I can’t believe I didn’t watch last night’s MNF football matchup. But I was soooooo tired. How tired? Well, for me to not watch the pivotal game in my 1st round matchup in my H2H league…when I’m losing by only 3 pts going into the game….when I have my #1 QB and Kicker up against his #1 QB and #1 RB, I must have been tired. Here’s a blurb about this matchup from Rotoworld:
“f you missed this game, you missed one of the games of the year. Matt Schaub led two 90-plus yard drives that included a two-point conversion to tie the game. … It’s scary to think how many fantasy football games were decided by the epic comeback”
Well, my fantasy football game was decided by this epic comeback! I did check my scoreboard at around halftime before nodding off. I was down by 15 pts and had resigned myself to a deserved loss. Deserved because my team was seriously underperforming. His was too, but by slightly less. Yes, I was disappointed that I couldn’t take advantage of his woes, but comfortable knowing I didn’t deserve the win.
I woke up this morning and while still shaking the sand from my eyes, I cracked open my iPad to see how much I had lost by. When the site refreshed, to my utter astonishment, I won 66.2 – 62.4 !!
What a feeling! I’ve never been on this end of the stick before: coming back from the brink of defeat and snatching the victory from the favourite. I now know what it feels like to be on both ends of this. I have had some nail-biters that have come through for me in the past, but I’ve always come into the final game with the lead and barely held on.
I take that back. There was one time this year in week 12, against this same opponent, I came in with a slim lead into in the Sunday night game and lost it during the course of the game only to reclaim it in the last quarter So now I’ve stolen 2 of the 3 from him this yr….the only loss being a meaningless one last week when we were both locked up.
Since I didn’t watch the game, I needed to go to the play-by-play and using our scoring rules, try and figure out the ebb and flow towards the end and at what time and what play I decisively stole the win. Here is what I deduced:
* At 1:55 left in the 1st half I was down by the largest margin of 54.7 – 33.7. This is when I checked the score and went to bed. No chance of getting back into this one!
* At halftime: 55.8 – 41.3 thanks to a Schaub 46yd TD pass. I’m thinking now, if I were watching, I’d be tempted to turn of the TV and avoid the frustration.
* With 7:02 left in the 3rd: 55.8 – 45.8. If still watching, I would have been OK with Houston settling for a FG by my kicker and Schaub throwing about 50 yds on that drive. Still, 10 pts down with 1.5 quarters to go would have me second guessing some of the decisions I made on personnel this week.
* End of 3rd quarter: 56.6 – 50.9. 3 things would have happened: 1) I would now be standing up inches from the TV. 2) I’d be ticked off at dropping Westbrook and playing Choice at RB. 3) I’d be yelling at the TV and cursing Joe Flacco and also Ray Rice for being an all-purpose RB that has 5 catches out of the backfield. I sooooo hate my opponent’s team. I think I’ve mentioned it many times in the past: He’s a feast or famine team. Every pass Flacco makes to Rice doubles up his points. At least he didn’t start WR Mason as well. I wonder why he didn’t since he always plays all 3 of these guys. That will ultimately be his undoing as Mason went on to score 2TDs and have a monster 13.3 night….enough to have blasted me. Very unusual.
* 11:03 left in the game: 58.4 – 50.9. I’d be happy that BAL had to punt, Flacco got sacked. I’d be unhappy that Rice now has 6 receptions and now his next catches are worth 1 pt instead of 0.5 pts.
* 6:00 left in the game: 58.4 – 58.3. This is fun replaying this!! I’m using a spreadsheet and the site’s play-by-play to manually play it out. If I were watching the game on that last drive, I would be pacing and yelling at the TV. That was a 90yd drive that took only 5 min! There was one 4th and 2 on that drive that if not converted would have ended my night in misery for sure! Instead, I’m one tenth of a point behind and dreading the heartbreak. There’s something to be said about being blown away. It leaves little doubt in your mind as to ‘what if’ or ‘if only I had done this…’. Losing by a slim margin is the worst in H2H. Poor opponent. Poor, poor opponent 😉
* 2:42 left. I’d be ecstatic after the three and out by BAL. 2:42 left. Schaub is over 300yds so I’m into the escalators. He has to throw to come back.
* 1:38. I take the lead for the 1st time 59.9 – 59.5. Houston driving!
*0.13. Houston scores and converts a 2pt conversion. I’m up 68.1 to 59.5. At this point, I’d be wishing Schaub did not convert the 2pt and the game was over. Now there’s overtime with a chance for my opponent to save himself
* Up by 5.8 pts, Schaub throws an interception. AND, more importantly, BAL returns it for a TD! If they hadn’t, there was easily the chance that my opponent makes up that margin. One Rushing TD from Rice alone would have swayed it back in his favour. It would have been the 1st time I was ecstatic that my QB threw an interception!
So, there you have it. Although I really don’t deserve the win, I must take some credit for it. All the analyst sites and the start/sit advice I read EVERYWHERE indicated that I should have sat Schaub and played Orton. Orton score -2.5 pts this week. I can at least say, I didn’t make all the right decisions, but I made most of them. And I made the one that mattered the most.
Now onto the semis and my annual bout with Birdhawks. This team is coming in hot, but I’ve beaten him twice this year, have beaten him in the semis twice, and I match up very well against him. But I’m not losing sleep over this won. I consider myself now playing with house money and any further I go is simply a bonus now.