The Favorites
Cloud 9, Matt Attack, Bruce Almighty’s and Game of Zones are all in favorable positions with strong divisional records, considerable leads in their respective races and are amongst the top teams in points scored for the season.
Cloud 9 and Game of Zones are basically the favorites to finish in the one and five spots if current records hold. They are the only two teams in a competitive divisional race at this point and it’s going to come down to seeding and matchups to dictate how far they will go in the playoffs. In the last State of the Divisions recap, I predicted Game of Zones would overtake Cloud 9 as the clear favorite citing their stronger bench as the reason. The opposite has occurred and Cloud 9 has weathered the storm of bye weeks with relative ease with good spot starts from players like Kyler Murray, Caleb Douglas and others. Meanwhile Game of Zones just had their worst week of the year with Jared Goff posting back-to-back single digit games. Players like Kyren Williams and Tyler Allgeier are facing reduced workhorse roles while Ladd McConkey literally cannot stay healthy. As of now it is easier to say Cloud 9 is the better bet to finish at the one seed.
The Matt Attack has a perfect 4-0 division race and a four-game lead in the division with five games left, so he will potentially be the first team to clinch a playoff spot this season and do it relatively early (maybe before Thanksgiving). Their two headed attack of Kenneth Walker and Bucky Irving is the best in the league and Brock Bowers is a sharp edge at the tight end position on a weekly basis as he is matchup proof.
Bruce Almighty is riding a three-game winning streak and now has a two-game lead including a head-to-head victory against Da Moon’s Huge Craters. Hosting one of the stronger benches that I correctly predicted would help Bruce navigate the middle part of the season has proven to be a key indicator in the FFC South race. Tony Pollard has showcased two back-to-back games which makes him an interesting trade candidate (I am writing this ahead of the trade deadline so it’s possible he may already be traded) or he could remain a strong RB2 on the Titans.
If I had to rank these teams for who I think is the best team to win the championship it would go: Cloud9=Matt > Bruce > Game of Zones.
The FFC North Race
The North is locked in a three-way tie between Goal Post Malone, Niner Mania and the Isla Sorna Raptors. Goal Post Malone and the Raptors both share a 3-1 divisional record which is monumental to break a tie, while Niner Mania lags behind with a 1=3 divisional record. In terms of points scored, it goes Niner Mania > Goal Post Malone > Isla Sorna Raptors who are ranked sixteenth in the league in points scored. It’s important to note that Goal Post Malone owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Raptors and both Goal Post and Raptors own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Niner Mania. In my State of the Divisions, I predicted that Niner Mania would be a dark horse team to emerge from this bunch, and it appears that it is trending that way.
Niner Mania has seen the emergence of Matthew Golden as a rising superstar WR1. Even while Ashton Jeanty and Justin Jefferson navigate mediocre fantasy seasons, they both still carry incredible value due to talent and good offensive situations (it’s harder to justify that for Jefferson with his current QB situation but his talent is so supreme it can overcome a bad QB). The only question mark I have is at the QB situation so if Super Saiyan Bo Nix can keep padding those fourth quarters, this team will be a solid contender and my pick to win the FFC North.
Goal Post Malone has relied on a steady RB attack from Jonathan Taylor and D’Andre Swift who have both cooled off after hot starts to the season. While both possess immense touchdown upside, they have also shown some volatility that makes their floor much lower than earlier anticipated. Jonathan Taylor is the prized possession of the trade deadline, and it’s heavily expected he will be traded. Depending on where he lands, that could skyrocket his value or tank his value in a murky timeshare. It’s too early to cut bait, so I think Goal Post Malone is a contender at this point.
The Raptors have been ravaged by injuries and it’s no fault of their own that they are staring down the barrel of a bad second half to the season. Derrick Henry is currently stuck in an offense so poor it rivals some of his worst Titans seasons. The choice between Aaron Rodgers and JJ McCarthy at quarterback is a tough one and I’m glad it’s not my decision to make at this point. I have to pick one, so regrettably I will have to call the Isla Sorna Raptors a pretender.
The Four-Win Teams
The Spartans, Craters and Moore on the Run are the only four-win teams.
The Spartans are basically locked into a hunt for the wildcard given how strong their division is. They are currently four games behind the division lead and two games behind the second place Game of Zones who currently sit at the five seed. The Spartans have an uphill battle with a 1-3 divisional record, but are a powerhouse ranked sixth in total points scored. This team is a longshot with such a disadvantage in the division race but has the firepower to be a contender.
Moore on the Run is in a similar position with a four-game deficit in the division race and a divisional loss to the Matt Attack. Moore on the Run has a little less of a potent offensive attack as they are ranked 13th in points scored on the season. It’s nearly impossible for anyone in the division to overtake Matt Attack, so this team has to be laser focused on one of the wildcard spots. My guess is this team is a pretender.
Da Moon’s HUGE Craters have the best chance at their division race out of these teams as they are only two games back, with a remaining game left against Bruce. This team is exceptional at three positions: tight end, kicker and defense and average just about everywhere else. Trevor Lawrence is a victim of his team’s overwhelming success where they blow teams out and he has a reduced role in the passing game. The Craters are ranked third in points scored and have the most outs to get a playoff spot out of the three 4-win teams, so my prediction is this team is a contender.
The Three-Win Teams
I’m not going to spend a lot of time breaking this down. Statistically a six-loss team is very unlikely to make the playoffs, and it would require a historic turnaround and incredibly good luck with some disasters from several teams I’ve talked about above this section. Only Mahomies’ Deezflated Nuts and Uur UPS have two divisional wins. Uur UPS and the Jedi Knights have the smallest division race gap to overcome where the Jedi Knights are two games behind the three teams gridlock and Uur UPS is three games behind Bruce, including a week one victory against Bruce which is HUGE for a potential head-to-head tiebreaker scenario down the road. MD Nuts and Jedi Knights are around league average offenses ranked 7th and 9th respectively while Uur UPS is near the bottom at 14th. My predictions for the three–win teams are as follows:
Uur UPS, Jedi Nights and MD Nuts: Long shot contender
PGD, SLAM BALL and Dr. Jenious are all solid pretenders.
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My early playoff predictions from Week 4:
- Game of Zones
- Matt Attack
- Bruce Almighty’s
- Goal Post Malone
- Cloud 9
- Mahomies’ Deezflated Nuts
- Da Moon’s HUGE Craters
My updated predictions from Week 9:
- Matt Attack
- Cloud 9
- Bruce Almighty’s
- Niner Mania
- Game of Zones
- Elk Grove Spartans
- Da Moon’s HUGE Craters
