2014 Power Rankings-Week 10

*Posted 11/6/14 at 7:27am*

Well back to being depressed. I think my team might be bad, you guys. I am starting to realize I might not make playoffs.

At this point in the season, everyone has played everyone else once. Thus we have our first semi-accurate comparison of what teams really are. The verdict, most teams are really good. One team is pretty good but sort of can’t get their shit together. And three teams suck.

For some, Fantasy Football can be a dream come true, with late rounders having breakout seasons and free agent acquisitions coming up big during bye weeks. For others, Fantasy Football can quickly become a living nightmare. And so it is for three of our 10 teams, who have found that one of the things they love most in life has betrayed them and sent their 2014 season to the gutter.

HOW THE WAR WAS WON
This week featured a heavyweight matchup that did not disappoint. Unless you’re Jared. Then it was very disappointing. Last week I highlighted some concerns for both teams and both proved to be valid. MMMS saw both Bell and Murray fail to reach 100 yards from scrimmage for the first time this season and thus both fell short of their high-flying projections. Denver’s shutdown defense finished with 4 fantasy points. There was a glimmer of hope, however, when San Diego’s offense produced embarrassing numbers for FOTP TE Gates and RB1 Oliver. However, MMMS was no match for FOTP’s recently acquired Minnesota Defense or the astronomical day from Jeremy Maclin (who was catching 70-yard passes from...Mark Sanchez??). Thus Flags on the Play stands alone atop the hill...for now.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?
With the win, FOTP’s magic number is now 1. One more win or one more “The Show Offs” loss this year clinches a playoff spot for Flags. MMMS’s number stays at 2, and with a win against the perpetual underachiever Winter Soldiers, we can now talk about Money Manziel’s magic number, which stands at 3 with 4 left to play. Everyone else is a dropped pass away from falling off the edge in to elimination territory.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
With the loss, Winter Soldier’s elimination number is now 1. One more loss or one more win by Papa’s Posse, IAMGROOT, and The Shotti Bunch clinches a consolation round spot for Soldier’s. PITP and BTI’s number stays at 2, and with a win against the perpetual underachiever PeytonInThePlayoffs, we can now talk about The Show Off’s elimination number, which stands at 4 with 4 left to play. The Show Off’s is a dropped pass away from throwing himself off the edge of a cliff.

THE TUMULTUOUS TRIO
With four weeks left we have three teams sitting at 5-4. Since none of these teams play each other again, there is no telling whether any of them will ever get another win, or another loss. The wild card in all of this is 7th place “The Show Offs,” who will play IAMGROOT and Papa’s Posse and undoubtedly determine who makes the playoffs and in what spot.

THE RANKINGS

1(0). Flags on the Play: Obviously the Fantasy God’s saw something several weeks ago when they decided to bump FOTP up to the number one spot in the rankings and it must have been this convincing win. It’s hard to believe that this team lost to Becky the Icebox at the start of the year. Now they are in a position where benching every one of their players every week would still result in a playoff berth. We’ll see if they can post the top score in the league for the 5th straight week.

2(0). ma ma momma said: Tough break for MMMS, who still played well enough to beat 5 of the other 8 teams in the league this week. This team would be 8-0 playing FOTP’s schedule this season. It’s not all bad, though. They have scored over 200 points in seven straight weeks, the longest active streak in the league.

3(+2). Money Manziel: Smart pick up of Dolphins defense and yet another big day from their secret weapon, who this season has outscored 7 of the players on their roster and only 1.99 less than their QB. Yes, I’m talking about Stephen Gostkowski. That’s a kicker. Though this week didn’t answer the burning question of whether they can hang in matchups with the big boys, they demolished their projection by close to 60 points.

4(-1). The Shotti Bunch: Piece of cake matchups against Becky and now WS would have TSB ready and set for a win streak, except they are entering their biggest bye week. It could not have come at a better time against a worse opponent but this has trap game written all over it. Just kidding, they’ll still kill Winter Soldiers.

5(+1). Papa’s Posse: Back to back wins against above .500 teams gets them 3 quarters of the way through their toughest month in the schedule. Their loss to FOTP in week 7 is no surprise and a loss to the #2 seeded MMMS this week wouldn’t be a shock either but with the two wins in the middle they can afford to take a hit and their last 3 weeks should be a walk in the park.

6(-1). IAMGROOT: Followed a 4 game win streak with a 2 game losing streak and they’re back fighting for their lives. Coming up next are two very tough matchups. Getting Rodgers back helps but a slew of other key players hit their byes. I’d say this team is most at risk of losing their spot this week so they will have to be on point with their substitutions.

7(0). The Show Offs: Coming in hot with the second highest score this week, those benched losses and close defeats must really be starting to haunt the team standing just outside the bubble.

8(0). Winter Soldiers: There’s really no reason why this team shouldn’t be back in 10th place this week except both teams below them scored less than 150 points and I write the damn rankings/buy the trophy at the end of the year so I can do whatever the fuck I want.

9(0). PeytoninthePlayoffs: This team has completely vanished from all discussions and trashtalk of late as they have sunken below bad in to “so terrible no one really cares that they exist.” They now play the only two teams this season that they were able to beat so there’s a chance that they will carry a much better looking 4-7 record in to week 12.

10(0). Becky the Icebox: What’s in the icebox? Bad players? Just when I started to lay off the Romo bashing for the season, Romo goes full Romo and Romos up the Cowboys season. Now who do they have that’s good? Romo is the top scorer on her roster and is the 24th highest in the league. Every other team has at least one player ranked higher than that this year.

MATCHUP OF THE WEEK

Papa’s Posse vs. ma ma momma said: In week one, MMMS won by 0.02. The season would look plenty different if PP had only started Vernon Davis. MMMS is projected to handily win but projections are meaningless and PP was just given the added bonus of another off week for Bernard, thus promoting Hill to RB1 status for tonight’s game against the Browns .