If you had to cram Drew Wolf's Fantasy Football acumen into one skull; the one above may be the only one on the planet that could provide sufficient space. Without further ado, let's take a look at the strangest Fantasy Football ride that the league has ever seen, from 0-3 to LEAGUE CHAMPS.
Keepers:
Drew Brees
Edgerrin James
Warrick Dunn
Ruben Droughns
Randy Moss
At the dawn of the season, this was at worst a solid keeper crew. Drew Brees did have the uncertainty of a surgically repaired shoulder to deal with, and a new, supposedly awful team surrounding him. Edgerrin James moved to the desert in an up and coming offense where he could truly be the focal point. Warrick Dunn and Ruben Droughns were shaping up to be the same 1,000 yard type backs that you can rely on for consistent, unspectacular play. Randy Moss had Art Shell in charge of his team. A mixed bag, to say the least.
Despite the fanfare Tomke gave in turning over his keepers, I only actually held onto Reuben Droughns throughout all of 2006. Edgerrin James went from top tier running back to afterthought and as such was a colossal disappointment. Warrick Dunn was about what you would expect from a flex back in that he picked up a bunch of yards but didn't score many touchdowns. Randy Moss is no longer relevant in fantasy or real life and that I've already devoted a sentence to him is a waste. Drew Brees was the border line keeper and yet he was the best of the bunch.
The TPB draft was pretty weak, and it starts from the top.
Round 1: Chris Brown
Round 2: Donald Driver
Round 3a: Alge Crumpler
Round 3b: Trent Green
Round 4: Draft Day Trade
Round 5: Keyshawn Johnson
Round 6: Kevin Curtis
Round 7: Michael Turner
Round 8: Adam Vinateri
Round 9: Marcus Robinson
Round 10: Donnie Edwards
Round 11: Osi Umenyiora
Round 12: Deltha O'Neal
Round 13: JJ Arrington
Round 14: Antwaan Randle El
Round 15: Jermaine Wiggins
A Barlowian-level brain fart put Chris Brown into the first round and into the Wolfman flex spot. He wouldn't start a game this season. Picks 2 and 3 brought great success to the Party Crew, as both Driver and Crumpler were top performers for their positions this season. After that, a whole lot of nothing, which explains the early season trials Drew had to endure.
Pick 1 was Chris Brown and he was a disaster. The turnaround for my season came directly in conjunction with his child raping departure. Pick 2 was Donald Driver and despite my repeated attempts to include him in on various trades, he turned out to be most consistent performer throughout the season. Pick 3 was Alge Crumpler and he played modestly well, though, I dealt him off for nothing in return this season. Pick 4 was Trent Green and I hear he lost his head somewhere at the start of the season. Considering that in my first 4 picks, only Donald Driver played a key role in the playoff push and playoff success, I consider a small miracle.
Keyshawn Johnson was great for a while before reverting back to his norm. After that, it got worse yet. Michael Turner played a bit in the first half of the season, but never seemed to go off when in the TPB lineup. Adam Vinateri was outstanding when he played, but missed time with injury. Couple a lackluster draft with some dreadful keeper performances, and you end up with this:
Week 1, L 116.25-91
Week 2, L 108.25-98.50
Week 3, L 92.75-79.75
The last one really stung. Not only did it drop the team to 0-3 for the second straight season, but it represented the first truly pathetic performance of the season. Despite a win in the team's worst performance to date the following week, it was time for a move.
With Warrick Dunn headed to a bye week, Wolf sent the Falcons RB packing to his week 5 opponent in exchange for youngster DeAngelo Williams and throw-in Maurice Jones-Drew.
With Dunn on Tomke's bench, he could muster only 69 points, allowing Wolf into the win column with a still-less-than-stellar 91.50 point output. Nonetheless, things were improving.
That 34 point swing made the difference between a win and a loss and got me through a dark period early on.
The next week would snap the two game win streak, as Drew posted a season low 71.50 in a 31 point drubbing at the hands of the ChamPeons. At 2-4, the Slumpbusters were on deck. Following a 187 point anomaly the previous week, Eli's charges came in riding high. The guillotine was raised and directly over the neck of Tice's Partyboat when something weird happened: a 120 point explosion. Alge Crumpler went nuts and was helped along by Mike Furrey and Randy Moss, and all of a sudden the season had started to turn.
[A] win over The Slumpbusters was a big deal as Eli had just defeated Madd Skillz with a record setting performance the week before. It had potential to be ugly, but instead it put me in the upper half of the league.
The next week brough both immeasurable pain and joy to Drew as Baron Brendel rolled up a fat 121.75 points on him by Monday night. Drew's 118.50 point Sunday was not enough, but his 4.50 Wednesday certainly was- as Cato June came in late to send TPB into victory. The season had officially turned.
It was at this point that I thought I had a chance to make the playoffs. This was a turning point simply because I stopped selling off players for next season and instead more conservatively made dealings with an eye to this year.
Despite a new lease on life in the league, poor scores awaited Wolf after consecutive 120 point outings. A win in week 9 over a comatose Stem led into a week 10 shellacking and a week 11 reverse Thursday Thunder. Remember when I called Drew's season "strangest Fantasy Football ride that the league has ever seen?" This is why. Within 4 weeks he had both won and lost a game after Wednesday morning. With an average of 82.75 points those three weeks, and a two game losing streak, Drew's season was seemingly about over. Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, with no provocation, they woke up. Maurice Jones-Drew and LaDell Betts were among the league's best RB tandems. Michael Vick was playing well. Contributions were coming from all over- and this team just started rolling over the competition. Two 50+ point wins put the Wolfman on the brink of the playoffs if just two things could happen in the season's final: he won and Champ lost.
Despite a valiant effort from Dave Tomke, Drew had a fairly easy win. And on the other field, Madd Skillz was putting the exclamation point on a 13-1 season by rolling up 174.75 points, besting Champ's playoff-worthy 120.50. So many things had to go right to wrap up the season, and every one of them did. Drew was in the playoffs.
Awaiting him in round one was his strongest ally from a week ago, the unstoppable force that was Ed Schillinger's Madd Skillz. SKL cruised through the regular season at 13-1, topped 2000 points and was already the two-time defending champion. It was to be a walk.
All of [my games from week 12 on] were critical, but none of them bigger than the first round playoff [game] against Madd Skillz. Despite my late season surge, I still resembled the Kansas City Chiefs, having to win a bunch of games and have a lot of other stuff happen just to get in. As such, no one, myself included, gave much of a thought to an upset. However, I was a little pissed in the “regular season wrap-up” press conference, two of the owners said that they would rather prepare for next year than put forth the effort to get the fourth seed and an obvious demolishing by Madd Skillz. I maintain it is better to finish fourth and get killed in the playoffs than to not make it at all, despite what the two said. As such, I wanted to win not just for the sake of winning and advancing in the playoffs but also to stick it to those who packed it in as “not being worth it.” My grudge, then, was more against people in the consolation bracket than it was against Edwin, himself.
With the Chargers and Chiefs playing on Sunday Night, and the Bengals on Monday, Wolfman had all afternoon Sunday to roll up a big lead without the pressure from SKLs best players. Roll up a lead they did. It all started on Saturday when Michael Vick went nuts on the Cowboys, putting up an absurd 37 points on the board. It got better for Drew after that. Maurice Jones-Drew had 98 yards and a TD. Laverneus Coles had 12 catches, 144 yards and a TD. LaDell Betts surpassed 100 yards again. When all the dust had settled, the 4 seed had accumulated 142.50 points, a lead who's insurmountability was cemented after Larry Johnson and Antonio Gates took Sunday night off. It was a relaxing Monday for Drew, watching the Bengals Johnson flail around and make no impact on the game. The impossible had happened on two levels: the greatest team in Fantasy Football history was no more, and a team with an 0-3 start and the 7th most points in the league advanced to the Championship game.
While I hate people who are in the game qualifying the game they just played in (ala Boise State now in the so called greatest game ever), I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to say that in our league’s short history, this was the greatest upset to date.
Waiting patiently for TPB was the Andy Viano-led and Peyton Manning-fueled Naj Davenport's Poop. Even though Drew was good, NDP didn't bring their best to the field, and the 110.25 that TPB would register thanks 2 TDs a piece from Jones-Drew and Betts held up for Drew Wolf's first VUFSA title.
A white guy named Mike Furrey led the charge along with Maurice Jones-Drew and true waiver wire pick up of the year Ladell Betts took Tice’s Partyboat the distance. Just looking at those names, an observer at the start of the season would have thought I was playing in the 7-8 game and not the 1-2 one.
On the way to becoming LEAGUE CHAMPS, there had been some great groundwork laid for next season as well.
I’m optimistic. I have lots of young guys on the roster who should be competing for starting time. Maurice Jones-Drew and DeAngelo Williams would do me well to quit sharing carries. Brandon Jacobs needs to be the beast and not the bumbler. Ladell Betts needs Portis to go somewhere far away. And Donald Driver needs Brett Farve to stay in Green Bay. So there are many positive possibilities, but there is not a dominant player in an optimal situation on the keeper roster.
Seeing how well I drafted this year, it may or may not be a blessing in that I have a slew of extra draft picks coming my way in 2007. I will have the #1 overall selection, an extra 5th rounder, and two extra 6th rounders. Ideally, I’d like to make some moves and see some of those picks turn into players or even picks for 2008. But as it stands, I should have my entire roster in place before others have rounded out their wide receivers.
Lastly, a heartfelt congratulations to Drew on an amazing season and an apology to all concerned for my delinquency in writing my
3 comments:
"I made a few attempts to get players to help me this year, and it didn't work out, so I just decided it was better to go one way or the other, and not just hope for the fourth seed, where I could lose by 60 points to Ed."
"Of course, I would have been the sacrificial lamb on the Alter of Ed, but it would have been nice to make it."
http://vufsa.blogspot.com/2006/12/postseason-press-conferences.html
"Brendel dealt off Reggie Brown and Lavernaeus Coles for draft picks once Fresh Legs cashed it in for next season."
"Other trades were when I was sort of rebuilding. I dumped a couple WRs for late draft picks."
http://vufsa.blogspot.com/2007/01/fresh-legs-7-7_8816.html
I believe there was no team with a worse stroke of luck than Fresh Legs this past season. You always seemed to get teams on their best week and deserved to make the playoffs more so than even the eventual champions. With that said, you were selling rather than buying during the final weeks. While you were kind of hanging in there, I was undoubtedly under the impression that if you made it great, but there wasn't going to be any moves made that were going to help the cause for fear of becoming "the sacrificial lamb at the Alter of Ed." I have no problem building for the future, but I feel that your late season run was more of a ho-hum approach than a serious playoff surge.
Oh Snap.
-Dave
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