With Thanksgiving swiftly on the horizon (not to mention the LOC Playoffs being all to far off either), what better way to celebrate the season than with the Week 11 Power Rankings! The Commish is back to write them for you this week - let's see how much I disagree with my former self! We have quite a clear playoff picture emerging, so in theory not too much...
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12. Tom's Tyrants (4-6) - down 2: Now, Coach Barnes has been a little hard done by by the timing of me writing the article this week. Coming off a week where they had the highest score, you may raise an eyebrow as to why they have now descended to the bottom. Well, whilst the Allen and Robinson blow ups were nice to see (for Tom, not for me) they can't be relied upon - and now team captain Joe Burrow will miss the rest of the season. The resurgent play of Burrow is much the reason Tom's Tyrants has had a semblance of competitiveness in most games this season - and the waiver QB market is bleak, making their rest of season prospects quite dark.
11. Buccing The Trend (1-9) - up 1: Coach Taylor is lifted off the bottom due to forces unrelated to him and his team. To make matters worse, he is now tied for the worst ever start to an LOC season (GG started 0-9 in 2018 before finally getting a win in week 10). Certainly not the side of history you want to be on. Fortunately for Coach Taylor, there are still 4 games left providing him ample opportunity to avoid setting a new worst season record of all time (2-12). The opportunity may be there, but can the team capitalise upon it? Well - they're probably going to need some luck. This team is just bereft of star talent. Tua and Smith highlight the side, but whilst they can have blow ups they arent' consistent. Jacobs and Barkley only have floor at this point, and there are some players who can contribute around this - but they also could just disappear.
10. Forge Flyers (2-8) - up 1: Another week, yet more bench points - but the QB room is remade with Howell and Murray. At what point does Chris just swap in his bench over his starters once he has made his mind up, to play into the bench points narrative? The Hunt trade should help as he has been a lock for a TD a week for over the last month, and there are still some solid players on this team which should allow them to be competitive in the last few games of the season.
9. Penninggu (3-7) - down 1: TE FC rattled off a nice win with 100 points to boot last week - however they get knocked down a peg here - similar to Tom's Tyrants, this team lost Mark Andrews for the rest of the season in the Thursday night game. This is a fairly thin team beyond the starting line-up, combined with Burrow going down and clouding the outlook of Higgins (who is missing time due to a hamstring anyway) those losses are enough of a blow to knock them down one entire sport. Prescott's recent form has buoyed them, and with also losing Watson for the season they'll need that to continue.
8. U R Gould (8-2) - up 1: Since I can't quantify the weird juju this team casts on their opponents, I place their ranking purely upon their actual roster. Otherwise they would arguably be 1 on this list. Just a reminder - circa 300 points less conceded than the highest conceding team. Yet to concede 800 points through 10 weeks (I'll let you do the math on that one). It's weird having an 8-2 team here - but I wake up each morning asking myself the same questions: what is the meaning of life? What do I want for breakfast today? How does Coach Gardner-Beddoes keep getting away with it and what shaman or witch do I need to see to obtain his aura? Anyway - back to the team itself. Look, they have a solid QB in Purdy, Brown is a stud, but beyond that it's just a lot of guys, some may have ok weeks, some may not. They've been hugely bailed out by D and kicker of late. Fields is returning, but it's hard to quantify the impact of that. If the curse doesn't continue I think they'll quickly be found out - but they're almost guaranteed a trip to the playoffs at this point.
7. IKSAN (6-4) - no change: With another crucial win this team remains in the hunt - we shouldn't be surprised at Coach & GM Sherwood's ability to keep this team sniffing around the playoffs - but it would be remiss of me to point out they are somewhat fortunate in their opposition like U R Gould, albeit to a lesser extent. Still, Mahomes, Evans and Ekeler form a nice core here - Sutton has bewilderingly been a TD machine this year, and Jones and Kirk are solid contributors. They're perilously thin behind this however - given they're currently on the outside looking in in the playoff race, they will need some things to fall their way.
6. Bear Necessities (3-7) - no change: A better week last week, but the loss streak is extended to 6. They've got off to a hot start this week however so that could change. This team is still solid, but it's not as punchy as the teams above them on this list. Mixon's outlook now becomes murky with Burrow going down. Jackson has been woefully inconsistent, as has much of the rest of the team to be honest. Robinson is being used correctly now so that's a plus, they have some options on the bench too - but the Coach just isn't giving the team the attention it needs. A shame, as this is a team that could have firmly been in the playoff race - but lucky me, they might pick this week to disrupt the playoff contenders.
5. Burdettinators (6-4) - down 1: Very much still firmly in the playoff race, it was unfortunate they had bye week hell last week otherwise they'd have likely got the W and be back to the top of the Winchester division. This team is definitely good enough to find themselves in a playoff spot come seasons end, but I think Coach Burdett will be the first to say they're not the best team in the league - but they are a good one. Outside of Hurts they just lack start power - but QB is arguably the best position to have star power. Swift is a solid option, Adams is seeing volume now which is nice, and to be honest nearly the entirety of the rest of the team are solid contributors. Despite losing 3 out of the last 4, they should definitely see some wins between now and the end of the season.
4. Great Scott (6-4) - down 1: This team can certainly lay claim to having the best group of skill position players in the league - though they will likely have a softening of that with the imminent return of Herbert affecting D'Onta Foreman, as well as the impact the Burrow injury will have on Chase - that's enough to knock them down by 1. The return of Achane clouds the Dolphins backfield too - if which Coach Scott literally owns all of except Savon Ahmed. You have to figure though he'll have at least 1, if not 2, solid to great options out of that. But truly it's the QB situation which holds this team from going any higher. It cost this team a win last week, and will continue to hold their potential back.
3. Patistan (8-2) - up 2: Sitting at 8-2 and the current occupier of the #1 seed, Coach Allen is looking good for a return to the playoffs. Despite being one of the streaming QB teams, at worse you'd have to say they're league average as Goff and Stroud are quite the combo. The skill positions are solid, and this team is about to get Justin Jefferson back - we don't know what version of JJ we will see with Dobbs, but it's hard to imagine Jefferson not being one of the starting 5 week in week out for Patistan. Don't look now, but this could be the year for Pat.
2. Gridiron Gang (6-4) - no change: The Power Rankings gods have clearly seen through my guise of refusing to put myself at number 1 and bestowed the power rankings curse onto me anyway. Just as I wrote last week that my depth situation appeared to resolve itself, the Saints decided to not use the swiss army knife Taysom Hill that was giving their offence an edge, Watson goes down affecting the outlook of Cooper, and Allen craps the bed and gets his OC fired. Further, while Monty's overall score looked nice last week, a 75 yard TD hid some sins (as well as him telling Gibbs to go in instead of him for a goal line TD). Herbert's returning workload is unclear also. But, the overall team makeup and outlook is still quite good - whilst they're in a fight for the division, providing the team continues to score well they should at worst find themselves in the point forward playoff berth.
1. The Dream Team (7-3) - no change: Coach Nathwani reigns supreme, and with each passing week I'm more and more convinced they'll win it all. In the drivers seat for the division, I think they're removing themselves from the argument of being the best team and may just be the best team. As mentioned on the pod, the boom bust, flashy nature of this team is very much there - but if 2 players go off on this team in a week that's enough to give them a good shot of winning - let alone if they all did. The bench is probably the strongest in the league to underpin the rest of the team as well. Unless something out of the blue happens to them I don't see them being unseated for the 1 spot here.
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And there you have it - as I thought, not much wholesale change but a little bit of movement here and there. With fewer and fewer weeks remaining to the playoffs, after this week we may have more clarity on playoffs - as we will firmly start to see what the race for divisions and wildcards become. Good luck all!
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