What's old is new again

Never let it be said that fanatsy football is without its own unique brand of drama. As I have blogged about previously, my football team qualified for post season play a few weks ago (week 14 of the NFL season for those keeping score at home). Nothing was really sorted out until that week either, I could finish anywhere from 2nd to 7th place going into that week, but a win by me secured a playoff spot and a little assistance moved me up to the 2nd spot by virtue of points scored in a three way tie at 9-5. What that meant was I had a week off as the #2 seed, I would get the winner of the #3 seed versus #6 seed in the semifinals. As luck would have it I ended up with the 6th seeded The Jamesons for my first playoff game. For those in the know these two teams have had a habit of facing each other in the post season, we met for championship games in 2005 and 2007, back when the league still played for cash and most everyone lived in the same area, now it is just for bragging rights. I was the winner in 2005 (102-92), Jeff would win in 2007 (69-63) and here we were two years later, like clockwork, meeting again in the playoffs, this time with the winner going to the championship game.

All seemed well and good, through the course of that Sunday's games I was doing quite well, well enough in fact that I had managed a 21 point lead. The only problem was there was still one game to be played, on Monday night, between the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings and Jeff had on his roster Minnesota's Adrian Peterson, arguably the best running back in football. 21 points out of AP was certainly within the realm of possibility and my mind was flashing back to last year, when it took the first tiebreaker (final score was 78-78, tie was broken by TDs scored by roster that week) in that game to determine a winner before I eventually moved on and won the league title. Early on I caught some breaks, Chicago had jumped out to a 16-0 by halftime. What that means is a team is more likely to abandon the running game to catch up, which was fine with me, fewer touches for AP meant I had a better chance of winning. At halftime he had only 1 point and my 20 point lead seemed more secure, though certainly not a lock. The second half wouldn't be as easy for me however. A 1 yard TD run by Peterson had cut the game score to 16-6 and had cut into my lead as well, and AP's point total was to 9 and the lead down to 12. The Bears would come right back with a TD of their own to make it 23-12 and again I was breathing a slight bit easier as time was coming off the game clock and the Vikings weren't getting any closer, less time for AP to put a dagger in my heart. But the Vikings weren't done, they would go 73 yards in 10 plays and cut into the lead again, 23-13. While AP didn't score on that drive, he did pick up another point and the lead was 11. This was looking like a classic matchup between Jeff and myself. Before the 3rd quarter would end, the Bears would have a pass intercepted and AP would squeak out 1 more 5 yard carry, so heading into the 4th quarter it was just a 11 point lead. The only solace I took in that was the Vikings would still have to score twice just to tie, hopefully the Bears could hang on. The Vikings drive continued into the fourth quarter and AP had another 7 yard run, getting Jeff another point, the lead was now 10. As an added bonus, he also had an 11 yard catch. Now I am worrying about him racking up receiving as well as rushing yards. The Vikings got a field goal out of the drive and now it is a one score game at 23-16. To make matters worse, the Bears do nothing with their next possession and punt the ball back to the Vikings with 9:55 remaining in the game. AP touces the ball twice that drive for only 9 yards, but one of those touches was a 1 yard touchdown run and with 5:49 left in the game it is tied at 23-23 and the lead is down to 4. The Bears come out and promptly score another touchdown on a drive that takes all of two plays after a big kickoff return, and once again Chicago has a lead, 30-23, but they are giving the ball back to the Vikings with 4:55 left in the game. AP starts it off with a 2 yard run, bringing his rushing total to 90 yards and knocking off another point, the lead is 3. The very next play he catches a 16 yard pass, his receiving total is now 27 and he picks up another point, the lead is 2. Then with 22 seconds left the Vikings throw a touchdown pass to tie the game at 30-30. This is possibly the worst case scenario for me, the idea of an overtime period where AP can add even more points to his total when I am hanging on to a very slim lead. The Bears just take a knee rather than risk a turnover late and we are headed to overtime. Much to my glee, the Bears win the coin toss and elect to receive the kickoff and proceed to march down the field. Finally on a 4th and 2 situation from the Vikings 27, the Bears line up for a field goal that could end the game and save my ass and they miss it. My heart just sunk a little. Out come the Vikings to take over. The very first play is a pass for AP but it is incomplete. Whew! The next two plays result in sacks, the first two the Bears had registered all game and the Vikings are forced to punt the ball away. For the time being I have dodged a bullet. The Bears do nothing with the ball though and just as quickly punt it right back to the Vikings. First down and AP gets a carry but no gain. Second down and it is a pass to Adrian Peterson and he picks up 16 yards with it, thats another point and the lead is 1. But wait, he fumbled the ball on the reception and the Bears have it. The fumble is a -2 for scoring purposes and the lead is not 1, but 3. I would kiss AP's hands at that point for helping my cause. One play later and the Bears throw deep and it is caught for a touchdown, ending the game at 36-30 and my fantasy game at 100-97. And this wasn't even our championship game, that would be the following week.

As I have said before, I really don't like fantasy football leagues that play their championship games in the last week of the NFL season. Far too often it leaves you playing guys you normally wouldn't, because many of the better players see limited to no action that week, dependant on whether their team has secured a playoff spot or not. Ask any Peyton Manning owner if he would like to play in a 17 week season and I bet he says no, because Peyton Manning rarely has to play in week 17 (he didn't this year either, the Colts had locked up the #1 seed and home field advantage). That means many guys are scrambling to find players on the free agent wire that are going to be uselful for just that particular week. If you are lucky, you have a few guys that are playing for something. I was a little lucky in that regard, Houston was still in the hunt for a playoff spot, which made Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson valuable, Baltimore would get a playoff spot with a win, so Ray Rice had value for me, MInnesota was playing to get a first round bye, so I went out and grabbed their kicker, Dallas was playing for a division title and a home playoff game, so Jason Witten had value as well. But plenty of my guys were useless, Chad Ochocinco, Garrett Hartley, the Tennessee and Green Bay defenses, Darren Sproles, Justin Forsett, Sammy Morris. Still I managed to piece together a roster for the last week, I lucked out on a couple of guys (Larry Fitzgerald and Ryan Grant both scored touchdowns and the Green Bay defense intercepted three passes and scored once in the meaningless Arizona-Green Bay game) and I worked the free agent wire to get Ryan Longwell (3 FGs, 5 XP), and Jerome Harrison (127 yards rushing, 20 receiving, 1 TD) and the final was sort of anticlimatic, I built a big lead early and won 107-71. The only downside was that I beat Damon to do it. This might have been Damon's best showing in our league since we started over a decade ago, so in that I congratulate him. Still the chance to repeat in our league as fantasy champion is a rare thing, to actually pull it off, to be honest, I don't know if has been done until now and now I am just counting the days until the next draft so I can start thinking about a three peat.