Part 3: The Season
Drafting your squad is only part of the job and half the fun of a fantasy season. The rest of the job entails managing your team on a weekly(daily) basis and your match ups with the other managers every week. The real NFL regular season lasts 17 weeks. The fantasy regular season lasts 13 weeks, with the last 3 weeks of the NFL regular season being the fantasy playoffs. Most leagues typically have no games in week 17 of the NFL season because a lot of playoff bound teams begin resting some of their star players so they don't get hurt before the NFL playoffs. This can make a week 17 fantasy championship match up garbage if say you have Aaron Rodgers who figures to get maybe 1 quarter of work in the last game of the season because the Packers are 14-1 and have home field/first round bye all locked up.
Our league pits the 10 teams into 2 divisions of 5, with the top 3 teams per division advancing to the playoffs. The top 2 teams get a first round bye and then play the winners of round 1. Our divisions are a bit lopsided, with 1 being far and away more competitive and better and the other being comically inept. 4 out of the top 10 teams actually came from "hearts" division, with the "spades" division having 2 of the worst 3 teams, which doesn't include a team that made the playoffs with a losing record.
Hearts: Cam, Freshman, Geier, Moof, Teddy
Spades: Drew, Tay, Shawn/Josher, Mo, Willie
Regular Season
Week 1 is the toughest time for managers to set their lineups. Outside of 2-3 guys on the roster I never know who to start that first week, RB and WR especially. We draft guys in part on how they did the previous season and in part on their overall career performance. When week 1 rolls around though I feel as if all of that goes out the window. I second guess every guy I plug into my starting lineup then hold my breath all weekend to see if I made the right calls. There's added pressure in week 1 because you want to get that first win out of the way and get a jump start on your divisional opponents, especially if you're playing one that first week.
A win in week 1 is great. It inspires confidence in your roster and that start 'em sit 'em choices you made. After a week 1 victory you feel like you can win week 2. There's no sense of doubt. It also makes taking a week 2 loss a bit easier. Its much better to be sitting at 1-1 after two weeks than it is to be 0-2.
After three of four weeks you can get a sense of how the rest of the season is going to play out. A few teams may be undefeated or have only 1 loss to this point. A couple teams may even still be win less. With only 13 weeks to the regular season, every match is pretty important. I lost in week 2, then rattled off 6 consecutive wins until I lost to teddy by 4 lousy points in week 9. That would be the last loss I had in the season. I finished 11-2, top of the division and proud owner of a first round bye. Teddy didn't win a game till week 6, which is a playoff death sentence. Willie started 1-1 then dropped 6 in a row but still had a chance to make the playoffs after he won in weeks 10 and 11. Two losses in the final two weeks sealed up last place in the division for him though. Drew started 8-0 then dropped 3 of 4 but still got a first round bye. Shawn/Josh started 0-4 but still managed to finish in 3rd with a losing record due to the incompetence of the Mo and Willie. I feel bad for Moof though, because if he had been in the other division with softer opponents he would have finished 8-5 and made the playoffs
As you can see from the final standings, the divisions were pretty uneven. Freshman, Geier and I battled it out for the top 3 spots all year long until injuries started to take their toll on Geier's squad, which almost let Moof sneak into the playoffs. I pulled away at the end to finish 3 games up. Drew was never in danger of finishing any place other than first, just like Mo and Willie never really had a shot to make the playoffs, though they almost did catch the co-manager's towards the end of the year,
Playoffs!
As they often say: on any given Sunday, any team can win. In the playoffs this rings especially true. But if you lose in the playoffs, its game over. There is no tomorrow. All the fighting you did to get to the post season means nothing. Once you're in its a whole new world. Your regular season record doesn't matter, nor does it matter if you already beat your current opponent earlier in the year. The tension and pressure gets ratcheted up a few notches because not only is it a lose or go home scenario, there's money on the line. In this case, a $600 first prize that everyone wants. Getting that first round bye is crucial because it means you only need 1 win in the last 2 weeks to come away with at least some money.
In round 1, Freshman beat a fading Geier as expected but the Cummers pulled off a mild upset in beating Tay. Round 2 featured one the the most thrilling and anxiety ridden matches in many years as I held on for a 2 point win over freshman. Drew defeated the co-managers as predicted in a match that was never close which set the stage for the championship. In the end, I defeated Drew quite handily, while Freshman defeated the Cummers for 3rd place and a $100 payday.
So that wraps of our year in review. As fun as the whole process of a fantasy season is, towards the end it begins to weigh heavily on you, especially if you're in multiple leagues. Being the commish just adds another layer of stress as I have to ensure everything runs smoothly and fairly for the year. Now it is time to rest and actually enjoy the real NFL playoffs without having to do anything for a few months.
