Managing Editor
After five weeks of fantasy football, I have exactly five losses for an overall record of 0-5. Not exactly the start I was looking for.
Last week was a slap in the face, as my 0-4 squad went into the week facing Aaron Rodgers, fantasy God. Rodgers put up close to thirty again, and my opponent only edged me out by one point. Thanks a lot, Reggie Wayne.
However, it’s not all Wayne’s fault. After all, I drafted the guy knowing that Peyton Manning wasn’t guaranteed to start under center. Wayne’s a future Hall of Famer, but he sure doesn’t look like it with Curtis Painter slinging the ball around.
Now that I look at my roster, there’s plenty of Wayne-esque picks I made that have culminated into one of the worst performances in fantasy history.
Chris Johnson, the hold-out during the lockout stud, has been a huge bust. Although he missed much of the preseason, so did the entire league. I guess my prediction that his fresh legs would transition into touchdowns was just as big of a bust.
Then there’s Santonio Holmes of the New York Jets. Holmes usually puts up good numbers even with Mark “Sanchise” Sanchez at quarterback. However, the Jets can’t seem to get out of their own way right now on the offensive side of the ball.
Those were two of my top picks, both of which I was happy with at the time.
However, my 0-5 record speaks to one truth this season: I don’t know anything about fantasy football.
I know statistics and facts about a lot of players and teams in the NFL. I’m always watching on Sunday and every other day of the week to keep up with league news, but I never embraced the term “great fantasy player.”
The top players in the league aren’t always the top players in fantasy. I wasn’t drafting “touchdown machine” type players during the draft. I was drafting players who I knew by name, hence the rocky start.
I haven’t seen anyone on my roster put up more than 15 points in one week, and my players usually average around nine. That’s just not cutting it.
The biggest problem with my team, however, is a simple mistake that I make every week. After all the one o’clock games kick off, I realize that I haven’t set my lineups for the week. And for some weird reason, you can’t change your lineups during a game.
So five weeks in, I’m five games behind. I’ve played Aaron Rodgers for the one and only time this year, so that’s one plus, I guess. Johnson has to eventually get going right? And there’s no way the Jets continue this streak and stumble along dragging Holmes (and my spot in the standings) with them.
Bottom line, don’t enter a fantasy league without understanding what fantasy is all about. It’s killed me (down $10) so far and has left me with a big hole to dig out of.
And this week I have to deal with Drew Brees. 0-6 has a pretty nice ring to it, right?
Corey Hanlon may be reached at chanlon@springfieldcollege.edu