Robio makes two decisions that cost him a title, 2008
Decision making…that’s what fantasy football is all about. Who do you decide to draft, who do you decide to trade, who do you decide to add/drop? Often overlooked though, is the importance of, who do you put in your lineup?
With a balance league, most teams don’t have a row of stars to choose from on their bench. Certainly come playoff time, your roster is set and you go with who got you there. Rarely can one lineup change make the difference in a game. However, in the 2008 finals, two decisions cost me my fourth title.
Through the season, I had made a lot of right decisions. I had a so-so draft. Nothing to cry about, but I wasn’t winning a title with my drafted bunch. I had another rough start to the season, 1-3 after a month, but during that time I was doing my thing.
In week two, I added the Ravens Defense. They would remain my starter for the season, finishing second in DST. Also in week two, Griff drunkenly cut Kurt Warner and I grabbed him for zero dollars. He would finish second among quarterbacks, behind only Robioland MVP, Drew Brees.
In week four, I traded Brett Favre for Thomas Jones. Despite everything going wrong that week (Jones didn’t start, Favre had a career day), in the end, Brett collapsed down the stretch, while Thomas Jones finished as a second-team All-Robio player (the 4th best RB).
Hell, in week five, I picked up Giants’ receiver Domenik Hixon for one week, while Molly grabbed the other Giants receiver (Toomer) for one week. It was another great decision. Hixon scored a career high 284 points. Toomer produced 120. Their 164-point difference was the deciding factor in my 129-point victory over Molly. I was now 2-3.
However, most importantly that week, Bob dropped DeAngelo Williams and I grabbed him up for $26. I was nearly bankrupt, but I needed him with Westbrook hurting. It was the best move of the year. Williams would be my third First-Team “All-Robio” player (I also had three second-team All-Robio players).
I was done though. In week eight, I finally fixed a major hole at my second receiver spot, by picking up twice-cut Antonio Bryant. He was a top-three receiver down the stretch, finishing 9th overall.
All the pick ups (and one trade) helped. I would only finish the regular season winning six of my last nine, but I scored over 1,500 eight times, earning weekly high scores a stunning six times.
Heading into the post-season, I was dominating.
In the playoffs, I just got hotter. I scored 1,641 in the quarterfinals against Bob and followed that up with 1,760 against Colby. Yet, for some reason I was worried heading into the finals. First, I was facing Don, who again was a 7th seed. More importantly though, I foresaw a handful of match up problems. There were two areas of concern.
First, quarterback. Although Warner had been a beast all season long, he was going to be playing on the East Coast, against New England, in the cold, in the snow, in a game that had no meaning for them. It scared me enough to pick up Tavaris Jackson, who was playing at home in the dome. Jackson had been benched early in the season, but was put back in the week before because of an injury.
Second, with Westbrook healthy, I had three of the top six backs in the league. DeAngelo was on fire, dominating fantasy points, Jones was leading the AFC in rushing and Westbrook was coming off of back-to-back 400-point games. For weeks, I had been playing Williams and Jones, but on this Sunday night, DeAngelo was going against the Giants top-rated run defense. Decisions. Decisions. Decision.
In the end, I decided to stick with Warner and I decided to play match ups with my running back. Out went Williams and in went Westbrook (with Jones). By two o’clock on Sunday, I knew I was in trouble.
The snow and the Patriots destroyed Warner, who didn’t even finish the game. He finished with a stunning negative four points. At running back, both Jones (152 point) and Westbrook (196) had average games, but on Sunday night, Williams ripped through the Giants defense for 108 total yards and four touchdowns. He finished with 408 points.
In the end, I lost 1,216-1,041. It was the least amount of points I had scored since week three. It was clearly the greatest championship game upset in league history and I only have myself to blame. I make either decision differently, I win. Instead, I made two bad decisions, and lost.
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