Three weeks left in the regular season. All six playoff spots up for grabs. ZERO teams eliminated from playoff contention. Such has been this fantasy year. No long intro about the season though, we’ll get to the rankings fairly quickly. Pretty much any combination in our rankings is valid at this point. I think the argument could be made for three+ different #1 teams and every team could be top 7 depending on how you angle it.
Right before we do the numbers: BUFFALO WILD WINGS WEEK IS FINALLY HERE!!!
I’m very excited : )
Now where were we…
Week 11 Power Rankings
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Brady is Bae and Bae is Life - @Alex . Well look who it is. This bizare combination of players is one of the top teams in the league and Tom Brady is heading back to the bay to play an Oakland team that has been generous to opposing QBs. Adam Thielen and Golden Tate have been some of the most consistent receivers in a position that has been up-and-down all year. All of Alex’s usual non-FLEX starters are within the top 18 of their respective position. It’s that kind of consistency that Alex has used to find success this year. Hungry for both a playoff spot and a bye week, they head to an ex-roommate battle against Ventura. (Last Week’s Rank: 4. Trending UP 3)
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Hurry Up and MOVE TO SB - @awmelman . By hitting high score in week 10, Andrew Melton has tied a league record for most weeks as top score in a season. Jon C and Ian C both were high score 4 times in 2015 and 2016 respectively and with one-more high score week, Melton would be in sole possession of that record in our first four years as a league. I speak about WR volatility later on, but I will point out that a TD in 3 consecutive games has put Smith-Schuster in the top 20 of WRs on the year. Robby Anderson is on bye this week, but is currently WR7. Tyreek is WR4, Jimmy G TE5. With two top-6 RBs, and a top-8 QB, this team is right in the thick of the playoff race. They’re less than 7 points out of first in PF and they’ve earned a spot towards the top of the power rankings this week. (Last Week’s Rank: 7. Trending UP 5)
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Santa Barbara Sailors - @jonathan . The resurgence of Cam Newton led the way for the Sailors this past week. Jon now has QB3 and QB4 for the year on his roster. Kareem Hunt is coming off bye ready to run against a beatable Giants defense. Jordan How… wait a second. Every single starting player except one is in the green for matchups this week. The only one not there is Marqise Lee facing a middle-of-the-road Cleveland secondary. This team has had its bumps and bruises, but has not lost effectiveness (3rd in PF). They’re going to want that matchup glory, because they’re facing a Melton squad coming off of top score for the week. The playoffs are all but guaranteed for this team, but they are out to win and secure the bye week that they think is theirs. (Last Week’s Rank: 3. Weeks at #3: 2)
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TEAM DYNASTY - @IanC . It was a bad week 9 in so many ways. Not only are Freeman and Aaron Jones out for possibly extended time, but the scores and setups of other starters aren’t looking as great as they could heading into week 10. Still in first in PF and PA (now a point of pride for this team), most of the starters matchups are “in the red” this week. Now that I’ve bumped this team down the rankings and spoken bad about it, I would like to take some time to brag about this team : ) . This team had not scored less than 95.6 all year going into week 10. Four losses on the year and only once under 95 points (only twice under 100). To put into perspective how bad this past week was for this team, in 2016, this team was under 102 points ONLY ONCE (90.7). To find the last time this team scored under 90 points you have to go to WEEK 2 OF 2015 (a week they won 77.9-70.2 with a negative D/ST). It’s been over two years since the last sub 90 point score. If we don’t count the last week of the 2014 season (a game I didn’t check my roster because the third place game didn’t count then), there are only two other sub 90 scores: weeks 2 and 5 of the 2014 season. I say all these things because we can never predict what’s going to happen next. For all I know, my team will keep trending in the wrong direction. In light of that, I want to be thankful for the success I’ve had - and I will hope for a bounce back game in this glorious BWW week ahead for us! (Last Week’s Rank: 1. Trending DOWN 3)
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No Time to Run or Hyde - @ianamunrud . The fantasy schedule accidentally gave the wrong Ian the tough matchup this week. It’s never fun being a top-5 score and losing in fantasy, but there was a weird past connection with this week’s 109.3-123 loss to Melton. Take it back to week 7: Ian A beats Melton 110.1-102.4. Ian A was the third best score that week and Melton was the fifth. So these two teams have had their close matchups before… Snap back to reality and this team is 6th in PF but trending the right way in terms of scoring points. They’ve been 105+ in three of four weeks. Carr and Cooper have good (fantasy) matchups against the Patriots. AJ Green is WR3, Kelce TE1, Lions D/ST4, and Ian’s new boy Greg Zuerlein is the #1 kicker in fantasy. Zuerlein in perspective? Better than EVERY WIDE RECEIVER in fantasy this year so far. That’s right, DeAndre Hopkins is 1.7 points behind Zurlein. GZ would be QB 16 and RB5, and is beating all D/STs and TEs. In fact, Zurlein is 36.4 points above Kelce. FLEX kickers, eh? (Last Week’s Rank: 2. Trending DOWN 3)
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This no Fun(chess) - @chasenrogers . Carson Wentz is back. Will the bye week have helped his preparation or will it have slowed down his momentum? Facing a Zeke-less and Sean Lee-less Cowboys team, his odds are pretty good. Speaking of Dallas, the RBs didn’t look good, but at least the tell that Morris is the guy and McFadden is not was helpful this past week. Did Latavius Murray just become the guy in Minnesota? He’s had two good outings in his last three games. Fournette is RB7 and locked in. Fitz and Jones Jr. have the exact same point total after 10 weeks and are good starts at WR12. This week matters a lot for this team. They’ve lost three in a row and face off against a newly stoked Paul squad. I think this week will show us if this is a playoff squad or not. (Last Week’s Rank: 5. Trending DOWN 1)
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Mack n Cheesin’ ALL DAY - @PaulDawg . I gotta give respect to the guy that BEATS ME TWICE in two games this year. Props to you man! Though that is not reason enough to move up, but two legitamite bell-cow RBs this week is. Freeman is trending to not play, so Coleman will have a lot of volume albeit against a tough Seahawks team, but their secondary will be weaker and the Falcons should have an easier time moving the ball than if Sherman was playing. Alshon is also back in and has had an extra week to prepare with Wentz for a beatable Dallas secondary. Evan Engram is TE4 in case you missed it. Jags D still #1 and we’ll throw in K3 for good measure. Can this team pull off the miraculous and make the playoffs? They completed the first step last week with the win. The need two wins in three games to stay in the running and if they win all three they are guaranteed a spot! (Last Week’s Rank: 9. Trending UP 2)
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Brandon McManus - @mikeastock . It needs to be pointed out that Mike’s best WR last week caught ONE BALL and scored nearly 20% of his team’s points. The Hundley-led Packers host Baltimore this week and Todd Gurley faces the hardest D/ST against RBs this year in Minnesota. It’s going to be an uphill climb for the once top-ranked McManus team. The good news? Russell Wilson is your QB1 and fantasy’s top scorer after 10 weeks. The guy has been working without a run game and the fantasy numbers have been great because of it. (Last Week’s Rank: 6. Trending DOWN 2)
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Hemingway’s Horde - @gbhart . The WRs not named Hopkins are a mess, but Hopkins was able to get 11 points with Tom Savage under center, so who knows what’s possible. Here’s why this team is out of the 10 spot: I think Alvin Kamara and DeMarco Murray are in for a good week. Also, you can’t pass on the Jaguars, so Duke Johnson should be a stable play as well this week. We shall see how this team fares with three weeks left. (Last Week’s Rank: 10. Trending UP 1)
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I Need One TD Dance - @ventura . Am I mad for putting last week’s 3rd best score in the 10 spot? You bet! The matchups are good, but the players have not been performing this year (bottom 4 in PF. but 8/10 of those weeks, this team had Zeke). This team is coming off a great win, but most of the points came from one player. Add a TD for the flier TE and it looks hard to replicate. Here’s the deal: Jamaal Williams might be the guy that breaks through this week. If he and Kenyan Drake establish roles in the RB vacancies on their respective NFL teams, this squad can get those 2 wins to guarantee a playoff spot. This is easily the strongest #10 ranking I’ve ever given. Also, I wanted to point out how fickle the WR position has been this year. Robert Woods is WR8 after his last two games of 19 and 29.1 points. Before that, he had one game of 7.5 or more and two games under 2 points. That’s the kind of player in the top 10 at WR this year. It’s been an extremely volatile position. (Last Week’s Rank: 8. Trending DOWN 2)
I don’t need to add any more because you all know that WINGS AND BEER AND FOOTBALL AND FRIENDSHIP are in store for our weekend. I love you all and hope you find peace and joy in the week ahead.
Blessings.