Regular Season Finale Power Rankings

The 2010 regular season is now in the wraps and what a season it was (final standings here). Along with some familiar and expected names (hello Adrian Peterson and CJ2K), we have some new risers (Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers), and as always we have some new out-of-left-field superstars (Peyton Hillis, Brandon Lloyd, Steve Johnson, Dwayne Bowe).

Before we march into the playoffs, here’s a look back at the year that was.

10. Tiiite End Jammers (5-8)

Technically, the Jammers didn’t have the worst record but they had the worst luck. Injury is the one word to sum up the Jammers season. Before the season even was under way, the Jammers announced that they were placing 2010 first pick, Ryan Grant, on IR for an ankle injury. Weeks later, Jammers starting QB, Tony Romo was effectively knocked out for the season with a broken collarbone. As for the rest, you had a lot of “potential” but not a lot of production. Talented youngsters such as Beanie Wells, Percy Harvin, and Michael Crabtree were up-and-down at best. While Harvin and Crabtree have shown flashes of brilliance (Harvin will finish in the top 30 receivers ranking), the rest of the young talent Beanie Wells (44 pts), Pierre Garcon (82 pts) and Crabtree (97 pts) were unreliable and largely unproductive.

However, there are positive signs. The Jammers may have found the QB of their forseeable future in a revitalized Mike Vick (6th best QB). Rashard Mendenhall is a stalwart and will be a cornerstone. There’s talent on this team but GM Lei Pan will need to find the right combination for next year.

9. Battle Angels (3-10)

The Angels had the worst record of the year. What? These are the same Angels that are 2 years removed from a Superbowl ring and had a dominant 2009 (best regular season record, most points scored but upset in the divisional series against the eventual champions – Gang Green). Its hard to figure out what happened as the Angels returned the core of their dominant past rosters. We’re talking about a team with Drew Brees, Andre Johnson, Greg Jennings, and DeAngelo Williams! It was a mix of injuries, a bad run game but a whole lot of bad luck. Drew Brees was Drew Brees with another ~300 pt season finishing as a top 5 QB. The Angels had another dominant season receiving season. Greg Jennings, TO, and AJ all finished in the top 8 receivers.

What the Angels missed was their run game. DeAngelo Williams just had a poor start, held back by a terrible offense in the Panthers. After just 7 weeks of ~5 pt/week production, Williams was finally placed on IR in late October. Angels’ lead back, Cedric Benson, had a decent season (10 pts/game) but was barely a top 20 back. The biggest factor was defense. While the Angels scored over 100 pts a contest, opponents nearly averaged 115 pts a week. Just look at Week 13 – the Angels ground out 125 points …. Only to be beat yet again by Ante Up (with 130). That’s just bad luck. The Angels will be back next year.

8. Dirty Birds (5-8)

Another super team with terrible results. Look at the line up: All Day, Burner Turner, Larry Fitz, and Miles Austin. Not to mention the rotating tandem of Matty Ice and Joe Unflappable Flacco. There is some big time talent on this team. AP turned in another MVP performance with an 20+ pt/week average. Turner also had a very workmanlike season and turned over 1,000 yards with 8 TDs – good for 14+ pts/week. On the receiving side, the Birds had a bit of a down year. Miles Austin finished as the 15th best receiver averaging just less than 13 pts/game. Fitzgerald was slightly worse with 135 pts through 13 weeks. The 3rd WR was a constant rotation (due to injury between Finley, Collie and Mario Manningham).

On the QB side, 2010 draft picks, Ryan and Flacco probably outperformed. Matty Ice was the 8th best QB while Joe Flacco was the 11th. If there’s a chance one of the QBs are kept, its probably Ryan. Mr. Ice showed remarkable progress and averaged nearly 23 pts/game. We have no idea how the Dirty Birds sucked so much. They only scored over 100 points 3 weeks all year. On the flip side, they scored under 80 in 8 times! Many of those times were true suckage with 3 weeks under 80 points.

7. Fobsters (7-6)

Fobsters are continuing to build momentum. With 2 playoff appearances in the last 3 years, the Fobsters are about to make their 3rd in 4 years. Led by Tom Terrific and Megatron, the Fobsters have been the beneficiaries of a bit of luck this year. Opponents averaged under 100 pts a game against them this year (Fobsters were actually the 3rd lowest scoring team this year). While there’s some steady performers here, the roster gets a little suspect outside of Brady. Players like Mike Tolbert, Santonio Holmes, and Mike Williams have been key performers but are far from stars at this point. It’ll be interesting to see the decisions Jimmy makes this off-season.

6. Gang Green (6-7)

Last year’s champion is this year’s mediocrity. That’s football. Despite a near .500 record, Gang Green actually had a pretty bad year. The 4th lowest scoring team in the league, Green finished the season 1 game under .500. A far cry from the championship season last year. However, this isn’t new. Greg relies more on steady no-name performers instead of star divas. This year, Green found some absolute goldmines (despite an inability capitalize). Steven Johnson came out of no where to finish as a top 10 receiver. Even more shockingly, Brandon Lloyd (yes, the same Brandon Lloyd that came into the league in 2002) finished as a top 3 WR averaging over 17 pts a game. Wow.

There’s more, Greg picked up some white RB named Peyton Hillis in September. Hillis went on to put up 962 yards with a ridiculous 11 TDs. This also does not include 50 catches for 430+ yards and ANOTHER 2 TDs. Damn. Hillis finished with 1 point less than Adrian Peterson. WOW. All three including Johnson, Lloyd and Hillis were FA pick ups. Despite this, Green had a bad year. Mostly because of the terrible years put up by Randy Moss and Shonn Greene. There’s talent here with multiple keeper possibilities in Hillis, Johnson, Lloyd, Hakeem Nicks, Sidney Rice and maybe even Greene. We think this team is much better next year than entering this year (hard to believe).

5. Chunky Monkeys (9-4)

Its weird to see the Monkeys in this slot. The same Monkeys that were so dominant in the first decade, the same Monkeys that, despite a very up-and-down season, enters this year’s playoffs with a 1st week bye. However, in many ways, these are not the same Monkeys. Gone are Peyton Manning and Chris Johnson. In are Philip Rivers, Jamaal Charles, Dwayne Bowe, Roddy White and Brandon Marshall. The Monkeys no longer sport the best runningback tandem in the league (think back to prior Monkey duos including CJ2K & Jamaal Charles, LT and Larry Johnson, LT and Shaun Alexander) and instead often rely on the run n’ gun led by Jamaal Charles. Charles, despite a strong yardage season, is really a time-share player.

Where the Monkeys have excelled this year has been their passing. Rivers is a top 3 quarterback and Dwayne Bowe/Roddy White are the top 2 receivers this year combining for over 2,000 yards and 21 tds. The Monkeys have a lot of potential talent in Marshall, Mathews (or else viewed as the largest bust this year) and Boldin but have so far haven’t been able to put it together consistently. We’ll see how they fare this year in the playoffs.

4. Fat Jubas (8-5)

At the start of the season, the Jubas looked like the Monkeys (Peyton and CJ2K) and played like the new Monkeys (7-1 regular season start). However, after only suffering their first loss in week 7, the Jubas suffered an unexplainable 4 game skid before finally righting the ship in the last game of the regular season against the Birds. During that losing streak, excluding a bad beat by Ante-Up (128-127), the Jubas averaged a measly 66 points. The issues are becoming increasingly clear.

Gore is now out for the season along with Dallas Clark who was lost earlier this season. CJ2K has had 5 weeks under 10 points and is no where near the all-world player he was last year. Peyton has thrown more INTs than anyone can remember (8 in the last two games!). Jubas have some depth though with Darren McFadden now being rotated in (a potential top 5 runner alert!) and as always, a plethora of tight ends including Vernon Davis and Tony G. However, what matters is that the Jubas win when it counts. With a clutch final regular season win, the Jubas managed to secure a 1st round bye in the playoffs. We’ll see if they can live up to the hype in the playoffs.

3. Ante Up (7-6)

Its hard putting a .500 team as a top team but the numbers show that Ante Up has consistently been one of the best teams. Jae’s team is leading the league in scoring. Led by superstar QB, Aaron Rodgers (top fantasy player this year), and a rock solid run game rotating between LeSean McCoy, Ray Rice and Ahmad Bradshaw – all three are top 15 running backs. The lone weakness, the receivers. Outside of Reggie Wayne, there really is little to speak of. Britt, Amendola, Sims-Walker, Obomanu have been a rotating cast of nobodies. However, if A-Rod, McCoy and Rice keep putting up 80+, they might not have to.

2. Philadelphia Phreaks (7-5-1)

What? The Phreaks? What year are we in? The Phreaks have been in the playoffs in a whopping 2 times and finished under .500 in 5 of the past 6 years. However, this year is different. The Phreaks were one game away from a 1st round bye and was consistently one of the best teams in the SMG division. Led by unsung hero, Kyle Orton, the Phreaks have had a consistent passing attack bolstered by young talents in Jeremy Maclin, Mike Wallace and DeSean Jackson. They have combined for 20 TDs and over 2000 yards.

MJD continues to be the rock of this team and is having another MVP type season with 1,100 yards with nearly 300 yards receiving. The emergence of Orton has been a godsend for the Phreaks. This is one of the strangest team in Phreaks history (to begin with, Donovan McNabb is no longer the starting quarterback) and is reliant weekly fireworks from his receivers. However, those have come at a fairly regular clip. Expect to see fireworks in the playoffs.

1. Buffy (8-4-1)

One of the fastest starting teams this year, Buffy started 7-2-1 before a mid-season slip lost them their vise grip on the top seed. Like the Monkeys, Roger has totally rebuilt their team and essentially flipped their team as well. Moving from the greatest show on turf, Buffy is now one of the most feared running teams in the league. Led by league MVP, Arian Foster, the Buffy running attack also includes Steven Jackson and Matt Forte who are both top 15 backs.

The story here is Foster. A first year starter, Foster put up over 1,200 yards with 13 tds to go along with 50 catches for nearly 500 yards and another 2 TDs through the air. To put this in weekly terms, Foster averaged over 24 points a week. More than 4 points more than 2nd place, Adrian Peterson. Not bad for a virtual unknown. There’s some uncertainty at QB (currently manned by rookie Sam Bradford) and Antonio Gates’ health (torn plantar fasciitis and turf toe) but there’s no doubt, this is an elite team this year.