What a crazy last two weeks of the season! Six teams now set their eyes on that trophy, while six other teams are thinking more about next year’s draft.
This week we’re going to take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of each of the playoff teams. But first, let’s see how everyone else ranks up.
Regular Season Rankings
Note: The Rank Change column shows the change from last week, not from the last time these rankings were published.
Overall
Tricksters pull off a miraculous comeback to take the #6 seed. Pegasus also moves up after looking much better the last few weeks.
Offense
Bling Bling reclaims their top from Not Lucky. In Week 13, Not Lucky had the lowest total offensive points of any team with just 75.66 points, which is probably why they lost their all-but-guaranteed playoff spot.
QB
Tricksters are probably the most surprising team to finish in the Top 3 following solid stats from both Kyler Murray and Josh Allen. For most of the season, they sat around the rank 6 mark. We’ll see if that lasts through Week 16.
RB
The most interesting stat to me is how many teams earned a failing grade at RB. There’s a very top heavy class of running backs and a few teams (not pointing any fingers) have horded them.
WR
Bling Bling comes out of nowhere to take the number one spot at WR. I guess trading for Golladay seems to have worked out for them.
TE
Oh the woes of trying to get a good TE. Necessary Roughness has three times as many points from TEs as Bling Bling. One of those teams has the number one overall playoff seed.
Defense
Pegasus closes the gap between them and Bling Bling. Meanwhile the Golden Eagles fall hard and fast.
DL
Tricksters manage to dethrone Not Lucky in more ways than one. This time earning the #1 spot at DL.
LB
Bling Bling is number one at yet another position.
DB
The Winged Hussars reign at DB is now long forgotten and the Golden Eagles reign has only begun. There’s still a lot of catching up to do for the other teams.
Playoff Team Comparisons
To gives us a better idea of how teams are doing right now, in this section I’ve compared the league rankings of the last four weeks to the whole season for each of the six playoff teams. For each category, the first number is what that teams ranks among all other teams only counting points scored in Weeks 10-13. The second number shows the difference between that rank and what their rank on the entire season is thus far.
(1) Bling Bling
Overall: 5, -4
Offense: 2, -1
QB: 12, 0
RB: 1, 0
WR: 1, 0
TE: 12, 0
Defense: 8, -7
DL: 8, -2
LB: 7, -1
DB: 5, -1
Bling Bling has not looked like favorite these last four weeks. They’ve been particularly poor on defense. They are still dominant at RB and WR, which could carry them to the Championship game. They’ve got an extra week to turn things around before they start competing, which could be in their favor. While they are ranked 5 in the last four weeks, that’s still better than two other playoff teams, so they’re not alone in end-of-season troubles.
(2) Pegasus
Overall: 1, +5
Offense: 1, +7
QB: 1, 0
RB: 9, -1
WR: 2, +4
TE: 7, +1
Defense: 2, 0
DL: 2, +1
LB: 1, +2
DB: 12, 0
Pegasus ends their season just like they began. Unlike Bling Bling, they’ve continued to do very well on defense, and have surged back to Week 1 levels on offense. If matchups were favorable, I’d say they were the most likely to make it to the Championship game, but they have a chance to face a rallying Tricksters for their first game after the bye.
(3) speed-demons
Overall: 6, +1
Offense: 6, -1
QB: 3, -1
RB: 3, +2
WR: 11, -3
TE: 8, -6
Defense: 7, -1
DL: 11, +1
LB: 2, 0
DB: 8, 0
At the number three seed is probably the most middle-of-the-road playoff team. The speed-demons have a lot of weaknesses, and benefit from being really good in important positions like QB, RB, and LB, but they struggle in filling out their team with talent. I vote them as “Most Likely to Lose in the First Round,” but that’s mostly because they play a formidable Tricksters whom they’ve lost to twice already this season.
(4) Total domination
Overall: 9, -1
Offense: 4, +3
QB: 7, +1
RB: 11, -2
WR: 4, -1
TE: 2, +2
Defense: 10, +1
DL: 6, +2
LB: 10, 0
DB: 6, +3
Total domination can thank Lady Luck for granting them a playoff spot. Going to the last four weeks without being the favorite to win their division, and ranking 9th in overall points over those last four weeks, and still winning their division is borderline divine intervention. How long will it take before their luck runs out?
(5) Detroit Wolverines
Overall: 3, +2
Offense: 5, -1
QB: 11, -5
RB: 4, 0
WR: 5, 0
TE: 3, -2
Defense: 4, +4
DL: 3, +1
LB: 3, +4
DB: 10, 0
Detroit Wolverines were my pick to win the championship, and so far they look like they have a real shot. They first have to overcome a very lucky Total domination, and then beat an underperforming Bling Bling. Thanks to a surging defense, they have a real shot at the trophy. If Deshaun Watson can pull through for them, they might just win the whole thing.
(6) Tricksters
Overall: 2, 0
Offense: 3, -1
QB: 2, -1
RB: 5, +1
WR: 9, -7
TE: 6, +3
Defense: 1, +3
DL: 1, 0
LB: 4, +2
DB: 6, 0
There’s no doubt in my mind, Tricksters deserve to be in the playoffs. You could argue that Kali Warriors and Not Lucky should be here as well, but fantasy football for you. They have a favorable matchup against their division rival speed-demons, but then the road to glory gets really tough against a very good Pegasus. The biggest concern is how poorly they’ve done at WR the last few weeks. If they could turn that around, I’d be much more confident about their chances.
How My Predictions Are Fairing
In Week 10 I predicted this is how the final seeding would work out:
(1) Bling Bling
(2) Kali Warriors
(3) Pegasus
(4) speed-demons
(5) Detroit Wolverines
(6) Not Lucky
This is how it actually ended up:
(1) Bling Bling
(2) Pegasus
(3) speed-demons
(4) Total domination
(5) Detroit Wolverines
(6) Tricksters
Looking at it, if Kali Warriors win their division, I’d be 5/6. I also said Detroit Wolverines would win the championship, which I’m still cautiously optimistic about.