EFL Power Rankings - Week 10, 2021
Elite Fantasy League
2021 POWER RANKINGS - WEEK 10
It’s hard to believe, but there are only 4 regular season weeks left before playoffs.
At this point, tiers have emerged.
These last 28 days offer you your last chance to prove your fantasy prowess and jostle for playoff positioning to best pursue the Fauxbardi.
How are you feeling about your chances?
Let me tell you how I’m feeling about your chances.
Read ‘em and weep.
CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER (1-3)
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1.
Sweet Carolina (2nd | 8-2)
Week 8 Ranking: 1 (-)
Manager: Michael Schultz
Years in League: 1
Best Finish: N/A
Playoff Path: Locked.
Not much to worry about up here.
But if you wanted to worry, you could point to the sub-100 point average the last 3 weeks, Aaron Jones being out, Cooper Kupp on bye, the WR corps not playing as well as they did at the beginning of the season, or the now-shaky Carolina Defense.
But if you didn’t want to worry, you’d be just fine too.
Ha. “Fine too”. Rhymes with what Sweet Carolina’s record will probably be after this week.
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2.
Champa Bay (1st | 9-1)
Week 8 Ranking: 2 (-)
Manager: Sy Gallimore
Years in League: 13
Best Finish: Champ (2x – 2010, 2020)
Playoff Path: Locked.
Not much will matter for Champa Bay over the next 4 weeks except for seeding, the waiver wire and maintaining Diamond fantasy rating.
In terms of fantasy outlook, scoring 76 points last week wasn’t great. However, since it somehow still translated to a win, it was pretty great in terms of fantasy rating.
What’s that? Screw me for being a top-echelon fantasy player across the globe? Sorry, can’t hear you up here on top of this mountain of success.
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3.
Butt Fumble (3rd | 5-5)
Week 8 Ranking: 3 (-)
Manager: Austin Owen
Years in League: 6
Best Finish: Champ (2x – 2016, 2017)
Playoff Path: One should be enough.
The Good News:
Butt Fumble ended their 4 game losing streak with a key win over #Blessed last week.
The Chiefs remembered they’re above average at football.
Really high Points For
The Bad News:
Mired with 3 other 5-5 teams
No chance to get a top 2 seed
Tough Upcoming Schedule
Butt Fumble’s remaining schedule isn’t great - the team will have to find wins against teams at .500 or better the rest of the way, BUT that’s entirely possible since this is one of the best rosters in the league...when they play like they should (do not See: Weeks 6-9).
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DARKHORSE PICKS (4 & 5)
4.
The Falcoholics (4th | 5-5)
Week 8 Ranking: 7 (+3)
Manager: Ryan Johnson
Years in League: 3
Best Finish: 3rd (2019)
Playoff Path: Win one or two.
If fantasy football were normal football, we’d all say The Falcoholics were pretenders and not contenders. They sit 5-5, but all of their wins have come against the bottom 4 teams in our league.
But this isn’t normal football, and The Falcoholics can’t control how many points the other team gets. If they could, we’d say they have the worst defense in the league. But in this case, it’s really just the worst luck. Couple that with a Points For that’s among the top-tier in the league, and you really can’t point at this team as being bad at all. In fact, it’s quite possibly above average.
Ironically, the real strength here? The very fact that the Falcoholics have beaten all of the teams below them in the standings (besides #Blessed). That means they have a lot of head-to-head tie-breakers. That will be key going into the last 4 weeks.
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5.
#Blessed (7th | 4-6)
Week 8 Ranking: 5 (-)
Manager: Nick Gosney
Years in League: 3
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2019)
Playoff Path: This week’s matchup with Jujus on that Beat is key in terms of maintaining a playoff position AND seeding. #Blessed needs to get into the grouping of teams with 5 wins, especially if they want to overtake division-rival ThrowUpThe X, who have the head-to-head tie-breaker. This team needs 2 wins in the next 4 weeks to secure a spot in the playoffs, and maybe it gets them, but this doesn’t feel like the same team we were all jealous of 5 weeks ago. Perhaps, the recent struggles are because Gronk was injured? Lol. Whatever the case, losing 4 of their last 5, #Blessed should be in desperation mode.
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MIRED IN THE MIDDLE (6 & 7)
6.
ThrowUpThe X (5th | 5-5)
Week 8 Ranking: 4 (-2)
Manager: RD Gallant
Years in League: 12
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2013)
Playoff Push: Welp. Yep. There went the floor. Like I said in Week 8, “ThrowUpThe X has to find the next man up… or else this 4 game win streak could turn into a 4 game losing streak.”
We’re 2 games into that losing streak, so, safe to say the next man didn’t step up. This squad is averaging a hair under 75 points per game over their last 3, and was lucky to escape with a win in Week 8 thanks to a Ruthlessberger 60-burger. Still, a win over Taters Tots is within reach, especially with Matthew Stafford on bye and Atlanta’s poor showing on Thursday night. This team would do well to get a win in Week 11 and avoid streaking out of the playoffs.
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7.
Jujus on that Beat (6th | 5-5)
Week 8 Ranking: 6 (-1)
Manager: Joshuwa Shelton
Years in League: 6
Best Finish: 3rd (2018)
Playoff Path: Man, that loss hurt. The playoff path for this team is certainly less comfortable after dropping an incredibly winnable game against Champa Bay. Alas, Jujus has the lowest point total of four 5-5 teams. It’s certainly a disadvantage, BUT with so many teams at 5-5, the volatility potential is high. Jujus could jump in the standings quickly with a win or two.
Count on it being a stressful weekend, though. Jujus has 7 starters in late games this week, so any true outcomes likely won’t be predictable until late Sunday night.
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WRONG TROPHY, BRO (8-10)
8.
Taters Tots (8th | 4-6)
Week 8 Ranking: 8 (-)
Manager: Tate VanEgmond
Years in League: 3
Best Finish: 8th (2019)
Playoff Path: Keep clinging. Taters Tots has lost 5 of 7 after Week 3. The slide culminated in last week’s 51 point effort against The Falcoholics - the lowest point total of any team this season.
Ironically, the last time a team scored 51 points? Taters Tots last season in Week 12. It wasn’t the lowest point total of the season, though. Taters Tots one-upped themselves the following week with a 32 point outing, which secured them the Toilet Bowl trophy. Oh, and while we’re roasting, Taters Tots also had the lowest point total of the 2019 season, scoring 53 points in Week 4. For the record, the team had a good season and went 7-6.
But the trends, bro. The trends.
Anyways, thankfully, Taters Tots has some beatable teams on the schedule in the last 4 weeks, but needs a couple wins to feel safe.
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9.
Jets Jets Jets (9th | 3-7)
Week 8 Ranking: 9 (-)
Manager: Tim Cook
Years in League: 13
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2015)
Playoff Path: Getting to the playoffs feels more possible than ever now that Jets Jets Jets has won 3 of 5, including a key win last week over Ruthlessberger. Winning 3 of the final 4 feels like a lock for getting to the playoffs, but 2 could still definitely do it. Jets Jets Jets is nipping at Taters Tots’ heels in record, points, and confidence. Remember, this team paced the league last season but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the 8th seed. Time to flip the script?
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10.
Ruthlessberger (10th | 2-8)
Week 8 Ranking: 10 (-)
Manager: Ian Svendsen
Years in League: 5
Best Finish: 2nd (2020)
Playoff Path: Somewhere Jim Mora is losing his mind. Playoffs?! Playoffs??
The singular road for Ruthlessberger is this: Win at least 3 of 4, score a ridiculous number of points, and hope for another team to do the exact opposite.
Ruthlessberger is two games out of the playoffs in terms of wins and 100+ points behind as well.
It’s not overly helpful to have Champa Bay and Sweet Carolina in back to back weeks, BUT Ruthlessberger does have a chance to overtake the league’s two 4-6 teams (#Blessed and Taters Tots), and could control their own destiny given they meet those two in Weeks 13 and 14. That means they could earn a tie-breaker based on head-to-head wins if it comes down to it.
Will it come down to it, though? Ruthlessberger has to figure out how to score more than 80 points a game consistently before this even becomes a possibility.
In fact, hopes for anything other than 10th here are fairly dim.
And yet, still, hope remains.
Amendment: Just got word Lamar Jackson is out this week. Ruthlessberger is completely screwed.
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