2022 Power Rankings-Week 8

## Introduction

Parity is alive and well in the LOC. Within the confines of this season, week 7 offered up three upsets (9th beat 5th, 7th beat 6th, 4th beat 2nd). Expanding our view to the entire history of the league, every single matchup was won by the team who had fewer victories against their opponent in league history, making it an altogether upsetting week of fantasy. And while that may have stung for a few (Matt as Manager), it's good for business (Matt as Commish).

We are now at the halfway point of the season and everyone is alive to varying degrees. Even dumb Mattness, in last place, is only a game out of 5th place and still has the points advantage over 3-4 teams Paddock 9 and The Stupid Idiots. The 3-3 bonanza last week was pretty funky because two 3-3 teams lost, yet this week we look at the standings and there are now FIVE 3-4 teams. Math is wild. We have had five 3-4 teams before: in 2016 the 5th-9th place teams were all 3-4.

So let's get into it since we're already nearly two games deep into week eight.

## Matchup Recap

* RIPDab returns to first with a season-sweet of The Stupid Idiots (5-7). Next Matchup: N/A
* Momma ascends into bye contention while simultaneously burying long-time rival Mattness (9-10). Next Matchup: Week 14
* Sweet Dee looks to be breaking from the October curse with another strong showing and an all-important win against fellow playoff contender Duck Punchers (7-8). Next Matchup:
* Papa's Posse wins the 2021 Heart and Soul Bowl rematch and in the process snaps a five-game losing streak to Pain Train (9-12). Next Matchup:
* Paddock 9 shows signs of life and takes down a reeling Shotti Bunch (6-10). Next Matchup:

## Stat Chat

* RIPDab becomes the fourth team to reach 90 combined wins.
* RIPDab ties Mattness for third-most weeks in first place.
* Duck Punchers becomes the 9th team to reach 70 combined losses.
* Duck Punchers loses to Sweet Dee despite breaking 200 points. This is the first time Duck has broken 200 in a loss to Sweet Dee since 2016 (6-0 when breaking 200 in that span).
* Duck Punchers moves into a tie for the most regular season games scoring over 200 points. He and Shotti now sit at 99 games over 200 in the regular season. Could this be the week for both of them to hit triple digits?
* Mattness has already matched their loss total from 2021 (5).
* Mattness ties momma for third-most weeks in last place.
* Paddock 9 has a two-game win streak for the first time since 2020 and they have tied their win total from 2021 (3).
* ma ma momma said follows a 3-game losing streak with a 3-game winning streak. That's good news for momma: they had never made playoffs without a win streak of at least three games.
* The Shotti Bunch has a three game losing streak for the fourth time in the last five seasons after not losing three in a ro from 2012-2017.
* The Stupid Idiots is 3-4 with all four losses coming against either Pain Train or RIPDab.

## Above and Below

Nate sits at 5-2 in first place despite his team only beating projection one time in seven games.

## Absolute Standings

### Combined Absolute Standings

 I have never seen the absolute/combined standings so closely match the actual standings. As wild a season as this has been, teams have generally been given the wins and losses that they deserve.

## Survivor Update

Well this sort of sucks. Since Commish and Shotti both picked the Patriots, they were both eliminated and Yahoo awarded both of them the first place trophy for this seaons of survivor. Yay ties?

## Best Scores at Each Position Through Seven Weeks in LOC History

Last week we did the worst scores in each position through six weeks so why not run it back and do the BEST scores in each position through SEVEN weeks?

Let's see if anyone from this season has made the list:

Duck and Shotti, who had the worst first/second place scores of all-time, get a bit of redemption here. They've also had the BEST first and second place scores.

Otherwise, nobody really comes close to hitting this chart in 2022, except ironically the last place Mattness who is only 11 points off from Sweet Dee's "best" last place record from 2019. Silver Linings Playbook like you read about.

## Starter Charts

Seven weeks down, seven weeks to go. It's weird how fast the season flies by.

I finally had a chance to create the 2021 starter chart, and since we're halfway through the 2022 season I figured I'd do a little mid-season starter chart for this season as well.

For those who do not remember, the Starter Chart shows the number of unique players who started at each position and earned fantasy points for a particular team. It's a better read on the amount of movement a roster gets, moreso than the waiver add/drops. It could indicate a team in turmoil, or a team streaming certain positions.

Here is how things shook out in 2021 (defenses included):

Last year Sweet Dee started just 22 total players. That's just how many WRs Paddock 9 started.

Shotti Bunch started a league high 10 defenses, a sure indicator that he was streaming. Mattness started the most QBs at 6, never truly finding an answer even as he marched to the Glory Bowl. Stupid Idiots, the defending champ, was middle of the pack on this chart. With Burrow at the helm he needed very little help at QB and he also was solid at Defense and Tight End. He did start the third most kickers.

Paddock 9 was obviously terrible last year and could not find a single thing that worked. So if the league's worst team has the most movement on the starting roster, can we infer that whoever leads the chart this year is in big trouble? Let's see what things look like so far through half the season in 2022:

Shotti finds himself with the least amount of movement, shocking for a team that started 45 players just a year ago. He hasn't made a single move at QB, TE, or K yet this year. Contrast that with Stupid Idiots, who has starting a whopping 6 different kickers in seven weeks. He and Mattness are tied for the most unique QB starts at 4, a sure sign that both are still looking for their GUY in 2022. At the WR position, its Dee and Shotti who have the most starters, and with the low number of RB starts for Shotti (3) it's probably an indicator that he's utilizing his flex spot for receivers this year. Paddock 9 has the most RB starts with 9 and the most starts overall, which is typical of a team that is horrible at drafting and struggling to remove himself from consolation bracket hell.

## Power Rankings-Week 8

What the fuck am I supposed to do here? The teams I ranked top four all lost in week six. The teams I ranked bottom three all won.

### 1(2). Duck Punchers

Hard to imagine the best team in the league also happens to be the team setting records for "WORST\_\_\_\_\_ in LOC history" every week, but you also don't often see a team improve by trading away a player and getting a 2023 pick in return andthat's what happened this week. Punchers trims some duck fat by cutting ties with James Robinson, a player who was so bad that he went from bell-cow to slab of beef in less than a month and then got shipped off to New York to be a backup to a player who was a backup until the starter broke his leg. In a season where everyone has been week-to-week in terms of production, Duck has as much a claim to top dawg as anyone else. And as I type this Etienne is going berzerk so first place could be back in play for Punchers.

### 2(1). The Shotti Bunch

There is a reason why Shotti has only needed to start one QB and one tight end. Both have produced fairly well so far. But last week's loss to Paddock 9 was bad news. It was their third game below 200 in a row and they've scored less each of those last three weeks after going for 262 against Mattness in week four. Still, this looks like it could be a get-right week for Shotti and if it is it would put him right back in the bye race.

### 3(4). RIPDab

I'm really hesitant to put RIPDab this high. They have yet to prove they can play at or above their own skill level (based on Yahoo projections) and they have come up small two weeks in a row (though last week they were bailed out by Idiots coming up even smaller). This week it's a monster rematch vs. Duck Punchers, once again for first place, and RIP did all he could by trying to block Duck from snagging a good QB off free agency.

### 4(5). The Stupid Idiots

It's a weird title defense season for Stupid Idiots until you remember that this has been the pattern for Idiots throughout their LOC history. They've finished seasons of 7-6 and 6-7. Each of the last two years they've had a three-game win streak and a three-game losing streak. They are constantly swaying back and forth between contender and pretender, and it just seems to matter where they land the final four weeks that determines their season. But I'm not concerned about them. They'll murder Mattness this week and be right back in the hunt.

### 5(3). Pain Train

Vibes are bad on Mattness but somehow they are worse on Pain Train. They scored 304 points week one. Weeks 6-7 they COMBINED for 277.95. Times are tough, but like every other team in this league they are simply a win away from getting back on track. This week, favorably, they face a momma team who is trying to recover from a crucial WR loss in Chase. But they also have to deal with the fact that Swift is back from injury, negating the bump for Jamaal Williams. And Jeff Wilson is looking like a goner in SF. The team with the best RB depth truthfully cannot start a full RB corp right now. Fantasy comes at you FAST FAST.

### 6(6). Sweet Dee

Sweet Dee is hoping for their second 5-3 start in franchise history and gets hit with Shotti Bunch, who has only started 3-5 or worse one time. While last week was a huge W against a playoff team, the trends are in the wrong direction so far in week 8. AJ Dillon has just 20 rush attempts over the last three games. Burrow is without his biggest weapon (though she also rosters Tee Higgins which is a huge plus). Chase Edmonds has lost his starting job to Raheem Mostert. Allen Robinson has competition with Van Jefferson returning. There is a lot going wrong, but they still could end up alright.

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

Momma has to hope that Boyds massive week against Mattness wasn't a fluke because he last lost Chase for the next several weeks. But at the same time, he gets back Swift. If momma could get everyone on the field at the same time, they'd be dangerous, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen before December.

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

Massive game against Paddock 9 but has Juju and CEH on the bye, Mike Williams hurt, and Courtland Sutton doing Courtland Nuthin' vs. the Jags in London. It has to sting that he traded Duvernay to Pat only for Duvernay to turn around and drop 28 on his ass. Devin has broken 10 in 7 of 8 games, broken 15 in 5 of 8, and broken 20 in 3 of 8. The same cannot be said for DJ Moore, and if Moore cannot produce this week than this may be a trade Papa lives to regret.

### 9(9). Multiverse of Mattness

Mattness was projected to go 0-14 and assessed by FantasyPros to be the worst team in the LOC. But then, things began to change. It turns out that several risky picks were all going to be breakouts. Life was good. For two weeks. But with Breece Hall down and Mark Andrews hurting, it seems like the clock has struck midnight at around 7pm on this Cindarella story. Their lone hope for saving the season is in defeating Glory Bowl rival Stupid Idiots this week, otherwise the 2-6 record is nearly impossible to overcome. I made a promise to myself not to let fantasy football bother me this season, and it truthfully hasn't. But last week was the first time that it saddened me. Losing Breece Hall in five leagues was not ideal. But I digress...

### 10(10). Paddock 9

This guy with a trade almost universally panned. Was this the worst trade in human history. James Robinson for a 6th? He was drafted in the fucking 12th! Truly wild. I don't have much more to say. He'll probably beat Papa's Posse this week and be at .500 which is nuts considering where he was a few weeks ago, but if he loses than he'll probably just start flipping players for picks to blow next season so who cares I guess.

## Matchup of the week

It should be the Glory Bowl rematch, but that looks to be an underwhelming affair between two non-playoff teams. Instead, we need to run it back with part two of the Duck vs. Dab double-header with first place yet again on the line. It's a quick turnaround for this one, which sometimes happens with the custom schedule (I set a two game minimum buffer but usually one matchup a season ends up right at that threshold).

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This has been a really fun back and forth so far this season and I imagine these two teams could meet again in the playoffs. The winning team probably only needs one more win the rest of the season in order to get there (two if they want to be certain). The losing team could drop several spots. But it seems like everyone is sorta shitty this year so who knows!

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Updated through 10/12/22