Guy in my league, we'll call him "Ben", was down 4 points going into last night's game and had Drew Brees ready to come in and blow things wide open. Our 2nd highest point-getter, we'll call him "Chris", was currently in 8th place and basically assured of a spot in the playoffs (he's had to play the highest-scoring team 9 out of 12 weeks, and was the highest the other 3), unless Ben's opponent somehow won. Ben is scared to play Chris in the first round, so what does he do? Out goes Brees, in comes Brunell. Now, I'm sitting pretty in 3rd place, so this has no direct effect on me. However, I'm curious what you guys think. I don't think there's anything technically illegal about it, but is this good strategy to set up the playoffs, or a dick move giving someone undeserving a playoff spot by tanking?
A completely dick move... One of the most dickish moves you can make, and if I were "Chris," I'd want to beat the shit out of Ben... But if there is money involved, I might do it, too. It's tough.
Yep, money involved. $2000 to the winner, $750 second, $250 third. That's why I'm torn. It does give him a better chance of winning in the first round, which gives him a 3/4 chance of seeing SOME money. Sucks to be the other guy, though. He's going to finish 2nd in points and be out of the playoffs because of an unlucky schedule and this one move.
I'd call it good strategy. The real question is why he has Brunell on his roster. I hate HTH in fantasy football, but everyone plays it. I somehow end up with the worst luck. My teams rack up big time points, but I get my opponent's best week almost every week. In my only fantasy league this year I'm tied for third with a 7-4 record despite having by far and away the most points. You should see some of the weeks my opponents have come up with.
He dropped Donald Driver before the game and picked up Brunell. He picked up Eddie Royal after week 1, so Driver wasn't a necessity. Still, his other receivers are now Justin Gage and Josh Reed.
what's the point? You have to start a player at QB? Some leagues allow you to leave it empty. If he dropped a player just to tank, that's silly.
I hear you, the highest scorer in one of my money leagues is already out of the playoffs. He has a great team, just bad luck.
No, I'm perfectly happy with my receivers. I have Reggie Wayne, Lance Moore, Cotchery, and Lee Evans. Evans is a huge disappointment, but I traded Willis McGahee for him two weeks ago just in case he rebounded. Cotch and Wayne were the only two I drafted.
With that kind of cash involved its good strategy. In a friendly league its jsut being a dick. If you pay to play in a league like that you had better expect to run into this type of stuff.
it happened again! Looks like I'm going to be the high scorer and miss the playoffs. Witten and Westbrook having their best games of the season against me.
This week my opponent had Cutler, Westbrook, Thomas Jones, and Witten. 102 points from four players. Last week my opponent had Cassel, Steve Smith, Gostkowski, Tony Gonzalez, and Addai. 99 points from those five players. The week before my opponent had Welker, Slaton, Fitzgerald, Cotchery, and the Philadelphia D. 72 from those 5. Teams are averaging an ungodly number of fantasy points when I face them. By the way, I waived Chad Johnson to pick up Domenik Hixon.
Perfectly clean and legit move. In real life teams don't want to slow down because they fear losing momentum but that doesn't apply in fantasy.
