After a tremendous run by Team Shocker, the other top contenders are wondering if they have a chance. Or are they playing for second place? You can go from the penthouse to the outhouse in one easy week in fantasy football. With a score of 130+, Team Shocker should be in good position to win. The trick is scoring 130 points.
The closet I've ever come to winning an overall prize in fantasy football was 2007. I was in third place about 20 points out with one week to go. I was an underdog going in, but I had the wild card Drew Brees. He was a low percentage player that year. If he had a monster week 16 against Philly, my chances of winning would be greatly increased. New Orleans drove inside the red zone twice in the first 7.5 minutes of the game, but two Aaron Stecker rushing TD's took away any wind I would have head in my sail. In the second quarter of two of the early games, I lost two players to injury. I posted a score of 113. A score of 160 would have won the championship. So as good as it might look or how dim your chances maybe, they still need to play the games.
As a fantasy player, I dream of that magical day where everything goes right and you post the huge 200+ score. Why couldn't that happen in week 16? For some, the dream is still alive. For other, it might not be your year. Right now Team Shocker is holding the $300,000 check. On Sunday, there might be a point when he isn't in first. Maybe it will be 8:20 when Tony Romo takes the field. He might only need a point or two, but there will be some moments of anxiety if this happens. For his sake, I hope he doesn't have to wait that long to clinch the title. In sports, it's never that easy. Teams blow huge leads all the time.
For me, my slim hopes were dashed last week. If I played Ahmad Bradshaw over Brandon Jacobs, I might have a glimmer of hope being 62 points behind the leader and 24 points behind second.
Going into the last week of the season, I thought I would take a look at the teams that still have a "Dream". First I'll post Team Shockers possible starting lineup:
QB-Tony Romo
RB-Chris Johnson
RB-Jamaal Charles
WR-Andre Johnson
WR-Donald Driver
WR-Chad Johnson
TE-Antonio Gates
Flex-Thomas Jones
K-Rob Bironas/Lawrence Tynes
DEF-Arizona
Team Shocker has a score of 699.42 headed into week 16.
The number one contender is Champs II. He enters week 16 with a score of 661.52. Here is his possible starting lineup:
QB-Donovan McNabb/Carson Palmer
RB-Chris Johnson
RB-Frank Gore
WR-Brandon Marshall
WR-Hines Ward
WR-Mike Sims-Walker/Dwayne Bowe
TE-Fred Davis/Jemichael Finley
Flex-Jemichael Finley/Rashard Mendenhall/Pierre Garson
K-Nate Kaeding
DEF-Philly/Tenn
He has three possible impact players-Brandon Marshall, Frank Gore, and Chris Johnson. He can't gain anything with Chris Johnson, but he still wants a monster game to solidify his chances of second place. I think it would be tough to play Carson Palmer over Donovan McNabb. Team Shocker owns Chad Johnson. A monster game by Palmer probably means a monster game by Chad Johnson. Cinci would rather run the ball. After last week's Jerome Harrison performance, Cedric Benson might be the impact player for the Bengals. For him to win, I think McNabb needs to outpoint Romo by 8 to10 points. He needs a 30+ day out of Gore. Brandon Marshall needs to match Andre Johnson. If those three things happen, he will need to find a way to pick up 20 points in the other 6 roster slots. When the week is over, he might have had a way to win. Right now the path isn't so clear.
The next contender is Four Dog Night. He has 656.65 points. Four Dog Night led the overall after 13 weeks. At this point of the season, he probably still holds a slight edge over Team Shocker for total points for 15 weeks. Here is his possible starting roster:
QB-Donovan McNabb
RB-Chris Johnson
RB-Jamaal Charles
WR-Wes Welker
WR-Miles Austin
WR-Steve Smith (NYG)
TE-Fred Davis/Heath Miller
Flex- Steven Jackson/Hines Ward/Chris Wells
K-Nate Kaeding
DEF-San Diego/Cinci
This team has some overlap of both the first place and second place teams. His backup QB is Joe Flacco. I don't think he is an option. Wes Welker and Miles Austin look like the two players he needs to have great games to make up ground. Most likely one of them will have to match Andre Johnson. Steven Jackson might be an impact player if St. Louis could score more than one TD per week. With his best lineup, I could see him moving into second. I think matching Jamaal Charles hurts his chances of making of ground on the first place team.
The fourth place team overall is The Franchise. He has 654.64 points. Here's his team:
QB-Donovan McNabb
RB-Chris Johnson
RB-Rashard Mendenhall
WR-Andre Johnson
WR-Wes Welker
WR-Steve Smith (NYG)
TE-Jemichael Finley
Flex-Bret Celek
K-Rob Bironas
DEF-NY Jet/NE
He matches Team Shocker with two important players-Chris Johnson and Andre Johnson. Another huge game by Johnson and second place is well within reach. His dream is DeSean Jackson gets shut down by Champ Bailey and Brett Celek has a huge game. For him to have a chance, McNabb needs that 8-10 point edge over Romo. I think he needs at least 4 TD's from Welker, Smith, and Celek. I think his defense need to score a TD while the teams in front of him don't. He has a shot, but a team playing two TE's doesn't seem to enough explosiveness to make up 40+ points.
It will be an interesting last week of the season for sure. I think that it is deserving the a team with Chris Johnson wins the overall title. It might be a lesson for next season. Don't pass on a highly ranked player if he has a slow game before the draft.
I'd also like to give a shout out to W's Marauders owned by Robert Wallace. He's currently 7th overall. He is one of 15 players that have a chance to win $1,000,000 this weekend in the FFOC. He will be joined by at least two other WCOFF players-Matt Bauler and Greg Morgan. I wish them the best if luck and hope one of them can bring home the top prize.
Happy Holidays
