We’re past the halfway point of the regular season and the league continues to be a competitive one with the standings packed in. The last place team is only 3 games behind first place and just 1 game and PF difference out of playoffs. Who is going to be make a run for it in the back half of the season? So many variables! So many predictions! And six playoff contenders when it’s done, but there is a lot of football left : )
And awayyyyyyy we go!
Week 8 Power Rankings
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TEAM DYNASTY - @IanC . I don’t like putting myself here, but none of my starters from last week are on BYE which provides an advantage. Currently highest in PF and PA. Dad-Mode Ventura ended my streak of 100+PA so I can’t complain about that anymore, but there’s still a 108.3 PA/week avg. Tough matchup against Jon this week though. (Last Week’s Rank: 2. Trending UP 1)
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Santa Barbara Sailors - @jonathan . One would imagine the loss of OBJ would have a greater impact on a team. But here Jon is, in first place and 2nd in PF in our league. Alex Smith QB1. Kareem Hunt RB2. Jordan Howard RB8. Antonio Brown WR1. Rams D/ST2. Jason Witten TE6. It’s all pretty standard stuff for this team. (Last Week’s Rank: 1. Trending DOWN 1)
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San Francisco Eagles - @awmelman . Tough loss this week. Top half score against a top-3 score. I feel your pain. Two of Melton’s losses have occurred when he has scored over 100 and a third loss was by 0.8 points. Despite this bad luck (including the loss of Rodgers), Melton is third in the league in PF with a Top 10 RB (Gordon) Top 10 WR (Hill) and Top 10…Kicker (Hauschka). What’s also here is McKinnon who I think continues to lead the Minnesota backfield and Mark Ingram who is coming off of 25 and 17 fantasy points in his past two weeks. There are some players trending in the right direction and Melton is one of the few teams to lose a top 10 QB and have a top 10 QB to replace him with in Kirk “You Like That” Cousins. (Last Week’s Rank: 4. Trending UP 1)
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(AJ) Green CARRd - @ianamunrud . That 110 point week though. Some of you may be curious why I have the team that is 7th in PF so high up on the power rankings. Player matchups and bye weeks my friend. Matchups and bye weeks. While some teams are putting in players from their benches this week, team CARRd only has to sub out his kicker. Granted it is K1, but still! Ajayi, Green, D. Thomas, Kelce, and Mixon all face 28th or worse defenses in terms of their respective positions. It’s basically matchup heaven for this team this week (minus Hyde). (Last Week’s Rank: 7. Trending UP 3)
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Brady is Bae and Bae is life - @Alex . Currently 5th in PF, but coming off a week in which they scored the 3rd lowest points in the league. This week finds Alex with some unfavorable matchups on his team. New England is hosting the Chargers so I’m thinking they either score early and fast or they have to grind out points very slowly against good edge rushers who put pressure on Brady. That said, this team has all its starters in this week too, so they are a top-5 pick. (Last Week’s Rank: 6. Trending UP 1)
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All Aboard the Wentz Wagon - @chasenrogers . The standings are reward enough for a team that is the 6th highest score in the league this week but finds itself in second place in the standings. Just barely edging out Alex for the win, Chasen’s team has wiggle room heading into the back half of the season and is looking like a playoff spot is nearly locked. Currently 6th in PF, this team has Fitz and the Cardinals D on bye this week, which lowers them a bit. Wentz is showing all the doubters what he can do (QB2), but the rest of the team is going to have to find ways to step up. Can Murray run all over Cleveland in London like he did to Baltimore? Is Douggy B up for the task to get another TD? And DAN BAILEY! Definitely some bumps and bruises for this team. Fournette on bye may actually be really good for this team in the long run, but for now it takes RB3 out of his lineup for a second straight week as well. (Last Week’s Rank: 5. Trending DOWN 1)
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Kicker = High Score - @ventura . Zeke showed up. 39.9 points against the Niners. Drew Brees rocked a 19.1 against the Packers. The rest of the starters? All below 4.9 save the defense. The good news is that this team is mostly unaffected by bye weeks this week, but is currently 8th in PF, so by my quick calculations, it should be another so-so week. Keep getting those Zeke points while you can! (Last Week’s Rank: 10. Trending UP 3)
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Hemingway’s Horde - @gbhart . Tyrod Taylor was the team last week with a stellar 20 points. This week, he has a good matchup against Oakland. However, the Titans are on bye, so no Murray or Henry, which hurts the team. The rest of the starters are all available however, so there are good opportunities for points. Hopkins is off bye, but goes to Seattle, so we’ll have to keep an eye on how that unfolds. Almost all the other starts are great matchups (22nd+ defense against positions). (Last Week’s Rank: 8. Weeks at #8: 2)
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Mack n Cheesin’ ALL DAY - @PaulDawg . This team exploded for 105.5 this past week! It was awesome to see Kenny Stills throw down with the Dolphins and the Jags D continuing to dominate the position.How dominant? 22 points above the next team kind of dominant. I was stoked to take this team up the rankings this week, but then bye week happened. AP’s out. Hurns is out. Engram is out. Succop is out (but Lutz is a baller). And THE JAGS D is out. Nnnooooo. But good news: Eagles D faces SF. Stefon Diggs should be good to play in London. Alshon gets the Niners secondary. James White is James White. I could see this team pulling off another win and finding themselves climbing these rankings and the standings in no time with AP back in the fold. (Last Week’s Rank: 9. Weeks at #9: 3)
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Brandon McManus - @mikeastock . I thought I was putting this team somewhere in the top 6 this week (they are 4th in PF) and then I reviewed the roster and holy bye week batman! The Packers are on bye (J. Nelson, D. Adams), The Titans are on bye (Decker), the Giants are on bye (Darkwa), and the Rams are on bye (Gurley). I then realized if Jordan Matthews is still hurt, that Terrance Williams is starting and the team needs to go to the waiver wire for another WR. This rating is entirely because of the bye week / bench depth. In regards to last weeks performance: who would have thought that the team that has Aaron Rodgers is not the team affected most by Rodgers’ injury? We’ll be keeping an eye on the Green Bay pass-catchers. How they fair with Hundley coming out of the bye next week plays a huge role in this team’s success going forward. (Last Week’s Rank: 3. Trending DOWN 7)
That’s it for this week. As always, I love you guys and hope each and every one of you has an amazing week. I’ve been craving wings and beer the past few weeks - BWW is less than a month away!!
Blessings.