Mid-Season: Green and White

One of our two 2015 Super Bowl contestants came from this division, with three total playoff teams to boot. Still, the two titles from here both come from Detroit Players, and those were long ago. Still, all three top teams here have a chance to return to the post-season again, which would be quite something. Let’s evaluate their chances! [2015 Mid-Season]

Sweep the Leg Zabka (6-3)
After suffering an upset Super Bowl defeat, Alan went back home, licked his wounds, and came right back this season to emerge as a contender once again. Buoyed by an astounding 168.5 WK6, Zabka is the second highest scoring team in the league, riding a four game win streak, and clearly firing on all cylinders behind offseason trade acquisition Drew Brees (for Ryan Tannehill and Rashad Jennings!), Odell Beckham, Rob Gronkowski, and Kelvin Benjamin. That receiving core would be even better if Sammy Watkins hadn’t been injured and MIA most of the season.

The only thing slowing Zabka a little bit so far has been its run game, which has had 2016 first round pick Matt Jones and Latavius Murray dealing with injuries, forcing a platoon with the recently picked up Jonathan Stewart, as well as Terrance West. Two of those four should emerge as the season goes along, and with that nasty passing attack only getting better as the season goes along, these Spartans are looking for a return trip to the title game.

Mandalorian Warriors (5-4)
As Brees’ old team, and the team Zabka bounced in last year’s playoffs, Mandalorian Warriors are looking for some postseason revenge of their own. Of course, after starting off 4-1, they’ll have to right the ship as they’ve slid to just one win their last four matchups. With one more month to go in the regular season, a division title is still within reach, but Warriors will have to work for it. Especially since they’ve faced the toughest schedule in the league so far, at a whopping 96.5 PA average.

GM Matt had a hell of a draft, grabbing DeMarco Murray in RD2 and Christine Michael in RD3. With Murray returning to fantasy prominence, the ground game for Warriors is back! And despite Aaron Rodgers’ real life struggles, he’s still the #4 ranked quarterback around. He’s got Larry Fitzgerald in the slot, Mike Wallace going deep, TE Zach Miller showing his stuff, and hopefully some more catches for Julian Edelman coming up for the rest of the season. If everyone can get on-board for just a few more games, Warriors will likely get their change to avenge last season’s playoff loss.

Detroit Players (4-5)
Despite being the lowest scoring team in the division, Players are within shot of a wild card spot, and possibly even more, although their inconsistency betrays them. They can’t seem to get a back-to-back win, and they’ll need to string together at least one of those as the weeks go on. Better quarterback play would help, as Jameis Winston and rookie Carson Wentz have both been so-so options, although Winston could be coming on.

This team is currently led by its receivers, as AJ Green and Jarvis Landry are a nice one-two punch. With Green having a fantastic year and carrying this team on his back. The running attack has been entirely boom and bust, with Mark Ingram and Jeremy Hill taking turns going loud and then all quiet — plus the preseason loss of Dion Lewis. A better tight end than Zach Ertz could help too, although that may be hoping for too much. But if Ariel wants to bring his team into the playoffs, he’ll need to find some firepower down the stretch, and hope all his guns can start firing at once.

Shoguns of Harlem (2-7)
Last year, Shoguns went 6-7, the only Green and White team to not finish at least 0.500. But they came close to a Toilet Bowl victory... However, this year, it looks like six wins will be entirely out of the question for them as they’ve already equaled their losses from last season. Remember just two years ago when Shoguns won this division? Nope, us neither. Past success doesn’t help much when you’re riding a four game losing streak, with no end in sight and a hell of a divisional month to get through — plus a WK10 matchup with 7-2 Bamfers.

Aside from some nice early games from Matthew Stafford and Kyle Rudolph, this team has been hurting for anyone to step up. Alshon Jeffery has caught just one TD on the season, Jeremy Maclin and Travis Benjamin have been here and there, and Shoguns’ leading rusher, Bilal Powell, has only topped double digits twice so far. Rookie Derrick Henry hasn’t worked out, Arian Foster is injured (of course), and now it’s down to Seahawks rookie CJ Prosise, who might be just a third-string back on his own team. At least Case Keenum is getting a bye week start! Whoof, this team is bad, and they’ll have to hope for another good Toilet Bowl showing to save the season. Sorry Mike, but good luck in the cellar competition this year!

Mid-Season: The Big House

Last season, the Big House division teams started off a combined 14-6 in five weeks — featuring an undefeated team and two 4-1 squads —  before having their bottom two teams finish at 5-8. Still, they sent two strong teams to the playoffs -- although neither made the Super Bowl. Let's see where The Big House is in 2016! [2015 Mid-Season]

Ann Arbor Bamfers (7-2)
The Bamfers only won five games last year and got bounced in the Toilet Bowl pretty quickly. This year, they’re one of the best teams in the league and are charging hard for a long awaited division title. Helped along by playing the softest schedule in the league — opponents are averaging only 63.7 ppg — Randy’s team is on a three game win streak and just put up 124.5 points in WK9. They’ve ridden the Chargers combo of Philip Rivers and Melvin Gordon (the top ranked RB this year) to much success and has the resurrected soul of Frank Gore playing fantastic football.

While dual first round picks Josh Doctson (lost to injury) and Michael Floyd have been mostly disappointments, Golden Tate has emerged from an early season slump to climb back up the receiver rankings. And it looks like Delanie Walker has edged Marcellus Bennett at tight end, or maybe Bamfers will go with a double TE set for the rest of the year. With only a month left in the regular season, Bamfers face a WK13 matchup with Pogiboys, possibly to determine the division leader. Either way, this team is headed to the playoffs!

Morrie’s Pogiboys (6-3)
Last year, the top ranked 11-2 Pogiboys were upset in the first round of the playoffs by eventual champs Another Bad Creation, so they’re looking for a revenge season. They got it, sort of, with a 116.5-112.5 victory over ABC in WK8, but they’re definitely looking for more than regular season success. Unfortunately, this team just isn’t quite as good as last year, as Eddie Lacy has been an injured and ineffective mess, and DeAndre Hopkins can’t quite find his WR1 footing. At least LeSean McCoy has been playing well, and should have a bye week to return to full health.

Blake Bortles has been Alvin’s go-to signal caller and he’s actually been not too bad. His receiving core is a bit inconsistent though, with the aforementioned Hopkins, John Brown, Quincy Enunwa, and taking turns going boom/bust. At least Travis Kelce and his new dating show proven to be a top five TE option. Moving forward, Pogiboys will have to hope McCoy comes back to health, Bortles keeps Bortles-ing, and maybe Theo Roddick emerges as a solid option. We foresee Alvin making the playoffs again, but in less dominating fashion than last year.

Team Cameltoe (4-5)
Our newest sixteen team basketball owner, over in SlamNation, proved his fantasy worth with a 10-3 season last year, before getting upset by ABC in the conference finals. As of now, they’re two games out of a playoff spot, and will really need to step it up to get into the postseason, otherwise it’ll be all NBA for Felipe soon! The good news is that a 1-4 start has led into a 3-1 past month, and the signs are there for a good last four weeks of the season for Cameltoe.

Julio Jones has been a fantasy monster, and Jordy Nelson returned from injury to post excellent numbers most of the time. This team has been led by Jones, Nelson, and CJ Anderson (now out for the season, with Doug Martin basically also on IR) in the scoring column, with a quarterback, Joe Flacco, not showing up until #4 for total points scored. Part of the reason for that is that Flacco has split starts with Russell Wilson and Alex Smith, and a clear leader will need to emerge soon. At least Jordan Howard and Cole Beasley have been nice finds this season, and they’ll need to be even better to help Julio Jones spark this team to a playoff berth.

Hungry Hungry Ouroboros (3-6)
After starting off 4-1 last season, Ouroboros collapsed with a five game losing streak and continued their ineptitude by starting off 1-4 this year. Part of the problem this year has been a slew of injuries, especially to the receiving corps, as Kevin White, Eric Decker, and rookie Corey Coleman have all missed significant time. Thus GM Jon has had to scramble to replace them with free agents (Cameron Meredith, Richard Matthews), one trade (Colby Fleener for Sterling Shepard), and a whole lot of lineup adjusting.

There have been some bright spots though, as Matt Ryan has been the top player in fantasy this year — and rookie Dak Prescott lurks on the bench as a top ten QB option. Running back Jay Ajayi has exploded the past three weeks, and he’s the new franchise back, taking over for the disappointing Todd Gurley. In theory Ajayi, Gurley, and Giovani Bernard are a decent running game, but it hasn't translated to the scoreboard as Ajayi was on the bench for both of his 200+ yard games. Also, mid-season highlight, rookie Hunter Henry is now injured, leaving a hole at TE. Hungry Hungry Ouroboros is clearly out of the postseason running, but maybe they can ride Ryan and Ajayi to make some noise in the Toilet Bowl. Maybe.