EFL Power Rankings - Week 9, 2024
90% of the league within 2 games of the final playoff spot
There’s five weeks to go in our regular season and the last three weeks have called into question everything we once thought we knew.
A thought that just struck me: Do we talk enough about our two divisions in the league? What may seem like an arbitrary formality actually holds playoff weight, as the two division leaders are automatically assigned #1 and #2 seed in the playoffs. In that past, this really hasn’t played a large factor. Enter: this season. While Division 2 lagged in the win-loss columns compared to Division 1 for most of the early going in this season, we now find ourselves in a different place. Currently, every single team in Division 1 finds themselves on a losing streak, which, in turn, means every single team in Division 2 finds themselves on a winning streak. Why does that matter? It means that a team with a worse record could theoretically jump a group of Division 1ers and end up as the #2 seed. Could that make a difference in making it out of the historically-upset-heavy first round?
Something to stew on as we look at where everyone stands 9 weeks in.
Oh, and keep an eye on the 8th seed. Currently, four teams are tied in the win/loss column for the 8th seed, and the entire league outside of ThrowUpThe X are within two games of the 8th seed. Boy, oh boy. It’s gonna be a wild mad dash, innit?
Read ‘em and weep.
2024 WEEK 3 RANKINGS
The Fauxbardi XVI Favorites
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1.
Nick’s Fury
Current Record: (6-3, 2nd [Division 2 leader])
Week 6 Rank: 4 (+3)
Y! Draft Grade: C+
Y! Projected Record: (7-7)
Manager: Nick Gosney
Years in League: 6
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2019)
Nick’s Fury continues their meteoric rise through our rankings, occupying the 8th spot just 6 weeks ago.
And for good reason: Nick’s Fury hasn’t scored less than 111 points since Week 5 en route to a 4-game win streak and cementing themselves as the hottest team in the league.
We knew Bijan Robinson would likely be this team’s option 1A for scoring, but who have been the 1B, 1C, and 1D options? The unlikely and somewhat misfit bunch of Baker Mayfield, Garrett Wilson, and Kareem Hunt (the latter of which we all had a chance to pick up on waivers but none of us truly believed in). Who’d have thunk?
I don’t know if trustworthy is the right word when thinking of how I feel about this team’s performances of late, but, heck, I’m on the Nick’s Fury bandwagon.
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2.
Sweet Carolina
Current Record: (5-4, 4th)
Week 6 Rank: 2 (-)
Y! Draft Grade: D+
Y! Projected Record: (4-10)
Manager: Michael Schultz
Years in League: 4
Best Finish: 3rd (2021)
Sweet Carolina’s only loss over the last three weeks has been a 3-point loss to Nick’s Fury. And you know what? It’s hard to even be mad at that loss, because DID YOU SEE THIS?
The audacity to hurdle someone backwards is second-to-none, and for that reason and that reason alone it’s easy to see the reason Sweet Carolina leads the league in points: Saquon Muthaeffin Barkley.
Sure, it was a bummer losing Mike Evans to a hamstring injury, especially after already having to replace Rashee Rice this season, but Sweet Carolina has managed to have a production boom to stem the tide from the most unlikely of positions: tight-end. Mark Andrews and Cade Otton are legitimately a threat to play at both tight-end and FLEX on any given week.
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3.
Butt Fumble
Current Record: (6-3, 3rd)
Week 6 Rank: 3 (-)
Y! Draft Grade: D+
Y! Projected Record: (5-9)
Manager: Austin Owen
Years in League: 11
Best Finish: Champ (3x – 2016, 2017, 2021)
The key to Butt Fumble’s success has been consistency. There are only two weeks all season where Butt Fumble has scored less than 100 points, and they’ve never scored less than 90. Following a three-game winning streak between Weeks 6-8, Butt Fumble lost to red-hot Nick’s Fury, but not before putting themselves one win away from locking in a playoff spot.
Maybe the most blatant learning, though, is that Derrick Henry covers a multitude of sins. Dak, AJ Brown, George Pickens and DJ Moore haven’t exactly been great over the last many weeks, but Derrick Henry and Joe Mixon have. Sprinkle in some solid TE and Kicking and apparently you have a recipe for a winning season. Jury duty, shmury duty.
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4.
ThrowUpThe X
Current Record: (7-2, 1st)
Week 6 Rank: 1 (-3)
Y! Draft Grade: B-
Y! Projected Record: (7-7)
Manager: RD Gallant
Years in League: 15
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2013)
Three weeks, three bad games, two losses.
Before Week 7 began, ThrowUpThe X scoffed at Yahoo!’s projected regular season record of 7-7. Sitting at 6-0 with only green grass ahead, ThrowUpThe X wondered if they’d ever lose again. Never scoff at the fantasy gods.
ThrowUpThe X somehow won in Week 7 despite scoring just 72 points, but it was the beginning of a major drop-off for our former #1, who now sits at 7th out of 10 teams in points scored.
The drop-off has been a full team effort. Stroud began regressing, Chris Godwin and Zach Moss fell to likely season-ending injuries, and Jameson Williams got suspended.
ThrowUpThe X is going to have to lean into the next-man-up mentality, hoping to find momentum again before the playoffs.
The 4-5 Teams That Don’t Know Which Trophy They Might Be Hunting
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5.
Turn down for Watt
Current Record: (4-5, 5th)
Week 6 Rank: 7 (+2)
Y! Draft Grade: B+
Y! Projected Record: (10-4)
Manager: Joshuwa Shelton
Years in League: 10
Best Finish: 3rd (2018)
Let’s start with a brief reminder that this team was once 0-3. Winners of 4 of 6, Turn down for Watt has brought themselves back from the cellar with some remarkable flashes of brilliance in between. They’ve won each game they’ve scored over 100 points during that 6-game span, and managed two games scoring over 135. The last three weeks, Jalen Hurts has found his old self, scoring nearly 30 points per game, including 3 rushing TDs in a Week 8 explosion, while leading Turn down for Watt to a shootout win over Pewter Pirates.
Ja’Marr Chase, James Connor, and Jahmyr Gibbs have all been great as well, each averaging close to 15 points per game.
This is the type of team that can get hot in a hurry and not the team you want to find yourself playing down the stretch while jostling for playoff positioning.
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6.
Stevie Kicks
Current Record: (4-5, 6th)
Week 6 Rank: 8 (+2)
Y! Draft Grade: A+
Y! Projected Record: (12-2)
Manager: Stevie Collins
Years in League: 1
Best Finish: N/A
Where did that come from!? Stevie Kicks halted a 5-game skid in some seriously impressive fashion over the last two weeks.
In Week 9, Stevie Kicks scored the most points we’ve seen so far this season in a single game with 158 points. Who was it led by? Why, the Seahawks Big Three, of course. Who are the Seahawks Big Three? Good question, because before last week, we didn’t know they had one. Geno Smith, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Kenneth Walker III combined for 66 points on their own. Chase Brown, Devon Achane and the Chargers defense combined for another 64, and the rest of the roster filled in another 30 or so.
Can we trust that production to continue? Who cares! Stevie Kicks was once at risk of never winning a game again and now find themselves in the top half of the standings. They’ll take that with just 5 games left.
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7.
Jets Jets Jets
Current Record: (4-5, 7th)
Week 6 Rank: 10 (+3)
Y! Draft Grade: D
Y! Projected Record: (3-11)
Manager: Tim Cook
Years in League: 16
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2015)
Jets Jets Jets, once mired in a streak of scoring in the 80s, is now in a streak of scoring in the 100s.
Averaging over 115 points per game since Week 6, Jets Jets Jets now finds themselves with a 4-5 record and pressuring the top half of the league.
Who’s led the way? 20+ points from Brock Purdy and Aaron Rodgers each week, an apparently-here-to-stay Chuba Hubbard, and one WR per week (with cameos from CeeDee Lamb and DeAndre Hopkins) and Josh Jacobs.
It’s not necessarily a bunch that will strike fear into the hearts of their opponents each week, but solid scoring production seems sustainable from a group that once felt like it had nowhere to turn.
The Teams That Are Looking to Find Their Mojo Before The John Porta Trophy Finds Them
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8.
Ruthlessberger
Current Record: (3-6, 9th)
Week 6 Rank: 6 (-2)
Y! Draft Grade: B
Y! Projected Record: (7-7)
Manager: Ian Svendsen
Years in League: 8
Best Finish: Champ (2x - 2022, 2023)
If you’re looking for an interesting team to keep your eye on over the last 5 weeks of the season, look no further than Ruthlessberger.
Over the last 3 weeks, Ruthlessberger is averaging somewhere between 5 and 6 players per week in double figures. In most cases, that’s enough to get some wins. Unfortunately for Ruthlessberger, that type of roster balance has primarily flopped, leading them to a 3-6 record and 9th in the league.
Why? Because usually teams are relatively point-heavy on 1-2 positions, with QB and RB usually leading the way. Ruthlessberger is different - they’ve been searching for consistent QB play all season. Goff and Love have been more prone to score 12 points than 20, and Ruthlessberger’s balanced approach ultimately needs a little less balance. Should a Goff or Love find themselves on a heater in the next few weeks, Ruthlessberger could very easily find themselves in the playoffs as a dangerous lower seed.
An unprecedented third straight title feels a little out of reach at this moment, but one can never really predict fantasy football, can they?
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9.
Golden Boy
Current Record: (4-5, 8th)
Week 6 Rank: 5 (-4)
Y! Draft Grade: D-
Y! Projected Record: (4-10)
Manager: Kyler Stock
Years in League: 3
Best Finish: 3rd (2023)
That 3-game win streak that we said was a little flukey since each game was under 100-points? Yeah, it quickly turned into a 3-game losing streak.
Week 7 was just abysmal. Jayden Daniels, Marvin Harrison Jr., Devonta Smith, and Davonte Adams combined for 10.14 points.
So, in Week 8, Golden Boy made the obvious choice and swapped Jayden Daniels for Joe Burrow. Except, this time, Jayden Daniels outplayed Burrow by 9 points. Golden Boy lost by 8 points to Butt Fumble. Bad beat.
Unfortunately, in Week 9, Golden Boy never had a chance, with the entire roster not named Joe Burrow and the Devonta/Davonte duo underperforming.
Golden Boy hasn’t scored 100 points since Week 2 and have the lowest point total in the league. Incredibly, they are still in the 8th position based on win/loss record and hoping to hold that over the next 5 weeks.
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10.
Pewter Pirates
Current Record: (2-7, 10th)
Week 6 Rank: 9 (-1)
Y! Draft Grade: A+
Y! Projected Record: (11-3)
Manager: Sy Gallimore
Years in League: 16+
Best Finish: Champ (2x – 2010, 2020)
The good news since we last had a rankings:
Patrick Mahomes scored over 20 points for the first time all season in Week 9
Puka Nacua came back from IR for the first time since going down in Week 1
Pewter Pirates scored 120 points in Week 8
The bad news:
Patrick Mahomes scored over 20 points for the first time all season in Week effing 9
Only one game with Puka Nacua and Nico Collins all year
Turn down for Watt scored 142 points in Week 8
Pewter Pirates haven’t managed a victory since Week 5 and now find themselves two games back from the final playoff spot. Covering that ground over the last 5 weeks of the regular season seems less likely than earning their very first John Porta trophy. Unfortunately, WR injuries and Patrick Mahomes have done-in a season that started with such promise.