Week 6 Power Rankings
Oct 17, 2017 11:16:34 GMT -5
Carolina Panthers (Justin), Houston Texans (Ryan), and 1 more like this
Post by Cincinnati Bengals (Chris) on Oct 17, 2017 11:16:34 GMT -5
Week 6 is in the rearview, and we’re halfway done with this regular season lady and gentlemen. This week served as a great equalizer for many, and for the top teams, it served to separate the truly elite (Joe Flaccoian you might say) from the good ones, dropping and the previous horde of 10 1-loss teams down to four all in one week. Pittsburgh is still holding #1 as the only undefeated team, and Seattle is right on his tail as the top 5-1 club. Minnesota and Los Angeles Chargers stay Nos. 3-4 respectively at the top, while Oakland, the ownerless/rudderless team at the start of the year is also 5-1.
Eight teams are now 4-2, led this week by Kansas City at #6, but eight squads are also 3-3, with New England as that contingent’s top-squad, checking in at #10 after beating Cincinnati (And with his quarterback on a bye no less). He’s one of two .500 teams that are in the top-10 in points (The other is Philly). The two lowest-ranked 4-2 teams (Indianapolis and Chicago) sit Nos. 17 and 19 respectively, lower than many 3-win teams after losses, given that both are still lower than #20 in points (IND is 21 and CHI is 27). They’re the only two 4-win teams for which this is the case. Five teams still sport 2-4 records, and four teams check in at 1-5, after Miami got their first win of the year in dominant fashion (Congrats Castle! It was like watching you bowl 31 mph. all over again).
Only two teams remain winless at 0-6, and they’re both from the NFC South (Shocker). No team has officially been eliminated yet, but the odds for either of those teams making the playoffs is hovering around 0.1%. Carolina can eliminate both teams from division contention with a win and a TB and ATL loss, and if eight NFC teams have 7 wins, they will both be automatically eliminated. That could take a while though, given the imbalance of power toward the AFC, as only four NFC teams have 4 wins, and only three are in the top-10 (Whereas 9 of the bottom 11 are NFC squads). It is likely we’re already looking at next year’s top-two draft order in ATL and TB, though one of them has to get a win when they play each other (I think…If they set their lineup and field a legal roster that is). The top riser this week was NE +8, and the biggest fallers were IND and CHI, each -8.
Now time for your weekly, “Who didn’t set their lineup” report. The following teams started inactive players with active, scoring options on their bench, or had long known or suspected inactives/suspended players and did not attempt to make any moves (UFA, as I would have no knowledge of trades) to fill their void:
ARI
ATL
CLE
DAL
DEN
GB
NYG
OAK
SF
Not all of those teams are equally guilty, and some of that may be legitimate based on salary cap, but I think it goes a long way in showing how much of a problem this is for the league. Teams need to set their lineups. If you still don’t like where you are right now, you have 6 weeks to turn your team into a winner (Unless you’re one of those bottom three teams). As always, these rankings were based on the previous week’s PRs, as well as the point totals/results of this week’s games (Which includes teams intentionally or unintentionally throwing games by not setting their lineups).
1. Pittsburgh 6-0 0
2. Seattle 5-1 0
3. Minnesota 5-1 0
4. Los Angeles Chargers 5-1 0
5. Oakland 5-1 +1
6. Kansas City 4-2 +6
7. Houston 4-2 +7
8. New York Jets 4-2 +7
9. Carolina 4-2 -1
10. New England 3-3 +8
11. Cincinnati 4-2 -6
12. Tennessee 4-2 -5
13. Philadelphia 3-3 -3
14. Detroit 3-3 +6
15. Arizona 3-3 +6
16. New Orleans 3-3 +6
17. Indianapolis 4-2 -8
18. Jacksonville 3-3 -5
19. Chicago 4-2 -8
20. San Francisco 3-3 +4
21. Cleveland 3-3 -5
22. Buffalo 2-4 -5
23. Denver 2-4 -4
24. New York Giants 2-4 +2
25. Dallas 2-4 +4
26. Green Bay 2-4 -3
27. Miami 1-5 +5
28. Washington 1-5 -3
29. Los Angeles Rams 1-5 -1
30. Baltimore 1-5 -3
32. Tampa Bay 0-6 0
32. Atlanta 0-6 0
Eight teams are now 4-2, led this week by Kansas City at #6, but eight squads are also 3-3, with New England as that contingent’s top-squad, checking in at #10 after beating Cincinnati (And with his quarterback on a bye no less). He’s one of two .500 teams that are in the top-10 in points (The other is Philly). The two lowest-ranked 4-2 teams (Indianapolis and Chicago) sit Nos. 17 and 19 respectively, lower than many 3-win teams after losses, given that both are still lower than #20 in points (IND is 21 and CHI is 27). They’re the only two 4-win teams for which this is the case. Five teams still sport 2-4 records, and four teams check in at 1-5, after Miami got their first win of the year in dominant fashion (Congrats Castle! It was like watching you bowl 31 mph. all over again).
Only two teams remain winless at 0-6, and they’re both from the NFC South (Shocker). No team has officially been eliminated yet, but the odds for either of those teams making the playoffs is hovering around 0.1%. Carolina can eliminate both teams from division contention with a win and a TB and ATL loss, and if eight NFC teams have 7 wins, they will both be automatically eliminated. That could take a while though, given the imbalance of power toward the AFC, as only four NFC teams have 4 wins, and only three are in the top-10 (Whereas 9 of the bottom 11 are NFC squads). It is likely we’re already looking at next year’s top-two draft order in ATL and TB, though one of them has to get a win when they play each other (I think…If they set their lineup and field a legal roster that is). The top riser this week was NE +8, and the biggest fallers were IND and CHI, each -8.
Now time for your weekly, “Who didn’t set their lineup” report. The following teams started inactive players with active, scoring options on their bench, or had long known or suspected inactives/suspended players and did not attempt to make any moves (UFA, as I would have no knowledge of trades) to fill their void:
ARI
ATL
CLE
DAL
DEN
GB
NYG
OAK
SF
Not all of those teams are equally guilty, and some of that may be legitimate based on salary cap, but I think it goes a long way in showing how much of a problem this is for the league. Teams need to set their lineups. If you still don’t like where you are right now, you have 6 weeks to turn your team into a winner (Unless you’re one of those bottom three teams). As always, these rankings were based on the previous week’s PRs, as well as the point totals/results of this week’s games (Which includes teams intentionally or unintentionally throwing games by not setting their lineups).
1. Pittsburgh 6-0 0
2. Seattle 5-1 0
3. Minnesota 5-1 0
4. Los Angeles Chargers 5-1 0
5. Oakland 5-1 +1
6. Kansas City 4-2 +6
7. Houston 4-2 +7
8. New York Jets 4-2 +7
9. Carolina 4-2 -1
10. New England 3-3 +8
11. Cincinnati 4-2 -6
12. Tennessee 4-2 -5
13. Philadelphia 3-3 -3
14. Detroit 3-3 +6
15. Arizona 3-3 +6
16. New Orleans 3-3 +6
17. Indianapolis 4-2 -8
18. Jacksonville 3-3 -5
19. Chicago 4-2 -8
20. San Francisco 3-3 +4
21. Cleveland 3-3 -5
22. Buffalo 2-4 -5
23. Denver 2-4 -4
24. New York Giants 2-4 +2
25. Dallas 2-4 +4
26. Green Bay 2-4 -3
27. Miami 1-5 +5
28. Washington 1-5 -3
29. Los Angeles Rams 1-5 -1
30. Baltimore 1-5 -3
32. Tampa Bay 0-6 0
32. Atlanta 0-6 0
