Week 13

Week 13 brought a reasonable amount of closure to the playoff picture.  Three familiar teams have found their way back to the playoffs, Riley being the only fake coach to do so all three years of the league. Although, with his aging team, nose issues and general lack of good taste in hats, the horizon isn’t looking very promising.  2015 will see the first 3^rd-4^th place game that doesn’t feature Riley beating up on Kyle as the pick-trading wonder will be missing the playoffs for the first time.  Let's examine where we are:

South, Chris, and Riley – All are in but none of the seeding is finalized.  If Riley loses, it’s almost guaranteed that the winner of FIT and IWUL will be the #1 seed.  If Riley wins, he will need Chris to pull off the upset to earn the #1 seed and a date with the last playoff addition to the final four.  The first seed is important as whoever the #4 seed is will be by far the weakest of the contenders, especially if it's Finken, who has no more seed left. 

Finken and Abel – The Power Rankings are giving the final playoff spot to Finken with a probability of 92.34664%.  The only way for Finken to surrender the spot to Abel is to lose and get outscored by Abel by 57.76 points…and Abel would have to win, which is a lot to ask of someone who can barely check their lineup on Sunday morning. 

Mitch and Kyle – Consider a different hobby.

Seth – We expect this:

And now, on with the Power Rankings:

1. Fuck It Three - FIT finally pulled together a solid week across the board, aside from Eddie Lacy, to stamp his ticket to the playoffs.  The RoethlisBrown duo is in prime form for the playoffs and Doug Martin is starting to look like a real running back again.  Delanie Walker has been the top TE over the past four weeks but faces a tough schedule through the end of the fantasy year.  FIT is primed to be the team to beat heading into the playoffs and might have a healthy Luck available to crap on his dreams with another 1-point playoff performance.

WEEEEE!!!!  South's headed for another #1 seed.

2. Smells Low – With the third highest score of the week, Riley’s postseason push could be troublesome for others in the bracket.  He’s predicted to put up almost 170 this week, Freeman is continuing to put up solid numbers and Amendola would be a good trade for a number one QB right now, especially in a 16 team league.  His lack of depth at WR could haunt him, though.  Only time will tell if it haunts him as much as the herpes he’s probably getting from the college strange.

Maybe Brady could be Riley's missing WR.

3. If We're Using Logic – Chris’s fantasy team has chosen a poor time to strive for the mediocrity that matches his sex life.  IWUL locked in his second straight playoff berth with a win over a hapless Finken.  Randall Cobb continues to disappoint, but Maclin has put together two fantastic games in a row and three promising matchups in front of him.  Getting Gronk back will be key to postseason success.  Chris’s still struggling with lineup issues as his bench scored more than an average southerner at a family reunion.

ODB in to rescue Lazer's decisions again.

4. Rollin' 4 Deep - R4D had a dismal week where his defense was the second highest scorer on the team.  Allen Robinson singlehandedly saved Finken from total embarrassment going off for 3TDs and 153 yards while he left Brees, Cooks and James White on his bench.  He’ll need to make the correct roster adjustments if he wants to make a push for the league championship.  He gets one last shot at setting a solid roster before the playoffs begin.  If he does make the playoffs after losing 5 of the past 7, it’ll be a hollow victory, much like his Huskers being given a pity-bowl-berth at 5-7. 

Basically how Finken has handled the past month and a half.

5. I’m Out – Abel continues his surge even in a losing effort.  He saw his 4 game winning streak snapped by FIT, the only team in the league that scored more than he did.  While the loss really hurt his playoff bid, he was able to make up a good amount of the point difference between he and Finken.  Still, IO’s on the outside looking in at this point much like Riley at an Eva orgy. 

Can we live in a world where Abel's team isn't actually that bad?

6. Off Suit 10s – Kyle was able to knock off Mitch this past week and take himself out of the running for the first pick.  He did everything he could though to lose this game having 4 starters score in the single digits and 10 guys put up 0 on his bench.  He may have an off-suit-10 up his sleeve though as he’s currently a 20 point underdog to Riley this week.  Those are steeper odds than Cesaer being called to make a 6th. 

This catch basically took Kyle out of the #1 pick matchup.

7. Play It Backwards – Mitch won the war of attrition by losing.  He made the right call by starting Gio and Moncrief over far superior guys on the bench and managed to pick up a TE that neither of us had heard of.  It’s these kind of strategic and well-thought out plays that got Mitch from League Champ in year 1 to where he is right now.  He's performing like a Kardashian at a talent contest.  Bravo.

Headed for the #1 pick, time for the Carlton.

8. Ah It’s Early – Just like his namesake says, it’s never too early to start planning for next year.  And by next year, we definitely mean starting his draft day grocery list.

Seth after a very long fantasy season.