Sometimes life has a way of surprising you.
For instance, take my mother-in-law. I never really imagined I’d have much fun spending almost a whole day alone with her, but I recently had that opportunity, and I’ve got to admit, it was pretty fun. As we spent an afternoon bonding, I learned all about the exciting world of Sudoku puzzles, her love of Def Leppard (right), what it’s like to spend 25 years cleaning up after three kids, and plenty of other valuable life lessons.
For instance, take my mother-in-law. I never really imagined I’d have much fun spending almost a whole day alone with her, but I recently had that opportunity, and I’ve got to admit, it was pretty fun. As we spent an afternoon bonding, I learned all about the exciting world of Sudoku puzzles, her love of Def Leppard (right), what it’s like to spend 25 years cleaning up after three kids, and plenty of other valuable life lessons.
See what I mean about surprises? I couldn’t have foreseen that day being very enjoyable, but that’s what life is all about – you never really know how things will play out (and thanks, Mrs. Z, for some fun times).
Now, consider this year’s fantasy season. Raise your hand if, here at about the one-quarter mark of the regular season, you knew you’d be counting on the likes of Derrick Ward or Sammy Morris or David Carr or Trent Edwards to rescue your team. Surprise! If you’re in a 10-team league and you drafted one of those guys – and you’re not a blood relative – I’d like to see that in writing.
Sure, you can play a game of “what if?” and speculate about the possible results if a star player gets hurt and his backup takes over. But to actually have that backup succeed is another matter entirely, and for him to look even better than the starter, well, that much takes the cake.
For instance, let’s examine the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ running back situation. Cadillac Williams is out for the rest of the season after suffering a pretty serious knee injury Sunday. Now, Cadillac hasn’t exactly redefined the position, especially since what’s looking more and more like an overachieving rookie season - but he was his team’s main running threat, which made him more than useful in fantasy play. Now that he’s out, people are flocking to the waiver wire to add either Earnest Graham or Michael Pittman, the men who will replace Caddy in the Bucs’ backfield.
Graham was pretty much an NFL nobody before he rushed for his first two career touchdowns in the waning moments of a Week 3 win over the St. Louis Rams, so we at least know he’s able to locate the end zone. And Pittman, well, he’s gained more than 5,000 rushing yards and 3,000 receiving yards in his 10-year career, so you know he can play a little football.
Pittman is probably the wiser free-agent choice just because he’s a versatile veteran coach Jon Gruden can rely on, but with both he and Graham sharing touches for now, they both should be key fantasy players down the stretch. And if somebody said that to you a month ago, you’d probably laugh in their face.
Another example of a fantasy surprise: A friend of mine told me this week he was dropping Marc Bulger and replacing him with Joey Harrington – and the scary part is, I kind of almost agreed with him. I couldn’t pull the trigger yet on Bulger, even with the news of this week's benching – he’s still got time to salvage something this season – but the mere fact we can utter Harrington’s name with a straight face should tell you something about the very nature of fantasy football, and about life in general.
It’s full of surprises.
Now, consider this year’s fantasy season. Raise your hand if, here at about the one-quarter mark of the regular season, you knew you’d be counting on the likes of Derrick Ward or Sammy Morris or David Carr or Trent Edwards to rescue your team. Surprise! If you’re in a 10-team league and you drafted one of those guys – and you’re not a blood relative – I’d like to see that in writing.
Sure, you can play a game of “what if?” and speculate about the possible results if a star player gets hurt and his backup takes over. But to actually have that backup succeed is another matter entirely, and for him to look even better than the starter, well, that much takes the cake.
For instance, let’s examine the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ running back situation. Cadillac Williams is out for the rest of the season after suffering a pretty serious knee injury Sunday. Now, Cadillac hasn’t exactly redefined the position, especially since what’s looking more and more like an overachieving rookie season - but he was his team’s main running threat, which made him more than useful in fantasy play. Now that he’s out, people are flocking to the waiver wire to add either Earnest Graham or Michael Pittman, the men who will replace Caddy in the Bucs’ backfield.
Graham was pretty much an NFL nobody before he rushed for his first two career touchdowns in the waning moments of a Week 3 win over the St. Louis Rams, so we at least know he’s able to locate the end zone. And Pittman, well, he’s gained more than 5,000 rushing yards and 3,000 receiving yards in his 10-year career, so you know he can play a little football.
Pittman is probably the wiser free-agent choice just because he’s a versatile veteran coach Jon Gruden can rely on, but with both he and Graham sharing touches for now, they both should be key fantasy players down the stretch. And if somebody said that to you a month ago, you’d probably laugh in their face.
Another example of a fantasy surprise: A friend of mine told me this week he was dropping Marc Bulger and replacing him with Joey Harrington – and the scary part is, I kind of almost agreed with him. I couldn’t pull the trigger yet on Bulger, even with the news of this week's benching – he’s still got time to salvage something this season – but the mere fact we can utter Harrington’s name with a straight face should tell you something about the very nature of fantasy football, and about life in general.
It’s full of surprises.
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