2017 Week 4

Week 4 Power Rankings

League,

Welcome to another edition of the Da Station League Power Rankings.  We have completed a little under a third of our regular season so far and are on our way to discovering which teams are for real and which that are not.  Hopefully everyone is still into it all, staying competitive, and rallying his respective teams as we head into the bye weeks. Just as a helpful reminder, the trade deadline is in 3 weeks.  I know we all have been very selective in our offers to each other, but if any team has taken some blows to injury or lack or production, now is the best time to trade away some of your bigger pieces to fill out your rosters.  With that said, lets get to rankings.

1. (+1) Team Buddy (3-1).  I went out on a limb last week by jumping Eric up 5 slots.  The claim turned out to be completely true.  Eric has made the largest of statements ever in this league and that statement is that, I’m here for real this year.  Taking down, for I believed was going to be the perennial No. 1 team in the power rankings, the Redeem Team by over 20 points.  Cam Newton got his stride back, Kareem Hunt has became an absolute stud, and the former lacrosse player, Chris Hogan continues to catch touchdowns.  I told Eric earlier in the week Evan Engram was a solid pick up in Olsen’s absence and the guys reception totals continue to climb.  Watch for Engram to be a top 5 TE by years end.  Eric plays Big Dave in their second divisional matchup next week.  Both teams gave each other’s only win and loss respectively.  But I think Eric’s full power of his squad, having no byes, will take this one.

2. (-1) The Redeem Team (3-1).  We all knew that the momentum had to slow at  some point for Dave’s team.  That said, he still had a decent game and is still one of the strongest teams in the league.  The dominance of Todd Gurley is breathtaking, he has truly become everything any of us want in a fantasy running back.  30 touches, over 200 total yards and TD.  He has his pay-dirt in every outing thus far.  If he keeps this up, we may see some record numbers out of this back.  I may have had Dave drop a couple more slots if I honestly believed AB wasn’t going to bounce back next week.  It is worth mentioning though, if he and BIG Ben do not get on the same page, AB’s fantasy value dips well below what you want from a number one WR.  Especially with Ty Montgomery out, Dave will need Brown and Gurley to lead his team week in and week out. Going into next week, Dave plays Justin in what I’m already calling the game of the week.  We all know the championship classics played by these two, and hopefully this one is just as good.

3. (+6) The 1999 NFC Championship Team (2-2).  Justin’s team seems to be the brightest light in the sea of despair that is the rest of the league.  With every other team scrambling to make moves to just have good enough players to play week to week, Justin finds himself with one of the deepest lineups.  McCoy, Hyde, Dez, all did just enough.  The good thing is that they all have a guaranteed workload.  Of course Justin would prefer to have Cooks to perform better week to week but I think with Smallwood, Alex Smith and the resurrection of Bilal Powell, Justin can get it done.   Bilal Powell, by the way has NE, MIA, ATL, and BUF, the next four weeks; some good matchups.  The Jets aren’t as bad as previously perceived.  Powell may be the guy that can get Justin some much needed wins in the upcoming weeks.  And Smallwood was a nice addition to fill in for BYE guys.   

4. (-1) Irrational Savages (2-2).  My father’s team looked to have the game wrapped up going into Monday night had it not been for Travis Kelce.  That being said my father still had Le’Veon Bell put up 30.6 and with that kind of fire power it is hard to lose in this league.  Another good thing upcoming for Papa Sack is the end of Doug Martin’s suspension.  This can allow him to play Mark Ingram on a matchup basis and maybe utilize his flex better.  The one constant issue with my father’s team is Amari Cooper.  He needs to be benched especially with Derek Carr out of the lineup.  Cooper may be the biggest busts of the season but if my dad can continue to pick up guys off the wire and drop the Buccaneers D/ST then I could easily see him winning next week against Joe.

5. (+4) Trimarcos From Tropoja (3-1).  Believe me. I am well aware that I may be the worst 3-1 team in history but I am still 3-1.  I have power in the TE position which many teams do not and have had decent QB and WR play thus far.  The injury to Chris Carson is definitely a huge hit to my squad as I was counting on him to overtake the hole Isaiah Crowell left in my team.  Terrelle Pryor finally scored a TD, Fitz had back to back productive weeks, and Devante Parker was able to put up good numbers despite being shut up.  This upcoming week will probably end in a loss without my star RB Freeman, but my once dismal outlook I had for my team is slowly turning around.  I still need one or two pieces and as long as I have the luck on my side playing low scoring opponents, I’ll be just fine.

6. (+1) The Real James White (2-2).  Mike finally did it.  HE CAME OVER ON SUNDAY. What happened? He got the W. He got a W basically without Julio Jones. Incredible.  Lamar Miller, a guy I was hoping would drop off this season, killed it.  2 TD’s, 131 total yards.  Fournette, showing why he was selected 3rd overall had 28 touches had 145 total yards.  Complete domination from the RB postion.  The reason I have Mike 6th however is the fact that his receiving core is subpar especially if Julio misses time.  And with Julio out, Matt Ryan’s value goes into the toliet; this is the risk of trying to stack QB and WR.  I know Dalton looked good on Mike’s bench but he is incredibly inconsistent and someone I would want to stay away from at all costs.  Regardless, Mike is playing Nick this week so maybe he can squeeze out a win in Julio’s absence. 

7. (+3) The GOAT Team (2-2).  Joe certainly surprised everyone beating Nick this past week.  He actually had the 4th highest scoring total.  His main guys all performed exactly how he needed them to.  Jimmy Graham even showed some life two weeks in a row.  The one flaw is that I find Joe’s players is that they are erratically inconsistent.  Especially Demarco Murray who has gotten the fantasy stat lines of 6, 2.8, 18, and 3.5.  A guy with that many opportunities is hard to sit but at the same time hard to start.  Until I see Joe string some games together it’ll be hard for me to have him higher on this list.

8. (-3) Seal Team Ricks (2-2).  LBD’s season is at risk after Dalvin Cook’s suffered  a torn ACL on Sunday.  He had an average squad before but now must scramble to recover after losing an irreplaceable asset to his team.  Dan needs to try and trade with someone and get some replacement RB’s on his bench.  Streaming RB’s is a hard game to play and Dan won’t make it far this season if he’s forced to do so.  Like the Pirate code says, any man who falls behind is left behind.  Dan plays me next week which has the makings of one of the lowest scoring games in history.  Shall be interesting who can step up on both our depleted teams.

9. (-3) Certified G (1-3).  It really has not been Big Dave’s year this year.  He started off great with 113.1, but since then has lost a close 91.5-98.1 game to Joe, then put up a 68.4 and a 75.8 game the following two weeks.  If that is not trending downwards, then I don’t know what is.  It is still very very early in this season and Big Dave should not get discouraged, but he needs to make better defensive choices and consider sitting guys like McCaffery and Witten, especially in unfavorable matchups.  Melvin Gordon had one off week which also could contribute to this week’s lost but if he bounces back and Abdullah continues on producing well, maybe Big Dave could upset Eric next week.

10. (-7) Brady and The Champ (0-4).  Wow, that was short lived.  I gave Nick all of this credit and praise last week and what happens? He loses to his brother, 10 feet down the hall.  Marshawn Lynch has been terrible and seems like he doesn’t even want to be on the field.   Chris Thompson was a bust and only had 2 receptions after his crazy 24 point performance last week.  Thank god Nick has Elliot, Brady, and Ertz. Without Elliott, Nick wouldn’t even break 60.   His team is trash, his bench is trash and even though he does have the highest point against (409.4) in the league he’s in a position where he needs a big run of wins to get into contention for the playoffs.  A league in which 80% have at least a two game head start on him.  He plays Mike next week but I cant see Lynch and Elliot outscoring Miller and Fournette. Look for Nick to be 0-5.