The Skillz Report

Livin' The Fantasy, 2018 Week 2

 

(originally written 9/20/18)

 

 

2018 Fantasy Football Week 2, I must admit, was not high on my list of priorities by Sunday, 9/16.

You see, I had been hospitalized all weekend for attempted suicide—long story for another time—and obviously, my focus was on healing physically, healing mentally, figuring out a post-hospital plan, and working to avoid my creepy roommate whenever possible.
I'd gone into the weekend with a tidy 44.30 point head-start (Thursday night game) over my opponent and friend Andy—he's a repeat champion, always dangerous, and fresh off a 182-point bonanza the previous week. IIRC, he was a 20-point favorite heading in.

If Andy reads this, he will learn for the first time that my win was somewhat accidental.

You see, I'd sought to upgrade my thin WR corps after a weak Week 1 performance—bye, Danny Amendola, hello John Brown of Baltimore; I'd seen plenty of Brown in 2017, and knew he had skillz. Baltimore played the upcoming Thursday night.
One problem: I forgot to slot Brown in as a starter, thinking he'd automatically be placed in Amendola's old spot.

Thankfully, about an hour before kickoff, Yahoo texted that I had an unoccupied starting WR slot...oops. Brown wound up kicking ass; without that text, I'd have lost to Andy by a point. (Brown put up 17, and I won 175-159.)

Eventually, Sunday rolled around, and I watched the 49ers' Matt Brieda run wild on the Lions from the hospital.
Despite heavy effort, though, I couldn't remember if I'd left him in my starting lineup or not. In Week 1, starting him at flex over Jared Cook led directly to a loss, and I just COULD NOT RECALL the fallout. We're not allowed access to any gadgets, so I was forced to just...wonder.

 

Mind you, the last thing a guy on a 51-50 hold needs is to waste 23.40 Fantasy points from a RB.

 

Upon leaving, the first thing I did was buy Taco Bell; the second thing was confirm Brieda's glorious day wasn't wasted.
It wasn't.
Hallelujah. 

 

Also topping the 20-point threshhold: Todd Gurley (30.8 points...shocker) Kirk Cousins (37.5 points) and AJ Green (27.4 points). And against Andy, like I said, you need every one of them. The 1.80 clunker put up by the once-reliable Rishard Matthews was countered by the 0 points from Andy's K Greg Zuerlein (who was injured shortly before kickoff.)

 

I'll go into Week 3 as an underdog yet again—I'm still without WR Alshon Jeffery, and no other WR on my roster besides Green is projected for double-digits. But it's all gravy, and I'm just happy to be—literally—Living The Fantasy.