Fantasy Football update: Playoffs

I haven't given an update about Fantasy Football in awhile and since I haven't found anything else to write about today, I might as well do so now. The playoffs start this weekend and my team made it. Indeed, it did really good. My record was 11-2 and my team finished first. This is a huge improvement from last year where I was 5-8 and didn't make the playoffs. 

I only had two losses. The first was in week 4 where my 116 points wasn't anywhere near enough to win. The 2nd one was a shocker though in week 12 where my team only scored 91.7 points, largely because I started the wrong players. My opponent did ok so I might have lost anyways but that's a game I would like to have back. 

As for the playoffs itself, I am not sure how I will do. My team has been mostly unstoppable this year and my opponents will have a tough time beating me. I've topped 200 points a couple of times this season and that's almost impossible to beat. But given my week 12 performance it's very possible that my team could lose. Any given week you can lose in fantasy football and it's very possible that I could lose and be eliminated. I am helped by the fact that this week I have a bye so if my team does suck it will be fine. 

So why was my team so good this year? I had a great draft. Unlike pretty much anyone else in the league I was beyond stacked at RB. At one point I had five top ten RB's, which is unprecedented. Chris Thompson's injury knocked it down to four and tonight's injury to Alvin Kamara could knock it down to three, I STILL have Mark Ingrahm, LeSean McCoy and Melvin Gordon. It's hard to lose when you have that much RB depth. I made very choices this year, the best of which was picking Alvin Kamara in the 2nd to last round, a huge deal considering how many points he has given me. Ingrahm was also a steal considering where I drafted him. 

I was also very smart to draft a TE early. Travis Kelce has been great for me and has won me games just by himself. Last year I waited super late to draft a tight end and it killed me. Having someone reliable in that slot is critical and it felt so good to have someone there that actually did work. I also passed up some other TE's to pick Kelce specifically. Had I gone with the injury prone Jordan Reed, I would have been very disappointed

I did pretty good on waivers as well. Picking up the Jaguars D/ST was a coup for me since they have been getting me around 10-20 points a game. Pretty good for a position that can be a liability if you choose wrong. I got some flack for using so much of my free agent budget for picking them up, but I think they paid for themselves many times over. 

I also made a decent pickup when I grabbed Josh McCown. McCown very quietly became a solid QB2 and is actually ranked 9th for QB points in our league. Pretty crazy when you consider that the he plays for the Jets. One of my biggest mistakes though was not realizing sooner that McCown was a more reliable play that Marcus Mariota, who has been disappointing. 

Part of it is luck thought too. In a desperation play last week I picked up Jermanie Kearse due to injures and the fact that T.Y. Hilton has been so boom or bust this year. I was expecting just a few points but even he exploded when I plugged him into my lineup last weekend. Sometimes you just get lucky. 

Indeed, luck is a major factor in fantasy football. I can take credit for having a great draft and making some good waiver moves, I was so lucky to mostly avoid injuries. I did lose Thompson and have had issues at WR2, but I didn't have any injuries that would have crippled my team. No matter how good your draft is or how  many waiver moves you make, if you have the injury bug, you are screwed. Given how my league makes fun of me for losing RB's to injury (well not THIS year), I know only too well how badly things can work out for me. 

No matter what happens in the playoffs I have to say that I accomplished my goals this year in Fantasy Football. I originally had only hoped to get a 7-6 record, or at least a 6-6-1 record. I wanted a winning record and even if I didn't make it to the playoffs I could say that I at least I had a winning record. Considering I only lost two games during the regular season I think that no matter what happens for the rest of the season I will be happy.