Yesterday was a big day in fantasy football. Most leagues held their title games, and barring a tight contest with a player or two in tonight’s Bears/Packers matchup, the champions have been crowned.
With that in mind, Epic Carnival put together a list of the Top 10 Fantasy Football Championship Week Goats.
Here are a few of the more interesting blurbs:
10. Brett Favre. What could be better than the gunslinger facing his old coach, needing the win, against a secondary that’s been generous even by NFC West standards this year? Well, let’s just say that 18 for 31 for 187 with 2 picks wasn’t on the menu. Those Favre 4 jerseys are going to come cheap this off-season. He’d rank higher, but the fact is that if he was on your roster, you probably weren’t playing for much this week anyway.
9. Steve Breaston. The Arizona #3 WR moved up to #2 this week with the injury to Anquan Boldin. Against the Patriots secondary — note: normally horrible — this was a sneaky great play, and one that you had to feel good about. He wound up with 6 more yards than Boldin, thanks to our #1 retard. Heckuva job, Cardinals.
7. Matt Schaub. More or less a must start against the usually comical Raiders, especially after the recent Texans surge. I’m thinking you weren’t expecting the Raiders to more or less dominate the game, even if you were thinking that Nmandi Asomugha was going to make Andre Johnson disappear. Schaub’s 255 yards, no touchdowns, 1 pick and 10 yards rushing day probably didn’t make you lose, but it sure as hell wasn’t what you were hoping for, either.
1. Kurt Warner. Licking your chops for that Patriot secondary, were you? That must have been before you saw the snow, and the entire Cardinals team look like they were melting from the exposure to it. Your season savior had 30 yards today, got pulled due to the utter lack of competitiveness, and more or less reminded you why the Cardinals are the worst playoff team in the history of the world.
I expected that all four of these players would have big days, but once the snow hit in New England, I thought the Cardinals might struggle. Heck, I was so worried about the weather that I even benched Matt Cassel in one title game, but was (thankfully) still able to pull out the win, due in no small part to the fact that my opponent started several goats.
There are a few names on the list — Marion Barber, Willie Parker, DeShaun Foster — that I doubt anyone was starting in their title games. For a “championship goats” list, it’s helpful to look at players that were great all season (or especially productive in Week 15) that turned in pathetic performances in Week 16. Kurt Warner and Matt Schaub are perfect examples, but who else fits the bill?
I personally know two guys who are none too pleased with Andre Johnson (2 catches, 19 yards), who led many fantasy owners to their championship games with a huge 11-catch, 207-yard, one-TD performance in Week 15 against the Titans. Steve Smith also had a huge Week 15 (9 catches, 165 yards, TD) only to come up small — 68 total yards, 0 TD — in Week 16. To a lesser extent, Dwayne Bowe had a nice Week 15 (6 catches, 44 yards, TD) but posted substandard numbers (3 catches, 28 yards) in the Chiefs’ shootout with Miami. Deion Branch caught nine passes for 164 yards and two TD in Week 14 and Week 15, but mustered only two catches for six yards against a weak Jets pass defense on Sunday. In the same game, Thomas Jones gained 96 yards but failed to score a TD for only the second time in nine games. Roddy White came up small (3 catches, 24 yards) after a great season and a so-so Week 15. In non-PPR leagues, Brian Westbrook only scored 11 fantasy points, and my guess is that his owners needed more. Santana Moss (5 catches, 28 yards) failed to follow up a strong Week 15 performance (7 catches, 72 yards, TD) against the Bengals.
It’s interesting that most of the guys I mention here are wide receivers. It seems like most of the key QBs, RBs and TEs performed pretty well in Week 16, though I’m sure I’m forgetting a few guys.
