Fantasy Football 2009, Week 16

One league ended on a downer, while the other two are in a position to finish strong.

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Swish

QB - P. Manning

WR - D. Driver, S. Rice, M. Crabtree

RB - K. Moreno, J. Addai

TE - J. Witten

K - S. Graham

DEF - Arizona

Top scorer: Arizona DEF, 16 points

Low scorer: Donald Driver, 3.3 points

Result: Swish 81.58, Darkness 95.72; 4th place overall

Commentary: I wasn't too terribly concerned with Caldwell pulling the starters, until I just noticed that Manning only had 7.68 points on the game. The killer is that I picked up Donovan McNabb earlier in the year for the express purpose of playing him once the Colts clinched home field throughout the playoffs. He sat on the bench with 24.78 points. Yeah, you can do the math. Grrr....

Team 2: ESPN League Bricksquad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats

QB - P. Rivers

RB - A. Peterson, J. Addai

WR - Josh Cribbs, H. Ward, Austin Collie

TE - Kellen Winslow

DEF - Vikings

K - S. Graham

High scorer: Adrian Peterson, 23 points

Low scorer: Vikings, -3 points

Result: Veedersburg Killer Wombats 74, VA Bengals 53 (Week 1 of 2 in Championship Round)

Commentary: Wow! Who would've thought the turnover-happy QB for the Bears would decide to throw 4 TD's instead? I certainly did not see that coming. The Texans (TEXANS!) were a better play at DEF this week! I'm glad the Bears won, but it cost me 3 points! Up 21 points with one more week left; that's all that stands in front of my first fantasy football championship! I have to get stronger on my WR's or else this could be a heartbreaker.

Team 3: ESPN League Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys

QB - D. Brees

RB - P. Thomas, R. Rice, Jerome Harrison

WR - R. White, S. Rice

TE - Jermichael Finley

DEF - 49ers

K - S. Graham

High scorer: Roddy White, 25 points

Low scorer: Shayne Graham, 5 points

Result: Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys 129, TBAR Heels 95 (Week 1 of 2 in Championship Round)

Commentary: This ended up being a week of good, last-minute decisions. 1) After White's poor performance against the Jets, I went with him anyway (25 points); 2) Midweek pickups - Jerome Harrison (18 points, instead of Moreno's 8 points), Jermichael Finley (8 points, instead of Gonzalez's 1 point), and 49ers DEF (21 points, instead of Ravens 7 points). Yup, that's an additional 31 points that I wouldn't have had if I kept my roster the same. So, instead of a 5 point lead, I'm going into Week 17 with a 36 point lead. Gotta like those odds so much better.