EFL Power Rankings - Week 8, 2021
Elite Fantasy League
2021 POWER RANKINGS - WEEK 8
After three weeks since the last edition, I feel like we’ve gotten a better picture of our league.
Can Trust to be Consistently Good
Sweet Carolina
Can Trust to be Consistently Mediocre
Jujus on that Beat
Can Trust to be Consistently Bad
Ruthlessberger
Can’t Trust
Everyone else
It really is just about that simple.
May Week 9 change your stars.
Read ‘em and weep.
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1.
Sweet Carolina (1st | 7-1)
Week 5 Ranking: 1 (+1)
Manager: Michael Schultz
Years in League: 1
Best Finish: N/A
Week 6: 135 points
Week 7: 135 points
Week 8: 104 points, Sweet Carolina’s lowest point total in seven weeks. I bet you wish 104 points was your team’s off week, huh?
I said this in Week 3’s edition of these rankings: “We might be lucky Aaron Rodgers only had 3 points in Week 1 or else Sweet Carolina might have run the table this season.”
I stand by it.
Oh, and remember the slightly-concerning stat about Cooper Kupp in Week 5? He’s averaged 23 points per game since.
There’s a reason 104 points is an off week for this squad.
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2.
Champa Bay (2nd | 7-1)
Week 5 Ranking: 4 (+2)
Manager: Sy Gallimore
Years in League: 13
Best Finish: Champ (2x – 2010, 2020)
“The big story here is whether the defending champs can stem the tide of Christian McCaffrey’s hamstring injury.” - Week 3 Power Rankings
At 7-1, consider the tide stemmed. CMac returns today (in limited capacity) for Champa Bay, who has already all but locked up a playoff spot.
There are caveats here. Champa Bay has the lowest Points Against total in the league, by a significant margin (slightly skewed by Butt Fumble and #Blessed’s putrid performances). In fact, Champa has had about 250 points less scored against them than league-leading The Falcoholics (also slightly skewed by ThrowUpThe X and #Blessed dropping 163 on them in consecutive weeks). Over our 8 game season so far, that’s about 30 points less per game.
The flip side is, ignoring the anomaly that is Sweet Carolina, Champa Bay is within a few points of being the second highest scoring team in the league.
So, should this team be 7-1? No.
Is it currently playing like a 7-1 team? Yes.
Is the future bright? Also, yes. Good to have you back CMC.
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3.
Butt Fumble (4th | 4-4)
Week 5 Ranking: 1 (-2)
Manager: Austin Owen
Years in League: 6
Best Finish: Champ (2x – 2016, 2017)
Talk about a Butt Fumble.
After Week 5, this team was #1 in the league with two dates with the winless Jets Jets Jets on the horizon in weeks 6 and 8. Going into this week at 7-1 was not a far-fetched thought.
But two dates with Jets Jets Jets turned into two losses. To make matters worse, sandwiched between those two losses was a 62-point outing against Champa Bay.
“Through 5 weeks, this is the roster you’d want to go to battle with.” - Week 5 Power Rankings
Sorry about the karma, man.
All this to say, an Aaron Rodgers “RELAXXXX” feels appropriate right about now. This is still the second highest scoring team in the league this year, and this losing streak should be snapped any time.
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4.
ThrowUpThe X (3rd | 5-3)
Week 5 Ranking: 7 (+3)
Manager: RD Gallant
Years in League: 12
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2013)
4 straight wins and the 3rd highest point total in the league had ThrowUpThe X flying up through the rankings. In fact, I was planning to slot this team into the #3 spot this week. It was an impressive turnaround, especially considering the team has had to rely on Carson Wentz with Dak Prescott out with injury.
But then, ThrowUpThe X received some devastating news.
Bye, Bye Derrick Henry.
The news also compounded by the fact that ThrowUpTheX has already had David Montgomery out for weeks on IR.
The saving grace had been Champa Bay accidentally dropping Chuba Hubbard, who has been filling in for CMC. But now, CMC is returning, and ThrowUpThe X is turning to Myles Gaskin and Jeremy McNichols, who is filling in for Derrick Henry (at least until Adrian Peterson suits up).
ThrowUpThe X has to find the next man up… or else this 4 game win streak could turn into a 4 game losing streak.
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5.
#Blessed (7th | 3-5)
Week 5 Ranking: 3 (-2)
Manager: Nick Gosney
Years in League: 3
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2019)
As the great Slim Shady once said it,
“BACK TO REALITY, whooOOOOOOP, THERE GOES GRAVITY.”
Houston, we have a problem.
Since scoring 149 and 162 points in weeks 4 and 5, respectively, #Blessed has #blessed his opponents with goose eggs. The team has gone 0-3 since setting the league on fire in weeks 3-5. Mom’s spaghetti.
Crazy stat of the week:
#Blessed average points per game in wins: 145
#Blessed average points per game in losses: 92
It’s either boom or bust for this team, and lately a whole lot of bust.
I got my NBA metaphors all wrong. This team isn’t the Spurs. This team is the 2016 Cavs on nights LeBron plays versus nights he rests and apparently we’re full-on load management right now.
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6.
Jujus on that Beat (6th | 4-4)
Week 5 Ranking: 5 (-1)
Manager: Joshuwa Shelton
Years in League: 6
Best Finish: 3rd (2018)
Tough draw to get Sweet Carolina in 2 of 3 weeks since we last ranked. It’s not overly surprising for that to turn into two losses. But what is concerning, is how those losses have been happening.
In 8 weeks, Jujus on that Beat has had 2 RBs in double digits once, including the FLEX position. This team relies so heavily on a few players, and when they don’t hit, this team will lose.
Week 5’s 148 point outburst is increasingly looking like a lottery strike.
Coincidence stat of the week: This team just belongs in the 6th position. They are ranked 6th overall in the standings, have the 6th highest points against and the 6th lowest points for. Now, just to get to 6 wins on the season..
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7.
The Falcoholics (5th | 4-4)
Week 5 Ranking: 8 (+1)
Manager: Ryan Johnson
Years in League: 3
Best Finish: 3rd (2019)
1000.* That’s how many points The Falcoholics have had scored against them this season through eight games. Not an ideal situation when you’re trying to find some consistency.
In fact, The Falcoholics had 163 points scored on them in Week 5 AND Week 6. Absolutely ridiculous.
However, on the other side of things, the team’s play has been very up-and-down. There have been some weeks the team probably shouldn’t have won (Week 2 and 4 come to mind), but definitely some weeks in which they should have won (Week 3 and 7).
So, perhaps the 4-4 record stands to reason. You really can’t be sure what you’re going to get out of this team from week to week. Maybe not quite as boom or bust as #Blessed, but just as much a roller coaster. Surely teams can’t average 125 on them all season, right? If they do, I’m not confident they can put up 125 to match it, especially next week with Brady on bye.
*987, but still.
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8.
Taters Tots (8th | 3-5)
Week 5 Ranking: 6 (-2)
Manager: Tate VanEgmond
Years in League: 3
Best Finish: 8th (2019)
Taters Tots has hit a bit of a rough patch. The 2-1 start feels like a distant memory, even though the production it brought is still on the roster.
Tyler Lockett hasn’t been the same without Russell Wilson throwing to him, Julio Jones got the injury bug, and an unfortunate amount of points are being left on the bench each week, despite Taters Tots rotating hot players in.
Odd observations of the week:
In Taters Tots’ only victory in the past 3 weeks, they started not one but TWO Detroit Lions running backs. Remember, this was a team who recently went 70 games without a 100-yard rusher.
10/16 players on the roster play for teams with losing records. Bad mojo?
This team is still averaging 110 points per game. It’s not a bad team, just has had some bad breaks.
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9.
Jets Jets Jets (9th | 2-6)
Week 5 Ranking: 10b (+1b)
Manager: Tim Cook
Years in League: 13
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2015)
Finally, a team worthy of #9. Week 6 was good to Jets Jets Jets, pulling off the upset for a surprise victory over then-league-leading Butt Fumble.
Week 7 was forgettable.
Week 8 was an even more satisfying upset victory over Butt Fumble.
Who’da thunk it.
With AJ Brown remembering he knows how to play football, and DJ Henderson continuing his tear in LA, this team is finally more than just Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs. This team can 100% fight for a playoff spot, but has to get more wins and more 120 point outings if they want to catch the slew of 4-4 and 3-5 teams ahead of them. Jets Jets Jets is about 60 points behind the next closest league member in Points For, which could be a defining tie-breaker scenario come playoff time.
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10.
Ruthlessberger (10th | 1-7)
Week 5 Ranking: 10a (-a)
Manager: Ian Svendsen
Years in League: 5
Best Finish: 2nd (2020)
Just as we all expected, Ruthlessberger got their first win of the season in Week 6 against a #Blessed team coming off of a 163 point performance. Oh, and they only needed 84 points to do it. Good thing, because that’s about their average on the season.
I’m sure it felt good to get the monkey off their back and get in the win column after Week 6 regardless of how ugly, but man, there were no W’s to hide how ugly Week 7 and 8 were. Ruthlessberger scored 65 in Week 7 and followed it up with a 69 in Week 8.
And that’s kinda how this season has felt for Ruthlessberger. Last year’s runner-ups have just been completely 69ed by 2021. Too bad. Maybe this year they’ll get a trophy at least?
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