Jordan's 2010 Power Rankings - Week 7

Spoke too soon

The ink on last week’s column barely had time to dry as the Nelson League reasserted its central theme – we are all fools in the world of Fantasy Football. Teams that flexed their muscles and hooted over their success the first five weeks of the season were properly and severely humbled in week 6. The results for those of us on the pedestals were not pleasant. To take one example, the commish is dusting himself off after being slam dunked in Rice Bowl I by 44 points.

This week, we get to spend as much time talking about who is not playing as who is playing. Indianapolis, Houston, the New York Jets and the Detroit Lions are on the bye, taking 17 players who have been making regular lineup appearances off the table. Teams like the Gangsters, Northboro, and Georgia will be scrambling to fill holes in their lineups.

Injuries are also making a dent in some teams, most notably Dangerous Minds, who lost a lot of blood in their loss to John last week.

This week’s rankings…

1. Georgia Satellites – All questions have been answered. Ladanian Tomlinson shares “pick of the year” honors with Arian Foster. Rashard Mendenhall has emerged as a solid #1 running back, made all the more dangerous by the return of Big Ben Rothliberger in Pittsburgh. Austin Collie comes into this week as the #1 ranked receiver in the league, though an injury and a bye week will be slowing him down for a while. This club looks good, and they climb to the #1 slot in the rankings just in time to face an understaffed Northboro club.
   
   
2. Garvey’s Gangsters – They’re 5-1, their first loss coming against a stunned and prone Midwest club, who recorded their first win. Midwest has been playing possum all year, and Mr. Garvey’s unfortunate timing was to play Hugh the week he gets his QB back. Rich has not scored over 57 points since week 2, and three of his wins were in weeks when he scored less than 50. This week, Peyton Manning takes a seat in favor of brother Eli as Rich takes on Rocky Brook.
   
   
3. Northboro – During the halftime break at the draft, Brian and I were looking at week 7 with terror, as we realized that most of the players we’d picked had the week off. The receiver situation with Randy Moss, Terrell Owens and Brandon Lloyd is acceptable. The problem is we’re rolling with a banged up Darren McFadden, and Phillip Rivers will be throwing passes to Betty White. First round draft pick Michael Turner has scored one (1) touchdown so far this year. I will not be playing any running back against the New York Giants again this season.
   
   
4. Dangerous Minds - Here’s a little snapshot of Mike’s 2010 season so far:
   
   Top 3 Games in the Nelson in 2010 by margin of victory.
   
   
   
   • Week 2 Dangerous Minds over Northern Spies (44 Points)
     
   • Week 6 Georgia Satellites over Dangerous Minds (44 Points)
     
   • Week 5 Dangerous Minds over Midwest Marauders (43 Points)
     
   
   
   Mike has bye weeks and injuries to contend with. Calvin Johnson has the week off. Malcolm Floyd is hurt. Pierre Thomas is hurt. Mike’s waiver snatch of Chris Ivory (158 yards last week) was a brilliant moment in an otherwise dismal week. Mike would like you all to know that he is a nine point favorite against Tony this week.
   
   
5. Midwest Marauders – He unseated the #1 team in the league last week, and Ben Roethlisberger chipped in 17 – the second straight week that Hugh has picked the right quarterback. This is a far better team than the 1-5 record would indicate. This week, they’re lining up without Andre Johnson, but the three receivers they have rostered (Zach Miller, Michael Crabtree and Roddy White) have been scoring steadily for the last three weeks. White is leading all receivers in targets. If they stay healthy, this team should very dangerous over the remainder of the year.
   
   
6. Tony’s Fight-in Camels – They did it to us again! Playing this team makes me want to roll back and forth on my living room floor, man. Last week, DeSean Jackson played about five minutes, and scored two touchdowns before he found himself looking out his ear hole. That was all it took, as almost no one on the Steroids wanted to visit the end zone last week except Arian Foster. This week, Tony plays Mike without Matt Schaub.
   
   
7. Northern Spies – They led the league in scoring last week – a sign that Team Deslauriers is starting to get this mess sorted out. Ryan Torrain has been a revelation, and Tony Romo has been on fire. This week, things could get a little dicey with Romo facing the man-eating Giants defense. Rich got another injury to add to his long list - Joseph Addai should miss 4 to 5 weeks with a shoulder after having perhaps his best game as a pro.
   
   
8. Rocky Brook – Tom Brady and Chris Johnson continue to produce, but somehow a team that starts Kenny Britt and Danny Woodhead in the same week just doesn’t strike fear. They are playing the 5-1 Garvey’s Gangsters without Braylon Edwards and Shonn Greene.