Believe it or not… I’m heading to the Fantasy Football finals in all 3 of my leagues. This is unprecedented. Can I pull off the trifecta? That would be crazy; I’d settle for at least 1… same way I was thinking this past week in the semis, but… I ended up getting all of them. How’d that go down?
It started early in the auction league. My biggest problem was QB: I didn’t trust Tua. I went out and grabbed Cooper Rush off the wire, but then looked back at my roster, and saw Herbert sitting there. I had initially ruled him out because of the matchup with Denver, but… made up my mind right before kickoff on Thursday to start him. It was the right call. The first half was looking shaky, especially since I was going up against Bo Nix, but when the final whistle blew, I was ahead; good start. It was a good start in the auction league as well. My opponent had Cortland Sutton, who appeared prime for a big game, but… he didn’t even meet his projections. OK, cool.
My QB in the other 2 leagues was Joe Burrow; not overthinking that one. With the Bengals on life support, needing to win out AND get some help, I’m riding Burrow until the wheels fall off. At home against Cleveland, seemed like a safe play; it was. Next week against Denver, one of the teams they need help from, puts their season squarely on the line. With Bo Nix playing better and the Cincy defense suspect (except the last 2 weeks thank you very much), I’m thinking shoot out, which would be perfect for Burrow AND Higgins who I have in 2 of the leagues. Already looking ahead…
I did have some other decisions to make. It’s the whole stick to what got you there vs what can you do for me THIS week based on the matchups at hand. It was this rationale that had me bench AJ Brown in one of my leagues; that didn’t work out, although McMillan did just fine as his replacement. I should have started AJ Brown vs Cooper Kupp; I was debating benching both of them, and since I had decided to play Herbert, was thinking about putting in Quinton Johnston. After a conversation in Costco with my son, I decided to pump the brakes on that crazy shit; I did make the wrong decision with Kupp over AJ, but it still worked out.
As Sunday rolled around, I was taking my son to the woodshed, even though he was killing it with Goff. In the auction league, I was way ahead against my brother. Meanwhile, the closest league early was against my childhood friend, the guy I’ve been playing fantasy with for 3 decades. As Josh Allen turned in a clunker, I pulled away in that matchup. The one vs my brother ended up being the closest; he decided to start both Tampa Bay RBs; I had McMillan and the lead. It got to about 17 points after Bucky scored, but once McMillan caught his TD, I was starting to feel better. Still, I don’t like to celebrate until I see 100% next to my team’s name, like I do now.
Once you make the playoffs, it’s a crap shoot. Anything can happen in one single week. 5-0 right now across the 3 leagues in the playoffs; one of the leagues I had a bye week. Now here we sit… on the doorstep of history… trying to cement my name in fantasy football lore… haha. 3 titles in 1 year? Time to dive into the Week 17 matchups. Good luck to me.
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