2015 Power Rankings-Week 9

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## Introduction

Halloween weekend put a good scare in a number of teams, including the heavily favored #FreeOJ and the reeling Papa’s Posse. TEAM MANBEARPIG may have risen from the dead, while Fire Goodell may be the first to be buried in the 2015 season cemetery. GBM is looking like the monster under everyone’s bed but The Shotti Bunch is hiding in the shadows in the number two spot riding a quiet four game win streak. Is Reign Maker’s team just a trick? Is ma ma momma said’s team a treat? Why is Matt asking me these questions?

## Injury Woes

More like whoas! There have been a wowing number of injuries this season to major players and almost every team has been affected. In just the first round of the draft two teams have lost running backs to season ending IR. If “if” was a skiff we could all go for a ride, but imagine if these teams hadn’t lost these key players to injury…

*Garoppoblow Me*

Biggest injury:
SEASON ENDING IR - Lance Dunbar in week 4 (76.88 points in four weeks)

*The Shotti Bunch*

Biggest Injury:
SEASON ENDING IR - Arian Foster

*Ma ma momma said*

Biggest Injuries:
SEASON ENDING IR – Keenan Allen

ADDITIONAL: Dez Bryant (out six weeks)

*#FreeOJ*
Biggest Injury:

MISSED TIME - Marshawn Lynch (out two weeks)

*Deez Sons of Bitchez*
Biggest Injury:

SEASON ENDING IR – Jamaal Charles

ADDITIONAL – Matt Forte (injured leg, no timetable on return)
Austin Seferian-Jenkins (scored 41 opening week, been out ever since)

*Reign Maker*
Biggest Injury:

MISSED TIME – Andrew Luck (out two weeks)

ADDITIONAL – Cody Parker (how does a kicker go on IR?)

*Paddock 9*
Biggest Injury:

CAREER ENDING IR – Steve Smith Sr.

ADDITIONAL – Carlos Hyde (Out one week so far with a stress fracture)

*Papa’s Posse*

Biggest Injury: MISSED TIME – Drew Brees (out one week)

*TEAM MANBEARPIG*

Biggest Injury:
MISSED TIME – Big Ben (out four weeks)

ADDITIONAL – Tony Romo (IR Designated for return)
Alshon Jeffery – Out four weeks
Vernon Davis – Out five weeks

*Fire Goodell*

Biggest Injury:
SEASON ENDING IR – Le’Veon Bell

ADDITIONAL – Sammy Watkins (Missed four games so far)

## Join the Club

Congrats to GaroppoblowMe, who adds another game to the 300 club this week. They become the first team to post two 300-plus point games in the same regular season. Any time a team has had more than one 300-plus point game in a season (regular and post combined) they have won the championship.

Congrats to The Shotti Bunch, who becomes the second fastest team to ever reach 30 regular season wins. They accomplish the feat in 47 games, falling just four games short of the record held by Reign Maker, who did it in 43.

## New This Week

All teams have their complete draft history on their team pages (some were missing).
New stat categories. 2012, 2013, and 2014 scoring rules. See the evolution of the scoring system through the years and maybe get some ideas for how the rules can be bettered for next season (remember that whole kicker controversy?).

## We Need to Talk About Patrick

Not a week goes by without some kind of controversy in this league and once again we have ourselves a doozie. Now far be it from me to tell Patrick what to do in his down time when he isn’t running his fantasy team into the ground. But this might be taking it a little too far…

So let me ask you guys, should Patrick be allowed to run his fantasy team while also quarterbacking the Oakland Raiders under the fake name Derek Carr? This seems like a conflict of interest to me, no? Think it over and we’ll vote for what his punishment should be next week.

## The Rankings

### 1(1). GaroppoblowMe

GBM management warned last week in the rankings that the league would finally see the full potential of this Death Star and the team backed up the trash talk.

GBM seems to have one of the most dynamic and consistent flex players and will be locked and loaded for a playoff run come December. Breakout star Gary Barnage struggled in both games with Money Manziel under center and it looks like McCown will be benched this week due to a shoulder injury. With their two other TEs on the bye, this isn’t the ideal situation to be in headed into a tough matchup.

### 2(3). The Shotti Bunch

Shotti’s kicker scored 29 points in their matchup with Dee, more than every single one of her players. But Tucker wasn’t the only guy helping TSB forget their crushing loss of Arian Foster. Todd Gurley fits in just fine as the RB1 and Gronk continues to do Gronk things. Still, they have some big byes against the Upset Kid TEAM MANBEARPIG and needs to keep pace with GBM and MMMS for one of the bye spots.

### 3(4). Ma ma momma said

MMMS finally gets their first win when starting Eli Manning and somehow still managed almost 240 points with no TE. The loss of Keenan Allen couldn’t have come at a better time, just when Dez Bryant comes back from injury. Don’t want to imagine a world where MMMS has both of those guys healthy, and luckily we won’t need to because they got screwed from week one at the WR position. Which Manning will get the start against GBM? The last time MMMS and GBM had a matchup where the outcome mattered to both teams was the 2012 Championship Game.

### 4(2). #FreeOJ

Oh no, you guys. FOJ picked up DeAngelo Williams.

Maybe FOJ is just trying to get the chokes out of the way early as they lost big time to TEAM MANBEARPIG this weekend. What were they thinking starting NYJ defense against a streaking Oakland team instead of Carolina against the Colts or #1 ranked Denver at home? At least Rivers has beaten his projection five straight times. The battle of the 4-4’s with FOJ and Reign Maker will be one of epic proportion. Win and OJ could move up to 3rd, lose and they could drop to 9th. It’s just that kind of year in the LOC, anything can happen. Will that DeAngelo Williams pickup pan out?

### 5(5). Reign Maker

Reign Maker came into the matchup with all the confidence in the world and was reminded that the team that couldn’t win in the early weeks of the season is still there.  Let’s see the highlights:

Three of the four games they’ve lost have come with Andrew Luck as their QB and this was the first time they failed to break the 200-point line since week four. With three 3-4 teams waiting in the wings, they cannot afford to have another poor performance this week. On the plus side, this was only the 18th loss by RM. They’ve played 60 games. That’s insanity.

### 6(8). Paddock 9

     This team is hotter than a cow in the desert. Even on a bad day Matty Ice broke 40 points and six other players joined him in beating their projections. Recently acquired Cooks beat his projection by almost 100%. It’s go time for Paddock 9, who just weeks ago was beginning to accumulate picks for next season. If they win this week they move into a playoff spot. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill. It looks like we are definitely in for another week 13 soul-crushing loss by Paddock 9 to keep them out of the playoffs.

### 7(6). Deez Sons of Bitchez

Where my Dee gone? Is the Cinderella story coming to an end? Since upsetting GaroppoblowMe a few weeks ago they have looked like hot garbage and they keep losing key players to injury. Dee missing the playoffs seemed unfathomable a couple weeks ago when they were tied for a bye spot but with so many teams heating up at the right time things are looking so grim. The RB situation is…just don’t look you guys, it’s really bad. But four of their next five are against teams currently out of a playoff position. Dee is 3-0 against non-playoff teams and 1-4 against everybody else.

### 8(9). TEAM MANBEARPIG

At the beginning of the season TMBP made one thing clear: if nothing came of his team’s rookie season, he would beat #FreeOJ. Well, mission accomplished. TEAM MANBEARPIG is undefeated when playing FOJ, that’s just a fact. They are also 3-0 when Big Ben starts (and finishes). In a strange twist they are 63% favorites to beat the #2 seed this week. Looks like the league’s punching bag is starting to punch back. And to think I almost made their Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks last week.

### 9(7). Papa’s Posse

When is a 52.11 point performance ever disappointing? When you have a guy on your bench who scores 79.28. And that Houston defense that has been so terrible all season gets benched for the first time and has their best game. Papa’s Posse has attributed the loss to the Fantasy Gods, claiming that he may have finally fallen out of favor with them. That could be the case but we’ll know for sure if they can’t knock off the 10th ranked Fire Goodell this week in a winnable matchup.

### 10(10). Fire Goodell

Just when you thought the season couldn’t get any worse for Fire Goodell they lose their first round pick for the remainder of the season. Amazingly, Fire Goodell is still in the race along with everyone else. In fact, they are still mathematically alive for a bye spot. Things will really be over if they lose to Papa’s Posse this week.

## Matchup of the Week

Groot battle!!! The battle of 4-4’s highlights a week full of amazing showdowns. Aside from the matchup of the week we have a Championship Game rematch between the 1 and 3 ranked teams, The Bubble Battle between Paddock 9 and Dee with the winner being in a playoff position, The Battle for the Bottom between Papa’s Posse and Fire Goodell, and Upset Alert between TMBP and The Shotti Bunch.

HOWEVER! With only one game separating third from ninth, this battle of teams hanging on the Groot Line is the one to watch. #FreeOJ is a heavy favorite against Reign Maker, who needs to hope Luck can do better than Rodgers did against that vaunted Denver Defense. It doesn’t help that that defense belongs to #FreeOJ. That being said, FreeOJ was supposed to win big last week and they barely made it over 150 points. They have had trouble getting over .500 all season (just take a look at The Fisher Chart). But these matchups are overpowering for Reign Maker, who drops their second straight to #FreeOJ. (Sidenote: I have yet to be wrong about a matchup of the week prediction. Sorry Reign Maker).