2017: Power Rankings Week 12

This next week has the potential to be a season defining one, for many reasons. We have crucial playoff match ups taking place, as well as crucial tank bowl match ups. A lot of teams hit their stride last week, and some faltered. These last 3 weeks are going to be a wild ride. Who will come out on top? Let's find out.

Power Rankings

1. Forge Flyers, 9-2 (4): Turns out, Forge Flyers weren't on the come down, they just went on holiday for a couple of weeks. Go figure. And who could blame them? With so many more wins than the rest of the division they deserved some time off. And they promptly reasserted their dominance last week, securing the division title against the only team who could stop them, and their first playoff appearance since 2011 to boot.

2. ADRZ, 7-4 (1): Confession - Ben bribed me to put ADRZ at the top, as we all know what being at the top of the power rankings does to a team. Joking aside, this is the worst week ADRZ have had in a long long time, and they still got an acceptable 84 points. While they look decidedly more shaky now than they did, I'll wait another week before I lose faith in them, they're still a good team.

3. IKSAN, 7-4 (3): Much like Coach Leach, Coach Sherwood crushed a division rivals playoff hopes in a thrilling victory last week, and now face a showdown for the division lead with ADRZ this week. Despite losing Elliott, this team is still rolling and they'll get the benefit of the doubt until otherwise. With their bye players back, they're now at full strength and have a repeat in mind.

4. Patistan, 6-5 (2): That's not how Patistan drew it up. In fact, that's the complete polar opposite of what they drew up. In a game against a struggling division rival, Coach Allen's side disappeared, a trait they've shown a few times this season. It's a concern of course, but they're good more often than not so they should recover. They face a crucial game against division rival Cash4Gould this week.

5. Burdettinators, 4-7 (7): With the byes and (most of) the injury woes out of the way, Burdettinators could be back to kicking ass and taking names. They didn't quite pull it off last week against the league leaders, but they've showed some tenacity that wasn't there the last few weeks. I'm betting on them regaining their form, and they should be able to pick some wins up to end the season. Playoffs are sadly just out of reach however.

6. Gridiron Gang, 7-4 (6): Turning in another solid week and bringing home a crucial divisional victory, Gridiron Gang now takes sole possession of the Portsmouth division - at least for a week. I'll cop to the fact they've not conceded as much as other teams, no doubt that's been a part of it, but they've also been consistently posting decent scores. They face a Father Son Bowl this week.

7. Tanky McTankface, 4-7 (5): Coach Merritt's slide hear doesn't have much to do with the team's performance. Yes they're inconsistent, but they had a great week last week, of which they're always capable of. They lost an absolute must win game against division rival IKSAN, who now moves (with ADRZ) to 3 games ahead of them in the division. They're realistically out of the playoff race, but they should be good enough to avoid the tank bowl. But the cutlery however? Stick a fork in 'em, THEY DONE.

8. Cash4Gould, 6-5 (8): Coach Gardner had a prime opportunity to seize control of the division with an epic comeback last week, but fell just short. With a fairly sizable points defect, they could have done with a W. But the season definitely isn't over, and they've had a few good weeks of late. This week against a Patistan is a must win. Let's see what the sophomore coach has up his sleeve.

9. The Southampton Narwhals, 4-7 (9, FORKED): Coach Nunn's team continues to impress me. Let's not forget, at one point in the season we were wondering if this team would set the record for losses in a season. Now, while they're in the running for the Tank Bowl, they're doing a damn fine job of trying to avoid it. The roster has its flaws, but it's not unreasonable to see a good finish from them at this point.

10. The Dream Team, 3-8 (10, FORKED): In a week where we finally saw some teeth from Coach Nathwani's side, they run into a buzz saw against division and tank bowl potential rival Southampton Narwhals. Now at 3-8, they're at high danger of featuring in the Tank Bowl this year. But the team showed grit, and they've had some decent scores the last few weeks, so there is still time for them to avoid it.

11. Tom's Tyrants, 4-7, (11, FORKED): Ok, so you all had Coach Barnes beating division leading, white hot ADRZ last week right? Right? Yeah, me neither. Tom's Tyrants is a volatile team. This is a fact. Another fact is you have no idea when they will go off. Last week was that week, and it could have been even better with Keenan Allen on the bench. Let's see if the two time champ can finish the season strong.

12. Bear Necessities, 5-6 (12, FORKED): Did I prematurely fork Coach Stubbs Sr' team? Perhaps? Perhaps not? I guess we'll find out. But there's no doubt they pulled off a great upset against division leading Patistan last week. As we've said all season long, with a stud QB in the roster this team can put up points - and that's exactly what they did led by a 37 point outing by Big Ben. There is still an outside chance at playoffs for this side.