Upsets this week caused everything to shake up a little bit. Some teams have new hopes. Others have new fears.
Overall Rankings
Don’t be fooled by all the yellow and orange. There’s still a 200 point gap between 1st and 11th. But everyone has progressively gotten closer and that may continue in the coming weeks. Biggest news here is that Pegasus drops behind Kali Warriors and Tricksters, the former having a couple poor performances, and the latter having some really good ones.
Offense
Not Lucky remains on top here, but it’s oh so close. Pegasus drops three ranks, now sitting outside of the Top 5. Also, for the last three weeks, the Detroit Wolverines have moved up one rank each week on the offensive side of the ball. Is this a sign things are finally turning around for them? Hold that thought.
QB
Pegasus manages a lead under Lamar Jackson. Matt Ryan takes the Kali Warriors past Mahomes and the Winged Hussars. Most teams are actually pretty strong here. Everyone from the Golden Eagles up has an average of 20+ points per game from their QB.
RB
Bling Bling still holds the lead at RB, and I think they will stay there. Why have I discounted Not Lucky all of a sudden? Because as I write this they have just traded away the number 2 RB in the league this season in Dalvin Cook. It’s not that I don’t think Jordan Howard, Kirk Cousins, and a first round draft pick will make up the difference. It’s that Bling Bling still had Aaron Jones, David Johnson, and Derrick Henry after trading away McCaffrey. Not Lucky has a solid starter in Fournette, but then they’ve got Matt Breida, and a Chargers coaching staff that doesn’t realize Ekeler is the better running back. Not Lucky is playing the long-term strategy here, while Detroit Wolverines is looking to capitalize on their recent success.
WR
The Golden Eagles really want to keep that lead at WR. The speed-demons jump up three places to the #5 spot. The bottom four are getting comfortable in their ranking, but not too comfortable.
TE
Necessary Roughness is dominating with their 1-2-punch of Travis Kelce and Austin Hooper. Ticksters and speed-demons aren’t too far behind. Pretty much everyone else aligns themselves in a mid tier.
Defense
Pegasus falls while Kali Warriors take their turn to nip at Bling Bling’s heels. This week shows the least amount of movement all season for the Defense rankings.
DL
Kali Warriors just kind of took control here. They’re proving that defense counts for a lot. They have almost three times as many points from DL as the bottom team, Winged Hussars. To be fair to the Hussars, they’ve had at least one D-Linemen each week put up 10+ points. It’s just usually been someone they didn’t start. They finally won the D-Line Benchwarmer of the Week. I don’t know whether to congratulate them or feel sorry. And yes, I did just refer to myself in the third person.
LB
This position is an interesting battle. Sure Bling Bling and speed-demons have stayed on top for the most of the season. But there’s been a lot of position changes everywhere else. And if you track the changes over the last few weeks, a few teams like Total domination have trended upwards, while others like Not Lucky have trended downards. We may soon see some faces at the top.
DB
Winged Hussars have stayed on top here since Week 3. Looking at their High Flyers division rivals, Pegasus have stayed on top every week at QB, and Golden Eagles have stayed at number 1 for WR all except one week. That division must work really hard to sell their high flying image.
Final Thoughts
Pegasus stands out as the biggest team to be concerned right now. They’ve put up some bad performances, and while Golden Eagles have been more lucky than strong, they’re still really close on that matchup record. Kali Warriors sit in a similar position being tied with a lower performing team in Total domination. Not Lucky might want to watch out. Keeping that sixth seed is looking more and more of a challenge. Necessary Roughness and Detroit Wolverines got some hope. Red Warriors probably want to start thinking about next season. Winged Hussars might be packing their bags to join them if things continue not to go their way.
A 13 game season means the halfway point comes at Week 6.5. I’ll see you on the other side next week.