another fantasy miracle!

So even though James Starks sucks and Michael Vick got hurt (and sucks a little too), I still had a good shot of winning my matchup thanks to Darren McFadden (the #1 RB in fantasy so far, 12th RB drafted). In fact, he has over 150% more points than Chris Johnson and Frank Gore combined--both were drafted ahead of him.

Anyways, so I needed 9.5 from Witten on MNF to win. He was the ESPN #1 ranked TE for week 3. No Austin. Romo's a little hurt and won't want to hold on to the ball too long. Witten's previous weeks were 14 and 13.5. So I wasn't worried.

Until halftime and Witten had 2 catches for 7 yards, 1 point.

I checked back in at the start of the 4th quarter. The live score was 79.5 to 81. Witten was up to 7.5 points = 5 catches for 53 yards. All I needed now was two more catches for a total of 7 yards. Only one more pass was thrown to Witten. He caught it. And got 7 yards. 9 points. And the final score for the week is 81-81. A tie.

I immediately think how stupid it was to bench Jordy Nelson for A.J. Green. I did it for upside. But Nelson scored 1.5 more points and that would have been the difference. But I was smart for picking up the Titans D instead of riding my Saints D. And I was super thankful for each and everyone one of Run DMC's 30.5 points.

So I came to work expecting to see that I was 1-1-1. But I wasn't.

The final score wasn't 81-81 anymore. It was 81-80. So I checked the stat corrections.

And 11 of Reggie Bush's rushing yard were reassigned to Chad Henne. I don't know what to make of that other than God wants me to win at fantasy football.

Do you believe in miracles? YES!

I needed 12 to win. I got 12 to win. As the clock expired.

Of course, every point mattered. I needed Schuab's game to go into overtime. I needed my defense to get 6 turnovers. I even needed that stupid 1 catch for 11 yards by Garcon.

But on Monday night, I needed 12 from a kicker. At the start of the 4th quarter, Hartley had 2 points. Look, I knew coming into this that it wasn't likely. Candlestick is up there with the Meadowlands as the toughest place to kick field goals in September. Plus, he missed 2 last week in a dome, giving him -1 points. But whatever hope I had, was certainly gone when I saw that he only had 2 points with 15 minutes to go.

So what happened?

1. The Saints go 3 and out after a long Bush punt return, and Hartley his a 46-yarder. 4 crucial points, and now I'm only down 6. This kick starts out at the right upright, and the wind shifts it dramatically at the end, falling down the middle.

2. With 5:36 to go, the 49ers muff a punt, giving the Saints the ball at the SF 15.

3. With 2:33 to go, the Saints give it to the full back on a 3rd and goal from the 1. Stuffed. Up 19-14, Payton calls on the field goal. He makes it and now I'm down 3 with 2 minutes to go.

4. I'm praying for SF to get a touchdown and 2-point conversion to send this to overtime. Alex Smith executes a perfect 2-minute drive, players getting out of bounds often, and they get a touchdown with 1:23 to go. They ran it in on 2nd and goal, probably thinking it would eat some more clock, but Gore scores.

5. 2-point conversion to Vernon Davis. Ruling on the field was stopped short. Stuff was thrown in the Fymbo-Verrette household. I go stomping up the stairs pouting. But I come back down, thinking that it looked good to me, hoping for a challenge. (Side note: the only ESPN feed I have at home, is a sports summary channel. So the game is taking up 1/6th of my screen and I have no game audio.)

6. The officials review the play and call it good, making it a tie game.

7. But the 49ers left too much time there. A few plays later, including a great 30-yard catch by Colston, and Hartley is attempting the game winner.

8. Whether it was partially deflected or not, the knuckleball fluttered and sputtered through the air, falling sharply over the crossbar.

All of those had to happen last night for me to win by half a point.

Easily, the best fantasy win I've ever had. When the 2-point conversion was ruled no good, I couldn't stop thinking about how stupid this whole thing is. How I hate fantasy.

Now? I'm facing a cakewalk next week, and could easily be 2-1 and tied for 1st place in the division. My team can score points and has depth. And Adam will be taking the red banner of shame away for a long time.

IT'S A CHRISTMAS CONSTRUDA MIRACLE!

Rishi lost to a guy who last changed his lineup in week 8, and who last picked up a player in week 1, thrusting me into the playoffs!

The only question is who I'll play. I'll face the Kirat/Niraj winner in round 1. Currently Burnsy is down 32, but has 4 players left.