Fantasy Football Frustrations: Week 7
By Dan Thomas
We’ve all been there. You’re looking at the final score of your fantasy football matchup and wondering where it all went wrong.
A point here or a point there and you could have won. You should have won. Yet, you didn’t. One play could have made the difference. That’s the horribly frustrating life of fantasy football.
Here are some of the biggest and most frustrating misfortunes of Week 7 for fantasy owners.
Don’t bang your head against the wall too man times.
The Domino Effect of Brian Hoyer Breaking his Arm
Early in the second quarter, Bears starting quarterback Brian Hoyer leaves the game with a broken arm. Your starting fantasy quarterback leaves the game and you with only 49 passing yards. You couldn’t at least get 50 yards and get me two points? How could things get worse than that?
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Well, if you started any of the Bears wide receivers along along with Brian Hoyer, that’s how. Cameron Meredith averaged 10 receptions and 122 yards in Weeks 5-6, but finished the game with one reception for 12 yards. Alshon Jeffery‘s 33 receiving yards was his lowest total of the season. The Bears might as well pulled a fan out of the stands to play quarterback. She/he couldn’t have been much worse than Matt Barkley.
If you played against Aaron Rodgers, Randall Cobb, Ty Montgomery and/or Davante Adams in Week 7, Hoyer’s injury hurt you too.
The Bears were unable to sustain a drive with Matt Barf-ley and the Packers dominated the time of possession. This allowed Aaron Rodgers to attempt 56 passes in the game and throw for three touchdowns in the second-half after not throwing a single one during the first two quarters of the game.
The Browns Can’t Knock it Down
On the last play of the first-half the Bengals throw up a 48-yard Hail Mary and the Browns have one job: KNOCK IT DOWN! Yet, the Browns are who we thought they were and can’t get the job done. As a result, A.J. Green catches a 48-yard touchdown. On that one play alone Green gets 10 fantasy points and quarterback Andy Dalton gets five.
Mike Nugent Forgets How to Kick
This was not a good weekend to be a former or current Ohio State kicker. Bengals kicker Mike Nugent missed a 40-yard and 45-yard field goal. So not only did owners lose out on a total of eight points, but they also lost two points due to the missed attempts. That comes out to a 10-point swing. Did any owners out there start Nugent and lose by 10 points or less?
The Redskins Defense Stops Playing
With a 1:05 left in the game, the Redskins defense allowed Matthew Stafford and company to go 75 yards in 49 seconds for a game wining touchdown. Matthew Stafford accumulated seven fantasy points in those 49 seconds.
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Marquette King’s Big Run
With 3:43 left in the Raiders and Jaguars game, Jacksonville was down by 10. They force Oakland into a fourth-and-24 situation. The Raiders obviously elect to punt. However, because of a botched snap, the Raiders punter, Marquette King, picks up the ball and runs 27 yards for a first down. Later in the drive Latavius Murray scores a nine-yard touchdown. Now down by 17, Blake Bortles throws an interception with 1:14 left in the game.
Not saying the Jaguars would have won this game, but from a fantasy perspective, a lot of things could have went differently if the Jaguars didn’t let a punter (of all people) to run 27 yards for a first down. Bortles and his receivers maybe could have racked up more yards. Murray maybe wouldn’t have scored his second touchdown of the game. Bortles maybe wouldn’t have thrown that interception at the end of the game.
If, maybe, coulda, woulda, shoulda. What a shame.
Bills Defense Doesn’t Show up
In one of the most favorable matchups in Week 7, the Buffalo Bills stout defense took on the 2-4 Miami Dolphins. It looked like the Bills were going to feast. Instead, the Bills defense got embarrassed and allowed Jay Ajayi to run for 214 yards. They couldn’t force Ryan Tannehill of all people to turn the ball over and only sacked him once. Players and D/ST will throw up duds here and there but the Bills defense scored -5 points in ESPN standard scoring. NEGATIVE FIVE. Owners would have been better off not playing a defense at all in Week 7.
Catanzaro and Hauschka Trade Miss Punches
In one of the most confusing and ugly games of all time, Arizona’s kicker Chandler Catanzaro missed a 24-yard field goal in overtime to win the game. As baffling as that was, only moments later Seattle’s kicker Steven Hauschka missed a 28-yard field goal to win the game for the Seahawks.
Did you start either of these two kickers and lose Week 7’s matchup by a few points? What about owners that played against either the Seattle’s D/ST or Arizona’s D/ST. Did you lose by a point or two? If one of these two kickers made one of these easy field goals the opposing D/ST would have lost some points.
Chris Harris Jr. Doesn’t Walk into the End Zone
We see it every weekend and let’s face it: it’s annoying. Some defensive player picks up the ball after the play is clearly over and runs for the end zone like he’s about to score a touchdown. Sorry but the play was blown dead an hour ago so no it’s not a touchdown and you’re wasting my time.
However, the one time we wanted a player to do it, he didn’t.
The Broncos shutdown cornerback Chris Harris Jr. picked up a ball after he thought Brock Osweiler threw an incomplete pass. However, that incomplete pass was actually a fumble. Harris could have leisurely walked to the endzone and it would have been a defensive touchdown.
Owners who started the Broncos D/ST and lost their week by six points or less could have used those points.
Next: Fantasy Football Week 7: Monday Night Football Takeaways
Did I miss something? If so, I’d love to hear it! Tweet me and vent your frustrations about a particular player or play that ruined your chances of winning this week. After all, we are in this together (we aren’t, but I’m just trying to make you feel better).