You’re good. At least for this year.
I’m not feeling that great about this week, but damn it I don’t want to lose in the semi-finals again. Projected to a tie on yahoo.
I hope Rodgers can unload on Oakland. I have 3 must-start WRs even though I don’t like their matchups. Thomas, Robinson, and Bryant can’t sit. Benjamin maybe - I need to figure out of Seattle is particularly vulnerable to speedster type WRs. With Manziel starting, if he’s healthy, he’s a decent possibility.
Sproles vs Mathews is a mess of a guessing game. Sproles has a good amount of points in the last 2 weeks but mostly from TDs which can be flukey. Mathews was okay last week, but he’s coming off a concussion and may be stronger. Arizona has been shutting down everyone’s running game so maybe I should start neither.
I picked up Brandon Bolden and Denard Robinson this week. Both of them may be the starters on their teams. It would be risky to play them in place of the Eagles RBs. Robinson has a good matchup against Atlanta and seems to be the #1 in Jax when Yeldon isn’t in - and he’s listed as doubtful. With Blount down, Bolden seems like the main running guy in NE, but NE running backs are incredibly unpredictable.
Both of my defensive matchups are awful. Denver at Pittsburgh, Oakland vs GB. At least it’s an easy decision, but it still sucks.
Basically, pick 2: Sproles, Mathews, Denard Robinson, Bolden, Benjamin.
Well, here we go.
Hamlet’s two Jets WRs came in slightly under their combined projection for the game, so as the favorite I guess I have to consider last night a win.
Guess I should have filed two smaller waiver claims for Robinson and Bryce Brown instead of just one big one for Brown. If nothing else just to keep them out of my oppenents’ hands.
Jesus, am I really starting both Sammy Watkins AND Michael Crabtree? Watkins I guess can see, since he’s averaging 24 points over the last 3 weeks, but Crabtree’s been … ugh. Maybe I’ll have to take another look at that. (It’s almost as if I traded away a top WR right before the playoffs…)
Larry Fitzgerald scores 40 points this week.
Gronk goes beast mode due to emotional loss.
I regret starting Brandon Bolden over Travis Benjamin.
Well that was a disappointing start. We’re back to a 50/50 projection. McCoy went down early.
Rodgers shitting bed. Very concerned. Ugly game for both.
Is Rodgers actually playing? 3 points most way of the way through the 3rd quarter.
Varlos is doing somewhat well.
Ah shit. I was starting to look like a decent favorite until I got both ends of the Wilson to Lockett TD.
I need Rodgers to go nuts.
Hey look! Second most points for the week. And I lose. Again.
Well done, Varlos, go kick some ass in the championship.
Thought I had it wrapped up, but David Johnson is making it mildly interesting…
Well, looks like I’ve weathered the storm, though David Johnson really did have me worried. If he’d scored a couple more TDs in the last 20 minutes or so (along with the attendant yardage), my game would definitely be in more doubt. Even as it is I don’t have it entirely sewn up. I have an 18 point lead with Calvin Johnson still to play. If Johnson gets hurt early or has a terrible game (and last week he had 1 catch for 16 yards), then **Hamlet **would need Detroit’s DEF to score about 22 points, which one or two DEFs do every week. So, not totally impossible. I sure am glad I swapped out Crabtree for Sanders at the last minute.
(If I do hold on, it looks like Hamlet will have the highest losing score of the season. It’s just his bad luck that it happens now, in Week 15.)
**SenorBeef **is in a tough spot: a 9 point lead and no players left, while **furt **has two players remaining, each of whom figures to score about 9 on his own. Could **Beef **be headed for yet another 3rd place finish? He’s somehow managed that feat four of the last five years. Wow.
Side question: does that make him the Marty Schottenheimer of fantasy football? Or does the fact that he keeps winning the 3rd Place game make that comparison inapt? What would be the best analogy? It’s very important that we figure this out…
You neglected to mention that in the 5th year, I won. So that takes away Marty comparisons.
Of course Marty gets a bad rap. Yeah, he’s overly conservative, but how many times did he miss the superbowl due to flukey things? 86, 87, and 2006 at least. I don’t know the manner of the games he lost in between those things so there might be more.
In any case, almost all fantasy to real football analogies fall flat simply because you’re not actually playing another team, you’re having an unrelated scoring contest with them. You can’t out-coach the other team, or play harder than them, or anything like that. We all know H2H matchups are mostly random.
In any case, I’m not sure if you’re implying this, but it sort of sounds like the “derp derp the Bills lost the superbowl 4 years in a row! many, do they suck!” logic I see from time to time. What, would going 3-13, 5-11, 7-9, and 8-8 in those four years been better? As if the act of being really successful consistently, but not quite the ultimate success, is somehow a more notable failure than not getting there at all? The Bills should be praised for making the superbowl for 4 years, not make them some sort of laughing stock, as if they were worse than any other team in that span.
I have the highest average finish over the last 5 years, which I think is an unqualified success.
So you’re the Tony Dungy of fantasy.
No no, certainly wasn’t implying a value judgment (or skill judgment, whatever); just a results-based, post hoc comparison for fun. Much like in baseball our playoffs have a ton of randomness built in, so just getting there over and over is a bigger accomplishment that happening to put up big scores in Weeks 15 & 16.
And I agree there’s nothing wrong with being Marty Schottenheimer and that he gets a bad rap.
Tony Dungy is a good comp.
Yeah, the criticism of Schottenheimer is mostly ridiculous. Like how he got fired after leading the 2006 Chargers to 14-2 and an AFC championship loss caused by a safety not knowing he should lie the fuck down.
Worst fantasy week ever for me. I lost the All-pro league semi-final 128.64 to 128.03. I failed to make it out of the first round of the playoffs in this league for the 4th year in a row. I was the points leader in the He Hate Me league and didn’t even get a playoff slot. Of course I out-scored everyone in the league this week and would’ve easily made the championship. And in a non-SDMB league, I lost the semi-final game too.
Congrats to furt and Varlos.
If it makes you feel any better, I just lost my money league semi-final to a guy I outscored all but two weeks of the regular season.
This week, I am in the interesting position of trying to beat Justin to make his draft pick better, since I own it. The annoying counterpoint is that if I don’t I will have traded for a worse pick than the one I would have had anyway.
Winner of the Consolation Bracket gets the number 5 pick. So if I win, it goes to you.
But if you win, I get it (which doesn’t matter anyway, because I already traded it away for Larry Fitzgerald).
I’m basically playing for pride at this point.
I haven’t looked at the stats, but it seems like every time San Diego throws the ball to Danny Woodhead, something good happens. It’s baffling to me that they spend so many huge stretches just totally ignoring him or keeping him on the sideline.
I started him this week because Melvin Gordon is out so he figured to finally get some touches (that and he scored 4 TDs last week). He’s put up a decent score to this point, but he still only got like one rush and two targets in the whole first half. Weird.