Well, against my instincts – I ended up demolishing my week 1 opponent. Even though his big three in Baltimore went nuts against a weak Detroit defence. It was frustrating at the time to turn to that game and see bizarre play after bizarre play that resulted in huge outings for him.
Thankfully the pain was offset by my team coming out strong. Within the 1st 20 seconds of the games, Schaub had already thrown a 64 yd TD and Ryan Grant ran off a 62 yd rushing TD.
The final score was 107.7 – 80.3. I’ve been on the other end of these outings where you score enough to beat EVERYONE ELSE but the guy you went up against. I gather he, along with many other owners, is infuriated by the display put on by Brandon Marshall. I had the pleasure of owning this WR who set an NFL record by catching 21 passes. And then to add 200 yds receiving and 2 receiving scores results in a monster to beat all monsters. He netted 35.3 points. Without that outing, I lose.
My friend Pat was over so I didn’t have the computer on until after halftimes. After seeing Baltimore go crazy on Det, I figured I was a goner. Very nice surprise to boot up and see the huge margin I had. Coming into last nights MNF, I was 38 pts up. He had TE and ARZ DEF/ST to go. So it was not out of reach.
A little anxiety early on in that game as his TE quickly gets a TD and his DEF a couple of picks. By half he narrowed the margin to 18 pts. That’s the closest he got as his DEF crumbled and my kicker made 1 FG.
So now I play the #1 position in the division. I squeaked one out earlier this season. Some keys to deciding this match will be:
– he has 3 NE players: Brady, Moss nad RB Lynch. In Buffalo. Weather may play a huge factor for yet another team that has the ‘overload on one team and ride them to victory’ approach. Plus, Moss is pouting. I do have Welker that will alleviate some of the damage that Brady might do.
– he has Dallas Clark, who I traded to him earlier this season. He is having a monster season – but Indy has clinched homefield. So will he play a full game? Or just enough to still do damage?
– he has Andre Johnson, the primary receiver for my QB Schaub. This may limit the damage I can do to him. But since they’re up against the lowly Rams, I have to ride my QB.
– I have Grant going against Pitt. Not a great matchup. Could be a bust, but I don’t have viable alternatives because…..
– Steven Jackson may not go this week. This is the most critical point. Without him going, I’m in serious trouble. Already scrambling for alternatives and deciding if my backups are viable.
– My kicker has a dream outing against DET. Unfortunately, he has a groin issue and will likely be a game time decision. Which means I may need to scramble minutes before the game.
So, if everybody were healthy, I would be a slight favourite. Because they are not, I’m certain I’ll be going in as an underdog. This is going to be a tough one. But now that I’ve defeated that one team I thought to be undeserving of a playoff berth, everything is pretty much gravy from this point on.