ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through the Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: What was your most dramatic fantasy win (or toughest loss)?
MATT SCHAUF
The year was 2003. Donovan McNabb was the just-27, 5th-year starter for the Eagles — my favorite real-life team. But he was hitting the road in Week 17 (WTF WERE WE DOING PLAYING WEEK 17?!?!?) to face a Washington squad that had kept 5 straight opponents under 240 passing yards, 4 of those under 174. And McNabb had tossed just 1 TD pass vs. 3 INTs over his previous 2 outings. Plus, he entered the contest with just 13 TD throws for the year. So, I decided to sit him in favor of San Francisco’s Jeff Garcia and St.Louis’ Marc Bulger in my 2-QB league. McNabb, of course, threw for 242 yards and 3 scores, ran for another and racked up his biggest fantasy outing of the year. Playing him over either Garcia or Bulger would have won me the title and about $200. (I drank the exact sum out of my memory.) I made this gaffe just 5 months ahead of my wedding. For some reason, she went ahead and married me anyway.
Schauf is a senior analyst with DraftSharks.com. He has been covering fantasy football since 2002, producing content for outlets such as Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon and Football Diehards before landing with DS. Draft Sharks has been online since 1999 and is a 4-time winner in the FSTA’s annual fantasy football projections accuracy contests.
DAVID DOREY
My most favorite win was 2006 when I was playing in the Fantasy Football Championship of Texas put on by Head-2-Head Sports. There were 216 teams in the playoffs and by the Monday night game, it was between myself and one other team. I was trailing in the score as we both had players in the game. It looked like I was going to lose by less than a point with Dallas driving at the end and I had only Brian Westbrook. But Tony Romo threw three incompletes and was sacked on fourth-down. The Eagles ran out the clock by running Westbrook four times in a row for a total of 11 yards. I won $10,000 by less than a point on the final play of the game. I was talking with my friend on the phone watching it all unfold. That was exciting. I woke up the entire house that was filled with in-laws here for New Years.
Dorey is the co-founder and lead NFL analyst for The Huddle and author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. He has projected and predicted every NFL game and player performance since 1997 and has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, radio and television.
MICHAEL NEASE
When I think of gut-wrenching moments in big games in fantasy football, I go back several years to a fantasy bowl. I was highly favored to win, but my opponent stormed back and suddenly we were tied. The game ended in a tie and he won on the tiebreaker. It was going to the bench, position by position, until the tie was broken. He had Mark Sanchez with 13 pts. I had Aaron Rodgers who did not play that week for one reason, or another. I lost! That taught me to know the rules backwards and forwards. Picking up one of several available QBs would have won for me. The moral of this tale is to consider ALL the options when submitting a lineup.
Nease is a member of the FSWA and has been playing the game since 1985, while also writing about it since 2001. He is a writer for Big Guy Fantasy Sports. Over the years he has sampled about all the playing scenarios that fantasy football offers, including re-drafter, keeper, dynasty, auction, IDP and salary cap leagues. You can contact Mike at mnease23@yahoo.com anytime and during the football season follow him @mike-insights.
SAM HENDRICKS
Most gut-wrenching loss is emblazoned in my mind as if it were yesterday. I am in my league Championship in the old World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF). My opponent was done and I had Heath Miller left on Monday Night Football and trailed by 1.05 in a PPR league. All I need is one catch from Heath Miller and I win $10,000, It is November 26, 2007. PIT is at home versus MIA. Heath had never played a game without a catch. It was a sure thing...spoiler alert... jinx jinx jinx. The field is a mess with heavy rain and play is delayed due to lightning all from some storm--probably the remnant of a hurricane. It is the longest scoreless game in 60 years. A Steeler FG wins it with 17 seconds left. Heath is targeted all of three times and none of them are catchable in the quagmire that is Heinz field. I miss out on $10,000 and first place in my 2nd year of WCOFF play. ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! To this day that is the only game Heath did not catch a pass in his 11 regular seasons of games.
Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at ExtraPointPress.com, at all major bookstores, and at Amazon and BN.com. He is a 25-year fantasy football veteran who participates in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). He won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.
ALAN SATTERLEE
It wasn’t my team but a league where I am the commissioner, and it’s one of the crazier stories. We play total points and similar to some extent to FanDuel in the sense of weekly winners, and we play all 17 weeks with it not being head to head. In 2011, two teams were near deadlocked with one week to go. Aaron Rodgers was having a massive year, especially for a total points league (and where quarterback scoring matters more than normal PPR scoring). Rodgers had his best season ever in 2011, with over 4600 yards and a 45:6 touchdown to interception ratio (that was the best quarterback rating in a season ever). However, Rodgers had to miss Week 17 and the first place team was suddenly down their prize asset while the second place team picked up Matt Flynn. Well, wouldn’t you know it - Matt Flynn comes in to throw for 480 yards and six touchdowns (setting a Green Bay record, which is crazy after all those years of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers) and with it, the second place team sniped the first place team. Rough - that was some high drama.
Satterlee is the Fantasy Football Insider for the Charlotte Observer and is syndicated in a few other newspapers in the southeast. Satterlee first started playing fantasy football in 1990.
ANDY RICHARDSON
Favorite win is still my first dynasty league championship, in 2010...my opponent was done and winning by like 30...I had Percy Harvin and Brent Celek both going in the Week 16 Monday night game. Which was postponed to Tuesday due to weather; there was some concern they wouldn't be able to play the game at all, and I'm not sure how fantasy leagues would have handled it. In any case, Harvin and Celek had good games, but I was still losing by a handful of points when the Eagles got the ball back with less than a minute left, down a couple of scores. Sometimes teams just run out the clock, but instead the Eagles completed a few meaningless passes on a final drive, including 2 to Celek (completely uncovered) over the middle. I won the championship by a fraction of a point.
Richardson has been a contributing writer and editor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and www.fantasyindex.com since 2002. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual experts draft and auction leagues since their inception. He previews all the NFL games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays during the NFL season.