2014 Power Rankings-Week 7

*Posted 10/16/15 at 7:41am*

We are already half-way through the Fantasy Football regular season. Time flies when you’re having fun/not winning a single game all season. This week I am taking a suggestion from Zach’s league and comparing where everyone is thus far vs. what their draft day projections predicted. Spoiler Alert: most of the projections are going to be way off.

This week we also have a pair of managers heading to stadiums to watch some of their teams perform. Nate will be present tonight to watch his opponent’s defense take on the New York Jets, while Jared heads down to Dallas to see his star player in action against the Giants. The commish reminds everyone that contracting Ebola will result in automatic last place finish for that owner’s team, so choose your vacation destinations wisely. I don’t want to say I’m rooting for anyone to get Ebola but finishing 9th sounds pretty great for my team right about now.

KICKER REFORM:
Well, it seems not enough people took kicker reform seriously this week. Despite my best efforts and my own personal preference, I will not rule with an iron fist. Kicker Reform will take place before the start of the 2015 season. That being said, I will closely monitor Kickers moving forward and report back if a matchup outcome would have been different if the kicker scoring had changed. The Fantasy Gods may have the last say in this one…

1(0). Ma ma momma said: The quest for Championship 2 continues with a beat down this week against Winter Soldiers. MMMS has now outscored every other team in the league by a minimum of 120 points. TY Hilton is becoming more and more dominant every week, while Manning and Murray guarantee a base of at least 70 points in every matchup, making this a tough team to beat. MMMS was projected to finish 8-5 but now is only expected to drop one more game all season (10-3). MMMS is in prime position for a first round bye.

2(+1). Flags on the Play: Big battle for second place was unsurprisingly the biggest scoring game of the week. With Brees and Rivers, FOTP easily has the best QB tandem in the league and got a ton of help from Denver in delivering their fifth win of the year. FOTP has breached 210 in 3 of their last 4 games and will easily beat the 8 win projection, barring a catastrophe. In fact, they are now projected to finish 11-2, best record ever in the league. But as they say, “that’s why you play the game.” Or something.

3(-1). Money Manziel: Great effort this week from MM, who could have had the win if they’d started Cam Newton. Hindsight is 20/20 and 4-2 still puts them in great position to make the post-season. On Draft Day, MM was expected to finish in 7th place with 6 wins. They should match that in the next three weeks and I don’t see them skipping out on the playoffs, though wrangling another Week 1 Bye should now be their mission. The commish reminds MM that failing to make obvious roster changes does not please the Fantasy Gods. Let Cruz stay on the team too long and it could cost you dearly…

4(+2). IAMGROOT: This season’s Cinderella story. IAMGROOT was laughed at during the draft and was projected to finish 1-12. Looks like IAMGROOT will have the last laugh as they’ve now won three straight. Lamar Miller has been sneaky dominant, complimenting Steve Smith Sr. and Rodgers for a balanced attack. That being said, the road ahead is tough, with 4 of their next 5 against teams at/above .500. They’ll have to once again prove projections wrong to stay in the top six for the remainder of the season. I expect a 5 or 6 win finish for them, but the sky is the limit.

5(0). Papa’s Posse: Capitalizing on a team struggling to stay afloat, PP got a much needed win going in to their toughest matchup of the season. I expect PP to wrangle at least 3 more wins this year, with the possibility of some upsets scattered about, they have a solid chance at the 6 seed. Toughest decision every week seems to be who to start at Tight End, with inconsistencies/injuries at the position causing headache after headache. PP is now projected to finish 7-6 after a Draft Day projection of 4-9. Those two projections seem to be best case and worst case scenarios based on the current schedule and I expect something in the middle.

6(-2). The Shotti Bunch: The defending champ is facing some tough times. Of the current top six teams, TSB has been the victim of the toughest schedule, so despite their third-highest points total in the league, they now sit at .500 going up against the buzz saw, hotter than hell ma ma momma said. AJ Green has missed week’s 2 and 6 with an injury and week 4 with the Bye. Fun fact: Those are the weeks that Shotti Bunch has lost their matchup. Will AJ Green play this week? It could be the difference. Their projected 7-6 finish still seems likely at this point.

7(0). PeytoninthePlayoffs: Yet another accurate projection from Draft Day: 5-8. PITP has struggled all season long and with Calvin Johnson lackadaisical about getting back on to the field, this must-win matchup against IAMGROOT could spell disaster for the season. Like I said before, there is a 0% chance a team makes the playoffs with 8 losses, so they’ll need to find a way to go 4-3 the rest of the way.

8(+1). Becky the Icebox: Well, the good news is they moved up a spot in the rankings. The bad news is they have a long way to go if they want to reach their 10-3 draft day projections. They’ll even have to find a way to shave a loss off their record. BTI got lucky they were playing The Show Offs, since their 182 point performance would have only beaten one other team in the league (surprise: me). I stand corrected on Romo, who has looked better than I expected, but there are too many boom-or-bust players on the squad to feel like they still have a legitimate chance at contesting for spot #6.

9(-1). The Show Offs: I’m sorry, man. I really am. The Show Offs, with a league high 16 roster moves this season, has fallen a long way from their projected 10-3 record. If Tom Brady can help guide the team to a win this week against Winter Soldiers, they could find themselves tied for 5th at the end of the week. Unfortunately, they hold the 3rd lowest point total in the league, which serves as the tie-breaker and will bump them back down in the standings. Current Projections predict that this week they will get their last win of the season, so soak it up and hope for a miracle.

10(0). Winter Soldiers: The quest for 9th place continues this week. WS is the only team who has not gotten 1,000 points yet this year. Finishing in 6th place with a 6-7 finish doesn’t seem likely at this point (if I’m putting it to myself gently) but not finishing last is still a distinct possibility, as they will face teams in spots 6,7,8 and 9 once more this season. Projected to finish 3-10, Winter Soldiers can still only dream of Win #1. Or for Jared to forfeit his season by getting Ebola….This joke will become way less funny if Jared actually gets Ebola.

Baller or Bust??
Baller of the Week: Philip Rivers. Taken in the 16th round by Flags on the Play, Rivers’ Fantasy Ranking is 3rd out of all players in the NFL. Yahoo currently has 2682 players ranked. In case you’re wondering who is ranked last, it’s Zach Mettenberger with -0.72 points. In other news, Winter Soldiers is inquiring about Mettenberger’s availability, stating “he would be a big improvement to the roster.”

Bust of the Week: In a week absolutely riddled with big injuries, none loom bigger than Victor Cruz, who was drafted in the 5th round by Money Manziel and now is in IR for the rest of the year. Cruz had a few big games but was a disappointment most of the year and now is officially a waste of a draft pick. Though, curiously, still on MM’s roster…

Matchup of the Week: To be honest this week the matchups are sort of one-sided, so I’m going with the game expected to be the closest in points scored: IAMGROOT vs. PeytonInThePlayoffs. I feel like IAMGROOT is always in the matchup of the week, but I guess that’s because I like a good underdog story. If they win this one, they’re done thinking about whether they’ll make the playoffs. They’ll be gunning for the #2 seed.