Week 3 Power Rankings

So, yeah...I had no time to write this week, but here are my rankings. I apologize and will do better next week.

1. Annandale Sunshine (2-1) Previous Rank 2 - All hail the new King....errr Queen! As the league's leading scorer, the Sunshine are deep all through their roster.
   
2. Short Bus Bullies (3-0) Previous Rank 3 - It's almost a tossup between the Bullies and Sunshine for first, but the Sunshine have more points so....
   
3. Annandale Pumas (2-1) Previous Rank 1 - It was a close game last week, no need to panic here. Still deep and talented.
   
4. EZ Like Sunday Morning (1-2) Previous Rank 5 - Moving on up like George and Weezey! And looking to trade LT?? Wow!
   
5. Centreville Red Dogs (2-1) Previous Rank 9 - Was last week a fluke win? Probably....
   
6. Green Helmets (1-2) Previous Rank 5 - Still middle of the road. They need a few more stars.
   
7. Angry Amish (1-2) Previous Rank 4 - Come on Amish! You're like the Cardinals. Everyone's weekly sexy pick, and a weekly let down! So close...So close!
   
8. Rocky Runners (1-2) Previous Rank 8 - The Runners are the same as last week....not quite there.
   
9. Black Hand (1-2) Previous Rank 7 - Ocho and Braylon suck, and this week Romo will too.
   
10. Sixteen In The Clip (1-2) - SxC finally got a win. They have a good shot to beat the Dead Dogs this week as well.
    

Week 2 Power Rankings

I've always heard that crow does not make a great meal. It's bitter, you get your fill quite quickly and your desire for more is comparable to turkey leftovers three days after Thanksgiving. There's no way you could eat another bite of that bird, but someone has to or it's going to spoil, so you take another bite and try to swallow it down as fast as possible. That being said, I've eaten my fair share of crow this week and I'm ready to move on, so let's get this out of the way now. I hereby make the following admissions:

• The Red Dogs had no business being ranked second. With Brady gone and Plaxico being traded away, the only bite left in the Red Dogs was a toothless, gummy one as they got spanked by the Runners in Week 2.
• Just because a team was 0-1 does not mean that they are worse than every other 1-0 team. Case in point is the Sunshine. Obviously their Week 1 ranking should have been higher given their status as the second highest scorer in Week1.
• Brandon Marshall is a nasty talent and I'm a dolt for doubting it.

Now, that's over and done with so let's move on to the Week 2 power rankings.

1. Annandale Pumas (2-0) - Previous Rank, 1 - Again, there's no reason to change their place. Their roster is nasty. You know it, I know it. Probably the only weak point on this team is tight end, and let's face it when you've got Manning, Moss, Burress, Owens and Addai, who's sweating tight end?
2. Annandale Sunshine (1-1) - Previous Rank, 6 - They've got a loss, so what? They're only the highest scoring team in the league so far. They scored the second highest point total in their Week 1 loss and the highest total in Week 2 as they rolled past EZ Like Sunday Morning. The crazy part is they're doing it with less than marquee name players. Sure, you know Drew Brees and Reggie Wayne, but did you know Chris Chambers and Greg Jennings have scored 29 and 28 points respectively? Add in a catch machine like Jason Witten and the Sunshine will be hard to beat.
   
3. Short Bus Bullies (2-0) - Previous Rank, 3 - So, here we go again. A repeat of last season so far. It's the Pumas, the Bullies and the rest of the field. The biggest question for the ever rotating Bullies roster is, will it be right by the playoffs? The constant waiver wire work panned out for the Bullies during the majority of the 2007 season, but slumped going into the playoffs. The bye week proved to be a life saver for them, allowing them to only face a SxC team that lost a of players to the playoffs.
   
4. EZ Like Sunday Morning (0-2) - Previous Rank, 9 - What? An 0-2 team in 4Th place? I'm afraid so. With their number one draft pick out in week one, they lost by 8 points to the third ranked team, and then this week lost in a huge shootout to the number two. There's still a real question at QB, and I'm not backing off my question their depth at WR. But there's no doubt that EZ is not going to be an easy win for anyone the rest of the year.
5. Rocky Runners (1-1) - Previous Rank, 7 - Now that they've finally shoved Carson Palmer to the bench where he belongs, Eli Manning will carry them to more success. If Tory Holt can help jump start an anemic Rams offense, and youngsters Santonio Holmes and Reggie Bush continue to contribute the Runners will be potent .
6. Black Hand (1-1) - Previous Rank, 8 - Look, the Hand has too much talent to be denied for long. Romo is always a threat to go huge and Calvin Johnson looks like a stud, and Ocho Cinco and Braylon will score (only 15 points between them???) but again, no depth. An injury or continued suckage from the Edwards and Cinco will be the end of the Hand.
   
7. Green Helmets (1-1) - Previous Rank, 5 - They win a game and lose two spots? Not fair? Maybe, but the Helmets are panicing early on trying to find talent at WR, because after Steve Smith their next best is Wes Welker, who's going to have to not only fight Randy Moss for catches, but hope Matt Cassel can get the ball to him as well as Brady did. Not good odds. They are however offering some MUCHO running back talent in return, including Darren McFadden and Matt Forte.
8. Angry Amish (1-1) - Previous Rank, 4 - A big dropper this week, but look for the Amish to start bouncing back. The Aaron Rodgers and Brett Farve combo seems to be paying off, and Roy Williams is living up to the pre-draft hype everyone put on him so the Amish will score points. The rest of their positions are just okay though, and they need at least one more high quality WR to really make them a force to be reckoned with.
9. Centreville Red Dogs (1-1) - Previous Rank, 2 - Look, we know the Red Dogs are screwed. No Brady, no Plax and an aging Marvin Harrison. The waiver wire and Willie Parker are their only chances for salvation and it doesn't look like the football gods are hearing their prayers.
10. Sixteen In The Clip (0-2) - Previous Rank, 10 - I took a lot of flack about my previous review of SxC. Apparently the other teams in this league are homer apologists. I kid, I kid! OK, so Eddie Royal is looking like a stud, even after Brandon Marshall came back and Cutler is throwing lights out, but after that there are some serious concerns. Colston's still gone, which is a huge hurt. Peterson is still a stud, but with the announcement that Gus Ferrotte will be starting at QB for the Vikings because of a poor two weeks by Tavarius Jackson, you have to think teams are going to load up for him and make one the biggest choking dogs in Redskins history throw the ball.
    

Because I referenced Triumph AND dogs in the same article, here's one for you...

Week 1 Power Rankings

Where to begin? Only one week into the third chase for the Vandelay Cup and everything is nuts. Brady is done, the Amish are undefeated, cats and dogs are loving each other, a Hokie alum leads the league in receiving....did I mention Brady was hurt?


The trade talks are burning up the internet and the waiver wire is constantly getting scoured as teams are looking to fix the injury bug. The only thing that makes sense is the Black Hand FINALLY admitting that his eldest son is smarter and better looking than him. Anyway, I digress. On to the rankings!





Why Tom Why??

1. Annandale Pumas (1-0) - If you've paid any attention to my rankings in the past, you'll know that I'm a firm believer in the ideal that a champion has to be de-throned to lose the top spot. Even disregarding that theory, it's hard to vote against the Pumas. With players like Peyton Manning, Terell Owens, Randy Moss, Joesph Addai and deals pending to add Plaxico Burress and Ben Rothelisberger to an already stellar lineup the Pumas may be unstoppable this year. Look for them to completely demolish an already stalling SxC this week.
   
2. Centreville Red Dogs (1-0) - Yes, I realize Brady is done for the year. Yes, I know the Dogs just traded off Burress to the strongest team in the league, making them even stronger, but let's look at a couple factors. First, the CRD still put up the most points overall last week without Brady, thanks in a large part to Willie Parker, who looks to have a serious resurgance, scoring 3 rushing TDs last week after only 2 TDs all season in 2007. Yes, they've traded Plaxico, but given the circumstances the deal isn't so bad. They picked up Rivers, a possible keeper for anyone else and Patrick Crayton, who could be poised to have a strong year. Add in a healthy Marvin Harrison, Lee Evans and some strong middle-round talent WRs and the Red Dogs could be strong.
   
3. Short Bus Bullies (1-0) - Never, ever count out the shrewd Bullies when it come to making moves to make their team stronger. The Bullies work the waiver wire like an over agressive poker player and will get the best of the free agents 90% of the time. Throw in a healthy (for now) Donnovan McNabb, Anquan Boldin and Brian Westbrook and the Bullies look ready to make a playoff run for the second year in a row. The only serious concern on this team is a lack of depth in case of injuries and bye weeks.
4. Angry Amish (1-0) - This is the first time the Amish have ever crawled out of the bottom 5 in the power rankings, as a matter of fact, it's the first time the Amish have ever had a winning record, and I don't believe it'll be the last. The mad mennonites multi-talented multitude (it's called alliteration, sexy huh?) of players like Marshawn Lynch, Roy Williams, Clinton Portis and in an interesting twist both Aaron Rodgers AND Brett Farve in conjunction with steady producers like Jeremy Shockey and Donald Driver should be good enough to keep our league's version of AA on the wagon.
5. Green Helmets (1-0) - This could be the Helmets year. Marion Barber should be a top scorer every week, Kellen Winslow could be the most valuable tight end in the league, and Kitna seems like he may throw up more good numbers, even without Mike Martz, and if he doesn't Garrard is a safe fall-back. The one thing this team truly lacks is a standout wide reciever.
6. Annandale Sunshine (0-1) - The best 0 and 1 team in the league, they just barely lost to the Red Dogs in Week 1. With Brees, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, and Jason Witten the Sunshine can put up 100+ any week, but with no depth at WR and not a lot sitting on the waiver wire, the Sunshine will be in trouble is anyone gets hurt.
7. Rocky Runners (0-1) - The Runners could be ranked much higher, but after a disappointing debut for Carson Palmer (-2 points) its hard to justify. Hines Ward looked great, and Brandon Jacobs scored nicely (good job with his slow ass). Throw in the fact that the Runners have a few nice young players in Santonio Holmes and Reggie Bush, along with Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning and we could be looking at a playoff year for the Runners.
8. Black Hand (0-1) - Romo, Chad Johnson, Braylon Edwards, Calvin Johnson, Chris Cooley and the Hand is at 0 and 1? Yes, it's true, but don't count out the Hand just yet. Their depth is poor though as theirs a MAJOR drop off in talent after those 5 players.
9. EZ Like Sunday Morning (0-1) - Gay name? Yes. Good team, still possible. There are many questions on this roster, but running back isn't one of them. With LT and Frank Gore, that's an impressive tandem. Too bad someone forgot this is a WR heavy league. Brandon Marshall wasn't a bad draft choice, but the #1 overall? I don't think so. The lack of WR talent on this team will be it's undoing this year.
10. Sixteen In The Clip (0-1) - Oh how they mighty have fallen. This is the only team in the league I believe is in SERIOUS trouble. They've traded off Ben Rothelisberger for a homer pickup of a rookie who has had ONE good week, lost Marques Colston for the next 4 to 6 weeks (when they had a chance to trade him and Jay Cutler the day before to get Plaxico Burress) and they're starting RODDY WHITE! Yes, they have Steve Smith, but not the good one. The only bright spot left on this team is Adrian Peterson. Maybe they'll trade him off for Schaub so they can be the ultimate homer team with no talent.