You gotta be kidding me

In our Eliminator league, Mark had won the first 4 weeks in a row.

In week 5, I had good games from Breece Hall, De'Von Achane and Sam LaPorta. Entering Monday Night Football, I only trailed Mark by 5 points. And I had Jordan Love at QB facing the Raiders, a bottom 5 defense. 

Here's Jordan Love so far this season:

If Love put up 25 or more, it would push my team to the 2nd highest score of the season and into bonus money territory. 

But all I really need is 5.5 out of him to win the week. 

Long story, short, he's struggling. He gets to 7 points late in the 4th quarter and I think it's sealed up. But then he throws his 2nd pick of the night. Back to 5. 

We don't even have rules for a tie because it's never happened. 

With 2 minutes left, the Raiders have a 4th and 2. If they go for and pick it up, that ends the game and Mark and I tie. I'm desperately hoping they kick, so Love can get the ball back. I only need a few passing or rushing yards. 

They kick. They miss. 

Love gets his 5 passing yards and is up to 6 points. 

There's 44 seconds left. All I need him to do is not fumble or throw an interception. I don't even need a touchdown. Like a turnover on downs is fine. 

You already know what happens.

Chucks it deep, interception in the end zone. 

I lose week 5 by 1 point.

Razor Thin Fantasy Football Margin

(warning: this post is not safe for mark) 

With 1:12 to go, the Falcons trailed the Lions by 2 points. Atlanta had the ball at the 10 yard line and Detroit was out of timeouts. Lots of ways for the Falcons to win this. Take two knees and kick a chip shot. Run for a few yards, take at least 35 seconds off the clock, run again—either score or kick a chip shot. 

Instead, Todd Gurley runs it up the middle and the Lions let them score. Gurly realizes a half-second too late and tries to stop but he can't. 

 

Of course, with over a minute left that gave the Lions enough time to come down and win, or enough time for the Falcons to choke another game away. 

Great news for Mark, right?

Well, as it happened, we both had a bunch of fantasy players going head to head in this game. I had Gurley, Golladay and Hockenson. He had Atlanta's kicker, Koo.

If Gurley stops at the 1 everything changes. Here's what happened in our fantasy game that really shouldn't have:

Gurley TD = 6 pts

Pass to Hockenson = 1.5 pts

Pass to Golladay = 3.5 pts

TD Pass to Hockenson = 7.5 pts

My players got 18.5 pts in the last minute of the Lions-Falcons game because Gurley scored. But also Mark's kicker would have been the one to score if Gurley had stopped.

No FG for Koo = -3 pts

That's a 21.5 point swing on this margin:

I ended up beating Mark this week by 7 points.

End of an Era

For the last 11 NFL seasons, I've been the commissioner of a fantasy football league. I just pulled the plug on it.

I figured I should post screenshots from the league in case I ever want to resurrect it.