are some teams that week after week seem to be bringing the heat. We could have an early finish to the playoff race if these trends continue.

## Matchup Recap

* Duck Punchers keeps the undefeated season alive with a win over Paddock 9 (12-11). **Next Matchup: Week 12**
* Sweet Dee keeps the good times rolling by derailing Pain Train (7-11). **Next Matchup: N/A**
* RIPDab snaps a three-game skid against momma and beats the Brit out of him (11-8). **Next Matchup: Week 13**
* The Shotti Bunch enacts quarterfinals revenge by humiliating Mattness (11-7). **Next Matchup: week 11**
* Papa's Posse shocks with a masterful performance against The Stupid Idiots (6-3). **Next Matchup: Week 9**

## Stat Chat

* The Shotti Bunch becomes the third team to reach 80 regular season wins.
* The Shotti Bunch recorded their 10th win against Mattness in the regular season. They now have 10 regular season wins or more against four teams.
* The Shotti Bunch logs the first triple digit victory of the season by defeating Mattness by 107.36 points.
* The Stupid Idiots becomes the 10th team to reach 40 regular season losses.
* **STREAK WATCH:** Sweet Dee has broken 200 in back-to-back games, the first time she has accomplished this since weeks 4 & 5 of last season. The longest streak in franchise history is four games in weeks 1-4 of 2020. Dee is half-way to her all-time record and is projected for 200.73 this week. Stay tuned!
* Duck Punchers breaks the record for most seasons with four or more consecutive wins.

## Seasons with 4 or More Consecutive Wins by Team

Updated Through Week 4 2022

Seasons of 4 or More Consecutive Wins by Team
 ma ma momma said
 The Shotti Bunch
 Pain Train
 Paddock 9
 Multiverse of Mattness
 RIPDab
 Papa's Posse
 The Stupid Idiots
 Sweet Dee

## Above and Below

After going 2-11 last season, RIPDab once again seems to be struggling to hit projection despite their 3-1 record. But to be fair, only Shotti has managed to beat their projection in every single game and half the league has only been able to do it once.

## Absolute Standings

I always enjoy taking a look at this because in a sense it can validate or invalidate your feelings about the Fantasy Gods being out to get you. For example, if Mattness was 2-2 in absolute record but 0-4 in actual record, maybe the Gods are out to get him. But facts are that Mattness has yet to finish top five in scoring any week, and the record reflects that. Same for P9 and momma, who are exactly where they should be. Biggest shock is Duck falling from 1st to 5th in absolute record, maybe a sign that their 4-0 start isn't as bulletproof as people think...

### Combined Absolute Standings

Top three remain in the top three, while 6th-10th remain in the exact same spots. If nothing else, I think this proves that everything is shaking up the way it should be with nobody getting "lucky" and nobody getting "Screwed." Although, having a QB go down with the same concussion four days apart in back-to-back matchups does seem a little unlucky BUT I DIGRESS.

## Most Trades Completed

This is a long overdue update to the trades chart. We had multiple pre-season keeper trades, as well as a pretty big trade with Dee and P9 last week.

## Trade Partners

NOTE: Joke trades are not tabulated (i.e. 13th for a 13th to start the season).

## Power Rankings-Week 5

I can't do it anymore. I have to rank Shotti first. Sorry guys.

### 1(3). The Shotti Bunch

I tried everything. I tried to get in his head about the draft. I tried to MattJinx him in the rankings. I even set a lineup this week thinking maybe, somehow, I could beat him myself. But Shotti's team is good, at least for now. Ertz has somehow found the fountain of youth. Saquon Barkley is good? "Runs for" Miles Sanders broke 100 for the first time this year. And fucking Lamar "Sorry Ms." Jackson is on a trajectory to finish the year with 804 points. A Shotti playoff run seems imminent which is terrible news for the rest of us.

### 1 (2). Pain Train

Did I say last week that Pain Train had a backup RB vault of gold? Yes. Did I do that to try and kill Pain Train's entire team? No. I'm all-powerful but I'm not a monster. It seems the MattJinx I aimed at Shotti missed its mark and hit Pain Train right in the nuts because they lost keeper Javonte Williams for the season and they're also down Cordarrelle Patterson for the next month at least and oh to top it all off how about first overall pick Jonathan Taylor missed Thursday's game with an ankle. It's probably not the best week to be playing Shotti, but that backup RB situation is still pretty great! They're all just starting RBs now...

### 3(4). RIPDab

What's not to love about RIPDab's team? Kyler Murray may not pass the eye test but he's been doing okay for fantasy purposes so far with just one game under 30 points. Young guys like Herbert, Olave, and Pacheco solidify a roster led by veterans Kupp, Brown, and Jones. He has the league's top-scoring fantasy kicker in Carlson and the second-best defense in Philly.

### 4(3). Duck Punchers

Am I a dumb person for dropping Duck Punchers a spot each of the last two weeks despite them being the only undefeated team? Well, they are the only team in the top four that hasn't broken 230 points in a game yet this year and they're off to a terrible start in week two thanks to the single worse game of football ever played between Denver and Indy on Thursday night. I've yet to see this team "go off" the way a future Commissioner's Cup winner should, but that could all change in week five with favorable matchups for Herbert and MN D.

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

Fuck it, this team is good. The Tom Brady situation is sketchy as hell, as he struggles with a rotator cuff injury and also the complete destruction of his family. But if we know anything about Tom it's that he will take all his bad-husband anger out on opposing CBs and considering the Bucs are bitter about their 2-2 start I see at least three TD passes coming Sunday for TB12. Elsewhere, how about the fact that they have five non-QB players on their team, that have broken 80 points so far in 2022? Three are RBs, two are WRs. For context: Shotti has only three.

### 6(5). Sweet Dee

The road to making people believers in this team starts now. In 2020, Dee broke 200 in each of their first four games and then only did it two times the rest of the season. In 2019, they broke 200 four of their first five games and then broke 190 only once in their final eight games. This is a trend. But maybe teams will see Dee as a threat if they do something they've done just once before: start 4-1.

### 7(6). The Stupid Idiots

YUCK. What the fuck is going on with the Stupid Idiots? They have a RB and a WR who are both over 100 points on the season, but then they just have a bunch of dudes. There are some bright spots. They should call him Drakula London because he's sucking all the life out of Kyle Pitts. T.J. HockenSockenScoreBots did some nasty shit last week but has to follow it up against a tough NE defense that just took Aaron Rodgers to OT. And of course there's Garrett Wilson, one of two very bright spots on the NYJ offense this year.

### 8(7). ma ma momma said

Jared has been on his honeymoon for three weeks and in that time he has made one roster move, lost three games, seen the Queen get buried, and basically lost all hope of having a successful 2022 campaign. There is good news for him though: Melvin Gordon just got a shit ton more valuable. If somehow a single other player could step up, he may be able to squeeze a win out of this lemon of a roster.

### 9(9). Paddock 9

Paddock 9 really said it best earlier this week. He didn't have a bad draft, he just had a bad round. Just so happens that he had three picks in that round. I assume the round he's speaking of is round 4, in which he took Chase Edmonds (no longer on the team), Cam FAkers (26.45) and Kyle Pitts (26.60). Let's talk about Arm Pitts for a minute here. Can this guy even be started? I know he's out this week, but can he be started when he's back? I own him in one league and I gotta be honest, I think I may just start Tyler Higbee instead.

### 10(10). Multiverse of Mattness

I can't tell where the bad is. Okay, yes, Mattness scored something like 150 points last week. But that was with no QB. If he'd started Carr, that's an extra 20 points or so and suddenly it's not total shit. Plus, Mattness benched two wins in the first two weeks. Plus, he has two WRs who have scored 95 points. Plus Breece Hall is nasty and StevenSZN is big time here. Mandrews has been hot and cold but mostly hot. I just...I don't know. I feel like this team should be good but maybe I'm looking at a 12-team league roster and this is a 10-team league and that's why it doesn't compute.

## Matchup of the week

Pain Train vs. The Shotti Bunch. The league's two highest scorers. A bit of a bummer that Pain Train is not at full strength but it's all the more intriguing that they are in early-season desperation mode at 2-2 and without their top two players. Shotti, meanwhile, can overthrow Duck if he wins and Duck falls to RIPDab, who is also about to bust through the 1,000 ceiling early in week 5.

The winner of this matchup has broken 230 points in each of the last four games and broken 200 in every meeting since October 2019.