We’re back with another edition of The League Power Rankings. With just a little under half of the regular season in the books, we’re starting to get a clearer picture of the haves and the have nots. The elite teams are starting to separate themselves from the pack, but unlike in some previous seasons the playoff picture remains wide open. Week 6 saw a couple of games shake up the standings, as well as the fall of the last remaining undefeated team. Do they also fall in the ranks? Let’s take a look:
- Couple Screws Loose (4-2); 163.17 OPR / 134.7 ppg – There was some debate within The League HQ about whether to drop Mark’s squad in the rankings due to the injury to Patrick Mahomes, but it appears Couple Screws Loose caught a break and the injury isn’t as bad as feared. While Mark will have to navigate around losing his other-worldly signal-caller for a few weeks, he still gets to run out the Pats defense which has to be considered the MVP of the first half of the season. The rest of the roster is be more than strong enough to lead the way for a team that has topped 116 points in all but one game this year.
- Lobster Beesk (5-1); 161.68 OPR / 131.8 ppg – Meade dropped his first game of the season last week, but only drops one spot in the rankings as a result. While his lead in the Central has been cut to only 1 game, he holds huge tiebreaker advantages in both points and division record over the next closest team in the division. Given the mess that is the East, Lobster Beesk holds the inside track to the coveted bye, thanks in large part to Christian McCaffrey’s insane start to the year.
- Scoops Ahoy (4-2); 152.65 OPR / 126.1 ppg – We told you in the last rankings that even after an 0-2 start, the arrow was pointing up for Scoops Ahoy and to look for Jay’s squad to shoot up the rankings quickly. Lo and behold, that’s exactly what they’ve done. Scoops has now notched 4 straight victories (scoring over 130 points in each), earning themselves a tie for the West lead and the number 3 spot in the ranks. In the process, Jay’s team has raised their OPR by 25 points, their ppg by 14 points, and knocked off The League’s last unbeaten team with a 155 point performance.
- Frank The Tank (4-2); 134.14 OPR / 107.1 ppg – Jay isn’t the only one to turn an 0-2 start into a 4-2 record, as Frank has now run off 4 straight victories of his own to catapult himself right into the thick of the playoff mix. He hasn’t done it in quite as impressive fashion, as his ppg have actually dropped by 2 in the last three weeks, but the wins have seen his OPR raised by 11 points and he’s topped 120 points twice during his streak. He’ll look to keep the ball rolling this week and smash The Resistance in a pivotal Week 7 matchup.
- Brainbusters (3-3); 138.51 OPR / 113.1 ppg – Brian’s season thus far has been marred by inconsistency, topping 100 in odd-numbered weeks while being stuck in the 90s in even-numbered weeks. But in a season where only a few teams have been able to get any traction, Brian will certainly take the 3-3 start. The X-factor remains the RB position, where he needs Derrick Henry, Sony Michel and/or Todd Gurley to play up to their potential.
- The Undisputed Era (2-4); 130.69 OPR / 118.9 ppg – Speaking of teams unable to gain any traction, look no further than Vaffy kid’s. His OPR and ppg are nearly identical to what they were at this point 3 weeks ago, and so is his winning percentage. While his loss to Brian in Week 5 can be chalked up to going up against the wrong team at the wrong time, his loss this past week is partly his own doing; according to The League’s sources, Vaf talked whole heaps of smack against Week 6 opponent Jacky G, effectively jinxing himself against an opponent known to dabble in the art of the jinx.
- 2 Feets In (3-3); 120.06 OPR / 102.1 ppg – The beneficiary of Vaf’s self-jinxing, Jacky G stopped the bleeding of a 2 game losing streak and as a result has fully endured the short loss of number-one overall pick Saquon Barkley and comes out the other side in sole possession of first place in the mess of the division that is the East. It hasn’t been pretty for Jack, but Saquon’s return should reinvigorate the lineup and AJ Green is waiting in the wings as well. Jack could make a strong second half push.
- The Resistance (3-3); 128.36 OPR / 105.5 ppg – Credit to Olsen for finding a way to stack some wins together after Antonio Brown took his early draft pick and fired it into the sun. Although he’s dropped a few spots in the rankings after losing a couple of games over the last 3 weeks, Olsen’s outlook has to look brighter with Adam Thielen beginning to click again and hopefully less stacked boxes for Le’Veon Bell with the return of Sam Darnold.
- So Much Honey (2-4); 124.1 OPR / 112.6 ppg – It’s been a rough first half of the season for the defending champ, who has stumbled out of the gates to a disappointing 2-4 record. The loss of Davante Adams surely hasn’t helped things, but there have been improvements over the last 3 weeks which have seen Diesel’s OPR rise 6 points and his PPG rise 9 points. A big matchup with the next team in the rankings looms.
- The Pecan Sandies (2-4); 124.39 OPR / 110.5 ppg – Speaking of rough first halves, the first 6 games have been a nightmare for The Commish, who hoped to get off to a fast start after last year’s end of season collapse. He managed to nab a much-needed victory last week over Brian to stop to bleeding for a short while, but took a hit on Thursday night with Mahomes injury surely limiting the potential of the so-far solid but underwhelming Travis Kelce. The clusterfuck that is The East is what is keeping him alive at this point.
- Midnight Rider (2-4); 109.68 OPR / 96.8 ppg – Although it hasn’t been much, the last 3 weeks have seen some improvements from the team that began these rankings in the basement. Two weeks ago Midnight Rider notched a huge win over the defending champ in exciting fashion, and he put up a good fight against an explosive Couple Screws Loose. Again, right now in The East wins are tough to come by and even with the brutal start, Diamond’s is only a game out of first.
- The Meat Mavens (2-4); 114.03 OPR / 97.4 ppg – Yup, rounding out the basement is a trio of East teams. It’s been a remarkable fall for Ant over these last 3 weeks after a respectable 2-1 start that saw him ranked 3rd in these power rankings. Ant has dropped his last 4 games and that tumble has landed him down here at the bottom. In the last 3 weeks, Ant has averaged a League-low 81.6 points and been outscored by 40+ points in each game. The Meat Maven’s OPR has dropped 27 points, and his ppg has dropped 16. The return of Melvin Gordon has not gone as expected. He’ll look to get out of the gutter this week against the leader of these rankings, Marky Mark.