Week 12 Power Rankings

Back after a brief hiatus. A multitude of factors (pending fatherhood, one fantasy GM's wedding, perpetual fantasy ineptness of the blog's two main scribes) led to last week being the first week without power rankings in at least 3 years. Collective apologies. Without further adieu...

1. Optimo 55 Souf (9-2-1; prev: 2)
Probably should never have been dropped from the #1 spot. Though this team has sputtered down the stretch, it remains in the conversation of best regular-season squads in league history alongside 2006's "Total Shooters" and 2009's "Forte Forte Club," neither of whom, it should be noted, went on to win in the playoffs.

2. Tom Izzos Fball Camp (7-5; prev: 3)
The most consistent team in the league over the last 7 or 8 weeks despite a roster that, on paper, doesn't really look that scary beyond Chris Johnson. Will be a threat come playoff time.

3. WOLFPACK (6-4-2; prev: 1)
Will fly as far as the Eagles (Vick, DeSean) can carry him. Team has less diversity than Naperville. The Eagles get to face the Texans' version of "defense" this week, which bodes well for WOLFPACK.

4. Whoopass (7-5; prev: 4)
Completely erratic over the last seven weeks (3 weeks over 106, 3 weeks under 82), making this team a dangerous opponent any given week, but unlikely to make a deep run in the playoffs.


5. Knight Trimark (6-6; prev: 8)
The inconspicuously named running back corps of Mike Goodson and Fred Jackson has led this team to three straight high-scoring weeks, taking the commish from a likely spin in the consolation bracket to near-lock status for the playoffs (and a tough first round out, at that). Could be as high as a 5-seed with a big win over the cellar-dweller this week.

6. Grenade (6-6; prev: 6)
This GM might be a bit distracted by the novelty of married life (congrats, amigo!) but is a near-lock to make the playoffs. Can only miss out by both (a) losing to Favre's Flip Flops and (b) being outscored by over 10 points by The IFF in an IFF victory over WOLFPACK.

7. $2 six inch (7-5; prev: 5)
Through eight weeks, this was the most consistent team in the league and the biggest threat to an Optimo 55 Souf title. Suddenly the wheels fell off, and $2 six inch hasn't topped 86 points since the first week of November. This team is hobbling into the playoffs with bum-leg (obscure Tyler Feret reference!), and will be scaring precisely no one, despite the fact that it could conceivably finish as high as the #2 seed.

8. The IFF (5-7; prev: 10)
Was among the worst teams in the league just a few short weeks ago, and made a trade that was widely ridiculed by almost everyone. In retrospect, that trade looks pretty good considering Randy Moss fell off immediately and Aaron Rodgers has been shooting rainbows out of his butthole. A win over WOLFPACK would, in all likelihood, send this team to the playoffs as the 8-seed, which would be a pretty tough first-round matchup for Optimo 55 Souf.


9. Favre's Flip Flops (4-6-2; prev: 7)
Earlier in the year, this GM looked like a shoo-in to make the playoffs for the first time ever, and was a dark horse contender for the title. Now, Week 13 is a must-win just to make the playoffs, and the opposition is a red-hot Grenade squad. This GM's year-over-year improvement is impressive regardless of the outcome, but will it all be for naught?

10. Prone Cobras (3-7-2; prev: 11)
Has shown friskiness in the past 4 weeks but it will be too little, too late for Prone Cobras. It is quite an indictment of this team's draft that it successfully picked up the year's two biggest free agents (Peyton Hillis and Steve Johnson) and faced the league's softest schedule, yet still could not crack the postseason. Editor's note: The author of the previous sentence used two of his top three picks on Shonn Greene and Steve Smith.

11. Los Peros Grandes (5-7;  prev: 9)
Somehow, this team still has a chance at making the playoffs. I know a certain #1 seed who is imploring his Ouija board to make it so.

12. Curtis Enis Revival (3-8-1; prev: 12)
What more can be said - this team showed about as much heart as its namesake, whom you'll recall, retired at age 27 because he was tired, or something. All that's left is to try to play spoiler to Knight Trimark's playoff quest and then give it a go in the loser's bracket.