Last Place Wisdom: Winning through Illusions

Well, Aaron finally did it. Not only was he able to get his first win, it came against Andrew, his biggest rival and office nemesis. I can only imagine the hearty “Huzzah” given off by Aaron when he realized how terrible the Falcon’s defense is. (artists re-creation below)

It was not a good week for Andrew. The Seahawks lost, his fantasy team lost, and he doesn’t get the opportunity to put some delicious wing meat in his mouth. Now that he has gotten the opportunity to enjoy the sweet taste of wings (and wins), it must be difficult to go without, although I’m confident in both his team and the Seahawks going forward.

Aaron winning has also left John all alone at the bottom. I’ve spent a lot of time talking about John’s struggles on my blog, so there’s not a lot that I can add this week. I do think there are better times ahead for John’s team, but it will be tough.

I was lucky to win this one. I went to bed up by 27, and at the time Philip Rivers has 0.8 points. I woke up to see he scored 23.44, and nearly freaked out before putting it together that I managed to hold on.

It was a weird win for me. I lost my starting QB at the half, had 7 players score less than 12 points, and had my leader score no more than 18. Those are certainly not the ingredients for a traditional win, but consistently decent performances by everyone on my team were enough to push me through. The win wasn't an illusion, but was far from solid. John could have won if he had started Spiller or Blackmon, and it’s not too often that Pierre Thomas gets 2 receiving touchdowns and Sproles gets none.

Mr.Manager of the Week Award

2 owners made moves stand out to me this week as playing a major part in their team’s eventual victory. Steve’s decision to start Romo over Cutler was a huge one, and was not a given based on their opponents. The other one would be myself, for starting the Browns against the Bills on Thursday night. Thursday nights are a good night for defense, and the Browns saved my team in a major way.

Honourable mention has to go to Aaron for starting the St. Louis Rams against the Jaguars, although that’s a bit of a no brainer in my opinion.

Waiver Wire

Marcell Reese could be the starting RB in Oakland, while it looks like Willis McGahee is the started in Cleveland. Pierre Thomas had a great game, but I don’t think you ever feel good starting him. Anyone in need of a QB should probably look at Terrell Pryor, as he hasn’t had a bad game in any of the ones he has started.

I mentioned him last week, but Alshon Jeffery is clearly the player to grab this week. He’s had 2 huge games in a row, and could be in store for a real breakout season. I’m partly kicking myself for not grabbing him last week, as I strongly debated it, although it would mean I’m starting far more members of the Bear’s passing attack than I would feel comfortable. Hopefully Andre Ellington can take over as the Cardinal’s starter; otherwise it’s a clear miss in my case.

Injuries

Stan got screwed over by Megatron missing Sunday’s game at the last moment, and being unable to update his roster while driving to Lethbridge. The only noticeable in-game injuries happened to a pair of my guys, Vick and Wilson. It doesn’t sound too major, but it certainly hurt what was shaping up to be positive games from them.

Random Thoughts

For some insider news, I had a trade fall through with Dawson this week. Having it fall through turned out to be a mixed blessing. If I would have traded with Dawson, there’s a good chance I would have lost since I would have given up my week 5 leading scoring, James Jones and his 18 points. On the other hand, I would’ve sent him a player that got injured on the weekend, whose trading value is now lower.

I’m very surprised to not see any trades in our league so far. I’ve been trying, but have had no luck so far. I guess people are pretty happy with their teams so far.

I was worried about the young quarterbacks going into this year, and so far I’ve been right. Veterans like Romo, Rivers, Vick and Cutler have had good years, putting up more points than the 2^nd year guys. Where I was wrong was that I predicted Luck to be the worst of the bunch, when he’s actually been the best so far.

Week 3 Preview

Sexy Sacks Men vs Frank the Tank – Hopefully now that Aaron has got his win, he and his team can relax and take it easy.  I’m hoping this is the week that Gronk finally plays, as I will need him to counteract Witten in a good matchup. Aaron has been talking trash about my team all year, so I’m really hoping to  shut him up by pointing to the scoreboard.

NFL Owner vs The Fear Boners – Aka First vs Worst. John has lost 3 games this year by less than 4 points. This is some historically bad luck on his part, and it doesn’t get any easier going up against Peyton Manning playing the Jacksonville Jaguars. One of these days a win will come John’s way, as he is starting to get more weapons available (Blackmon, White, Spiller). Watch John go out and win this one convincingly, because that’s just how fantasy football is.

Sideliners vs BISP  – Cam Newton is one of the more frustrating fantasy QBs around. Any week, he could go out and score 30+ points. He also can just as frequently come out and kill you with 10 points or less. This game could be a shoot out, as both Romo and Newton have good matchups.

NINERS vs Secret Wrestling Camp – Office bragging rights are once again on the line. Stan will be looking for payback, after being forced to buy Andrew a Seahawks hat after their last bet. Andrew has the easier matchups, with players going against Jax, NYG and Detroit, and is likely looking for a bounce back game after losing such a close one with Aaron.

What are the Chances vs oh that’s nasty – The rivalry in my mind that I don’t think actually is a rivalry. Curtis has just found ways to win, despite some poor performances by a number of his players. Dawson is looking for a consistent QB to start, while Curt might need to look for a different backup, since starting Eli Manning against the Bears on a Thursday would be terrifying for me.

On the next Last Place Wisdom:

I recap Week 6, where John parties harder than Gronk after getting his first win.

Suck it Aaron!

Andrew changes his name again, confusing more people than Donte Hitner and Ochocinco comined.