THE FANTASY ORACLE: On a roller coaster ride
By ROB STEWARTArticle Photos
This week was the most chaotic roller coaster ride of my fantasy football days. I was in a semifinal playoff matchup against the father-son tandem of Dave and Alex Sherman's "Always the Bridesmaid" team. On Thursday night, I grabbed a 23-0 lead after Reggie Wayne had a monster effort and felt I was on my way to upsetting the league's point champion. Heading into Sunday nights Carolina-Minnesota game, I held a 91-88 lead with the Shermans having Carolina stud wide receiver Steve Smith to go. I still had the Giants' Steve Smith and Redskins running back Quinton Ganther in the Monday night contest.
At halftime of the Sunday night game, I was smiling as Smith had only scored five fantasy points and I trailed only 93-91 with two players left, but then Smith caught fire in the fourth quarter with a touchdown and almost 100 yards receiving. At the end of the night I was trailing 111-91. My title hopes had faded as I thought 20 points was pretty much insurmountable.
Little did I know that this roller coaster ride was just beginning.
Monday night started off on a bang as my Steve Smith scored a touchdown, but the way the Giants were playing made Ganther almost a non-factor. It stayed that way until Redskins reserve running back Marcus Mason ran the Redskins all the way down the field and then abruptly came out of the game with the Redskins on the Giants 2. Ganther plowed it in and suddenly I was down 111-107 with a few minutes left.
After another point from Smith, the Redskins threw two screen passes to Ganther that netted me the three points I needed to tie the score with three minutes to go. The Redskins then pulled Ganther out of the game, leaving my semifinal matchup with the Shermans in an apparent 111-111 tie.
A quick review of the rules showed that a team's highest scoring player would be the tiebreak and we both had 23-point players (Wayne and Smith). Next it would go to Kurt Warner's apparent 19 outscoring Oracle favorite Rashard Mendenhall's 17. Just like that my season appeared over, a tiebreak loss to a team that I had handed two of their three losses to on the season was going to eliminate me on a tiebreaker.
On Wednesday morning, Frank Galeazzo emailed me pictures that clearly showed a pass thrown to Anquan Boldin by Kurt Warner was actually a lateral. Later that day, the official NFL ruling was changed to a Boldin run for a touchdown and Warner had lost his second touchdown pass. Ultimately, the Oracles were awarded a 111-105 win and a shot at playing Galeazzo's "Plax's Firearm Safety School" team for the league championship.
The Shermans were the epitome of good sports on how they were eliminated and all of us could learn a thing from 14-year-old Alex, who congratulated me with a smile on his face saying, he "was glad they got the call right."
Such is the roller coaster ride that fantasy football can be. The Oracles will lean on Tom Brady, Rashard Mendenhall, Jerome Harrison, Ryan Grant and Brandon Marshall in the championship game, while Galeazzo will lean on Tony Romo, Frank Gore, Maurice Jones-Drew, Laurence Maroney and Roddy White.
In the WTO Laid Back League semifinals, the 2nd-seeded St. Louis Shockers (Joe Mangione) crushed Pickelhauben (Dave Hishman),151.42-89.18, while the No. 4-seeded Lee Roths (Andy Szymczyk) upset top-seeded Viking Quest (Jon Sitler), 139.02-103.42 and leads to a Cold Slither fantasy bowl.
Both Mangione and Szymczyk were in a band called Cold Slither and now meet for the 3rd WTO LBL title this week. The Lee Roths are led by Aaron Rodgers, Anquan Boldin and Chris Johnson. The Shockers are led by Eli Manning, Maurice Jones-Drew and Dallas Clark. On paper it looks like I am going to have to hand the imaginary league trophy over to Lee Roths owner Andy Szymczyk. We shall see.
FREE AGENTS TO TARGET: Jerome Harrison, Jason Snelling, Michael Bush, Lance Moore and the 49ers defense.
INJURIES: Jake Delhomme (IR), Michael Vick, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matthew Stafford (IR), Trent Edwards (IR), Brady Quinn (IR), Bruce Gradkowski, Pierre Garcon, Devin Thomas, Eddie Royal, Anthony Gonzalez (IR), Limas Sweed, Nate Burleson, DeAngelo Williams, Michael Turner, Glen Coffee, Jeremy Shockey, Joe Nedney and Neil Rackers all appear out. Questionable plays this week include Reggie Bush, Donald Brown, Devin Hester, and Adam Vinatieri.
PLAYERS RETURNING FROM INJURY or SUSPENSION: Brian Westbrook (in a reduced role), Jeremy Maclin, Michael Clayton, Correll Buckhalter, Zach Miller,
ULTIMATE LINEUP: Aaron Rodgers, Frank Gore, Chris Johnson, Brandon Marshall, Andre Johnson, Jermichael Finley, Garrett Hartley, and the Vikings defense. Flex play this week will be Jerome Harrison.
FANTASY BUST OF THE WEEK (10-5): Reggie Wayne. Last week my fantasy bust was dead on and teams advanced to their finals because they took my advice and benched Reggie Bush. This week, Oracle superstar wide receiver draws the best cornerback in the league Darrelle Revis and his upside is 60 yards. With a championship on the line, I am showing him the bench due to Revis and an uncertainty of how much playing time he may receive.
