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WEEK 1 POWER RANKINGS
- Details
- Category: TSL QB Power Rankings
- Created: Thursday, 02 May 2024 14:30
- Published: Thursday, 02 May 2024 14:30
- Written by Jeff Krol
- Hits: 391
Welcome back to the TSL Quarterback Power Rankings! If you've read our article in the past (if for no other reason than to complain about how wrong we are) then you’re familiar with the concept – every week we share our rankings for the Top QBs in the League and discuss who’s trending up and who's trending down. We on the QB Power Rankings Committee are not what you'd call "great writers" (or even "very good" writers... check out the Godfather if you want better writing) so we typically lean heavily on graphs and stats instead... at least, we do after a few weeks, when there's significant enough data to bother sharing. In our season opening articles we also make a few predictions for the session and re-print an explanation of how these Power Rankings work, which we've copied and pasted almost verbatim from previous articles.
So a little Q&A to refresh your memories:
“There are 51 teams in the TSL this season! Are you going to show rankings for all 51 starting QB’s every week?”
Not even close. At minimum, the Top Ten will be shown EVERY week. We always expand as the season goes on, so you'll see a Top 15, Top 20... last season we got to a Top 25, so we do try to be inclusive.
“Is this going to be heavily biased towards the higher divisions?”
In a word: yes. The purpose of a Power Ranking is to highlight the absolute best in the League, and for the most part the best are competing AGAINST the best. We will absolutely be acknowledging the performances (good and bad) of Quarterbacks in the lower divisions as well, but it's rare that a lower division QB will crack the Top Ten or Fifteen, and that's the way it should be (this is why "D5 Langley" will struggle to crack the Rankings this season.). Generally speaking if you don't like your ranking, our advice is to try moving up a division next session. The better your competition, the more credibility you earn for beating it.
"Are gender team QBs treated differently in the Rankings?"
Not really. A team's a team, and although gender team scores tend to be a little higher (every TD = minimum 8 points) we don't see much difference. It takes skill to win with men; it takes skill to win with women. The biggest knock on gender teams is that they tend to play in lower divisions and as we said above, we do factor THAT into our rankings.
"How are you ranking backup QBs if they come in and play better than some other team's starter?"
Generally we're only ranking one QB per team, even if you've got a player on your bench that you think could be a successful starter elsewhere. And for teams with unreliable QBs who don't show up often enough for us to even KNOW who the starter is, we often leave them out of our rankings entirely... as they say, the best "ability" is "availability". If you want to get ranked, show up and play as often as you can.
"I'm new to this League and people don't know me yet! How do I get ranked when I'm still an unknown?"
For starters, you should play really well. If you're scoring a lot of points, we WILL notice you. There are several new teams this session, so we probably DON'T know who you all are yet. We no longer have our own email address due to some legal restructuring stuff, so if you want to tell us about your QB, why not email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
"What about Breakfast Club QBs?"
Breakfast Club is for fun, not crushing your opponents, so if you're running up the score to try to get noticed... well, that only makes you an asshole! We don't put a lot of stock in the stats from Breakfast Club and don't factor that into our Rankings.
“So you’re only ranking QB’s… what about the rest of us?”
Oh, we didn’t forget about the rest of you. In addition to the QB Rankings, we will do our best to put out other rankings that the rest of you can enjoy – best team offenses, best team defenses, best referees, best male receivers, best female receivers, best at bar … ranking anything is always fun. Unless we rank you last, of course.
“You keep saying ‘we’. Who is writing this? Who determines these rankings?”
Don’t worry about who’s writing this. Let’s be honest: If you knew who was on our Committee (there's a few of us), you would incessantly whine to them about why you or your QB should be ranked higher every week. Anonymity is key for journalism THIS important.
And that's how the Power Rankings work. We expect it's going to be an incredible season, with fifty-ish teams battling for TSL supremacy. Our official predictions for this year (with the benefit of one week already being in the books, of course):
- Wanderers win their first ever TSL championship, and we'll even guess the score is 30 something to 30 something in the D3 Finals
- Whoever wins D2 will buck the trend and actually jump to D1 in the Fall... stranger things have happened!
- At least one brand new team will make it to their divisions Finals game
- GUCCI finally shake off their underperforming in the playoffs and take home the D5 championship
- The Rose Garden WILL begin construction before the end of the Spring session!
- No D6 team will finish with more than 6 wins in the regular season
But what do we know? We went 2 out of 6 on last year's predictions:
- Legends do NOT win the D1 championship for a record fourth straight season [nailed it! Eyes Downtown walked away with the title... as well as the 2023 Team of the Year Award]
- There will be at least one gender team vs gender team Finals. We're counting GUCCI as a gender team here to give us some more flexibility, but we'll either seen Father Baker vs Cunning Stunts or BAADies vs GUCCI in a championship game this Fall. [we could not have been MORE wrong; Cunning Stunts was the only gender team to escape the first round, after which they promptly lost in the semis, and GUCCI, Father Baker and BAADies all lost in the first round... with Father Baker and BAADies combining for a total of zero points!]
- No one goes winless this season. Yes, we made that prediction last Spring and got it wrong (twice) but we feel much better about it this time! [wrong yet again; Not So Sticky went winless in the regular season before shocking Spinelli's in the playoffs... but TMA won zero games the entire Fall session]
- Frodo Swaggins has the worst record of any returning team in D1, but they will make their division's Final Four. [they did! Frodo beat Sticky Nation in the play-in game to make the Final Four, and had a reasonably competitive semifinals game against Legends before bowing out of the playoffs]
- Freeballers will play in (and maybe win, but that's not an "official" prediction) the D2 Championship game [we were so close... but Freeballers lost a classic to Scared Hitless, so the furthest they made it was the semi-finals]
- Steph's Misty-rious Infection beats the Dirty Dozen in the Breakfast Club Finals [we got the winner right... but not the runner-up, as BDD was the next-to-last team standing in Breakfast Club]
So there you go. Let's get to the first QB Power Rankings of the Spring 2024 Season.
As always, we do NOT overreact to one week's worth of games in our first Power Rankings of the season. Joey Batts and Garrett Beesing both lost on Saturday - you think they're going to fall very far in the Rankings? Not a chance. You also might not see many new people yet because we need a larger sample size to see how some of these changes play out. Sorry if you don't like it, but if people are good enough, their stock will rise quickly and we'll get them Ranked over the next few weeks.
Here are your Top Ten starting QBs in the TSL:
#1 Bobby McConnell - Eyes Downtown
Last Week: Beat Eyes Uptown 43-34
Last season's #1 ranked QB and D1 champion picked up where he left off with a win over his biggest rivals. Will Bobby become the first player to win Fall, Winter and Spring back-to-back-to-back? The schedule only gets easier from here for Eyes Downtown.
#2 Joey Batts - Eyes Uptown / Cunning Stunts
Last Week: Lost to Eyes Downtown 43-34, beat Reset Warriors 42-34
"Legends" are now "Eyes Uptown", which is trolling at its finest. It'll be tough for TSL icon Joey Batts to reclaim the #1 spot for a few weeks at least, until he gets another shot at a head-to-head win over Bobby and Eyes Downtown. Although success eluded his D1 team on opening day, the Stunts picked up right where they left off with a win over newcomers Reset Warriors, which should be a surprise to no one.
#3 Mike Thomas - Sticky Bandits
Last Week: Beat Frodo Swaggins 25-21
The Sticky Bandits broke a three game losing streak against Frodo Swaggins on Saturday in a battle between "the other two" D1 teams. The game wasn't very high scoring but this was likely a result of the pouring rain at the 10 am hour. Would Mike jump up to the #1 spot with a win over Eyes Downtown this weekend?
#4 Garrett Beesing - Frodo Swaggins
Last Week: Lost to Sticky Bandits 25-21
The BAADies are no more (rest in peace) but Frodo Swaggins are still going strong in D1. Their record is bound to look a little shaky playing against Eyes Downtown, Eyes Uptown and Sticky Bandits every week, but don't be fooled into thinking this isn't one of the three or four best teams in the TSL.
#5 Jordan Lawson - Mavericks
Last Week: Beat Freeballers 32-14, beat Puckett All-Stars 44-38
Add Losing Streak to the list of disbanded teams this session, as the Mavericks are now Jordan's sole team in the League (bring back Victorious Secret!). They started off hot by crushing Freeballers and then held on an hour later to beat Puckett and go 2-0. Untouchaballs haven't played yet, but Mavericks might be the early favorites in D2. Strangely Jordan DROPPED two spots in the Power Rankings after going 2-0, but that's more a product of the QBs above him facing stronger competition in Week One.
#6 Jeremy Burr - Untouchaballs
Last Week: Did Not Play
No game for the reigning D2 champs last week. Untouchaballs will open with a doubleheader this week against Mavericks and Puckett.
#7 Dylan Day - Scared Hitless
Last Week: Beat Can't Touch This 38-36
Scared Hitless overcame Can't Touch This in a tight battle for early D2 bragging rights. Dylan jumps ahead of Ryan in the QB Rankings, but both QBs put on a show scoring 36+ points.
#8 Ryan Dougherty - Can't Touch This
Last Week: Lost to Scared Hitless 38-36
Scared Hitless overcame Can't Touch This in a tight battle for early D2 bragging rights. Dylan jumps ahead of Ryan in the QB Rankings, but both QBs put on a show scoring 36+ points. (What? Why can't we use the same write-up twice?)
#9 Theo Russell - Puckett All-Stars
Last Week: Lost to Mavericks 44-38
Alright Puckett All-Stars, WE SEE YOU. After adding some serious talent, Puckett made the jump from D4 to D2, and they immediately looked right at home keeping up with the Mavericks in a close Week One loss. Theo Russell had a few moments that made you think "this guy is definitely new to QBing co-ed touch football", but he also had a few that made you think "holy shit, keep an eye on this guy after he has a full season under his belt".
#10 Frank Laudico - Wanderers
Last Week: Beat Buffalo Vice 34-32, beat Let's Get Reccked 36-32
Both games were close in the end, but isn't this what we expect out of Wanderers at this point? Their defense gives up 30+ points, Frank and the offense do JUST enough to lock up the wins? D3 is always one of our tightest divisions from top to bottom, and a 2-0 start is exactly what the Wanderers need to build SOME separation from the pack.
Fancy Statistics Section
Yeah, right. You're not getting any fancy statistics out of us until at LEAST Week Four, and even then we'll tell you the sample size is too small to be meaningful (yes, we're going to copy/paste this line next week too, so get used to it)
That's it for the TSL Power Rankings this week! As we said above, we don't currently have our own email address anymore, so if you have any thoughts about QB rankings, or you want to make sure we know who's throwing for your team, please feel free to contact our good friend This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
What's YOUR ranking?
WEEK 8 POWER RANKINGS
- Details
- Category: TSL QB Power Rankings
- Created: Thursday, 12 October 2023 15:31
- Published: Thursday, 12 October 2023 15:31
- Written by Jeff Krol
- Hits: 813
Welcome back to the FINAL TSL Quarterback Power Rankings of the season!
Yes, unlike our way more productive colleagues the Godfather and the Sentinel, we don't write articles during the playoffs. We like to sit back and just watch the show, the fireworks, the bloodbath, whatever you want to call it, without having to analyze anything. So with this being our last article of the year, we've saved a lot for you. We have our final Top 25 Quarterbacks of the year and then our usual playoff division analysis where we look at each playoff race in detail to pick out any trends in the data we can find. Plus some other stuff.
This will be our longest article of the year with lots of time-consuming charts and graphs so we skipped the individual QB write-ups this week and just included the Power Rankings themselves. You don't need us to tell you how good or bad your team's QB is at this point, your record speaks for itself!
***
Division by Division Review of the TSL
For our final analysis of the season, we're going to show you the following:
- The breakdown of best offenses, defenses and net point differentials per division. As always, stats below have removed forfeit games from the math, so what you see on the charts may not match the website (intentionally). There was only one forfeit this year (shame on you, Rick Reccio) so not as many adjustments as usual for that. Then we tried to color each team's data by their official jersey colors, but half this league apparently uses the same colors so it's not perfect (sorry Cunning Stunts for your sexist pink coloring!)
- A graph of average point differentials per game for each division with a similar "Favorites, Contenders, Pretenders" logic we've used in previous seasons (if you're winning games by an average of 6+ PPG, you're a Favorite in green; if you're losing by an average of 6+ PPG, you're a Pretender in red; all other teams are yellow in the middle; these are not OUR judgments on who falls into each category, it's strictly based on the math of your team's point differentials). For what it's worth, in the last five seasons that we've been showing these graphs, we've had 21 eventual division champions classified as "Favorites", 15 as "Contenders", and exactly zero as "Pretenders".
- A quick twitter sized (or "X sized") recap of the division heading into playoffs, and then identifying which teams are "overrated" and "underrated" in each group. Note that these last two categories are based purely on what we see in the scores and stats, NOT our own personal feelings of players on each team (we might personally think Travis Henry's Kids are overrated, but if the underlying numbers say their team is underrated, that's where we'll include them below) so TRY not to be offended thinking the "website is being mean". We're just reading numbers off a website, man. Relax.
And away we go!
Division 1
The Headline: Two massive juggernauts on a collision course for the Finals... and three other teams hoping to spoil the party.
Underrated: They finished second in the D1 standings, but Eyes Downtown are first in offense, first in defense, and first in points per game this season. It's tough to wrap our heads around this team being considered "underrated" with all the talent they have, but if we have to single out a team in D1 for this category, it's Eyes Downtown.
Overrated: The Sticky Bandits path to the championship would involve beating Frodo Swaggins (against whom they went 1-2 this season), then Legends (0-2), then PROBABLY Eyes Downtown (also 0-2). The only team they had success against this Fall was Losing Streak, and they can't possibly face Losing Streak until the Finals. That's a lot to ask of a team, to reverse their fortunes against three teams in a row that each beat them multiple times throughout the season.
Division 2
The Headline: Untouchaballs, Freeballers and Can't Touch This lead the pack, with Mavericks, Cle-Avengers Assemble and THREAD good enough to make a run. Scared Hitless and Practice Squad also play in this division.
Underrated: Are Untouchaballs still undefeated when their whole team is there? They had that week where they lost two games by the same high score, and then their other loss may have been without Burr? It's tough to get all our facts straight on 45 teams, but we're PRETTY sure this team is damn near unstoppable when everyone is there. We're assuming they'll show up for playoffs of course (doesn't everyone?) and if they do, they're better than that 6-3 record shows.
Overrated: Can't Touch This somehow finished as nearly the top seed in their division, despite having just the fourth best point differential. They also haven't won a game in almost a month, which makes us wonder if they're really in the top tier of this division, or just a middle of the pack team that got off to a strong start.
Division 3
The Headline: The TSL's wildest division lives up to the billing, with one favorite (The Family) and several legitimate contenders.
Underrated: Let's Get Reccked are 2-7, but they're losing by an average of less than 2 points per game. That is NOT the point differential of a 2-7 team. Like many teams in the TSL they've suffered from attendance issues, and there are no guarantees that their stars show up for playoffs either... But if they do, Let's Get Reccked might just be the best 7th seed we've ever seen.
Overrated: Vaspian was 4-1 before losing their last four games... and the final two of those were massacres. Their defense is ranked sixth in their division at 34.4 PPG allowed, which isn't actually that far off from the best teams (Bullet Club leads D3 with 30.4 PPG allowed)... but their offense is WAY off from the top teams. Vaspian are averaging 21.0 PPG, which is less than half of the top teams in this division. It's hard to imagine them keeping up with a team like The Family in a shoot-out.
Division 4
The Headline: The Cunning Stunts are destroying everyone, while a handful of other good teams hope for an upset. TMA will not win.
Underrated: Tiebreakers aside, each team's record in D4 is exactly in the order that one would expect based on their point differentials. No one is statistically overrated OR underrated here, because they all pretty much finished in the order they should. But since we have to pick one... we'll take Interdimensional Lightning Falcons. They were the closest team to beating Cunning Stunts in the regular season, losing by a point on the last play, and they've finished the season on a four game winning streak. If anyone can upset Joey and the Stunts machine, it's these guys.
Overrated: Same commentary as above, it's a stretch to pick an "overrated" team in a division where everyone finished in the order their point differentials would suggest, blah blah blah. We'll take Father Baker though. They've won two games this session: one was against TMA, who apparently Topper with his disintegrating arm could probably beat this season, and the other was by just a few points over Buffalo Vice. They're not likely to see either of those opponents in the playoffs (a win against ILF would almost certainly put them against the Stunts in the Semifinals) and they've used so many Bobby/Kyle guest appearances at QB this session that we don't even remember if Father Baker himself has even won a game yet?
Division 5
The Headline: If you finished in the top half of this division, you've got a decent chance of winning the D5 Championship. If you didn't, we wouldn't bet a dollar on your chances.
Underrated: In our D3 review we said "Let's Get Reccked are 2-7, but they're losing by an average of less than 2 points per game. That is NOT the point differential of a 2-7 team". You can swap out "Let's Get Reccked" for "Cobblestone" here and the point would still hold up. If there's a formula for a playoff upset, it's a) have the best athletes on your team, and b) hope they all show up on the same day. Not much Darryl can do about the second point there, but his athletes are good enough to stack up against anyone. If there's an underdog with a fighting chance, wouldn't it be this team?
Overrated: BAADies finished with a .500 record (4-4-1)... and the second worst point differential in their division. Gender teams are tricky to predict sometimes in the playoffs, because their girls usually have conflicts with their other teams throughout the season, and then suddenly everyone's available for playoffs when divisions are scheduled at different teams. So it's possible that Garrett gets his full team together and surprises some people. But so far NO team since we've been writing this article has ever won a championship from the dreaded "pretender" status on our graph (reminder: a red bar on the graph above shows that they're averaging losses by more than one score per game) so if BAADies want to win a championship this season, they're really going to have to buck history.
Division 6
The Headline: With respect to D3, THIS is the TSL's most wide open division. Seven teams have a chance to win here... and Back That Pass Up has a chance to get some drinks at the bar after their first round loss.
Underrated: Just Get Open is our third 2-7 team we've looked at across these divisions that we think has an actual chance to win some playoff games. Their point differentials aren't quite as good as Cobblestone or Let's Get Reccked, but at -4 PPG they aren't exactly dead in the water either. They play Blitzkrieg in the first round, a team they lost to by a single score in the regular season. Yes, Blitzkrieg will be the favorite in the first round, and yes, they deserve to be, but don't count JGO out yet.
Overrated: We'll take the other team in that matchup we just described as the (slightly) most overrated team in D6 for playoffs. Blitzkrieg earned the #2 seed... but we're not sure they felt like the #2 team in this division. Just look at the graph above: Pit Harade, Balls Deep and Sausage McMuffins were all stronger statistically, and Blitzkrieg would have actually finished with a NEGATIVE point differential if not for a season ending 37-0 win against a shorthanded Back That Pass Up squad. They'll have a real shot to win the division for sure, but not as strong a chance as one would expect from a #2 seeded team.
***
Top Ten Best and Worst Lists for the 2023 Spring Season
The division analysis above is the real meat and potatoes of this article, but in case you're curious how you stack up against teams in OTHER divisions, here are the top ten (and bottom ten) teams in the entire TSL for offensive points per game, defensive points per game, and average point differential per game. As always, forfeit games are excluded:
What did we learn from this?? The magic numbers for us are always 20 and 40. Nearly every team in this League averages between 20-40 PPG both offensively and defensively. If you're higher than 40 offensively or lower than 20 defensively, you're doing an amazing job. If you're lower than 20 offensively or higher than 40 defensively... you're probably not winning too many games. This season we had 8 teams crack the 40 point mark, and one (unsurprising) team crack the 50 point mark. Congrats to Cunning Stunts, our Fall 2023 scoring champs. This is their third scoring title in the past four seasons. Here is how they compare with ALL scoring champions since we started tracking this:
So if Cunning Stunts were the BEST offense, who were the worst? This season we had two teams fail to make it to 20 PPG on offense (Practice Squad & Back That Pass Up). Those teams, unsurprisingly, went a combined 3-15 this season.
Then on the other side of the ball, there was not a single defense that held opponents to under 20 PPG this session! Last session we had four, so it's a little surprising that not one team cracked the 20 point mark defensively. It might have something to do with the great weather we mostly enjoyed, which tends to favor offense. That would explain why we had five teams this session (BAADies, Father Baker, 716, TMA and Frodo Swaggins) that allowed 40+ points per game, up from just one team last session. Those five teams went a combined 10-35-1 this season allowing so many points, and in fact 6 of those 10 wins (and a tie) come from Garrett Beesing QBed teams! The rest of the pack went 4-23 without Garrett's offense to save them.
Worth noting, when we wrote this same part of this article in Spring session, we said the following about Creekers: "It feels like we beat up on the Creekers a lot here, but that's just because we enjoy pointing out statistical anomalies. So here's a pro-Creekers stat for their team: guys, you are nowhere NEAR as bad as the Replacements were last year! The Fall 2022 season's punching bag team was 0-9, averaged only 10.8 PPG on offense (barely HALF of what Creekers are scoring) and allowed 48.0 PPG on defense. Where the Creekers were outscored by 21.7 PPG, the Replacements were outscored by 37.3 PPG. So you see, it could have been a lot worse!" The Creekers responded this session by going 6-3 and nearly winning the top seed in their division. The lesson there: don't give up, kids!
Besides the "40/20 Clubs", what else do we see from the best and worst units in the League? Freeballers finished as the only team to make the Top Ten Best lists in every category, while four teams (716, TMA, Not So Sticky and Back That Pass Up) all made the Top Ten Worst lists in every category. Apparently it's easier to be horrible than it is to be great!
***
All-Time Championship Statistics
A few sessions ago we compiled a list of every TSL champion in League history and devised a ranking system to see who the "best teams of all time" were. This was exhausting to research and put together, but it's now very simple to update once a session, so that's what we've done here. The timing feels right to update you all on this now JUST before playoffs so we can remind you what you're chasing here... co-ed football immortality. Here are the current immortals:
THAT part is objective - the champs are the champs, and we'd like to think history will remember their achievements for 1,000 years to come (history classes will likely debate what exactly the "Tommy Hughes Experience" was). This next part though is subjective: we then attempted to compare the relative strength of each division's championships to come up with a ranking system (a D2 title is harder to win than a D4 title) and this is what we landed on:
- A D1 championship is our baseline since it's the best a team can do. Let's make that worth 100 points.
- A D2 title is worth, at BEST, 49% of that, since two D2 titles don't quite equal a D1 title (you can argue it should be LESS than 49%, but we've made the choice to weight lower divisions as heavily as reasonably possible here). 49 points for a D2 title.
- A D3 title should be worth 49% of THAT, so about 24 points for each D3 championship.
- Every subsequent division is worth 49% of the previous one, so D4 is worth 11 points, D5 is worth 5 points, and D6 is worth 2 points.
- Indoor championships aren't currently worth a point (though we may revised this in the future). With apologies to DILFS, Jelly Beans and Sticky Bandits, Winter sessions are often used to make new teams and play with new people. No team should be penalized in the rankings for doing that instead of entering their usual squad.
It's an arbitrary system of course, but it's the one we chose. So here is the updated list of your "greatest champions of all time" going into the Fall 2023 playoffs (active teams are highlighted below):
We always debate making a change to the math above so that subsequent championships in the same division would be worth less the second time around. After all, is it fair that Puckett keeps improving their standings by winning D4 over and over? Shouldn't they move up at some point? But for now we decided to leave it as is.
So where does that leave us today? Legends has tied Green & Associates by winning their third D1 championship, and two more would tie Public Enemy as the greatest team in TSL history. Eyes Downtown could jump from 9th to 5th with a win, and Sticky Bandits from 13th to 8th.
Puckett All-Stars is tied with Public Enemy for the most TSL Championships of all-time with five. If they win again this season, they'll be the most decorated champions in TSL history. You can decide yourself if that deserves an asterisk for never moving up to win D3!
Sticky Bandits and Practice Squad both have the opportunity to become the first team in TSL history to win a championship in four different divisions.
Bottom line, people remember champions, not the teams who come in second place, so immortality can only be found by winning it all. Good luck!
***
That's it for the TSL Power Rankings this season! We can't possibly make any other charts for you at this point (this was exhausting) and we doubt anyone has read this start-to-finish anyway.
We don't currently have our own email address anymore, so if you have any thoughts on any of the above, please feel free to contact our good friend This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
What's YOUR ranking?
WEEK 6 POWER RANKINGS
- Details
- Category: TSL QB Power Rankings
- Created: Thursday, 28 September 2023 17:14
- Published: Thursday, 28 September 2023 17:14
- Written by Jeff Krol
- Hits: 802
Welcome back to the TSL Quarterback Power Rankings!
TWENTY FIVE Quarterbacks are ranked this week, so D5 will see a little more coverage than usual, and... you guessed it... a graph. Don't you love feeling like you're in 7th grade math class again?
#1 Bobby McConnell - Eyes Downtown
Last Week: Beat Sticky Bandits 43-35
The TSL's top ranked QB took down the (previously) second ranked QB and now has the best record AND the most points per game in the highest division. Not much else to say here. Bobby is the unquestioned #1 right now... but he's still only 1-2 against Legends this season.
#2 Jordan Lawson - Losing Streak / Mavericks
Last Week: Beat Legends 36-24 (Losing Streak), beat Cle-Avengers Assemble 31-20, lost to Practice Squad 40-33 (Mavericks)
Losing Streak bested Legends on Saturday and Jordan is now at his highest spot ever in the Power Rankings. Of course nobody ever dreams of being #2, but without another regular season game against Eyes Downtown this year, it would take a collapse on Bobby's part for Jordan to make it to #1. Between Losing Streak and Mavericks, Jordan has the 9th and 11th highest scoring teams in the TSL.
#3 Mike Thomas - Sticky Bandits
Last Week: Lost to Frodo Swaggins 39-30, lost to Eyes Downtown 43-35
The Sticky Bandits have now lost more games in the past three weeks than they have in any season going back to Fall of 2021. The roster is always more or less the same here, and they're still scoring 30+ points in all but one game this season. Tough to say why it isn't translating into wins, but either way, Mike drops another spot in the Power Rankings this week.
#4 Joey Batts - Legends / Cunning Stunts
Last Week: Lost to Losing Streak 36-24
The three-time world champion returned as QB of Legends for the first time this week, and promptly went 0-1 as their starter. Is he still the guy they'll turn to for playoffs, or has he lost the Legends starting QB gig? Either way, the Cunning Stunts are still the highest scoring team in the TSL, so he has that going for him.
#5 Jeremy "Hogan" Olson - Freeballers
Last Week: Beat Scared Hitless 42-32
Has a team ever turned around their season as quickly as Freeballers? These guys were 0-1 in the first three weeks of the season, and have ripped off five straight wins in the three weeks that followed. Freeballers have the best offense, best defense, and best point differential in D2. If they can get by Untouchaballs this week, they'll be huge favorites to take the #1 seed for playoffs.
#6 Garrett Beesing - Frodo Swaggins / BAADies
Last Week: Beat Sticky Bandits 39-30 (Frodo), beat Creekers 32-26 (BAADies)
There wasn't much rust on Garrett Beesing's arm on Saturday after taking two weeks off as he led Frodo to their first win of the season (and BAADies to their fourth, but that's less interesting). The consensus from many on D1 this session was "it's four teams and Frodo", but Garrett is already proving that wrong.
#7 Jeremy Burr - Untouchaballs
Last Week: Did Not Play
No game for Untouchaballs this week, with a Freeballers showdown looming on the horizon.
#8 Ryan Dougherty - Can't Touch This
Last Week: Lost to THREAD 34-33
Can't Touch This are 2-2 in their last four games after a red-hot start... and both of those wins came against 2-5 Scared Hitless. Are they the team that wrecked D2 in the first month of the season? Or are they the team that's struggling to pick up quality wins now? Tough to say. Their two losses have come by 1 point... and 40 points.
#9 Terrell Bolden - The Family
Last Week: Beat Wanderers 40-38
The Family are now in first place in D3 after a big win over Wanderers, and Bolden has scored 40+ points in all five of their wins. They also control their own destiny: if they close out the season with wins over Let's Get Reccked and Vaspian, they should take the #1 seed for playoffs. Of course that may not matter in D3, as the 8th seed right now belongs to the Wanderers, who were two points away from catching the Family last Saturday.
#10 Travis Cleavenger - Cle-Avengers Assemble
Last Week: Lost to Mavericks 31-20, beat Practice Squad 47-26
Cle-Avengers Assemble are 2-4 this season after beating Practice Squad and losing to Mavericks, and surprisingly that Mavericks game was their first "one score" game of the season. All of their previous wins and losses have been much more decisive.
#11 Mark Dalfonso - THREAD
Last Week: Beat Can't Touch This 34-33
The weirdest season ever continues, as THREAD is now 3-0 against the top three teams in their division... and 0-4 against the rest of it. Let us know if you can make sense of that, because we can't.
#12 Dylan Day - Scared Hitless
Last Week: Lost to Freeballers 42-32
We expected Scared Hitless to dominate D2 once they dropped down from D1, but they're 2-5 as the regular season draws close to an end. Are they going to remember they were a team that once had a shot at a D1 finals? Or are they going to hit rock bottom and go back to D3 in the Spring? Let's see how the next couple of weeks go.
#13 Frank Laudico - Wanderers
Last Week: Lost to The Family 40-38
The Wanderers are in last place in D3 a few short months after being 2 points away from winning the whole damn thing. Okay, "last place" in D3 is kind of meaningless because of all the parity top-to-bottom in this division, and the Wanderers stats are a bit skewed by one short-handed week. No one in D3 can be written off... but we wouldn't call them "favorites" right now either.
#14 Brandon "B" Ford - Practice Squad / 716
Last Week: Did Not Play
No games for B this week. The TSL's most loveable QB/Ref should be back next week we hope.
#15 Alex Buchlis - Let's Get Reccked
Last Week: Did Not Play
No games for Let's Get Reccked this week, but rumor is that Alex was an excellent ref during his bye week (we would do Ref Power Rankings, but think of all the hate mail we'd get).
#16 Andy Clark - Buffalo Vice
Last Week: Beat Travis Henry's Kids 49-41, lost to Father Baker 36-32
Buffalo Vice is settled into that "not quite Cunning Stunts, but better than most other teams in D4" groove right now. The only two teams they've played so far this season and haven't beaten at least once are the two gender teams in their division.
#17 Damien Keller - Keller Whales
Last Week: Beat Bullet Club 39-38
Keller Whales seem to have Bullet Club's number, but looking for other trends in D3 right now is pointless. Six of the eight teams in this division are winning or losing their games by an average of 2 or fewer points per game. That's crazy! Keller Whales are in 2nd place at 4-2 right now, but they're smack in the middle of this convoluted pack statistically.
#18 John Langley - Bullet Club / Travis Henry's Kids
Last Week: Lost to Keller Whales 39-38 (Bullet Club), beat TMA 24-18, lost to Buffalo Vice 49-41 (Travis Henry's Kids)
Since we don't count subbing games in the Power Rankings, Langley went 1-2 on Saturday with his only win coming against winless TMA. John has been okay this session, but we expected more from Bullet Club if we're being honest.
#19 T.J. Ferguson - Puckett All-Stars
Last Week: Did Not Play
No games for Puckett this week.
#20 Brian Orzechowski - Vaspian
Last Week: Lost to 716 27-12
Life without Drew isn't easy as Vaspian could only muster 12 points without their star receiver. They're still 4-2 though which is more than many expected for them at this point in the season.
#21 Buddy Lee - Passing While Intoxicated / Back That Pass Up
Last Week: Did Not Play
No Buddy sightings at the fields this week.
#22 Paul LoVullo - Come From Behind
Last Week: Beat Goatsack 52-7, lost to Cobblestone 46-30
Come From Behind showed no mercy against Goatsack this week with a 52-7 annihilation. When these guys are on, they're ON. A loss to suddenly spry Cobblestone dropped their record to 5-3 on the season, but if a full Come From Behind shows up for playoffs (for once), we assume they'll be able to hang with anyone in D5... maybe even GUCCI.
#23 Kelly Kane - GUCCI
Last Week: Beat Not So Sticky 46-6
GUCCI became the first team to complete their full schedule of 9 games this session, and we'd say it went pretty well. They're 6-3 and in first place for the time being... but they would be 6-1 if we threw out the two games they played without Kelly. This is the team to beat in D5.
#24 Darryl Carr - Cobblestone
Last Week: Beat Come From Behind 46-30
Ignore the start of the season. Cobblestone is 2-1 in their last three games, and two of those were massively short-handed when Darryl was playing with only two or three receivers. They're not the favorites in D5 because they lack consistency, but if their whole team shows up to play on the same day...
#25 Ethan Herbold - Interdimensional Lightning Falcons
Last Week: Did Not Play
No game for Ethan this week as ILF rolled to a 35-0 win with a sublist QB.
Fancy Statistics Section
This may come across as lazy. We don't care. We're repeating the Point Differentials by Team graph we did a few weeks ago when we said it was "too early to matter". Now it matters.
The REASON we're showing this again is to highlight how many teams are right in the middle now... or in other words, how many teams are barely winning or barely losing on average every week. The gold stripe in the middle is calling out all the teams that are winning or losing games by an average score of 7 points or less (about a touchdown). There are 33 of them in total, which means that 73% of the League is pretty competitive day to day. There are also six teams that are dominating their opponents by more than a score per game (13%) and six unfortunate teams that are losing by more than a score per game (also 13%).
Are you one of the dominant teams? One of the big losers? Let's find out!
That's it for the TSL Power Rankings this week! As we said above, we don't currently have our own email address anymore, so if you have any thoughts about QB rankings, or you want to make sure we know who's throwing for your team, please feel free to contact our good friend This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
What's YOUR ranking?
WEEK 7 POWER RANKINGS
- Details
- Category: TSL QB Power Rankings
- Created: Thursday, 05 October 2023 20:29
- Published: Thursday, 05 October 2023 20:29
- Written by Jeff Krol
- Hits: 896
Welcome back to the TSL Quarterback Power Rankings!
Why is your team's QB ranked so low? Let's find out!
#1 Bobby McConnell - Eyes Downtown
Last Week: Did Not Play
No game for the TSL's top dog, but he WAS spotted at the fields this week scouting the competition.
#2 Joey Batts - Legends / Cunning Stunts
Last Week: Beat Sticky Bandits 52-26, beat Frodo Swaggins 61-24 (Legends), beat Travis Henry's Kids 51-32, beat Father Baker 56-36 (Stunts)
There was a time when we were considering a huge drop in the Power Rankings for Joey when it seemed like he was no longer the starting QB of his D1 team. Not anymore. Joey put up 51, 52, 56 and 61 points in his four games on Saturday. If you're looking for a path to climbing the Power Rankings, there's the blueprint: join competitive teams, and score a shitload of points.
#3 Mike Thomas - Sticky Bandits
Last Week: Lost to Legends 52-26, beat Losing Streak 33-14
The Sticky Bandits ended their four game losing streak (against Losing Streak!), and then promptly started a new one against Legends. The struggle this week was determining which of Mike or Jordan would be ranked higher. Jordan's D1 team has scored 40 more points and has a better record... but we gave the edge to Mike for going 2-0 against Losing Streak head to head.
#4 Jordan Lawson - Losing Streak / Mavericks
Last Week: Beat Frodo Swaggins 52-18, lost to Sticky Bandits 33-14 (Losing Streak), beat Practice Squad 58-26 (Mavericks)
See above. Maybe Jordan should be #3. Maybe not. Power Ranking is tough! Two 50+ point games on Saturday helped his case. The 14 point loss did not. If Losing Streak can beat Legends next week, that'll be enough to earn them a first round bye and almost certainly a move up in the Power Rankings.
#5 Jeremy Burr - Untouchaballs
Last Week: Beat Practice Squad 39-0, beat Freeballers 37-14
Can't Touch This were the early Cinderella story in D2. Then it was Freeballers. But if we're being honest with ourselves... wasn't this ALWAYS Untouchaballs division to lose? They might not finish with the #1 seed. But they'll finish with Burr and Helm and Greg and Mel... and that's enough to go all the way.
#6 Garrett Beesing - Frodo Swaggins / BAADies
Last Week: Lost to Legends 61-24, lost to Losing Streak 52-18 (Frodo)
Well, they didn't go 0-9 this season, so that's something. But Frodo looked every bit the odd man out in D1 last week with two massive losses to Legends and Losing Streak. They have two close games against the Sticky Bandits, who they play again this weekend, but it's hard to imagine them beating anyone ELSE in the playoffs this season.
#7 Jeremy "Hogan" Olson - Freeballers
Last Week: Lost to Untouchaballs 37-14
The bubble has burst on the recent Freeballers domination. Oh, they're still a great team, and they'll still make a great playoff run, but for a minute there it seemed like they were basically... untouchable (awful pun. who writes this stuff?). They're still the best point differential in D2, and have to at least be in the conversation for favorites to win that division.
#8 Ryan Dougherty - Can't Touch This
Last Week: Did Not Play
No games for Can't Touch This on Saturday. Reminder: it's been over a month now since they beat a team not named "Scared Hitless".
#9 Terrell Bolden - The Family
Last Week: Did Not Play
No game for The Family this week as Let's Get Reccked forfeits. We might forfeit too if we had to go against this machine!
#10 Travis Cleavenger - Cle-Avengers Assemble
Last Week: Beat THREAD 37-28
Since an opening week 0-2 start, Cle-Avengers have been trading wins and losses week to week. Neither hot nor cold, they're kind of stuck in neutral in the D2 race at the moment.
#11 Frank Laudico - Wanderers
Last Week: Beat Bullet Club 43-34, beat 716 70-6
Wanderers needed just one more point to beat 716 by a score of 71-6. What a wasted opportunity. Last week we were writing about how these guys were in last place in D3. They don't feel like a "last place" team anymore after two huge wins on Saturday.
#12 Mark Dalfonso - THREAD
Last Week: Lost to Cle-Avengers Assemble 37-28
The mediocrity of THREAD continued on Saturday as they dropped a close game to another mid-level D2 team. Is all this going to be irrelevant in the playoffs when they just keep bombing it to Andy Smith over and over?
#13 Dylan Day - Scared Hitless
Last Week: Did Not Play
No games for Scared Hitless this week.
#14 Brandon "B" Ford - Practice Squad / 716
Last Week: Lost to Untouchaballs 39-0, lost to Mavericks 58-26
Practice Squad locked up the 8th seed in D2 this week by losing both games of a doubleheader (even if Scared Hitless loses both of their last two games this Saturday, they own the tiebreaker over Practice Squad). That means B and team will face either Can't Touch This, Untouchaballs or Freeballers in the first round of the playoffs. They crushed a very different looking Freeballers team in last Spring's playoffs and played a close one against Can't Touch This earlier this season, so we assume they're rooting for anyone BUT Untouchaballs in that first round.
#15 Alex Buchlis - Let's Get Reccked
Last Week: Did Not Play
No games for Let's Get Reccked this week. Well they HAD one, and had to forfeit. Should that count against a QB in the Power Rankings? It didn't.
#16 Damien Keller - Keller Whales
Last Week: Beat Vaspian 45-30, lost to The Malones 53-30
Keller Whales are in 2nd place in their division with only a +2 point differential on the whole season. Man, D3 is really the most exciting division we have this season. We give up trying to predict game outcomes here.
#17 Andy Clark - Buffalo Vice
Last Week: Lost to Puckett All-Stars 32-24
Is Buffalo Vice vs Puckett All-Stars the best rivalry in D4? We think it is. Puckett took the latest chapter in their ongoing feud this week... and somehow Andy sits one spot above T.J. in the Power Rankings? How is that fair?
#18 T.J. Ferguson - Puckett All-Stars
Last Week: Beat Buffalo Vice 32-24, beat TMA 30-7
Puckett gets one quality win this week and one... well, less quality win. We've seen Puckett sort of coast in the regular season many times in the past just to amp it up in time for the playoffs. Is that their plan again this season?
#19 John Langley - Bullet Club / Travis Henry's Kids
Last Week: Lost to Wanderers 43-34 (Bullet Club), lost to Cunning Stunts 51-32, lost to ILF 31-20 (Travis Henry's Kids)
Three games, three losses for Langley this week. Which team would you feel more comfortable betting $100 on to win their respective championship in a few weeks? We should ask John that question.
#20 Brian Orzechowski - Vaspian
Last Week: Lost to Keller Whales 45-30
Vaspian dropped their second game in a row on Saturday to fall to 4-3 on the season. Don't they usually play great defense every year? Giving up 45 points is not great defense!
#21 Paul LoVullo - Come From Behind
Last Week: Beat Not So Sticky 28-17
Paul did what Paul does on Saturday and blasted away at a bad Not So Sticky team to finish Come From Behind's regular season at 6-3, which is CURRENTLY good enough for first place in D5. The Creekers can pass them with a win this Saturday, but no matter what seed CFB get, we expect they'll be favorites in that first round.
#22 Buddy Lee - Passing While Intoxicated / Back That Pass Up
Last Week: Beat TMA 50-16 (PWI), lost to Sausage McMuffins 29-8, lost to Mighty Drunks 25-21 (BTPU)
It seems strangely easy to beat TMA these days. Didn't those guys used to be awesome? While PWI is in fine shape for the playoffs, we're surprised BTPU is sitting in last place in D6. Isn't Buddy's veteran leadership enough to at least go .500?
#23 Kelly Kane - GUCCI
Last Week: Did Not Play
The GUCCI regular season is over - their only job now is to not collapse in the first round of playoffs... like they did last season.
#24 Darryl Carr - Cobblestone
Last Week: Lost to Spinelli's Plumbing 40-34
Cobblestone appears to be a lock for the 7th seed in D5 this season. We say it every week, but if Darryl's whole squad will all show up at the same time...
#25 Rhace Colon - The Malones
Last Week: Beat Keller Whales 53-30
Full disclosure: this guy would be ranked MUCH higher, if we knew anything about him. Who ARE the Malones? Who is Rhace? We're not even 100% sure he's the QB of this team. But they have a winning record in D3 this session and the third highest scoring team in the entire TSL (41.4 PPG). We should have Ranked this guy weeks ago.
Fancy Statistics Section
Here's a concept below that we did last season, and although not one person complimented us for it, we felt like it was worth recycling!
Some teams are carried to success by their great offenses (gender teams, typically) and others are carried by great defenses (Vaspian, historically), so we wanted to explore a more in-depth view to see how balanced each team is on both sides of the ball. To start with, we ranked all teams in the League on both offensive points per game and defensive points per game allowed from best to worst (the best is #1, the worst is #46). Then we subtracted each team's offensive rank from its defensive rank to see how big the difference was, and to what side of the ball (if any) each team skewed. Sound complicated? It's probably easier just to show you:
What does this graph even mean, why did we pick weird colors, and why aren't the bars even labeled?? All good questions (we admit, this is a weird one) but hear us out:
If you're on the top of the above chart in that orange color, it means your offensive rank is better than your defensive rank. For example, The Malones are the 3rd best offense in the League and the 40th best defense, so their combined score is +37. Sausage McMuffins on the other end of the spectrum is the 39th best offense in the League and the absolute best defense, so their combined score is -38 (shown in purple). These two teams represent the biggest extremes in the League right now, and everyone else falls somewhere in between. Anyone in orange leans towards offensive strengths, anyone in purple leans towards defensive strengths (those dashed boxes on the chart are just there to call out the biggest discrepancies where one rank exceeds the other by a lot in one direction).
So why did we pick orange and purple as the colors? We usually use green and red for our graphics, but green typically implies "good" and red typically implies "bad", and this graph isn't about "good or bad" -- it's just about which side of the ball each team seems to be strongest. The best example of the point we're trying to make is right in the middle of the graph, where you'll see TMA and Freeballers are virtually tied at -2 and -1 respectively (almost perfectly balanced, SLIGHT lean towards offense as their stronger side). On the surface they could not be more different teams: TMA are 0-8 (offensive rank: 42nd, defensive rank: 44th) and Freeballers are 5-2 (offensive rank: 5th, defensive rank: 6th). But both teams are about equally balanced in terms of their offense vs their defense... it just so happens that Freeballers are great on both sides, and TMA are NOT great on both sides. That's why we didn't label each bar on the graph - the +1 itself is kind of meaningless when you're describing either TMA or Freeballers -- the important thing is where your team falls on the graph relative to the OTHER teams shown.
Why do we like this graph? Well, it helps you point fingers if you're trying to blame someone on your team for your failures, AND it helps to give credit to someone on your team if you're having success! In other words, if your team is deep in the orange category above, MAYBE consider laying off your QB next time he makes a bad throw, because your offense has been carrying your team all season. Or if you're deep in the purple, it probably IS your quarterback's fault you're not doing better, so feel free to bench him and try someone else at the position.
That's it for the TSL Power Rankings this week! As we said above, we don't currently have our own email address anymore, so if you have any thoughts about QB rankings, or you want to make sure we know who's throwing for your team, please feel free to contact our good friend This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
What's YOUR ranking?
WEEK 5 POWER RANKINGS
- Details
- Category: TSL QB Power Rankings
- Created: Wednesday, 20 September 2023 20:39
- Published: Wednesday, 20 September 2023 20:39
- Written by Jeff Krol
- Hits: 799
Welcome back to the TSL Quarterback Power Rankings!
We've got a Top Twenty for you today, and look, a graph, how ORIGINAL. Without further adieu, the best quarterbacks in the League:
#1 Bobby McConnell - Eyes Downtown
Last Week: Beat Legends 27-13
The TSL's top ranked QB beat the TSL's only undefeated D1 team on Saturday, so this is an easy call. Bobby stays on top of the Power Rankings, and although his team went 1-2 against Legends this season, they can at least go into the playoffs saying "we figured these guys out by our third game, we'll be fine!"
#2 Mike Thomas - Sticky Bandits
Last Week: Lost to Legends 31-30
The Sticky Bandits had won 10 regular season games in a row before their Eyes Downtown loss a couple weeks ago (they might have won more indoors, but we don't track those) and now they're on their first two game losing streak in about a year. On the plus side, Mike DID score more points against Legends than Bobby on Saturday.
#3 Joey Batts - Legends / Cunning Stunts
Last Week: Did Not Play
No game for the QB of Cunning Stunts. We have to start removing "Legends" from his name on this chart next week, since he still has yet to QB one game for them this season.
#4 Jordan Lawson - Losing Streak / Mavericks
Last Week: Did Not Play
No games for Losing Streak or Mavericks this week. Jordan wasn't spotted reffing either. Who gave this guy the day off?
#5 Jeremy Burr - Untouchaballs
Last Week: Beat Scared Hitless 33-28
Untouchaballs are the fourth highest scoring team in the TSL, and a win over Scared Hitless combined with a Can't Touch This implosion vs Freeballers moves Burr up a spot in the Power Rankings this week. Untouchaballs had one random Saturday where they forget how to play defense and gave up 47 points (twice). Other than that, they've been maybe the best team in D2.
#6 Ryan Dougherty - Can't Touch This
Last Week: Lost to Freeballers 58-18, beat Scared Hitless 25-22
How does a team go 6-0 against the rest of their division and then get smoked by 40 points in their only loss? Were they missing half their roster on Saturday? Ryan will finish the season with two straight games against 2-4 THREAD, so it seems likely that he and Can't Touch This will earn the #1 seed in D2. Who's their bigger playoff threat right now: Untouchaballs or Freeballers?
#7 Jeremy "Hogan" Olson - Freeballers
Last Week: Beat Can't Touch This 58-18, beat Cle-Avengers Assemble 52-23
Hogan is really good at football. It's been almost a year since he's won a game so maybe people have forgotten, but this is a guy who has already won D2 ("but he had Sean!" yeah, yeah) and has always put up points no matter what division he's played in. On Saturday the Freeballers went from a bit of a D2 afterthought to an outright championship favorite.
#8 Garrett Beesing - Frodo Swaggins / BAADies
Last Week: Did Not Play
No games for Frodo or BAADies this week. Two bye weeks in a row for a guy that QBs two teams means that he's going to have a LOT of doubleheader weeks (with both teams!) to make up for.
#9 Terrell Bolden - The Family
Last Week: Beat Let's Get Reccked 62-28
The Family is the highest scoring non-gender team in the TSL. They're scoring 46.2 PPG, and have broken the 60 point mark TWICE already. Is there anyone willing to bet against these guys in a D3 playoff game?
#10 Travis Cleavenger - Cle-Avengers Assemble
Last Week: Lost to Freeballers 52-23
Cle-Avengers Assemble haven't established much of an identity yet this session. What are they good at? They're sixth on offense in their division, and dead last in defense. Yes, they still have Travis who will give them a chance every week, but last session he was playing for (and winning) the D2 championship. Tough to bet on that this season.
#11 Dylan Day - Scared Hitless
Last Week: Lost to Untouchaballs 33-28, lost to Can't Touch This 25-22
Scared Hitless play excellent defense, but it's tough to be competitive when you're only putting up 27.5 PPG in a division where the top teams are 40+. The point differentials suggest they're the fifth best team in D2 overall, and that feels about right -- good enough to upset someone in the playoffs, not good enough to win the whole thing.
#12 Frank Laudico - Wanderers
Last Week: Lost to Vaspian 40-33
The Wanderers are in 7th place in D3 (not really, but our website seems to think so) and they have the fourth worst defense in the entire TSL right now. It's tough to win games when you're giving up 42.6 PPG, but other than a slaughter by Let's Get Reccked, their other losses have been within one score, so Frank must be doing something right.
#13 Mark Dalfonso - THREAD
Last Week: Lost to Practice Squad 30-29
We're past the point in the season where we can chalk it up to rust with THREAD. Six games in and they're 2-4. They are what their record says they are right now. Oddly their only two wins this season have been against Freeballers and Untouchaballs, two of the best teams in their division. We can't explain it.
#14 Brandon "B" Ford - Practice Squad / 716
Last Week: Beat THREAD 30-29 (Practice Squad), lost to the Malones 27-23 (716)
Mark it on your calendar folks. September 16th 2023, Practice Squad FINALLY won a regular season game in D2. They've been close a dozen times of course - they're actually a pretty good team, but it's been hard for them to take that next step after they won D3 and moved up. Congrats B and the Squad -- now turn it into a winning streak.
#15 Alex Buchlis - Let's Get Reccked
Last Week: Lost to The Family 62-28, lost to the Malones 47-31
Let's Get Reccked were massively shorthanded this week and lost a player to injury early in their game, so not much to dissect about this week's losses. Are they good enough to beat the Malones at full strength? Sure. Are they good enough to beat the Family at full strength? We'll find out in the playoffs.
#16 Andy Clark - Buffalo Vice
Last Week: Beat ILF 37-8, lost to Travis Henry's Kids 31-29
Buffalo Vice are in second place in the D4 standings (behind Cunning Stunts), second place in D4 scoring (behind Cunning Stunts) and second place in D4 point differentials (behind Cunning Stunts). Did we mention they got destroyed by Cunning Stunts a few weeks ago? This is a great squad. Great enough to win D4? Maybe not, but great enough to have a chance.
#17 John Langley - Bullet Club / Travis Henry's Kids
Last Week: Lost to Vaspian 39-29, lost to Keller Whales 30-19 (Bullet Club), beat Buffalo Vice 31-29, beat ILF 42-24 (Travis Henry's Kids)
Langley loves to complain about his arm ailments, but after this week's quadruple-header he probably has a legit claim to being sore. Two losses in D3 and two wins in D4 add up to a C+ day for John. THK looks suddenly more competitive than last season, while Bullet Club looks suddenly worse. If anyone has any theories, let us know! (via the Godfather of course)
#18 T.J. Ferguson - Puckett All-Stars
Last Week: Lost to Passing While Intoxicated 43-30
This is the type of game that Puckett usually wins by 30. Is it just us or do they seem a bit off this session? Yes, they don't have Vince anymore, but TJ is just as good, and their roster is loaded with talent. Maybe they're just phoning it in until playoffs at this point?
#19 Brian Orzechowski - Vaspian
Last Week: Beat Wanderers 40-33, beat Bullet Club 39-29
We should probably acknowledge Vaspian at some point, who are in first place in D3 as we enter the last few weeks of the season. Raise your hand if you bet on THAT before the season. Okay, put your hand down, you liar. Vaspian is carrying on their tradition of being the worst offense in their division this session... but somehow being the best defense has carried them to a 4-1 record as they've won four in a row. Is it sustainable? We doubt it! But Brian's an awesome guy, and we're rooting for him.
#20 Damien Keller - Keller Whales
Last Week: Beat Bullet Club 30-19
Keller Whales are the only team in D3 to have not lost a game by more than a touchdown all season. This is a solid squad, and they've found the answer at QB in their third generation Keller. They're statistically a little average at both offense and defense compared to the rest of their division so tough to label them a "D3 favorite", but they're one of only three teams in their division with a winning record, and that has to count for something.
Fancy Statistics Section
We devote most of our energy to offense in this article, because let's face it, QB's are sexier than CB's. But occasionally we like to look at defense... it's said to win championships, after all. Here are the best (and worst!) defenses by average points per game allowed, across all divisions:
That's it for the TSL Power Rankings this week! As we said above, we don't currently have our own email address anymore, so if you have any thoughts about QB rankings, or you want to make sure we know who's throwing for your team, please feel free to contact our good friend This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
What's YOUR ranking?
