Week 2 is barely in the rearview mirror, but the sting of victory being taken away by the jaws of defeat is still very fresh. Maybe even a little raw. That’s what this article is for, to deal with that – and it will appear every week throughout the fantasy season.
We’ve put out a call to the fantasy football community for everyone’s Week 2 bad beats. Call it a sharing group therapy. Share group hug. Even screaming a little into the night. We’ve all had those bad beats that were so paper thin that they hurt like a piece of paper that had salt dumped on it.
This is to let anyone who has had a bad beat know that they are not alone. Time for us to commiserate over our shared misery.
A life lesson in bad beats?
Bad beats are painful. Hard to swallow. But can they be a life lesson?
An example: my Familia league had a father-son match: Manny Arredondo Sr. vs. Manny Arredondo Jr. They picked side by side and even took Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen back to back in our draft.
Well, the two quarterbacks each had big games, with the father-son tilt being too close to call Sunday. Sure enough, the fantasy matchup came down to the final Monday Night Football game, with a late catch by Elijah Moore making the difference in the father and son’s chances of survival.
In my family competition, the grudge between father and son. My primo Manny Sr outlived Manny Jr at an Elijah Moore reception. Badbeat Life Lesson for Manny Jr.’s 21st Birthday pic.twitter.com/XFxmvOYwLi
— Jorge Martin (@jorgemartin17) September 19, 2023
Now Manny Jr. is about to turn 21, this could bring a future lesson. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes an innocent play means extra chores. Now go mow the lawn, Junior!
That wasn’t the only bad blow in a week where NFL injuries really reared their ugly head. There’s nothing more painful than Nick Chubb’s season ending with a horrible knee injury. Greetings to you on your return to health.
We announced some bad beats and you delivered some doozies.
reply to this tweet with a photo of your worst fantasy loss this week 🫤
— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) September 19, 2023
A major comeback falls just short
To start Monday Night Football, @_DukeFan89 had a few players – Chris Olave and Miles Sanders – who could score some points. They did, but not enough. And that’s even if the losing team had Puka Nacua post 30.10 in a FLEX spot, while the winning team had Darnell Mooney carry a goose egg.
Joining Monday Night Football’s furious comeback was @kipickkkk, who had Deshaun Watson play against the Steelers and even opened up a small lead midway through the fourth quarter. At that point, TJ Watt had other ideas: he sacked Watson and caused a fumble that he picked up for a touchdown. The negatives of the fumble were the loss difference of .2. Ouch, judging by the @kipickkkk handle, does that mean you’re a Kenny Pickett fan? Well, the Steelers won.
I fought for my LIFEEEEE for those Watson points until the very last play of the game. When I finally got to the top, he messed with the ball in Q4, causing me to lose by 0.2 points for the week….🥴 pic.twitter.com/jApPtx9NAM
— Kylee Pickrell (@kpickkkk) September 19, 2023
Monster points… on the couch
How that last FLEX spot can leave you wringing your hands on Sunday morning before making a last-minute scheduling decision. We’ve all done it, practically flip-flopping two players until the first games start on Sunday. Then it becomes clear almost immediately that a wrong decision has been made.
To ask @GLargaespada after leaving Raheem Mostert (25.20), Brian Robinson (27.90), Tyler Lockett (21.90) and Gabe Davis (18.20) on the bench for Isiah Pacheco and his 7.5 points. To be honest, @GLargaespada sat with Pacheco in the hunt for the Chiefs/Jaguars’ highest over/under of the week. Healthy thinking sometimes comes across as wrong. Your consolation prize is having an awesome Garth avatar from “Wayne’s World”. It will have to be “party time, excellent” for another week.
Because misery loves company, @mtiburon is here to raise his hand on successfully picking Kyren Williams off the waiver wire. Then Williams came with his 25.0 points, but lost by 21 points. Yes, the 49ers matchup looked intimidating, and who would have thought that during halftime of the early games, that word would come out about Cam Akers being inactive and putting Williams in the spotlight? Raise a glass to the NFL, which is truly a current league. Tip: start Williams this week. 😉
Another bench game that needed to be brought up @levy_ross, who watched on Thursday Night Football as D’Andre Swift did his best Undertaker impression by rising from the depths of the bench and exploding for 25.60 fantasy points against the Vikings in Week 1. Only to sit on his bench. There’s a sense that when the decision to start Swift or Alexander Mattison comes up this week, the decision will indeed be made quickly.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, pretty close
Shoutout to @palmerjoe for having a pretty cool team name: Herb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David would agree, until that selection fell .04 points short. The difference appears to be Chubb’s final run, which is more painful for the winning team. The consolation prize is having a quarterback tandem of Justin Herbert and Daniel Jones that should put up 50+ points for weeks. That’s “nice, nice, nice, pretty good.”
Consolation prize for the apostate
No one would have blamed it @Shelley_Rodgers because she didn’t want to tweet this paper-thin loss, so her husband @markrodgers29 did the honors. If you look at Shelley’s Twitter bio, she’s all Pittsburgh. So the final result of Monday Night Football had to be a salve. Maybe play ‘Renegade’ when building your fantasy lineup to ease the pain.
The name game
In a battle of incredibly original team names, Freemason Rudolph needed that late touchdown in Pittsburgh to beat Silence of the Rams by a fraction of points. And that was even as Mike Evans and Davante Adams combined to score nearly 50 points for the loser. Maybe a nice Chianti will make it easier to cope with the loss.
