2017 Week 5 Power Rankings
THE LEAGUE
Week Five Official Power Rankings
Week Four Scores:
Jack…51.1 vs. Brandon…107.7
Alex…131.9 vs. Kendall…74.5
Kyle…71.2 vs. Riley…108.2
Josh…102.5 vs. Bryce…100.9
Trevor…107 vs. Julian…78
POWER RANKINGS
Trevor
Brandon
Alex
Kyle
Riley
Josh
Bryce
Kendall
Jack
Julian
WEEKLY REVIEW
Trevor- Trevor pulls ahead in a two-horse race, the likes of which I have never seen before. With both parties averaging over 105 PPG (11 more than third place) and the only loss coming at the hands of the other, both teams have shown dominance. Despite being behind in the scoring race, Trevor gets the edge this week after a balanced effort gave him the W against Julian. As bye weeks take effect, Trevor has pieced together a lineup for this week that is considerably less impressive than his standard. With Le’Veon Bell heating up 5-0 is hard to see from here.
Brandon- Brandon falls to number two this week but his team has not missed a step. After annihilating me in an embarrassing rout, Brandon moved to 3-1 and sits comfortably in a playoff position. Although Rodgers and Jordy covered the difference this week, Kareem Hunt’s quiet descent from astronomical scoring takes away some of Brandon’s firepower, which is why he slipped in the rankings. Seemingly unbothered by bye week blues, Brandon’s lineup has the highest projected score and should cruise in week five.
Alex- Proving to be the dark horse of the season so far, Alex’s team scored a 2017 League high 132 points in week four behind great QB play, an impressive slew of receivers, and Zeke the Freak. Alex has won the last three in a row, averaging an impressive 105.2 PPG in that span, making his week one L to yours truly look more like a fluke than anything. Subbing Sterling Sheppard for Michael Thomas is a step back, but dropping Emmanuel Sanders from the lineup will help. With a matchup against Kyle in week five, this is Alex’s chance to get some separation and make the leap to the top tier.
Kyle- 4, 5, 6 was some of the hardest ranking I have had to do but here we go. Kyle flopped against Riley this week falling to 2-2 and moving out of the top three. Aside from Fournette and Ertz, Kyle’s entire lineup failed him making the team’s future something of concern. Luckily though, a big trade this week landed him with Antonio Brown, who should score more than his other receivers (3 and 3.1 in week five) and balance out his lineup. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt for this week’s loss because he changed his lineup, but this week against Alex it’s expose or be exposed.
Riley- A solid win moves Riley up the rankings this week after scoring a season high 108.2 over Kyle. My issue with it was a rare 25.1 point showing by Lamar Miller and an unlikely 22 spot by the Seattle defense. This is Miller’s first time putting up double digits this season and a defense this strong typically lacks consistency. Nonetheless, Riley sits at a pretty 2-2 with his future in his own hands. He’s a piece of shit for picking up Jameis and Deshaun but you heard it first in the podcast and he knows what he’s doing. Hustlers gotta hustle.
Josh- With a lower PPG and a lower score this week, Josh sits right behind Riley in the thick of things. Josh broke triple digits for the first time this season after Captain Kirk did his thing on Monday night, and yes, we all like that. As Le’Veon becomes what he should have always been and Josh’s new lineup showing considerably more balance, Josh seems to have read and reacted to get where he needs to be. In the end the slow start will be forgotten and I do not see Josh looking back. The dude watches too much football to lose.
Bryce- After a subpar start to the season, Bryce has scored triple digits two weeks in a row, skyrocketing his PPG to a competitive 9th place. It seems that his acquisition of Jordan Howard is continuing to payoff and his team is rolling. A close loss to Josh sets him back to 1-3, but recent stats show Bryce is the same caliber as the 2-2 bunch. Going forward it seems that Bryce’s team is top heavy, with the QB and RBs carrying the load which could prove to be an issue especially on bye weeks. Even though he is showing promise, a loss to Kendall this week in a must win matchup would make him 1-4, a hole seemingly too deep for anyone.
Kendall- My advice to Kendall is to not give up. For whatever reason, teams like to shit on him, a quantifiable 10 points more on average than the next guy. Although he is 1-3, Kendall is actually 6th in scoring, right behind Riley and ahead of Josh and I with 83.8 PPG. There was not much he could do this week against Alex’s whopping 132, but he only scored 74.5 with the help of the Cowboys -5 point contribution. The good news, and why Kendall is ahead of me, is that he finessed the fuck out of Brandon mid game this week by selling Dalvin Cook’s corpse for a playable Demarco Murray. Adding this weapon to the consistent Brady and explosive Diggs helps his chances in a loser goes home match against Bryce in week five.
Jack- After an extremely disappointing week, flashbacks from 2015 haunt me as my team posted a sad 51 points. Following the second week in a row of losing with what I thought was a solid lineup, I was at a loss as to what moves I needed to make. Luckily the decision was taken out of my hands as 5 bye weeks and 2 injuries decimated my roster. I traded with Kyle in what was more or less a must do move, and I picked up half the players on my waiver list, just enough to mend together a lineup. This week does not look promising, then again, I thought last week did. Assuming Ty is limited at best, it will take a team effort to beat Riley, but 3-2 would be nice.
Julian- Is it weird that I still trust the process? Julian’s team has fallen behind both in the standings and statistics, but at the end of the day it is fantasy football right? Julian has players familiar with scoring big points, but he also has holes at various positions. For him to win it would take a big outing from at least two of his guys to make up the difference, which is possible, but hardly repeatable. I would not count Julian out of any one game, but I would not count him in the bigger picture at this point.
THE PLAYOFF PICTURE
*The playoff picture takes into account current records, trends, rosters, remaining schedule, and power rankings to predict who will make the playoffs after week 13.
Who’s in?
Trevor
Brandon
Alex
Josh
Kyle
Riley
Who’s out?
Bryce
Jack
Kendall
Julian