Week 3 Power Rankings
Week 3 Power Rankings
Tier 1
1- Cooper Troopers (3-0) [-]
Tier 2
2- MN Moose Knuckles (3-0) [+4]
3- $traight Cash Homie (2-1) [-1]
4- Las Cabras (2-1) [-1]
5- SG Choppers (2-1) [-1]
6- Wait ‘Til Next Year (2-1) [+1]
7- The Pullies (2-1) [-2]
Tier 3
8- Ornery Otters (1-2) [-]
9- DTC Porkchop Express (0-3) [-]
10- Win’s Up Doc (0-3) [+1]
11- Sporty Strauss (1-2) [+1]
12- The BamOs (0-3) [-3]
WEEK 1 RESULTS
Cooper Troopers (1) 117pts OVER DTC Porkchop Express (9) 101pts
MN Moose Knuckles (2) 170pts OVER $traight Cash Homie (3) 118pts
Las Cabras (4) 116pts OVER Win’s Up Doc (10) 109pts
SG Choppers (5) 126pts OVER The Pullies (7) 105pts
$traight Cash Home (2) 139pts OVER The BamO’s (10) 99pts
Wait ‘Til Next Year (6) 114pts OVER Ornery Otters (8) 94pts
(Tier 1) After Jack lost this week, the Cooper Troopers (1) stand alone as the top team in the league. But there are a few causes of concern, chiefly running back. D’Andre Swift clearly isn’t healthy, but Jamaal Williams is sitting on the bench ready to plug in. And if Tua did indeed get concussed, the turnaround to TNF at Cincy might be too much to ask for (and next week’s opponent has Teddy on their bench). This is clearly the best team in the league, but he’ll have a matchup against another contender this week.
(Tier 2) Las Cabras (4) is that contender, but there are running back concerns here as well. Montgomery could miss some time, and Javonte isn’t getting enough work either. Trev and Jordan’s FLEX spot has already been struggling, but Las Cabras hstill ave the current best chance to win the #Shepherd Goods Division. Beating the Cooper Troopers this week would only further that expectation (and potentially make them a fave for a BYE).
The Shepherd Goods Choppers (5) completed what could be their biggest victory this season over The Pullies (7). For both teams, 2-1 in that division is completely acceptable, and they each have a clear path to contention. For the Choppers with Renfrow concussed, it does show that Dye really needs a few more pieces of depth. But he has a high floor and a high ceiling and is a tough matchup each and every week.
The Pullies (7) were clearly exposed as pretenders this week with the aforementioned loss to the Choppers. So far this season, they caught Las Cabras in week 1 with a lucky win and then beat Oat’s hapless franchise. Peter and Eric are simply too reliant on luck and the few top players on their team. Breece Hall has been okay, but he’s not living up to the billing of a #1 overall football pick. And they are also far too at risk of bad Carson Wentz (or Mayfield) games. Then there’s the Thielen/Jefferson factor. With both of those Vikings in The Pullies lineup every week, they are both too reliant on Kirk Cousins to not Kirk Cousins and limited by the fact taht only one of them can really have a good game. The ceiling for this #Shepherd Goods Division team just isn’t there right now, and they should be expected to slip in the race sooner rather than later (perhaps this week).
Wait ‘Til Next Year (6) has won two straight games since the Austin Ekeler trade. He’s in win-now mode, ready to pounce if the Cooper Troopers ever falter in that division. With some injuries, his QB depth is paying off right. He’ll still have 3 starting QBs even with Mac Jones potentially hitting IR. The Justin Herbert lingering injury is still just a bit scary for the long-term prognosis. But Kyle is just never going to be an easy out, and this upcoming matchup will dictate a lot of where this season goes.
Near the top of Tier 2 is $traight Cash Homie (3) who still have one of the best teams in the league. But the MN Moose Knuckles (2) just put the absolute SMACK DOWN on him. Now, Hall somehow has a top-2 team in the league by all metrics (FantasyPros, points, commish, etc). And it’ll only get better with David Montgomery’s injury and Khalil Herbert’s – a former Moose Knuckles benchwarmer’s – ascension. There’s no reason that Herbert has to hand his job back to Montgomery if he plays well. And if Pickett ever sees the field this year, the sky is the limit for Hall and his League of Leagues season.
(Tier 3) The Ornery Otters (8) are closer to the bottom of the league than the top. Whilst some of the top players (JT, McLaurin, Goedert and AJ Brown) are both excellent win-now AND dynasty players, there are questions about a lot of the receivers on this team. Jeudy looks bad. Michael Thomas has been hit-or-miss. Who knows when Godwin is back. But the RB2 situation is still the biggest concern for the Ornery Otters’ win-now prognosis, putting him down with the bad teams.
DTC Porkchop Express (9) is clearly one of those bad teams at this point. He hasn’t scored over 110 points in any game this season, and his lack of QB options are hurting him every single week. He’s too reliant on Kamara and Mixon who keep getting banged up, and DJ Moore has been one of the biggest busts of the season. If he doesn’t win in Week 4 (and even if he does), it’s time to start thinking about tanking. There’s a little bit too much vet talent on this roster (Keenan Allen, Mixon, Kamara, Tannehill, Jimmy G, Melvin Gordon, etc) to be sitting idly on a reloading squad, and it would behoove DTC Porkchop Express to join the Wemby (or Stroud/Young) sweepstakes. He already has Chet and an NBA team that is ready to tank. It might be time to rip the band-aid off and punt.
Right now, Craig is still better than the bottom-3 teams… two of whom are tanking. Win’s Up Doc (10) and Sporty Strauss (11) are executing their plans to perfection, but The BamO’s (12) are unintentionally tanking. Sam and Ez have a VERY long road ahead of them with an EXTREMELY veteran team. The values of each player are declining heavily. Here are some of the ages of his guys.
QB1 - Aaron Rodgers - 38 years old
QB2 - Russell Wilson - 33 years old (looks older than that)
RB1 - Dalvin Cook - 27 years old (old for RB)
RB2 - Aaron Jones - 27 years old (old for RB)
WR1 - Mike Evans - 29 years old (point of decline for WR)
At 0-3, all of those players are partially responsible for getting him into that hole. All of whom will only keep going down in value as their careers progress. There is still value in all of those players for other teams in 2 or 3-year windows, but this is looking like a looooooong, painful rebuild for The BamO’s who would be FAR better served tanking for Wemby or one of the top rookie QBs right now and going into a firesale. The problem is all of those players have been so bad, that they won’t fetch good enough value. And The BamO’s notoriously struggle with trades and player evaluations in cross-sport League of Leagues trades.
The BamO’s are an absolute dumpster fire, and it’s hard to even know how to rebuild. If it weren’t for tanking teams, Sam and Ez could be doing the last-place punishment every single year.
Week 3 High Score
MN Moose Knuckles (Hall)
170 points
Notes: The MN Moose Knuckles showed this week that they don’t have to make any moves to compete with the best teams. While Hall could always stand to improve at QB at some point this season because this is a team that could clearly win a title… that is always more expensive than it could be worth it. However, the Moose Knuckles have PLENTY of young talent to offer in deals and windows like this can close very quickly with a couple of injuries or vet player declines. This is an impressive turnaround for Hall and the Knuckles to get 3-0 after being one of the worst teams last season, but it’s hard to know whether he should capitalize on that or continue the long game. But in general,
This should show everyone that even if you suck one year, you will be totally able to rebuild anytime (in NFL).
Week 3 Low Score
Ornery Otters (Korey)
94 points
Notes: The Ornery Otters are a fascinating little LoL team. Ignoring RB(2) is probably the best way to build a team, as seen by the Cooper Troopers. The problem is that you need the rest of the team to carry you. Unfortunately for the Otters, the QBs aren’t close to good enough (Stafford and Winston) and the WRs aren’t healthy enough. Expect more low-scoring outputs from Korey who could also look to sell off at any given point, especially at QB.
Week 3 MVP
Jalen Hurts
SG Choppers (Dye)
30 points
Notes: Hurts was taken one pick after Justin Fields in the snake draft last season… 2nd overall. Boy, was that masterful fortune for the SG Choppers who could potentially have two league MVPs on their roster. Hurts should destroy the weak NFC, and Mahomes is Mahomes. This is a great team and great build.
Week 3 LVP
Justin Jefferson
The Pullies (Eric/Peter)
3 points
Notes: As much as it pains MN Vikings fans to see this, it pains The Pullies even more. If JJ had a decent game, they’d have won. Now, if JJ can’t get back on track, The Pullies could be in big, big, big trouble as the season goes along. And they’ll never make trades, so they’ll always be stuck in the middle. When it’s all said and done, The Pullies could sneak into the playoffs, but they are VERY likely they 7th best team in the league with 6 teams that are clearly superior. That’s not necessarily where you want to be.
Current Playoff Seeding
Playoffs
Cooper Troopers (Fhima’s)
MN Moose Knuckles (Nolo’s)
The Pullies (Shepherd Goods)
$traight Cash Homie
SG Choppers
Las Cabras
Consolation
Wait ‘Til Next Year
Ornery Otters
Sporty Strauss
DTC Porkchop Express
Win’s Up Doc
The BamO’s
Week 4 Matchups
Cooper Troopers (1) vs Las Cabras (4)
MN Moose Knuckles (2) vs DTC Porkchop Express (9)
$traight Cash Homie (3) vs Win’s Up Doc (10)
SG Choppers (5) vs Sporty Strauss (11)
Wait ‘Til Next Year (6) vs The Pullies (7)
Ornery Otters (9) vs The BamO’s (12)
Finally, we get out of Divisional Play, and it’s now the first opportunity for League of Leagues teams to get a taste of what else is out there. And what’s out there is a clear line of demarcation in the league.
Right now, there are a clear top-6 teams in the league with The Pullies (7) in a little bit of no-man’s land. And this week, 3 of the 6 matchups are between a ‘contender’ and a ‘sucker.’ The MN Moose Knuckles (2), $traight Cash Homie (3) and SG Choppers (5) should feel confident about their chances to continue their winning ways, further separating themselves from the chaff.
Meanwhile, the Ornery Otters (9) play The BamO’s (12) in what is very likely a loser-leaves-town match. Losing this one could end their season based on the strength of the top-6 or 7 teams.
That leaves ONLY two matchups at stake for the Matchup of the Week, but the Cooper Troopers (1) and Las Cabras (4) are both well-situated. Both should be clear competitors, so now it’s down to one.
Week 4 Matchup of the Week
Wait ‘Til Next Year (6; 2-1) vs The Pullies (5; 2-1)
(note - this week’s rankings based on rest of season rankings with Commish upgrades or downgrades based on matchups)
QB1 – Justin Herbert (QB5, @HOU) vs Joe Burrow (QB6, MIA - TNF)
QB2 – Daniel Jones (QB22, CHI) vs Carson Wentz (QB19, @DAL)
RB1 – Austin Ekeler (RB7, @HOU) vs Leonard Fournette (RB9, KC - SNF)
RB2 – Kareem Hunt (RB20, @ATL) vs Breece Hall (RB30, @PIT)
WR1 – DK Metcalf (30, @DET) vs Justin Jefferson (WR1, @NO)
WR2 – CeeDee Lamb (WR19, WAS) vs Stefon Diggs (WR3, @BAL)
TE – Darren Waller (TE4, DEN) vs Hunter Henry (TE22, @GB)
FLEX1 – Clyde Edwards-Helaire (RB21, @TB - SNF) vs Adam Thielen (WR41, @NO)
FLEX2 – Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster (WR, @TB - SNF) vs JK Dobbins (RB33, BUF)
D/ST – Steelers (D17, NYJ) vs Rams (D9, @SF)
Wait ‘Til Next Year: Advantage at 8/10 positions
The Pullies: Advantage at 2/10 positions
Notes: Expect The Pullies (7) to be in an exorbitant amount of Matchups of the Week this season, because – as has been mentioned many times before in this article – The Pullies look to be the first team OUT of the playoffs based on the strength of their roster and standings so far.
The top 6 teams are clear – Cooper Troopers (1), MN Moose Knuckles (2), $traight Cash Homies (3), Las Cabras (4), SG Choppers (5) and finally… Wait ‘Til Next Year (6). Lining up Wait ‘Til Next Year and The Pullies rosters next to each other proves that Wait ‘Til Next Year should clearly be favored as the 6th team, because he has an advantage of 8 out of 10 positions compared to The Pullies this week. This looks like a good draw for Wait ‘Til Next Year as long as Justin Herbert can get back into form. The only real advantage is at WR, where The Pullies have a leg up over everyone.
But more than this – The Pullies matchups are bad. Burrow and Wentz each have tough draws at QB. Breece, Jefferson and Thielen are mediocre plays this week. And Dobbins’ matchup is awful, potentially leading to someone else starting over him.
On the flip-side, Wait ‘Til Next Year has spectacular draws. Herbert, Daniel Jones, Ekeler, Hunt, Metcalf and Lamb, the traditional starters, all are SMASH plays. His FLEXes have a little bit tougher draws, but with 6 or 7 great matchups, Wait ‘Til Next Year’s floor this week is extremely high.
Look for this week to show the clear line of demarcation in the league. Will those top-6 teams continuing to excel whilst the bottom-6 teams, including The Pullies continue to fall, separate and tank. Or do The Pullies establish themselves as clear contenders for the playoffs
For both of these teams, THIS is the week to make a move for any tanking teams’ assets, and The Pullies REALLY need to make a trade if they want to hang. If they lose, the odds of making the playoffs go way down even though this isn’t a divisional game.