Mid-Season: Inscrutable Drama Kings

Is it mid-season already? Six weeks in and we’re almost done? What gives! Well, the good news is that there are still a lot of post-season berths to be handed out, and the bad news is, well, I won’t be getting one of them. Let’s take a short look at each team. [SMG Mid-Season]

Chunky Monkeys (6-0)
When you’re scoring tops in the league at 128 points per week, plus facing off against the easiest schedule (89.8 pts), it’s not hard to be undefeated. Nobody’s come close to touching Evan so far and it doesn’t look like anyone will impede his way to another playoffs. The question at this point is if he can go undefeated. 5-1 Gang Green will get a shot in WK8, so mark that huge game on your calendar. Philip Rivers and Julio Jones have been incredible, while Randall Cobb and Calvin Johnson have been a bit erratic.

The big question at the moment though, is who will replace the injured Jamaal Charles in the backfield?! Last week Coach Evan was forced to start Danny Woodhead, and that’s likely not sustainable. Rumors swirl that GM Evan is looking to make a big deal to stay on top. Stay by your Batphones gentlemen, Monkeys could be calling!

LA Buffy (3-2-1)
Despite facing the second toughest schedule in the league, Buffy has more than held its own this season, including a crazy 141.3 - 141.3 tie in WK3 against defending champ Tiiite End Jammers. The schedule is very soft for the next three weeks, until a matchup against the Monkeys. Carson Palmer has transformed into a top five quarterback, while Matt Forte continues to quietly dominate, putting up 16.4 ppg, good for #2 RB in the land. Julian Edelman, AJ Green, and James Jones are a superb receiving trio and don’t look now but Arian Foster is back! We can see Buffy kicking it up another notch behind his excellent passing game and Foster.  But is Roger's team ready to challenge Monkeys for a Super Bowl appearance? We'll find out...

Athena Nike (3-3)
We thought this would be a total rebuilding year for Athena but as it turns out, Frank’s team is already back to playoff contention. The pre-draft trades for Rob Gronkowski and DeAndre Hopkins couldn’t have worked out better — they are the #7 and #1 ranked receivers respectively. Plus Jarvis Landry and rookie Amari Cooper are both trending up. This is the best young receiving corps in the league, and with Aaron Rodgers at the helm, the only thing missing for this squad is a running attack.

Carlos Hyde looks great on occasion but he’s stuck on a bad offensive team. The Johnson brothers, Duke and David, just aren’t ready to contribute yet, but maybe one of them will come on soon. After a couple of erratic weeks and three straight losses, Nike seems to have righted the ship and will likely head to the playoffs.

Tiiite End Jammers (1-4-1)
Part of the reason the playoff situations looks pretty set in this conference is that the defending champs are a mess. After dominating from wire to wire last season, Jammers have collapsed. They’ve still got an amazing team on paper — DeMarco Murray, Antonio Brown, LeVeon Bell, Demaryius Thomas, Jeremy Maclin, Vincent Jackson, and a juvenated Giovani Bernard — but they’ve taken some big losses so far this season. Also, Andy Dalton has been averaging 30.6 ppg and is the #2 ranked QB but hasn’t seen the field because of Coach Lei’s insistence on sticking with Russell Wilson, who is averaging almost ten points less per game. There is still too much talent to count this team out but Jammers needs to put it together soon to make a proper playoff push.

Dirty Birds (1-5)
As for another pre-season championship contender, the Dirty Birds, they’re completely out of the post-season picture. They’re averaging a respectable 94.5 ppg (which would rank #3 in the other conference) but facing the league’s toughest schedule has reduced them to rubble in the standings — four opponents have gone 125+ points on them. Despite the presence of Odell Beckam Jr., an ageless Steve Smith (recently cut for some reason), and a surprising Tyler Eifert, Jon’s team can’t seem to get it together.

Oh right, and then there’s arguably the best backfield in the game, Adrian Peterson and #1 rookie Todd Gurley, who has yet to score an NFL touchdown but is showing that he’s going to be great. (Where art though LeSean McCoy? Oh right, getting outplayed by rookie Karlos Williams...) Maybe the problem is at the top with Andrew Luck, who hasn’t been as bad at fantasy as he is in real life, but Coach Jon has recently promoted Eli Manning to the starting position. Eli Manning!?! This team is looking forward to another Toilet Bowl win… Come to me Ezekiel Elliott!