Commissioner Power Rankings - Week 5

Commissioner Power Rankings (Commish)
#1

I have to say, most of you are not making these rankings easy week in and week out. Ian A goes along to get the second lowest score this week while Alex is top-3 and loses. None of that compares to the fact that our very own Andrew Ventura, yes the guy whose tag is BUTT in our league, scored the highest total points of any week we’ve ever played in fantasy football since our start in 2014. There are no guarantees in this game, it’s why we love it, but this week as much as ever I feel like these rankings are going to be a hot mess. This league is so competitive and every team has a means to victory, but I have to try. Let’s see what we can do:

WEEK 5 POWER RANKINGS

  1. TEAM DYNASTY - @IanC . Onward we march. Not a lot of great matchups this week, but this is the most fair spot. (Last Week’s Rank:1. Weeks at #1: 2)

  2. Santa Barbara Sailors - @jonathan . If we were solely using the “points for” category (one that I utilize a fair amount with these rankings), this team would actually rank 5th and as such is middle-of-the-pack. For two consecutive weeks, this team has been a bottom-half scoring team and pulled off a victory due to its league-leading 418.3 points against. To put into perspective, the next team has 459.5 points against (41.2 pt difference) and the team with the most PA has 590.6 (172.3 pt difference). So yes, this is technically the luckiest team in the league (and Mike is the unluckiest), but that luck combined with Cam, Antonio, and Odell is a good place to be. Jordan Howard may be the feature-back for Chicago (RBs have been this team’s weakness) and Kelvin Benjamin is showing up. In all fairness, this team should be lower, but I got to call it like I see it. (Last Week’s Rank: 2. Weeks at #2: 2)

  3. All Aboard the Wentz Wagon - @chasenrogers . This team is reaping the benefit of the mess that is spots 3-10. There is any argument to put five or six teams in this spot. But here I am placing Chasen here. The keys here are Marvin Jones and Larry Fitzgerald really showing up this season, giving this team great consistency from its receivers. Emmanuel Sanders is the #11 WR and is his worst starting receiver. Add in that Zach Miller is getting fed in Chicago (someone has to, right?) and Edelman has Brady throwing again gives this team great upside. I think the WRs maintain their upside. Are the RBs a little scary here? Yes, yes they are. If the WRs don’t show up, this team could easily trend down given the competition in this league, but for today, I’m putting Chasen here. (Last Week’s Rank:6. Trending UP 3)

  4. Mr. Hemingway I Presume - @gbhart . This team only has big games (either for or against them). They are 3rd in PF and 4th in PA and yet find themselves 4th in the standings currently (did you realize that a 2-3 record is FOURTH in our league?). This team is tenacious and we have to recognize that it’s running backs are carrying it through tough competition. Three Top-10 RBs are on this team. We will continue to see what Blount’s workload is with Brady’s return however. As for the WRs, Hopkins is always a threat, but things aren’t clicking properly in Houston and Torrey Smith isn’t looking so great. There are some some bench players that can work as WR3, but it’s definitely an area keeping this team from being top-tier. (Last Week’s Rank: 4. Weeks at #4: 2)

  5. A Bottomless Pitta - @ianamunrud . 2nd lowest score last week. No A-Rob, but this team has the players to substitute without much loss. The roster LOOKS fine, and I am just as confident this team is going to the playoffs as I’ve ever been. I do have to give a bump down for performance lately. This team is bottom-4 in PF, but these facts remain: they are starting three 1st-string RBs (only a few teams in the league have that) and have three top-20 projected WRs week in and week out. I expect a win this week. There’s too much to work with here for any other result. (Last Week’s Rank: 3. Trending DOWN 2)

  6. The Boys Are Back In Town - @ventura . What a week for this team! Every dog has his day and every team has their week and last week was this team’s week. No one would have stopped them. Not just no one last week, but no one ANY WEEK EVER since our league started. This team was counting TDs like Trump counts dollar bills. What can we take away from last week? Ezekiel Elliot is the real deal and Martellus Bennett gets a YUGE bump with Brady back. I do, however, want to temper expectations. Theo Riddick, yes THEO RIDDICK got 20 points this past week as Bennett secures THREE touchdowns and Cameron Artis-Payne finds the endzone TWICE filling in at RB. His kicker? 5 field goals and ended the day with TWENTY THREE points. Keep an eye on this team week-to-week to see how everything plays out, but I think there are more Markus Wheatons than Ezekiel Elliots here. Ride that hype train though, because this team is on pace for playoffs at this point! (Last Week’s Rank :8. Trending UP 2)

  7. Brandon McManus - @mikeastock . Maybe if I put this team down here it will start winning. I’ve been a stubborn Mike believer for two years now and I’m not stopping yet. Know why? Because this team is 4th in the league in PF. That’s right, this team has scored more than Jon, Chasen, and Amunrud. This team is put here for being unlucky, plain and simple. Well, that and Mike Evans is out this week, but those are just details. There’s really not much more to say. This team should have more wins than it does. A matchup against Jon this week will be interesting given that “luck” factor. I don’t expect a win for this team, but if it can pull it off (it HAS scored more points than Jon’s team after all), then we can start talking about contending again. (Last Week’s Rank: 5. Trending DOWN 2)

  8. WIENERS Ep. 1 - Phantom Wiener - @Alex . Oh what a difference Tom Brady makes. This week’s 3rd highest score really shows how much elite players make a difference. Brady and David Johnson accounted for 51.11% of this team’s score last week - a score that would have beat most teams in our league. Gronk and Hogan received quality scores for having the guy from the Uggs ad back as well. The Patriots-focused team can roll forward as usual, relying on it’s QB for success and failure. If that fails, this team currently only has David Johnson (fantasy’s #1 RB) and Crabtree (#6 WR) to lean on. That to say, this team isn’t done winning games this year, it’s just boom-or-bust as per usual. I suppose it’s worked so far. (Last Week’s Rank: 10. Trending UP 2)

  9. East of Sneaden - @PaulDawg . Numbers dictate that I can’t really move this team anywhere from last week, but Paul got the most important part of the week right - his team pulled off a victory. This team is tied with literally half of the league with a 2-3 record and as such is in the thick of things. Ben Roethlisberger loves having all of his weapons available in Pittsburgh and Tevin Coleman is starting to look like a reliable RB play. Alshon Jeffrey or Arian Foster need to step things up if this team wants to continue its ascension however. This team is dead last in our league in PF by just under 40 points. (Last Week’s Rank: 9. Weeks at #9: 2)

  10. Starting to pass round here - @awmelman . This team is not composed of last-place material, but our league isn’t your average fantasy league. This team is bottom-3 in PF and is coming off being low-score this past week. At this point, Melvin Gordon is the only top-5 player at his position and he and A-Rodg are the only players in the top-10 of their position (Rodgers being the number 10 QB). Jordan Howard is running the ball well, so there are questions on Langford’s role when he is healthy again. I also legitimately have no clue what’s going on with Chris Ivory. Will Fuller V looks to get back into top-10 discussion with a trip to Indy this week and Jimmy Graham wants to keep his tear going against a meh Falcons D/ST. This team has the tools to win, they just need to all come together during the same week. (Last Week’s Rank: 7. Trending DOWN 3)

You guys, this was genuinely the hardest week of power rankings yet. Everyone’s team has a chance to win and nothing is guaranteed. I wish you all the best of luck this week as we meet at BUFFALO WILD WINGS and spend time together as a league. : )
I love you all.
Blessings,
Commish