I had a pretty good Sunday morning. I was able to use Evan Engram, and he caught a bunch of passes. And I got to see Caleb Williams really grow into his role. Early games mean extra football, so it was a great start to the day.
At least it was until I looked at my opponent's lineup.
Turns out, my opponent started Williams and Kmet. I was watching my destruction and didn't even know it (I try not to look at my opponents' lineups until later in the day). Overall, my team had an above-average day, but I faced the top score of the week, by far. It was over long before Jerry Jones' birthday was ruined by the Lions.
It's likely happened to you before. Your opponent has Chris Godwin when it's a "Godwin" week, and then you turn around and face the manager with Mike Evans when it's an "Evans" week (I think the Buccaneers draw straws to see who gets the stats before each game). Maybe someone had bye week issues and started Romeo Doubs against you. Or maybe they were really unprepared and rolled out Tyrone Tracy and Tyler Allgeier. Ha ha, what a clown manager, except the joke's on you. You get steamrolled so badly, the Monday night game doesn't even matter.
So what can you do if that happens? I used to think the best response was to just forget it. Accept that it happens, burn the game film and move on to next week. But now, I think you need to remember, as in, remember when you were on the other side of Lady Luck's fury. For me it was just a couple weeks ago. I had a terrible week and had the 2nd-lowest score. But guess who I faced? The only team I could have beaten. I've also had weeks where everything went right, and I didn't even need the players going on Monday. I think we tend to remember the bad times more than the good ones, so the negatives seem to come more frequently. In reality, it balances out over time.
Keep in mind that I wrote "over time." It might not always be in the same season. The cornerstone of one of my teams was Isiah Pacheco and Rashee Rice. And when you're then forced to rely on Devin Singletary and Tank Dell, well, sometimes it's an uphill battle all year. But other times it seems way easier than it really is. One year I was in a total points league, and I was so far ahead that I could have taken a knee the last couple weeks and still won easily. You just have to remember that you'll be on both sides eventually, so don't be too surprised when it comes, or pat yourself on the back too hard when things go your way. You'll face great teams and terrible ones. You'll have great weeks and terrible ones. It's just part of the game. So if it happened to you this week, keep moving forward.
Oh, there is one thing you can do: Take stock in your team, regardless of your opponent's performance. Like I wrote earlier, I had a pretty good week even though I got crushed. Maybe some guys are coming around, and that could bode well for the rest of the season. Even the Cowboys can look at Sunday's result, realize they were undermanned on defense, and recognize that they aren't as bad as they looked. When they lose, they often lose spectacularly. But they're still 3-3, and they have time to right the ship.
Of course, unlike Mike McCarthy, we have no chance of getting fired and nobody on the radio is screaming for our heads. We can just quietly move on, accept a little trash talk, and get ready for the next game. Compared to what's happening in Dallas, maybe that's not so bad after all. Good luck this week.
Did you get steamrolled recently? Were you the steamroller? How to do you handle blowout losses? Share your thoughts below.