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by Daniel Berger.
Original Post: Fantasy Football Follies
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A friend of mine lured me into Fantasy Football this year through nfl.com's fantasy football site (which is quite nice...and free). There was no money on the line, just pride.
We both did well in the regular season, finishing atop our respective divisions, with the top power rankings to boot. We both had the advantage going into the playoffs, with my friend facing the #4 seed and myself facing the #3 seed. Unfortunately, we both suffered a collapse yesterday as neither of our quarterbacks did squat, and our opponents scored well above their averages. My friend was narrowly defeated, while I suffered a 127-68 thrashing at the hands of an opponent who was hot and cold all year.
Ah, well, such is life. It was still a fun experience, and it got me back into football. I can now tell you just about every major player in the NFL, who they play for, and how they did this season. :) The only downside to the whole thing was that several players dropped early which made things too easy on me. Next year I'm going to invite one or two other people to make sure we get more active participants.
I also noticed some interesting trends along the way, especially in terms of overall coaching. Notably, certain teams tend to start out well, but around the 6th or 7th week opposing defensive coordinators start to "figure out" the offense and make appropriate adjustments. Thus, your quarterback that was scoring 2 touchdowns a game for the first 6 weeks suddenly starts to struggle. Then the offense counter-adjusts, and they start running more. Rock. Paper. Scissors.
Some other things I learned: * Most starting players get injured at some point. More on that later. * Watch your matchups. * Passing suffers in bad weather. Running benefits. * Don't pull a bad player because he has a bad week. Or even two. * You don't need two kickers. Really. Use that spot for something else.
The injuries were surprising, and it makes me wonder if the NFL shouldn't consider weight limits, by position. The players have simply gotten so damned big these days, especially the lineman, that the punishment the RB's and WR's receive (not to mention the DB's) is tremendous. In the 80's, while growing up, I thought it would be fun to play in the NFL. Now you couldn't pay me to play in the NFL - I value my knees too highly. :)
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