Playoffs! You Kidding Me? Playoffs?!!!!

OK, folks. Since the last TTFFL update, our standings have consolidated a bit, making for an interesting stretch run. I am assuming here that it will require seven wins to make the playoffs but it does seem like there is a chance that a 6-8 team could sneak in.

Top Tier

Suspended Atomnation (8-3). Like famished sharks, these guys continue devouring everything in their path. Last week, they captured Weekly High honors again. I believe that is four times now, along with about four second place finishes. Atom actually has the most "Points Against" in the league. But, as Sparky Anderson might have said, "It don't matter." Weekly points leaders don't care what the guy scores.

Motor City Kitties (8-3). Yeah, they're good, too. Travis Kelce in the second round might be the best pick in the draft.

Status: I believe it is almost mathematically impossible for either of these teams to miss the playoffs. Meanwhile, they have a big edge in the quest for a first-round bye. 

Second Tier

Leviathans (7-4). They will live and die by the tie between Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs. Just no more talk of Tommy John surgery, please, says Levi.

Lights Out (7-4). Very quietly, Lights Out has strung together a six-game winning streak. That is tied for the longest winning streak since 2018, when ~AirMex won eight straight. 

Status: One more win will almost surely get these guys into the playoffs. Even with an 0-3 finish, they'll have a shot.  Both are in bad shape on the tie-breaker with the top tier teams, so it will likely require a 3-0 finish for either to capture a bye.

Third Tier

Detroit KneeBiters (6-5). The Knees lit up the scoreboard early in the season but have struggled lately. 

Air Apparent (6-5). The historically bad status of their draft was cemented over the weekend, when third-round selection (and total bust) Kyle Pitts was put on IR.

Status: Both of these teams are running on fumes, but have good chances to eke their way into the playoffs. Two wins will almost certainly do the trick. One win and a prayer might, as well.

Fourth Tier

Golden Grahams (5-6). These guys are second in the league in points. With the Kubicek rule in place, that might not matter.

Orion River Horses (5-6). A tough loss to B Cain in Week 11 put a dent in the Horses' playoff hopes.

Status: It'll almost certainly require at least two out of three for these guys to make the playoffs, and even that would be cutting it close.

Fifth Tier

Los Diablos (4-7). They recovered nicely from the Monday Night Heartbreaker of Week 8, with a Weekly High and another victory to make a win streak. But, then, they ran into the eviscerator known as Atomnation.

B Cain (4-7). You can kind of see it coming together for B Cain. Some of those big name players starting to live up to expectations. A two game winning streak. Maybe there will be some magic ... 

Merrill's Marauders (4-7). Well. The defending champion Marauders Just. Can't. Quite. Get. On. Track. Last week, they outplayed the KneeBiters in ever phase of the game, except one. KneeBiters' QB: 35 points, Marauders' QB: 2 points.

Status: It's not over till it's over. The fifth-tier crew will almost certainly need three-game winning streaks and a little luck to make it in. But it's entirely possible.

Sixth Tier

Eagles Super Bowl Champs (2-9). This might be the best 2-9 team we've ever had. The Eagles picked up Weekly High honors in Week 10. And if they hadn't left their QB position empty two weeks earlier, that likely would have been a third straight win. Eagles have got themselves the newly emerged best QB in fantasy football, plus Dalvin Cook, Aaron Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, and more. But they will have to fill out their line-up to maximize their chances of improving their record.

The Rich Get Richer

It has been a frustrating year for most of the teams in the TTFFL. Weekly Wins (which, for those who are unaware, carry a $15 sweepstakes) have been collected by only five teams. Just three teams have hogged seven out of nine of them.

Meanwhile, in a rare example of justice in our league, the teams scoring the most points are actually winning the most games. Of the six teams with the most points, only one would miss the six-team playoff field if the season ended today. (Sorry, Diablos.)

A reminder to all, especially new entrants: Thanks to the Kubicek Rule, playoff-seeding ties in our league are broken by a very complex head-to-head formulation instead of the much more rational points-scored system used everywhere else. So injustice might prevail, after all.

Atomnation (7-2, 2 weekly wins) is still smarting from that 0-4 start last year and, for that matter, their four game losing streak to end the regular season. These guys are on a revenge tour. Atom has scored at least 110 points in seven-out-of-nine weeks. For context, three teams -- including the defending champion Marauders -- have yet to reach that mark a single time. Atom has led the league in scoring twice,* finished second four times and third twice. That accounts for eight of the season's nine weeks, thus far. In Week 9, Atom entered Monday night with a shot at a third weekly title, but ended up falling a little short. Their owner's reaction showed just how much nicer things are in the Nation of Atom this year. “Saal good," he said.

Leviathans (7-2, 1 weekly), for reasons not always discernible, have an uncanny way of finding their way to the top of the standings. Maybe it's because the Leviathans do not listen to the wisdom that you should refrain from choosing a quarterback early in the draft. Instead, they just take Josh Allen.

The Motor City Kitties' (7-2) owner was ecstatic to escape the shackles of an assistant GM job at another franchise to go run his own show. First and second round draft picks Austin Ekeler and Travis Kelce are making him look pretty smart. 

Golden Graham’s (5-4, 2 weeklies) are one of the few teams remaining in the TTFFL with an all-time winning record in the wake of the departures of the Ninjas and both Air Mexes. Of course, that does not mean the Grahams have ever gotten anywhere near a championship. This year, they’re once again looking to kick the sonofabitch in. (I do recommend that 25 second link if you haven't clicked it when I've sent it out before.) Listen to some of these point totals: 110, 128, 130, 118, 131. Heck, in Week Five, Grahams tallied 130 points with tight end Taysom Hill’s 36 points sitting on their bench. Who would have even thought to draft Taysom Hill in the first place?

Detroit Kneebiters (5-4, 3 weeklies!) said on draft night that they had their best team ever. That would be saying a lot, given their near flawless 14-2 title run back in 2010. Not that there have been a lot of "bests" in Har-Putt-Knee land since then. But they are making a lot of noise this year, with a stupendous three weekly wins in nine weeks. 

Lights Out (5-4) followed up a rocky (that is, last place) debut in 2021 with a 1-4 start in 2022. Then a light bulb apparently went on, propelling them to a four-game winning streak that would have them in the playoffs if the season ended today. That light bulb was likely a newly discovered ability to keep the other guys from scoring any points. Lights Out's opponents have averaged a paltry 63 points a week during their winning streak. But Lights Out is also scoring, such as with a recent 50-point week from a single running back. 

Air Apparent (4-5) might be the worst team in playoff contention. The team’s second, third, fourth and fifth round draft picks are all certified busts. Only the NFL’s lax player-conduct policy (on everything but marijuana use) allowed their first rounder to escape suspension after he body slammed a photographer for committing the offense of walking in front of him. But after years of late-season heartbreak, championship-less Air Apparent is hoping the script is flipped this year. 

Orion River Horses (4-5) have had their moments, but are currently suffering from a three-game losing streak. This writer would have preferred if the Horses had chosen a time other than Week 7 to ask Gabriel Davis to ring up 171 yards and two touchdowns on just three catches.

Merrill’s Marauders (4-5) have shown over the years that they have difficulty handling success. We all remember the Marauders’ meltdown in 2020 after winning the championship the year before. After pulling it together to win another title in 2021, the Marauders once again find themselves near the bottom of the league in points scored. 

Los Diablos (3-6, 1 weekly) put their chips down on a freight train and a chef. The first one started slowly (as freight trains do) but has since accumulated tremendous momentum (as freight trains do). The second one is now cooking for someone else. Diablos would be on the cusp of the playoffs if not for suffering one of the more brutal losses in recent memory. They entered Monday Night Football in Week 8 needing only two points from their kicker (in other words, just a single field goal or two extra points). Well, the kicker got only one field goal attempt, which he missed. Fortunately, he got two extra point attempts. But he missed one of them, too, leaving the Diablos 0.36 points short. Still, the Diablos demonstrated their character by taking down a Weekly Win the following week.

B. Cain (2-7) took the league by storm in their franchise’s first game. Since then, it’s been a rocky road, as they’ve dropped seven out of eight, addled by the demise of Aaron Rodgers and injuries to Michael Thomas and Jonathan Taylor. This team has considerable depth, though. They could be spoilers or even get back into playoff contention if some of those injured players return. 

Eagles Super Bowl Champs (1-8) will not likely be TTFFL Champs in their inaugural year. Aided by the return of Dak Prescott and DeAndre Hopkins, the Eagles did capture their first ever win in Week 8. Their owner was evidently so pleased with his team that he rewarded his quarterback, tight end, flex position and kicker with off-weeks for Week 9. It would have been better if he had chosen a different week to dole out vacations because Justin Fields and Darnell Mooney ended up combining for 59 points while resting comfortably on the Eagles' bench. Despite their record, the Eagles actually have one of the more formidable lineups in the league and have the potential to end the season on a high note as they prepare for next year.

 * A previous note said that Atom had three weekly wins. It turns out that 128 is greater than 127, so they do not. They have two. We regret the error.