Week 8 Power Rankings

[Matt Cella]

Hey guys.  Unfortunately my week for power rankings has come on a bit of a hectic week for me, so I 

have elected to skip the theme portion.  I just don’t have the time this week.  What you can expect is a 

lot of self-deprecation regarding my awful team.

There’s Something About Murray:

Generally speaking, in our league we usually see the team with the most points scored against them 

somewhere near the middle to bottom of the pack, for understandable reasons.  Surprisingly, Seth’s 

team is in first place in spite of being most scored against, which says something regarding the quality of 

his team.  With regularly solid performances from DeAndre Hopkins and Carson Palmer, and a sneaky 

pickup of Gary Barnidge (the only redeeming player on the Browns) before he blew up, Seth has a 

consistently high scoring team, and excellent position moving into the latter end of the season.  We’ll 

see if he’s able to hold Jack at bay this week with 5 players on bye. 

The MAshers

On the back of a solid outing from Alshon Jeffery and Cam Newton, The MAshers have toppled Fuzzy 

Donlop from his first place perch.   Matt and Asher have great depth on their bench and are in a firm 

second place, only trailing Seth by 23 points.  As long as their players stay healthy, I’m predicting the 

MAshers to be one of the teams to beat moving into the playoffs in a few weeks.

Los Pollos Hermanos

The past 5 weeks have seen the meteoric rise of Jeff’s team from last place into third, and tied for the 

best record.  This is partially due to Jeff having the second least points scored against him, but that 

doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s got an all-star team with Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman 

leading the pack.  Incidentally, I could have kept Freeman as my late round keeper, but I decided to go 

with Davante Adams instead.  That decision hasn’t haunted me at all.  

Jeff trails behind Seth and the MAshers in total points by a decent amount, but his team’s potential is 

easily seen based on their dominating performance from this past week.  If his team stays consistent, 

Jeff is likely a shoe-in for the playoffs.  Whether he can squeak by into the top two spots in the league is 

yet to be seen.

Fuzzy Dunlop

Kevan’s team has the lowest total score of the 5-3 teams, the seventh overall, and he’s also had the 

fewest points scored against him.  However, if not for a one point loss last week to Drew, Kevan would 

still be in first place.  Most of his players are in the middle of the pack in their respective positions, but 

he does have both the first and second ranked QBs.   One or two big games from some of his players 

could get him a spot in the playoffs.  Also, he plays me this week, so he’s likely to get his sixth win there 

since my team apparently couldn’t find points even if they were stapled to their facemasks.

Finger Luckin’ Suckin.

Drew had a rough time of it this week against Jeff’s team, but overall he’s still in good shape.  He has the 

third highest total score and consistent starters, although he lacks some depth on his bench, especially 

with Forte out for what may be a few weeks.  Between that and the remaining bye weeks, I expect he 

may struggle to break out of the .500 range, but that may be all he needs to do to secure a spot in the 

playoffs.  Also, based on the completely arbitrary pattern of his wins and losses, he should be expecting 

a win this week, so he has that going for him.

Seriously WTF?!

Jack is very solidly in the middle of the pack right now.  Average points, average points against, average 

record.  No real high scoring weeks, maybe one real low scoring week.  All this would generally indicate 

a possible 5-6 place ranking going into the playoffs.  However, he has Seth, Matt and Asher, Drew, and 

Kevan as four of his last five games.  Jacks going to need some serious luck or a couple of good waiver 

wire pickups to give him the push he’ll need to survive against a packed schedule. 

QB Browns

There’s really no reason why I should be 4-4 right now.  I’ve got the lowest total points, even lower than 

Cella, and second most points scored against me, just barely less than Seth.  I have basically no depth on 

the bench, and Marshawn Lynch has been a bit of a fantasy bust this year.  Most of my potential high 

scorers on a week to week basis are so inconsistent that I have essentially no idea who to play.  I’m fairly 

certain I’ll be in the bottom couple spots by the end of the season.

Ronald McDonald

I think Ron’s team might be a dark horse in the last several weeks.  His team has been mostly average 

with a few high scoring games, and he caught some bad luck with Charles going down, but I think he has 

potential to squeak back into top six before playoffs especially with Charcandrick West on the roster.  

He’s got Cella and me on the schedule, and if he can beat Jack in a couple weeks, I think he’ll have a 

good shot.  Ron has seven players on bye this week, but he’s also playing the last place team, so that’s 

probably as good a time as any for that matchup.

You’re Killing Me Smalls

Bob had a bad break against Seth two weeks ago, but ultimately a win that week likely wouldn’t have 

mattered overall.  Bob’s scored the third fewest points, and even having the third fewest points scored 

against him, he’s still currently in ninth.  Lacy has been wildly mediocre for being the top draft pick, and 

despite having a lot of big names on the team, no one else is really shining this year.  Bob’s also got four 

of the five top teams to play over the next five weeks and realistically he’d probably need to score like 

he did against Seth in order to have a shot at a playoff berth.

The Konami Code

Cella’s team has actually been remarkably consistent over the past four weeks putting up close to 100 

points each week.  If it wasn’t for a couple of close losses, he’d be in much better position, even with a 

low total score.  He doesn’t have much depth, but his starters have a lot of fantasy potential which 

might earn him a few more wins over the next several weeks.  Unfortunately, I don’t think his team has 

the chops to win out for the rest of the season, which is probably what he’d need to do to squeeze into 

the top 6.