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Pick 6 - Monday night fantasy performances
Fantasy football, as I have always contended, is not fun. It is heartbreaking when you lose, and merely a relief when you win.
One reason for all the emotional angst is that so many things can change on Monday night. One second you're flying high, and then boom, somebody has a monster game to ruin your week. In fact, I have dedicated a blog post to it every week called the Monday Nightmare.
Today, people asked me on Twitter if last night was the biggest heartbreaker ever. I'm not sure if it was the biggest, but it's clearly in the top six. With that in mind, here are my biggest Monday night fantasy performances, both the good and the bad. And in the words of Ron Jaworski, I cannot believe I remember this (expletive).
It was our first year of the Corona Fantasy Football League and my pal Doc Z considered benching Moss because he had struggled so mightily during the season. Instead, he kept him in his lineup against me. Up by 13 points at the time, I was confident because Moss had been a no-show for most of the season. You know what happened, Moss had three -- THREE -- touchdowns, the final one a 57-yarder in the fourth quarter on a third-and-16. And thus, my love/hate affair with Monday night fantasy games had begun.
Nobody burns Bill Belichick's defense. So many a fantasy enthusiasts had to feel comfortable that he could keep Brees from killing your fantasy team on this Monday night. That outcome seemed rather promising through the first quarter. And then the second quarter happened. Brees posted three touchdowns before halftime and added two more in the second half to finish with 371 yards, five touchdowns. My team, Forte Ounces to Freedom, never recovered.
Let's be honest, you obviously felt like a heel for openly wondering what to do with Favre, who was going to start on the day after his father died. But after going through this in real life, I strangely felt like I owed it to Favre to keep him in my fantasy lineup. And to be honest, I couldn't care less about my team after watching Favre's thrilling performance. I mean, I took the win mind you, but I was more impressed by Favre's magic.
This one was especially brutal. I remember sitting on the NFL.com news desk sweating this game out. My nemesis Brent B. had Jennings and was trailing me by eight points late in the fourth quarter. The Packers were leading by three, so the worst possible outcome was overtime. When the Broncos drove down inside the Packers 10-yard line, I was pleading for Denver to go for the touchdown. But remember, Mike Shanahan hates your fantasy team, even indirectly. The Broncos settled for the field goal to force OT, the Packers won the toss and Favre hit Jennings on the first play on an 82-yard touchdown. Seriously, when that ball was in the air, I didn't even have to guess who it was going to.
Remember how my pal Doc Z started my hate affair with Monday nights? Well, it was Doc Z who was nursing a slim four-point lead going into a game in which I had Vick. At least Vick put him out of his misery quickly with a long-bomb to DeSean Jackson.
In case you missed my tale of woe earlier, I was leading by 20 points Monday night with Sebastian Janikowski at my disposal. But this league awards six points for touchdown passes. Of course, my nemesis Brent B. started Brady, who lapped my team. A 63-yard field goal was not going to help out on this night. And that great win I had last year with Michael Vick? It's like it never happened.
