WEEK 10 RANKINGS
In celebration for Week 10, I decided to go with a picture of everyone's favorite #10 (no, not Walt Frazier or Eli Manning), Bo Derek. Anyone born after 1970 does not understand the reference, so as always, google it.
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I want to use this week's LM Note to expand on the topic written about last week. As a reminder, I went back to the 2023 Season to see where the teams in the 2023 Week 9 Rankings finished at the end of the season. And surprisingly, not much changed over the final 5 weeks. As a reminder, here is how those teams finished the season:
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2023 Week 9 Rankings - Final 2023 Record and Points in parentheses.
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1. Stick Rock (10-3/2,027 Points) - Finished as the #1 Seed. Bounced in Round 1.
2. Wrath of Kahn (10-3/2,078 Points) - Finished as the #2 Seed. Bounced in Round 1.
3. Springfield Flanders (7-6/2,086 Points) - Finished as the #3 Seed. Lost in Finals.
4. MKBA (8-5/1,966 Points) - Finished in 5th Place. Missed Playoffs.
5. Milford Football Team (6-7/2,012 Points) - Won Championship.
6. Peeping Tomlins (8-5/1,869 Points) - Finished in 6th Place
7. '69 Olds (5-8/1,649) - Finished in 7th Place.
8. Dark Helmet (2-11/1,586 points) - Finished in 10th Place.
9. Black Ghostbusters (5-8/1,630 Points) - Finished in 8th Place.
10. Skoal Bandits (4-9/1,603 Points) - Finished in 9th Place.
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So I decided to go back and see if the same held true for the other two seasons. Here are the 2022 and 2021 Week 9 Rankings with a note on where they finished the season:
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And you know what? The results were shockingly consistent.
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3 of the 4 Top seeded teams in Week 9 all 3 seasons advanced to the playoffs.
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The Top 2 Teams advanced in 2 out of the 3 seasons.
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The 5th seed advanced to the playoffs in every year from 2021-2023.
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No team lower than the 5th seed after Week 9 advanced to the playoffs.
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Neither the #1 nor #2 Seed has won the Championship.
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Over those 3 seasons, the #3, #4 and #5 Seeds took home the KAOS Cup. That means we haven't had a 1st Place finisher in their Division team win a Championship since 2020.
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Ok, so what does that tell us? Probably nothing due to the small sample size. But if you are thinking you still have a chance and you are in 7th through 10th in our rankings, you might want to take another look at your roster and start positioning yourself for 2025. And if you are comfortably leading your division? There is always work to be done. I say it every year. The team that dominates early, seldom dominates at the end.
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Ok, enough with the history lesson. Now on to our 2024 Week 10 Rankings:
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1 . Mel Kipers Best Available (Last Week #1)
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This team just keeps steamrolling their competition. 192-208-176 points in their last 3 games. De'Von Achane (32.1), Lamar Jackson (30.6) and Jayden Daniels (23.8) led them to an easy victory this week. MKBA can clinch the Patrick Division with one more win or one loss by Wrath of Kahn.
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2. Ghostbusters (Last Week #2)
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​​​​This was an embarrassing win for the Ghostbusters this week. I might need to refund the rest of the league if this keeps up. They had to sweat out a victory Sunday Night even though their opponent lost two of their best WRs in the 1st half of their respective games. One more win or one loss by Springfield Flanders clinches the Adams Division.
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3. Stick Rock (Last Week #3)
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​​Another week, another loss for Stick Rock. The leagues second-most favorite punching bag had another 170 points hung on him this week. Garrett Wilson (30), Alvin Kamara (28.5) and Geno Smith (28.1) led an otherwise top-heavy performance the week as no other player managed to score over 15 points. Also, is CJ Stroud the new Patrick Mahomes? He has only surpassed 20 points twice this season while scoring 16-points or less 5 times.
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4 Tie. Dark Helmet (Last Week # 5-Tie)
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​The team that refuses to die. Just when you think they can be counted out, they put up 330 combined points over two consecutive weeks. Having Tua (21.54) back in the lineup has helped. Saquon Barkley (33.9) and Conrad Sutton (25.2) were the other lead scorers. Helmet moves back into playoff position with the Week 9 win.
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5. Peeping Tomlin's (Last Week #4)
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​Jared's team was on a bye this week. They still played a game, but his players decided to sit this one out. They take a brutal loss to divisional rival Dark Helmet in a game that saw the Tomlin's playoff chances dim just a bit. Helmet leap frogs them in the standings with the lopsided victory.
6. Springfield Flanders (Last Week #5-Tie)
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​We call this a gut-punch loss. Flanders could have pulled to within half a game of the division lead (a win would have given them the H2H tie-breaker over The Ghostbusters), but bad luck and poor production doomed them. AJ Brown had to leave the Eagles game in the 1st half with a knee injury and Puca Nakua was ejected for throwing a punch after only securing one-catch. Glenn is still in the mix for a Wild Card spot and looks to have the superior roster among the 4-8th place teams.
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7. Wrath of Khan (Last Week #8)
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Wrath of Khan came up with an impressive victory this week to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. Chase Brown (27.7), Derrick Henry (27.3) and Kirk Cousins (23.7) led a balanced attack, but Jimmy needs to make his move now if he hopes to grab one of the Wild Card Spots. This might be another situation where a desperation trade could turn their season around.
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8. Skoal Bandits (Last Week # 7)
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​​The Bandits keep hanging around the outskirts of playoff contention with a solid, but ultimately losing effort in Week 9. Sam Darnold (25), JK Dobbins (24.5) and Bijan Robinson (21.5) have pushed them to within shouting distance of the 4th playoff spot. A couple of the younger players (Harrison and Richardson) have not panned out this year but still show plenty of talent. Maybe one of the teams further down the rankings will deal you a player that can help you now for the promise that Richardson and Harrison show.
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9. '69 Olds (Last Week #10)
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​Hey, look! Ray-Ray won a game! And he scored a bunch of points, too! JNS finally broke out with a 37 point effort while Jalen Hurts (33.9) and Rhamondre Stevenson (22.4) had throw back games to when they were productive fantasy players. Ray moves to 3-6 for the season but is still 134 points back in the wild card standings.
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