All that glitters is not gold
IN all aspects of life, we strive to achieve the gold standard. Wealth is based on gold. First place earns you the gold. And when a player can carry your entire team on his back most weeks, he is considered to be fantasy gold.
So when Drew Brees, who was averaging 357 passing yards and three touchdowns over six games at the Superdome, took the field against Detroit in Week 13, you expected gold — that and a f irst-class ticket to your fantasy playoffs.
Though the word “epic” tends to be an exaggerated and overused term these days, it is tough to not look at Brees’ 326 passing yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions on Sunday as an “epic fail.” Yes, throwing for more than 300 yards is something we all covet in the fantasy world, but adjusted for standard scoring rules, which penalize for interceptions, Brees essentially threw for just 175 fantasy yards, good for a lousy seven points. Even in a league which offers up bonus points for more than 300 yards passing, the total doesn’t even come close to what fantasy owners were not just expecting, but relying upon to get them into the playoffs.
Obviously, not every Brees owner wa s f ighting for their pl ayoff l i fe this we e k . But for those of you who were and are now on the outside looking in, you can at least take solace in knowing you are far from alone. Epic fails such as this happen every year.
Last season, while in the midst of a career year, Cam Newton crushed many a playoff dream when he threw for just 183 yards with no touchdowns during an all-important Week 11. If you were lucky enough to escape that, he did it to you again in Week 15 with just 142 yards and, again, no touchdown passes. Sure, he rushed for a score in each contest, but the points were garbage compared to the five-touchdown games he was posting throughout the season.
Or how about the Great Andrew Luck Collapse of 2014? The guy was averaging 331 yards and almost three touchdowns per game before failing to throw for more than 190 yards in each of his final three. It is a tale as old as time and no one is safe. Just ask Tom Brady, who is still hearing it from fantasy owners after he threw for just 140 yards and no touchdowns during Week 14 of the 2007 season, a year in which he finished with 50 touchdown passes.
Sadly, there is no rhyme or reason to it and at this stage of the game, explanations are just wasted words. And as you sit here today with head in hand, wondering what happened, remember — tomorrow is promised to no one. That fantasy gods giveth and, at their whim, they taketh away.