The Dick-Taters (Calderon) and No Respect (Jeff) were neck and neck all season long, but in the season’s final game, it wasn’t even close.
THE GAME
Rich Calderon won the 2016 Robioland Football Championship, easily dispatching Jeff Greenblatt, 1,849 – 1,180. While Le’Veon Bell continued to dominate like he did all season, scoring 394 points after the game was already in the books, Rich was able to really pull this baby out getting points from where he had been struggling to get points…at wide receiver.
Doug Baldwin had a career game, with 177 yards and one score, delivering 414 fantasy points. On top of that, Rich made the expected switch from Dontrelle Inman to Cameron Meredith and the moved paid off, as the Bears receiver produced 135 yards, one score and 330 fantasy points. Combined, the two receivers gave Rich 744, which was typically the kind of digits he got from his running game.
For Jeff, only LeSean McCoy (350 points) and DeSean Jackson (228) really showed up. He needed a stud game from Drew Brees, who proved to be just average. He had 299 yards, but only one touchdowns (240 fantasy points). Yet, Jeremy Hill was the biggest disappointment. The Bengals running back had just seven carries for eight yards (16 fantasy points), while his decision to start the Titans failed to pay off. They gave up 38 points to the Jaguars, finishing with eight points.
THE RUNNER-UP
Despite the defeat, Jeff has plenty to be proud of. This is a man who has been toiling in the basement as a solo artist since he joined the league. For years, he and Eric had been battling for title of worst team in the league. Yet, he finally stepped up and had himself a season.
He was the top team in the league for eleven of the thirteen weeks during the regular season, riding one of the top two backfields in the league. There’s not a lot to his success in 2016. He drafted well. He grabbed solid starters and found sleepers/backups to help during the season. Most importantly, until Melvin Gordon went down in the postseason, he avoided major soul-crushing injuries. Those were the keys to his success.
Looking ahead to next year, Jeff has a couple of good options in category one. He can keep Drew Brees one more season in round four or Melvin Gordon in round three, for two more seasons.
In category two, he can’t keep Kenneth Dixon because he was a postseason pickup, but Delanie Walker will still be available in round nine. In category three, Rishard Matthews should be a nice WR2 option in round 14.
THE CHAMP
Over the last few years, Bob and Griff have been the winners and Masterson hasn’t been too far behind, but over the last four seasons, only one person has delivered two championships…Rich Calderon.
Yeah, he struggled in-between. After bringing home his first ever fantasy title back in 2013, he was the heavy favorite the following year, but struggled just to earn the 8-seed and quarterfinals exit. He followed that up by missing the playoffs in 2015.
This year, he stormed out of the gate with a 2,000-point victory and followed that up with a 1,700-point effort. He was the league’s top scoring team from beginning to end. Sure he had a couple of hiccups along the way, but he broke 1,500 points nine times, including all three postseason games.
If points is how best to measure success, Calderon had the second greatest post-season run ever, scoring 5,312 points, 78 points shy of Matt Neatock’s 2009 record of 5, 390.
Speaking of second best, Calderon will finish the season having scored a total of 25,233 points in both the regular season and postseason. That’s the second most points scored in a full season, 276 points behind Bob Castrone, who scored 25,509 in 2014.
Looking ahead to next season, Calderon will lose Le’Veon Bell back to the draft, so he’ll have to “suffer” through keeping DeMarco Murray in round three. In category two, I see him picking between Mr. Glass, Jorden Reed, for one more season in round nine or let’s see what the experts think of Cameron Meredith, who could be kept in round seven.
In the final category, thanks to his draft with Griff, he can keep Matt Ryan in round 11.
But that’s next year, for now…congratulations to Rich Calderon…your champion.
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