Jordan's 2009 Power Rankings - Week 6

Losing so Good

Mike and I shared a common fate last week – we had the best week of our respective seasons, and we got slapped by a club having an even better week. Sometimes, the stars are aligned against you and your fate is written before the opening kickoff.

I was in the uncomfortable position of watching Tom Brady lead the Patriots to a 59-0 victory against suddenly hapless Tennessee, while scorching the Steroids for 31 points. The 92 points in a losing effort is the league record going back to 2007.

Mike was the happy beneficiary of Brady’s record-breaking day, as Randy Moss posted 24 points. Unfortunately for the Big Guy, Brady had plenty to spare for Wes Welker, who scored 19 for John. So Mike and I scored 172 points between us last week, and had only a tick in the loss column to show for it. It’s like getting a King-deuce in acey-deucy…and Lord Knows I’ve been there.

A couple of years ago, Hugh McCaffery wrote the book on overachieving in losing efforts. He played a donnybrook with Northboro week 2, losing 94-84. As an encore, Northboro and Midwest went to the tie breaker in week 9, with Northboro winning an 89-89 standoff on bench points. So Hugh put 173 points on Northboro during 2007 and came up empty. I got my payback that year when I rolled into the playoffs with a 10-4 team and laid down a large steaming turd in my first round playoff matchup with the Girls. In Fantasy Football, we are all Fortune’s Fool.

This week’s rankings…

1. Fight-in Camels – It took six weeks to eliminate the guesswork and tab one team as the unquestioned Team to Beat in 2009. Last week, the Lotierzo juggernaut rolled over a game Northboro squad and is now numero uno in virtually every statistical category. The most impressive part of last week’s win was the fact that Tony’s Eagles had little to do with it – Brady, MJD and Hines Ward were spectacular. Tony is also managing his ass off – he has posted only 10 whiffs in 6 weeks. This week's matchup against Mike’s Dangerous Minds should be a classic.
2. Northboro – A great week went to waste against Tony, but the Steroids are well positioned for a playoff run. The team’s playing great, health is ok, and there is some depth to defend against injuries. The Steroids look to get back on the beam against the suddenly hot Georgia Satellites.
3. Midwest Marauders – The Marauders snuck out of town with a win against Garvey last week. They are third in the league in Total Points, second in Relative Won-Lost Percentage, and they have posted only 9 whiffs in six week, which is outstanding. Midwest has a tough task this week against the Northern Spies – they are playing without Chris Johnson and Brandon Marshall, so Duane Bowe and Marshawn Lynch will see the starting lineup.
4. Northern Spies – On the other hand, Adrian Petersen is lining up against the Pittsburgh run defense this week, so the Spies are not enjoying an easy week against the Marauders, either. The posted lineup has three tight ends – Shockey, Dallas Clark and Antonio Gates. Becky and Linda would be lovin’ it.
5. Dangerous Minds – They’re last in the league at 1-5, but they are second in the league in Total Points and third in Relative Won-Lost Percentage. I do not get paid enough to figure out where to put a team like this. They play the top-ranked Camels in a must win for the Minds.
6. Garvey’s Gangsters – It was nice while it lasted. Rich went to the McGahee well once too often, and watched Ray Rice take Willis’ job away. To be fair to Rich, however, he was hit with several key players on the bye last week, including Peyton Manning. No such reprieve for Rocky Brook this week- Manning is facing Our Lady of Mercy – AKA the St. Louis Rams.
7. Georgia Satellites – They claw their way out of last place in the rankings with an 85 point effort against Mike. John heads into the matchup with Northboro without Ray Rice, who has been white hot. Matt Ryan is starting to heat up. Ronnie Brown is the #4 running back in the league in scoring right now.
8. Rocky Brook – Nothing is going right for Tom since Gore went down week 2. They have 4 guys on their entire roster with position rankings less than 20 – and two of those are Brees and Joe Flacco. They will try to snap their 4 game skid against Mr. Garvey.