My First Season In Fantasyland (Part 4)

After finishing the regular season 1-2 in the league rankings, the Knights and the Coleman Isms received first-round byes for the playoffs.

The first-round games featured the fifth-seeded Walking Dead taking on the fourth seeded Wildcats, while the sixth-seeded Fox Hounds battled the third-seeded Washington Praetorians. The Dead got great performances by QB Matt Ryan (43.80 points) and RB Ray Rice (21.90) and clobbered the Cats by more than 50 points. Meanwhile, the Hounds used monster performances by QB Tony Romo (43.84) and WR Ted Ginn (20.70) and upset the Praetorians by about 20 points. With no re-seeding in our league, the semi-finals were set: Dead vs. Knights and Hounds vs. Isms. I liked my matchup!

I made no tweaks to my roster during weeks 14-15. I figured if everyone plays the way they're supposed to play, I should win. While the Chargers, after another frantic late season charge, were being eliminated from the playoff race in Detroit, I kept tabs on my other team. Tom Brady and the NYJ Defense once again pitched in big, with 35 and 29 points, respectively, and the Isms showed the Hounds the playoff door with a win by 11 points. On the other side of the bracket, the Knights got only 12 points from QB Josh Freeman, but WR Calvin Johnson destroyed the Chargers defense with 214 receiving yards and a couple of touchdowns. He had a sick week, with 40.40 points, and RB LeSean McCoy was not far behind, scoring 3 TDs and amassing 28.70 points. The Knights rose up when it counted easily eliminating the Dead by 35 points.

Thus, the championship game would be as it should have been: the two top seeds, mano-a-mano, with the title at stake. The Isms would have their shot at revenge for our loss to the Knights in the regular season. Again, I liked my chances. I had won the semi-final despite scoring only 106 points. I figured my guys were due. Similarly, the Knights still had Freeman at QB, and Johnson and McCoy couldn't possibly duplicate their mammoth performances of week 15, right? One thing, though: The Knights had beaten the dead despite getting only 5 points from uber-TE Rob Gronkowski. As before, the key to my winning it all was simple: I needed for Brady to pass for 400 yards and 5 TDS, with none of them going to Gronkowski!

I knew needed help at TE, as Anthony Fasano, Jake Ballard, and Dallas Clark were all injured. I waived Clark and Ballard and added Anthony Fasano and Joel Dressen. Dressen became my starting TE for the Big Game. I also did something symbolic, waiving Terrell Owens and re-claiming Fred Jackson, the Buffalo Bills RB who had helped me win so many games before getting hurt. He would be an Ism for posterity!

I must say, the game was a bit anti-climatic, probably just because the Isms didn't win. The game was close enough. Tom Brady again worked his magic with 33.86 points, and even Larry Fitzgerald got some bonus points (19.5). And, Gronk only got 7.80 points, but it wasn't enough to overcome an unexpected great week from the Knights' utility player, Josh Cribbs (28.50). I lost the championship by 11 points!

Still, looking back on the whole season, it was very interesting and engaging and a lot of fun. I have to say that I will probably play one fantasy team each year, from now on. Commissioner Ryan has already let me know that our league will be back, so I'm ready to do it again. But, next season will be remembered as the Year of the Ism!