As we near the mid-way point of the season, the separation between the elite teams and the not-so-elite teams is starting to be more clear: Aaron, Luke, and Gabs have been at the top of my power rankings for the past 3-4 weeks, while Me, David Li, and Eric have filled in the bottom ranks. The middle is kind of a jumble, with teams lacking consistency one way or the other. But as it stands now, of the remaining teams, I think David Lin and Laura's teams are on the rise while Jeff and Justina's teams are on the decline. But who knows, anything can happen the last half of the season. If both Arian Foster and Trent Richardson get season-ending injuries, then that would radically change the rankings overnight. I'm not hoping that it will happen (ok, maybe I kind of am), but I'm just saying it could happen. Just sayin'.
1. choubacca (4-2) [1]
Yet another impressive week for Aaron's team as it continues to assert its dominance in the league. All his players can put up numbers and get it done. It's really that simple. He still has room to improve at WR, but his team is pretty rock solid right now, as he is well aware of: "If only I weren't awesome... Jeff would've beaten me." Pride comes before the fall, my friend.
2. Spider Pig (5-1) [2]
His RBs (or lack thereof) are bound to bite him in the rear end one of these weeks. He avoided the issue this week with great performances from his WRs, QB, K and DEF. And while he's got strong enough non-RB players to continue running in to scoring problems, it makes his team susceptible (and beatable) on any given week. I will say, though, that Luke's team has been the most consistently good (for lack of a better word) this whole season, which is impressive in a game that always throws you curve balls.
3. THE Pain Train (3-3) [4]
Looks like Gabs's team might be bouncing back from a 2-week setback. James Jones continues to be a smart pickup for him, and the Buffalo running game looks to be returning to its early-season status. Don't let his (3-3) record fool you, I think Gabs's team is back on the rise.
4. The Debbinator (5-1) [3]
Suffering from the bye-week woes, David lucked out with a win this week, with credit going to Eric's misfortune than to David's managing skills. But a win is a win, and David is at Luke's heels for the top seed in our league. With Brees back at QB, Forte back in the lineup, Hernandez looking healthy, and Mendenhall hopefully avoiding injury and producing what he ought to, David's poised to attack. He's proved his team has the ability to dominate (Week 1, Week 5), but we'll see if he can do it on a regular basis.
5. RelientK (1-5) [6]
Laura finally gets a much-deserved win, and is no longer officially last. Hooray! What impressed me the most about her team's performance this week is that she had solid points from multiple sources, all of who will probably continue to provide stable numbers for her: Ray Rice (obviously), Ben Roethlisberger / Andy Dalton, Jordy Nelson (ok, not 30 points each week, but with Jennings out, he's one of GB's go-to WRs), and Ahmad Bradshaw (if he can stay healthy). Not to mention Bowe, who has had some big weeks in the past. She doesn't have big names on her roster, but they definitely have potential to put up big numbers. While her team has a lot of ground to make up, I think it has the ability to put together an impressive mid-season run.
6. Rainbow Warriors (3-3) [5]
Wow, what the crap Aaron Rodgers? He absolutely destroyed the Texans secondary, and gave Jeff more than half of his team's points this week. Yet Jeff still doesn't get the win. Hm.. interesting. You know what else is interesting? If any of the other losing teams had Aaron Rodgers on his or her team instead of whoever started at QB, they would have won this week. I wonder what that says about the rest of Jeff's team? While Rodger's performance brings some positive news for Jeff's team, it also exposed some some vulnerable spots. Even with a record-breaking performance from his QB, he only managed to score the 6th most points this week. Adrian Peterson was the only other bright spot on his roster. Besides Week 4, Jeff's team hasn't had an all-around great performance, and I'm starting to doubt whether it's built for the long-run this season.
7. Green Nicks and Cam (2-4) [7]
She'll have Cam back in the lineup next week, but I don't see that as a huge improvement right now. Cam is just breaking my Panther heart. AJ Green continues to be her sole consistent producer. Maybe she should rename her team again... to just Green. Or maybe it's law school. I guess that's more important than fantasy football. Ok yeah, it's probably more important. At least she hasn't fallen into the bottom 3 yet. Although that's more of a testament to how bad the bottom three teams are, rather than to her ability to maintain mediocrity.
8. odoyle RULES (3-3) [8]
This was one of the few weeks when I was actually ok with losing. That doesn't justify my team's lousy performance, though. But I'm willing to chalk it up as a one-week mishap where Matt Ryan was just off, and I blew off advice to start Shonn Greene, who I had read would have an outstanding week. Whatever. I may be a little concerned about my RB situation (post-McCoy blues), but I'm happy with my WRs now, and I think they are more than strong enough to make up for lost ground at RB. I'm still trying to think positive. That's what my fantasy shrink tells me to do.
9. Terrible Titans T_T (3-3) [9]
Hey, at least Chris Johnson is starting to score double digit points, right? That's twice in three weeks now - impressive. But in all seriousness, David's team actually might have some bite to it, with the rise of some nice WRs (Andre Johnson, Percy Harvin, Eric Decker), and some RBs that, although they still have something to prove, are fully capable of putting up points (Ryan Matthews, CJ2K). I think he's primed to take advantage of some of the teams who may be slipping, and not finish in second to last place this year! Even in my power rankings!
10. errrdayimRussell'in (1-5) [10]
Tough loss. I was confident Eric had it going into MNF, and even after the first half of MNF. But who knew a QB could turn the ball over so many times and get so many negative points in such a short period of time? At least next week, Eric won't have to worry about who to start a QB. He'll just have to worry about how his QB will do against a feisty defense at home. His WRs were impressive this week, and may have to carry his team until it finds some stability at RB and QB.
