2021 Power Rankings-Playoffs 2

## Introduction

The semifinals are here. It's the haves vs. the have nots. Duck and momma, the former champs, vs. Stupid Idiots and Mattness each looking for their first ring.

## Matchup Recap

* Mattness (3 seed) continues his trend of starting all the wrong flex players but still sends the 4x champ Shotti Bunch (6 seed) home early (7-10).
* The Stupid Idiots (4 seed) sends RIPDab (5 seed) and his #NateYear packing with a convincing win in the quarterfinals (7-3).

## Quarterfinals - How it Went Down

* Mattness (160.16) vs. Shotti (156.08)
	+ In the longest week in LOC history, this matchup felt like a neverending shit storm.
	+ Mattness took early hits, losing Hockenson for the season and Waddle for the week with COVID. Shotti lost OBJ, only to have the game pushed to Tuesday and OBJ to get reactivated.
	+ Jakobi Meyers was an okay sub for Waddle, nearly reaching projection, while Keenan Allen just barely beat his projection in a Thursday night shootout with the Chiefs.
	+ It all went downhill for both teams after that. After initially having Houston, Shotti gambled on the Vegas defense vs. a Browns team ravaged by COVID. The gamble didn't pay off as they scored just 15 points vs. 26 for Houston.
	+ Mattness had a choice of his own to make: Tony Pollard coming off injury or Freeman coming off a few hot weeks. Mattness also gambled wrong, going with Freeman (4.25) instead of Pollard (18.85).
	+ As the days went on, player after player fell below projection. One of Shotti's players would fall flat (Gronk), and Mattness would fail to capitalize (Kamara). Mattness's stud would fail to meet projection (Jefferson) and then so would Shotti's (Cooper).
	+ It all came down to a double-header on Tuesday night. WAS vs. PHI & LAR vs. SEA.
	+ Mattness had the lead and had his kicker, while Shotti had subbed in OBJ for the injured Adam Theilen. Since he had used his flex spots earlier in the week, he could only swap WR for WR.
	+ A player popped. It was Miles Sanders. Sanders had the game of his career, and around midway through the third quarter he broke a huge run that gave Shotti his first lead since Sunday early afternoon.
	+ It seemed like all hope was lost, but then Matt fired off a MattJinx in congratulating Shotti on a sure victory and the inthinkable happened: they pulled Miles Sanders from the game. He didn't get a single touch the entire fourth quarter. Just 9 yards short of a 5-pt bonus (140 yards rushing bonus), he was shut down. All Matt Gay needed to do was hit an extra point and hope that OBJ wouldn't see another target. He did see targets, but couldn't bring in a single one. Gay hit the extra point and a garbage time FG for buffer and Mattness pulled off an improbable, undeserved, monkey-off-the-back victory.
	+ Shotti may not have had a championship team, but he had a game within reach. He finishes with back-to-back sub-166 point performances.
* The Stupid Idiots (242.99) vs. RIPDab (221.37)
	+ How the hell did this game end up as close as it did?
	+ The week started off on fire when somehow Brandin Cooks made it all the way up the waivers to Stupid Idiots. "I don't need a WR," Nate said. Soon thereafter, in a NateJinx if ever there was one, DeAndre Hopkins was deactivated for the remainder of the year.
	+ Sure enough, Nate needed a WR. He put in a claim for none other than Brandon Aiyuk, the player from that cursed trade which started the season for RIPDab. Aiyuk was coming off a 20.75 point game. Why the hell not, right?
	+ All off-season Nate was saying how Jonathan Taylor wasn't worth his spot in the first round of the draft. And when Stupid Idiots drafted him, Nick immediately took to the Facebook Thread to let us all know that he actually meant to draft Barkley but a computer glitch froze his draft room and he got stuck with Taylor.
	+ We can't know for sure how Nick's season would have played out if he had Bark, but I'm sure he isn't complaining about that glitch now. Jonathan Taylor shredded Nate for 49.80 points, including a massive final play 40+ yard TD against the Patriots on Saturday night.
	+ Meanwhile, Brandin Cooks, the WR that Nate didn't need, ended up with 43 points. In a game Nate lost by less than 22 points, the 43 points from Cooks instead of the 5.60 he got from Aiyuk would have been more than enough to swing the match in his favor.
	+ Nate built a huge lead on Thursday with Travis Kelce, who is now out with COVID. Had he won, who knows what could have happened to his team in the semifinals.
	+ Nick also kept leaving the door open for a comeback. Mike Evans got hurt early, finishing with just 2.60 points. Philly D was a letdown with only 17. Tee Higgins had a rare off game. Hell, even Nick Chubb failed to meet projection despite being the only player with a pulse on the Browns.
	+ But even Cooper Kupp's 44.78 wasn't enough to close the gap. Not with Kyler Murray's disappointing 24.26 in a shocking loss to the Lions. Or with the strange benching of Nate stud DJ Moore. Or the lackluster day from Chase Playpool (2.13) and Michael Gallup (6.60).
	+ In the end, all four teams had what it took to win and advance in their matchups, but two teams just got a little luckier than the other two.
	+ Nate had an okay year, but his failure to believe in himself and to be proactive with roster moves cost him. He may not have needed Brandin Cooks, but he didn't even think that maybe it was worth a bench stash so that his opponent didn't get him. It's the kind of savvy move that we came to expect from Nate in the early years, before seasons of disappointment beat him down and turned him into the shell of a manager we see today.
	+ Still, the greatest irony of all is that if he had only lost to Shotti in week 14, his arch nemesis, he would have been the 6th seed and faced Mattness. As the 6th seed, he would have won in a blowout and advanced. Sometimes, winning is losing. And now he goes against Shotti Bunch yet again.

## Stat Chat

* The Shotti Bunch and RIPDab lost in the quarterfinals for the first time in their franchise histories.
* The Shotti Bunch lost 160.16-156.08. In 17 matchups vs. Mattness, this is the only time that they have scored below 160.16 points.
* Both Shotti and Dab will meet for a record 6th postseason matchup, of which Shotti is currently undefeated.
* Commish posted the third-lowest score ever for a winning team in the postseason (playoffs and consolation combined).
* RIPDab becomes the 3rd team to score over 200 points in 100 combined games (regular season and post).

## Above and Below

While the heat chart favored RIPDab over Stupid Idiots, the above/below heavily favored Idiots as they had beaten projections in 43% of their matchups vs. just 14% for Dab. That came to fruition this week when Dab failed to beat projection for the 13th time.

## Trade Tracker

Starts (Paddock 9):

* Kirk: 5
* Reagor: 0

Starts (RIPDab)

* Hopkins: 6
* Williams: 1

Hopkins finished the season playing just two of the last seven games, a blow that Dab could not overcum.

Starts (ma ma momma said):

* Dallas Goedert: 5

Starts (Multiverse of Mattness):

* J.D. McKissic: 3

McKissic will go on IR for the remainder of the fantasy season, but he served his purpose for Mattness. The win in week six, when the season felt like it was slipping away, was crucial to their playoff seeding. As the 3-seed, they got matched with the only team they would have beaten in the quarterfinals. As for Goedert, the season of dominance continues as he has put up back-to-back career performances for the Eagles. It will be interesting to see what impact he has on the semifinals.

Starts (Papa's Posse):

* Darrell Mooney: 4
* Zach Ertz: 2

Starts (Multiverse of Mattness):

* Aaron Rodgers: 4
* Noah Fant: 4

Fant is no Goedert, but given that Mattness had to sell Dallas for JD, it's big-brained of him to nab Fant as part of the Rodgers trade. Fant isn't the hero they needed, but it's the one they deserved.

## All-Time Franchise Playoff W/L Records

As promised, it's time to bring around the LOC playoff records. The regular season is behind us and the focus now turns to the last two weeks of the postseason.

Below is the list of all teams who have played in the Festival of Champions. In the case of team name changes, the most recent name is used. With their win this week, Mattness gets just their fourth main bracket victory in the 11-year history of the league. Idiots, meanwhile, gets a main bracket win for the second season in a row. They have yet to win consecutive postseason games.

## All-Time Franchise Consolation Tournament W/L Records

This week kicks also off the consolation tournament, which features the four teams with the most appearances and most wins in Consolation history.

With Sweet Dee and Papa playing this week, someone is destined to reach the record-breaking 6th consolation bracket win...cooool.

## Bye Week Points Scored

We keep track of everything here in the LOC, even bye week points. This year, Paddock 9 holds the record for most bye week points scored. Duck Punchers decided to bench his entire lineup for the bye week, which is great for Mattness because every single team that has ever benched their team on the bye week has lost their playoff game.

## Updated Quarterfinals Performance List

In this new and improved performance list, the bolded lines indicate the team won the game. Let's add in this past week's performances and see what we find.

While RIPDab's performance was adequate enough to crack the top half of the list, it wasn't enough for the win. At least he didn't get as screwed as in 2013, when Duck Punchers threw up 284.46 and still lost. In fact, Stupid Idiots found himself in the same boat just two years ago when he put up 222.93 in a losing effort.

As for Mattness, he was 18 points below the next lowest scoring team to win a matchup. He put up the third worst performance EVER in the quarterfinals, and just so happened to go up against the second worst performance ever.

## List of Consecutive Top-4 Finishes by Team

A magical season for Stupid Idiots continues with another record set for the franchise. They have now made it to back-to-back semifinals. Duck Punchers, meanwhile, makes it three straight for the first time in their franchise history.

## List of Bowl Games Played by Team

With Shotti and Dab taking their first stab at the Cinco De Lose-O, the above chart is now almost completely filled out for all the active teams.

Of the active teams, here are the ones who still have not played in a bowl game:

* The Stupid Idiots: Heart and Soul Bowl/Glory Bowl

* Sweet Dee: The Salty Dolphin Bowl

* Pain Train: The Million Dollar Game

* Papa's Posse: The Salty Dolphin Bowl

* Duck Punchers: The Heart and Soul Bowl

* The Shotti Bunch: The Million Dollar Game

## Longest Playoff Appearance Droughts by Team

This year, Papa tied the record for longest playoff drought by any LOC team in history. Mattness avoided doing the same with their 3rd place finish in the regular season.

## Seasons with At Least One Postseason Victory (Playoffs/Consolation Games Combined)

This week Paddock 9 will attempt to defend a pretty crazy stat: he is the only team to log at least one postseason victory in every single year of the LOC. They may have not all been playoff wins (hell, most are consolation wins), but it's still incredibly impressive that he has a victory every postseason.

## Power Rankings - Week Fifteen

* APT: **RECORD AGAINST PLAYOFF TEAMS**

* L3: **RECORD OVER LAST THREE GAMES**

* PB: **Pro-Bowlers**

### 1(1). Ma ma momma said (9-5) C, BYE

* APT: 4-3
* L3: 2-1
* PB: 3 (Chase/Diggs/Kittle)

Momma had his two best games against Stupid Idiots in the regular season: a 268 pointer in week 5 and then to prove it wasn't a fluke he dropped 250.58 just three weeks ago against Idiots to clinch a bye. As it stands now, momma is the only team untouched by a COVID outbreak. But all that could change in a second.

### 2(4). Duck Punchers (9-5) C, BYE

* APT: 4-4
* L3: 2-1
* PB: 2 (Mixon/Andrews)

Will hope to get Damien Harris and Tyler Lockett back, and will hope that Allen has a better game vs. the Patriots than he did last time around. He may be projected to lose, but he does have one advantage over Mattness: all his players will be done on Sunday. In a season where at any moment a player could be ruled out with COVID, and with the Saints already down their QBs for Monday night, there is just no telling what is about to happen.

### 3(2). The Multiverse of Mattness (10-5) C

* APT: 5-4
* L3: 3-0
* PB: 4 (Conner/Kamara/Jefferson/Rodgers)

Winners of five straight games, owner of the most pro bowlers in the LOC, and with a giant win vs. Shotti they finally get to start over. All the shitty start/sit decisions, failing to get the bye on points tie-breaker, all the trades and injured players and frustrating Sundays...that doesn't matter. The byes are over. They are final four. Now they go. AJ Brown is returning tonight, Waddle back from COVID, the stars are aligning...but that doesn't mean jack shit if his players perform like they did in week 15. They lucked out in the quarterfinals. They'll actually need to show up to make it to the Glory Bowl.

### 4(5). The Stupid Idiots (9-6) C

* APT: 6-5
* L3: 1-2
* PB: 3 (Chubb/Hill/Pitts)

Good time to stop sucking. Idiots led the league in scoring this week on the back of his first round pick and his recently acquired WRs. But bad times are on the horizon. He calls it "the great equalizer," and it's come down on him hard. Both Tyreek Hill and Brandin Cooks, who combined for 86.40 points, are on the COVID list right now. With the new rules, they very well could end up playing, who knows? But it is an awful blow to the team. Mecole Hardman is no substitute. But maybe Antonio Brown is? Idiots finally gets back his star WR after half a season of...not really sure what? Lying about stuff? Really interesting to see how this roster comes together for Sunday.

### 4(6). RIPDab (8-7) C

* APT: 5-2
* L3: 2-1
* PB: 3 (Kelce/Kupp/Murray)

Already spoke at length about RIPDab's season and how close he came to advancing. Now he just needs to salvage what he can and take down Shotti in the postseason for the first time. He'll need to do it without some star power, but his team is far superior.

### 6(7). The Shotti Bunch (7-8) C

* APT: 1-6
* L3: 1-2
* PB: 3 (Allen/Jackson/Samuel)

Whenever the four-time champ is eliminated, the league collectively breathes a sigh of relief. He is an unpredictable powerhouse come December, and even though it will now be four seasons since he won the Glory Bowl his legacy still precedes him. A Cinco win will be another notch on his Bowl belt and a reminder that the old dog still has a little bite.

### 7(8). Pain Train (6-8) E

* APT: 4-6
* L3: 2-1
* PB: 2 (Adams/Herbert)

Pain Train finished the season strong, let's see what he can do vs. his old rival Paddock 9.

### 8(7). Papa's Posse (6-8) E

* APT: 2-7
* L3: 0-3
* PB: 2 (Brady/Cook)

Players dropping like flies with COVID. Losing Cook, who is unvaccinated, is a massive hit for Papa's Posse.

### 9(9). Paddock 9 (3-11) E

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

The time has come for our Consolation King to shine.

### 10(10). Sweet Dee (5-9) E

* APT: 3-6
* L3: 0-3
* PB: 1 (Mahomes)

This team exists.

## The 2021 Semifinals

Let's peep the two matchups:

This series is tied at five wins a piece and has been a high scoring affair nearly every time. This will be the third time meeting in the postseason but the first time in the Champions Bracket. Idiots is 2-0 vs. momma in the postseason but split the season series 1-1 this year.

Despite being 2-0 vs. Duck in the playoffs, Mattness is riding a five game losing streak going all the way back to September 2019 against the 2-seeded Punchers. He hasn't broken 210 points against the 2014 Glory Bowl Champion since October of 2018.

## The Consolation Tournament Matchups

It may be for consolation prizes, but the two matchupes this week in the consolation tournament are just as intriguing. Two old rivals duke it out for a chance at controlling their draft day destiny.

Updated through 11/24/21

Ah yes, a timeless classic. Meeting for the first time in the consolation tournament, they have now met four times in the postseason under four very different circumstances. They split the season this year.

Feels like these two meet every year in the consolation tournament, but this is actually the first time since 2013. Still, this 8-8 rivalry is always enjoyable and should be fun to watch.

## In Conclusion

Best of luck to everyone and see you next time for Bowl Week!