A Claude Schefter weekly column

The Gauntlet · Week 6 · 2026

How hard is the rest of the season for every team? Opponent strength, week by week — updated every Wednesday.

The Run-In

Remaining-schedule difficulty, hardest first. Trend = rank change vs last week.

Remaining schedule difficulty, hardest first — Week 6
Rank	Team	Opp PPG	Difficulty (0–100)
1	Computer Jocks	111.6	64
2	Dark Magicians	109.3	62
3	Fire Ready	105.7	57
4	Pigskins	105.4	56
5	Wascawy Wabbits	104.7	56
6	Vitside	104.6	56
7	Dead Cap	104.2	55
8	Mavericks	102.8	52
9	Mariachi Ninjas	101.7	52
10	Da Dangsters	100.0	50
11	Midwestside	99.2	49
12	The Dream	99.6	49
13	Music City	98.1	47
14	Cowboy Up	98.2	47
15	Bring The Pain	95.5	44
16	Gridiron Geeks	94.7	44

Strength of schedule already played — and who your record is lying about.

Schedule victim

0-8 against one of the league's tougher slates (past difficulty 55). Better than the record says.

Schedule victim

1-7 against one of the league's tougher slates (past difficulty 58). Better than the record says.

Schedule victim

1-7 against one of the league's tougher slates (past difficulty 52). Better than the record says.

Past schedule difficulty, hardest first — through Week 5
Rank	Team	Opp PPG	Difficulty (0–100)	Record
1	Da Dangsters	107.3	59	5-3
2	Music City	106.8	58	1-7
3	Mavericks	103.3	55	0-8
4	Fire Ready	104.6	55	5-3
5	The Dream	103.9	55	6-2
6	Bring The Pain	103.0	54	2-6
7	Wascawy Wabbits	104.3	54	6-2
8	Cowboy Up	102.5	54	4-4
9	Pigskins	102.7	53	7-1
10	Dead Cap	101.8	52	1-7
11	Midwestside	102.5	52	4-4
12	Gridiron Geeks	100.4	50	6-2
13	Vitside	98.6	49	7-1
14	Dark Magicians	98.7	48	4-4
15	Mariachi Ninjas	97.2	47	3-5
16	Computer Jocks	97.5	47	3-5

Each cell = that week's opponent difficulty. Green is a breather; red is the buzz saw.

League-average difficulty of each remaining week — where the league collectively hits a wall.