At its base, of course, football is entertainment, not a search for truth. If we really cared about the best team walking away with a mug, we would just play a 16-game season, have no head-to-head and whoever had the most points…wins. Boring!
Instead, we have weekly battles, we put eight teams into the playoffs and sometimes, the best team doesn’t win it all. Sometimes, good teams don’t even make it to the playoffs. Here is the top ten teams to not make the playoffs.
Note: Below you will find a “what could have happened” section. This is what the results could have been if that team could have squeezed into the playoffs. While it’s impossible to judge what someone would have done with their roster in the playoffs, I just took whatever their final roster was in their final game and ran with it. And yes, I went back and added up all the stats, so all the numbers are real. Enjoy.
10) 2004 MATT NEATOCK
FINISHED: 5-9 (12th) | POINTS: 1,293 (9th)
Matt’s 2004 started off great, even before the season got rolling, when he shipped off Jamal Lewis for Edgerrin James (second round keeper). The Colts back would prove to be the better back, but most importantly, the trade allowed Matt to draft Terrell Owens in the first round. He was the #1 receiver for most of the year. Add in another Eagle, Brian Westbrook, plus Eric Moulds, Neatock was golden as long as either Jake Plummer or Carson Palmer worked out at quarterback.
The season began with a solid win over Bob (1,388 – 675) and then a impressive loss, falling to David, despite scoring 1,402 points. I had him ranked third in my rankings. In fact, I wrote, “Looking like a title contender…assuming you don’t trade it all away.”
Yet, Matt was always on the move, looking for the next great trade. After one week, he tried to fill a hole at TE with Dallas Clark for Ashley Lelie, who was a solid WR2. In week three, he kept on trading, but this one would matter, as he shipped off Tiki Barber to me for Eddie George and Peter Warrick. Neither of these two would do much of anything, as Barber (who I traded away to Colby), would finish the year as the top back in football.
In week three, Matt’s trades cost him. The players he traded away that season produced just 174 points in a week three loss to me. The players he shifted off scored 996 points. The losing would be contagious, even as Matt was setting a record for 1,000-point games in a row. After a 2-2 start, he would drop four in a row, losing both Westbrook and Owens during this time and never solving his TE problem.
Down the stretch though, his team got healthy, Jake Plummer was playing great and Matt won three of five. Heading into the final week, he had a outside shot of making the playoffs. He needed to beat me (I was just 4-8), he needed Masterson to lose and David to fall (to force a total points tiebreaker) and then maintain a point-lead over Masterson. At the time he was about 400 points up.
Well, Rob and David did their jobs, losing. Matt did not. He was crushed by me, losing 1,749 – 783. It remains the biggest ass-kicking in Matt’s career. Also, because he performed so bad in this final week, he fell from 7th in scoring to 9th.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
If Matt could have somehow pulled out a victory over me, Masterson would have missed the playoffs (assuming Matt kept his point lead over Rob) and Matt would have taken the 8-seed, instead of Colby. Back in 2004, Griff escaped with a 47-point win over the league’s scoring champ (and 8-seed). What would have happened against Matt?
Well, the win have just been easier for Griff. Matt got just 44 points from Terrell Owens and 54 from Eric Moulds, and would have lost in the quarterfinals, 1,396 – 928.
9) 2011 ROBIO MURRAY
FINISHED: 6-7 (9th) | POINTS: 1,247 (10th)
Coming off a 12-1 season and a title game loss, I felt confident walking into 2011, especially with my keepers. I had what looked like clear studs in Adrian Peterson (in round one), Vincent Jackson and Darren McFadden. With a healthy McFadden, I felt like I had the best backfield in football. I filled out my receiving core with players all projected to be top-15 guys, including Reggie Wayne, Santana Holmes and Kellen Winslow at tight end. My only fail was I wanted Tom Brady in round two, but Bob stole him one pick earlier.
Things started off great. I beat Don in week one and scored 1,921 in a victory over Masterson in week two. I was on top of my own rankings. In week three I lost to Bob, but no big deal, as I scored over 1,500 in defeat. The following week I lost to Molly and there was a little concern. My QB (Matt Schaub) was struggling and Andre Johnson, who I just traded for got hurt.
Still, I managed to win my next four games and I was cruising at 5-2, I was in first place, second in scoring, despite QB issues (Schaub was out for the year) and with my wide receivers not playing up to par. It certainly helped that I had the 4th (Peterson) and 6th (McFadden) best backs in football. Yet, that’s when the wheels feel off. In back-to-back weeks, both Peterson and McFadden would get hurt, missing extended time.
Suddenly, the second highest scoring team couldn’t score. I had a weekly low score in week nine. That kicked off a stunning four-game losing streak. Eventually, I traded away for Marshawn Lynch (top-10 back), but at 6-6 heading into the final week, I needed to either win or score a decent amount of points to win a tiebreaker. I was facing Bob, who was just 5-7, trying to get into the playoffs. His team showed up. Mine didn’t. I lost 1,582 – 943. I finished ninth, missing the playoffs by 640 fantasy points.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
The obvious question is, how good could this team have been if Peterson and McFadden had stayed healthy? Of course, a lot of people throughout fantasy history could play that game and there is no way to answer it.
Anyhow, even I could have managed to sneak into the playoffs, let’s say replacing Don as the 8-seed, I would have still failed to hit 1,000 and would have lost to Molly in the quarterfinals.
8) 2007 GRIFF COOMER
FINISHED: 4-9 (11th) | POINTS: 1,270 (7th)
Heading into the season, Griff had Larry Johnson for one more year. Sure, he was holding out, but he was the best back in football the two previous seasons. In the draft, Griff wasted no time trying to add to his backfield, drafting sleeper, Cedric Benson out of Chicago. Clearly, Griff’s running game was going to be his strength.
On top of that, he draft two top-10 receivers, Reggie Wayne and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, plus later in the draft, a top-eight QB in Big Ben (although he started Matt Schaub) and the league’s number one tight end, Jason Witten, in the thirteenth round. Everything was coming up Coomer…except wins.
Griff would lose in week one, then in week two, again in week three, followed by another defeat in week four. In week five, he hit bottom, failing to hit 900, as Larry Johnson scored just two fantasy points. And that was the problem. Johnson was injured throughout the year and sucked even when he was healthy, yet he was still better than Cedric Benson, who was benched in Chicago by mid-season.
Griff would drop two more, tying the record for league’s longest losing streak (nine straight dating back to 2006). At 0-7, the playoffs were a pimp dream. Yet, he still was solid at QB (Ben Roethlisberger was now the starter) and at WR/TE. He just needed to find running backs. Eventually he would start Atlanta’s Jerious Norwood and then pick up a solid Ryan Grant for $22. Those two finally gave Griff some production from his backfield and then he got rolling, winning three straight, including a weekly high score in week ten. With three to play, the playoffs were back in the picture.
However, it proved to be too much to overcome. He was crushed by David in week eleven and then lost a nail-biter to Calderon the following week. He wrapped the season up with a victory over Burrier, but that was just putting lipstick on a pig. He finished 11th, despite finishing 7th in scoring. It certainly hurt him that his opponents averaged 1,386 points per game, the most in 2007.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
It’s hard to really play this game when we’re dealing with a four-win team that finished 11th. This spot is reserved for teams that could have made the playoffs if things worked out better in the season’s final week. Griff was eliminated by week twelve.
Having said that, I’ve done the math and despite amazing games from Ryan Grant (312) and Jason Witten (206), Griff would have scored only 1,329 in the quarterfinals. That’s not bad, but it would not have been enough to beat any of the teams that actually won in the 2007 quarterfinals.
7) 2011 RICH CALDERON
FINISHED: 5-8 (11th) | POINTS: 1,257 (9th)
Rich wasn’t a favorite heading into the 2011 season. I believe I had him 5th in my preseason predictions. He entered the season with keepers Calvin Johnson, LeGarrette Blount and Tampa’s Mike Williams. He drafted the Eagles’ Michael Vick in round one and then decided to go with one of the original “zero back” strategies in league history, loading up on stud receivers, drafting Brandon Marshall (with Miami) and Brandon Lloyd, the league’s top receiver from the previous season to go along with his stud keepers.
At first though, things were not all gravy. He dropped his first two (was last in scoring), before taking back-to-back games in weeks three and four. The latter was the weekly high score, behind Michael Vicks’ 500+ game. Yet, Calderon continued a desperate search to fill his holes at running back, while players like Lloyd and Williams flopped at receiver. He also spent most of the season trying to upgrade his TE and DST spots. Only Calvin Johnson proved to be a consistent threat, finishing second among all receivers.
However, in weeks seven and eight, Rich was able to finally solve his running back woes, picking up Michael Bush (subbing in for an injured Darren McFadden) and DeMarco Murray (subbing in for an injured Felix Jones). Neither was great, but both was effective (especially Bush, who finished the year #12 among all backs). After dropping another two games in weeks five and six, Rich ended up taking three of four.
With three weeks to go, Rich was 5-5, with two weekly highs, never scoring less than 1,000 and sitting only one game behind Burrier for first in his division; a division that featured four-win Colby and four-win Matt. This meant Calderon had a solid shot to win it and earn a 3-seed.
Yet, Michael Vick, who had been struggling to stay healthy all year, was knocked out for a few games, creating a mess for Rich with the playoffs on the line. In week 11, he lost a tight one to Neatock. The following week, he scored well (1,366), but was no match for Burrier. That loss eliminated any hope that Calderon could win the division. Yet, despite sitting at 5-7, I still had Rich #5 in my rankings that week, even as he was in a “win or go home” situation in week thirteen.
Sadly, facing a Colby team that had won four straight (after a 2-6 start), Rich’s team bombed like no other. Led by his saviors, Bush and Murray, who combined for just 116 fantasy points, Rich lost 1,232 – 599. The point total remains the lowest single score in his Robioland career. In that one single result, Calderon missed the playoffs and fell from sixth in scoring to ninth.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
Again, this “what could have happened” is not an exact science. I have no way of knowing what roster moves, if any, the person would have made, but it’s still a fun exercise. Now Rich finished 11th, but that’s because his week 13 score was so bad, he fell so far down in scoring. Let’s assume he beats Colby, which would have required another 630+ points. That would have knocked Don from the playoff picture, giving Rich the 8-seed.
Of course, that season, 8-seed Don pulled off the stunning upset over 1-seed Molly. Would Rich have done the same? No and that’s assuming Rich would have benched DeMarco Murray (who was back backing up Felix Jones) for Blount (he had Kevin Smith, but he was out injured).
Calderon would have lost to Molly, 1,344 – 1,138. His top scorer would have been his defense, as the Broncos scored 264, while Michael Bush had 202. Yet, Vick would get just 172 and Calvin Johnson would struggled the most, producing only 73 fantasy points in a game the Lions would score 34 points.
6) 2004 ROBIO MURRAY
FINISHED: 5-9 (11th) | POINTS: 1,343 (5th)
This was the year the official first dynasty came to an end. I was coming off a tragic 2003 season where I rallied from an 0-4 start to earn the top seed and the scoring title, but I became the first 1-seed to lose in the quarterfinals.
Call it a hangover, call it what you will, but 2004 would be the first year I would miss the playoffs and I only have myself to blame. Despite my up-and-down play, I had talent. I had the second best QB (Daute Culpepper), the top tight end (Tony Gonzalaz) and a top-three defense (Ravens). I had some running back concerns, but was able to land Tiki Barber in a trade from Matt. Obviously, I wouldn’t enjoy any of his All-Robio success, as I shipped him and Warrick Dunn off to Colby for a Broncos running back who would get knocked out for the season the very next week.
Still, I was putting up decent points and was 4-5 at one point, but as I continue to improve my team, I only made it worse. First, I shipped Daunte Culpepper off to Bob and then Nick Goings, a stud back in the final month of the season, to Molly. I would drop four straight beginning in week ten and my season was over before I could end it with a victory over Neatock. My team would end the year as the fifth best scoring team, which was the highest ever for a non-playoff team until…Jeff, 2014.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
I finished 11th that year, missing the post-season by a full game. However, if I would have secured a win somewhere along the line (I lost by 35 to Burrier in week 11), I could have knocked Masterson out of the playoffs and taken the 8-seed.
However, my team was a shell of itself by the end and I wouldn’t even have come close to beating 1-seed Griff, who scored 1,396 in the quarterfinals. According to my math, my squad wouldn’t have even hit 900, so it’s probably good I didn’t show my face in the post-season.
5) 2004 MOLLY COOMER
FINISHED: 6-8 (9th) | POINTS: 1,272 (11th)
Based solely on performance, Molly’s 2004 draft was one of the worst ever. Except for the Alge Crumpler in the fifth around and the Panthers DST one pick later, no other player was worthy of a starting spot. I would also say Jake Delhomme was a solid pick. She drafted him in the seventh, but Molly cut him before he took off in the second half of the season.
Anyhow, she began the draft going all in at running back, eventually trading one off to Griff prior to the season. She held onto first-round pick, Deuce McAllister and Stephan Davis (second round), but both would falter early…just like Molly. She began the 2004 campaign, losing her first three, failing to hit 1,000 in all three contests. Worst yet, both running backs were now out with injuries. She would drop her next two, including a week five game against me, where she lost by 1,198 points after scoring only 651 points.
In week six, she finally pulled out a 49-point win against Neatock after getting both her starting running backs back, but Davis continued to blow and helped contribute to Molly’s 33-point defeat to David. The following week, one of the worst group of receivers finally showed up and Molly stunned Calderon with a 1,758-point effort. However, looking to shore up her QB spot (after cutting Delhomme), she shipped Michael Pittman away to Griff for Big Ben. That moved cost her a win in week nine, losing to Burrier by only 12 points. The following week, she produced the weekly low score.
She was 2-8, sitting in last place, last in scoring.
Then suddenly…something happened. Molly got hot. She crushed it against Masterson, scoring 1,502 for just her third win of the season, then followed that up with a monster 1,748 – 1,488 win over Don. These weren’t fluke wins, these were playoff teams. Feeling rejuvenated, Molly sent her one decent back (McAllister) to me for three players, yet ironically one of the three, Nick Goings, proved to be the best of the bunch. He was steamrolling people late in the season and he propelled Molly to a third straight victory, a 1,498 – 1,227 win over Eric.
With one week to go, Molly went from 2-8 to 5-8. She eventually wrapped the regular season up by defeating Griff, scoring 1,682 points. Over the last month of the season, Molly went 4-0 and averaged 1,610 points per game. She was the one chick no playoff team wanted to face. Luckily for them, they wouldn’t have to. While she managed to tie three others at 6-8 and head-to-head tiebreaker wasn’t in effect, she trailed them all in points and missed out on the playoffs.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
Molly was pretty far behind in points, so I can’t really fake that. How about this…in week nine, when she lost to Burrier by 12, she for reasons we’ll never know, benched Pittman, coming off a 292-point game and facing a weak run defense, for Eddie George, a player who had yet to hit 200. That decision cost her that game. Let’s pretend she doesn’t make that mistake and actually wins. She’ll finish 7-7 and earns the 6-seed to face Burrier.
In real life, six-seed David Hightower snuck by Burrier, 1,274 – 1,190. If Molly was there, she would have crushed it. Despite losing starting quarterback Drew Brees to injury (117), she would have gotten 270 from Jerome Bettis, 186 from Goings and a stunning 460 from Jerry Porter, who scored three touchdowns that day. Molly would have upset Burrier, 1,515 – 1,190.
Like David, she would have advanced to the semifinals to face 1-seed Griff, a team she just beat two weeks earlier. David failed to take down Griff. What would Molly have done?
Well, for one thing, she’d be without both Drew Brees and Alge Crumpler, as neither would play in week sixteen. I slipped in Ben Roethlisberger into the starting lineup, because he was Molly’s backup, but she didn’t have a tight end in reserve, so I can’t do anything about that. Yet, it didn’t matter, because even without a tight end, Molly would have beaten Griff, 1,403 – 1,379, led by Ben’s 309, Goings’ 258 and Lee Evans’ 318.
This meant that Molly, not Griff, would have faced Bob in the championship game. Yet, moving forward, there isn’t any way for me to project what could have happened. On top of both Brees and Crumpler being out, the Steelers benched Ben Roethlisberger and Jermone Bettis in the season’s final week. Also, Molly’s kicker, David Acker, had produced -10 and 10 the previous two weeks, so there is no doubt she would have cut him. I just can’t project who she would have picked up and which QB/TE she would have.
She did have Bettis’ backup, Duce Staley, but he didn’t play much and only score 21 fantasy points. Nick Goings had just 172, while her two receivers, Lee and Porter, combined for just 214. Meanwhile, Acker had 60 and the Panthers DST struggled and had just 82 points. This means to win, Molly would have had to pick up a QB and TE that would have combined for 691 points. That’s doubtful, so at best, Molly would have been runner-up in 2005…if she didn’t lose to Burrier by 12 in week nine.
4) 2007 ROB MASTERSON
FINISHED: 5-8 (9th) | POINTS: 1,281 (6th)
Heading into the 2007 season, I had Masterson penciled in as the top team in fantasy, as he went rouge on draft day. Concentrating on wide receivers, his first two picks were wideouts (Harrison, S. Smith). Later, he’d snag Julius Jones and Joseph Addai.
Rob didn’t disappoint out of the gate, winning in week one (that’s what he does) and again in week two, scoring 1,623 against Bob. However, those results proved to be potential flukes, as the entire top of Rob’s draft began to struggle. Steve Smith couldn’t stay healthy, while Marvin Harrison, Julius Jones and Marc Bulger were looking like bust. The quarterback spot in particular would kill Rob all season long.
He would drop three straight, failing to hit 1,000 in two of those defeats. He did bounce back in week six, scoring 1,866 in a win over Griff. His only saving grace was that two receivers he grabbed late in the draft, Brandon Marshall and Braylon Edwards, were playing fantastic. Yet, not even they could prevent a second three-game losing streak.
As the losing mounted, Rob did everything to solve his Marc Bulger quarterback problem. He picked up David Garrard early, Joey Harrington later before cutting him for Kellen Clemens. None did the trick, until Garrard got hot late in the season. After beating Burrier in week nine though, Rob dropped two more. With one week to go, he was sitting at 4-8. However, he still had a very long shot at the playoffs.
If he beat me and then Molly lost to Eric, then Rob needed to outscore Molly by 965 points. No problem. Well, Rob did beat me, scoring 1,684 points and Molly tried her best to lose and not score, producing only 885 points, but she still managed to beat Eric, eliminated Masterson from the playoffs.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
Okay, time to play pretend. Let’s open up our minds and say Masterson sneaked into the playoffs as the 8-seed, so instead of 1-seed David beating 8-seed Burrier, Rob would have pulled off a massive upset. Led by David Garrard (332), Joseph Addai (310) and Braylon Edwards (338), Rob would have won, 1,558 – 1,334.
Next, he would have faced 3-seeded Bob (the highest remaining seed). Bob lost to Neatock back in the 2005 semifinals and nothing would have changed, as Rob would have pulled off another stunning upset. Despite the fact only one player (Garrard’s 313) would break 200, Rob would beat Bob by just five points, 1,163 – 1,158.
On the other side of the bracket, Matt would have taken down Calderon, setting up a championship battle between #5 Matt vs #8 Rob M. Of course, that year Neatock beat Calderon for his first title.
Masterson would end up getting another stud performance from David Garrard, who scored 345, plus 316 from Steve Smith. However, Joseph Addai would get knocked out of the game after just six carries (and 58 fantasy points) and Rob would have fallen just short, 1,444 – 1,351.
3) 2014 JEFF GREENBLATT
Jeff, voted most likely to vote for Trump.
FINISHED: 3-10 (11th) | POINTS: 1,382 (5th)
Despite producing just three wins, Mr. Greenblatt’s 2014 season is up this high for one simple reason…he scored the most points ever by a non-playoff team. In fact, until the season’s final week, where his team failed to score 1,000 for the only time all year, he was averaging a stunning 1,461 points per game.
Of course, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s take a walk back. Post-draft, Jeff had plenty of big names, including Tom Brady, Jamaal Charles and Le’Veon Bell (pre-breakout). However, I only had him ranked 11th my preseason rankings. The problem was, he didn’t have a tight end, his receivers (Roddy White and Golden Tate) had their issues and there were even concerns with his stars. Brady would be without Gronk to begin the season, Charles lost three offensive line in the offseason and Bell had yet to stay healthy enough to be an elite running back.
Out of the gate, everything I said, nearly all of it proved to be true. Jeff’s receivers were a big problem, Charles struggled and then got hurt (Jeff did not have his handcuff) and Tom Brady had his worst start to his career.
Jeff lost his first three games and fell to the bottom of my rankings. Then shockingly, he simply cut Tom Brady. The moved paid off for one week. He picked up Eli Manning, who scored 462 points. Jeff scored 1,919 in a week four win over Molly.
The following week, Jeff got Jamaal Charles back and his backfield again looked solid. Yet, he ended up losing a heartbreaker, 1405-1404 to Colby. Worse yet, while Eli was solid, if Jeff had Brady, he would have won.
Despite falling to 1-4 though, I had moved Jeff all the way back up to #5 in my rankings. He would split his next two, again scoring over 1,900 in a week seven win over me. However, it started to look like Jeff was suffering a “Brady” curse. Since cutting him, the Patriots QB was dominating the league and in week eight, Jeff could have used him. Despite scoring over 1,500, he lost to Burrier. For the second time in a month, if he had Brady instead of Eli, he would have won and would have been 4-5 and not 2-7.
Jeff would go on to lose his next three, despite being fourth in the league in scoring, thus getting eliminate from the playoffs. A week 12 ass-kicking over Calderon (1730-1313) proved to be just window dressing and then a week 13 disaster, where he scored under 1,000 for the first time all year, drop his points per game below 1,400 for the year.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
Jeff missed the playoffs by a stunning three games and basically dumped trade at the end, looking ahead to 2015, so it’s tough to play this game, but we’ll try.
His season ending starting lineup (Romo, Anderson, Charles, White, Tate, Write, Bailey and Titans DST) would scored just 970 points. However, if he had kept Brady and didn’t dump Bell to Bob, he could have potentially won three more games, gotten to 6-7 and taken the 8-seed from Calderon. Yet, that’s as far as he would have gone. Led by Bell’s 454 and the Titans 253, Jeff would have scored 1,423 points, but would have still fallen to top-seed Bob, who produced 2,333 points in the quarterfinals.
2) 2013 MATT NEATOCK
FINISHED: 6-7 (9th) | POINTS: 1,325 (8th)
When Matt began the season, it looked like it would be one of the worst teams ever, sitting at 2-8 through ten games. He had talent, as both Matt Forte and Tony Gonzalez were All-Robio players, but Eddie Lacy was hurt, his receivers were awful and Tom Brady was having his worst season in years.
Yet, then the Eagles wave hit. This was the brief history in time when Nick Foles was in Chip Kelly’s offense and he became the greatest QB in the history of the league. Well, Matt picked him up, already had DeSean Jackson, traded away Brady for top-five receiver, Demaryius Thomas, while rookie Lacy got healthy and started trucking the league.
Matt ran off four-straight games, averaging over 1,700 points per contest, producing two weekly high scores. At 6-6, he was the six-seed. All he needed to do was win, or have Jeff lose or if neither of those things didn’t happen, outscore Jeff by about 179.
Well, Matt ran into me in the final week. I was the top seed (9-3) and the scoring leader. Oddly enough, despite the best team facing off against the hottest team, both teams failed to show, as Matt lost to me by just 15 points, 1,292-1,277. Yep, a team that had averaged over 1,700 points over the previous month, would not be able to wreck havoc in the post-season because of 15 points. That’s cold.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
If Matt would have found that extra fifteen points, he would have been a very dangerous 6-seed. In fact, in the quarterfinals, that lineup would have nearly cracked 1,600 points. Yet, Matt still would have lost, because he would have taken on Masterson, who scored 2,031 that week in a win over Molly. Matt would have managed only 1,334 points and wouldn’t have even come close to touching Masterson…not that he would want to.
1) 2005 RICH CALDERON
FINISHED: 6-7 (9th) | POINTS: 1,235 (7th)
Calderon is back on this list, but this time we travel further down history’s throat, all the way back to 2005. That year, his team looked pretty damn good. He had Terrell Owens, who would be the top receiver to begin the season, a top-five quarterback (Hassleback) and defense.
Running back was a bit of a concern. He had Jamal Lewis, fresh off a drug trafficking conviction. He had unproven rookie, Cadillac Williams, who wasn’t even guaranteed to start, plus Tatum Bell (the backup in Denver). Yet, everything quickly fell into place as Lewis was decent, Cadillac got the start and was one of the best backs in football out of the gate, while Bell become the starter for a long while in Denver in week two.
Calderon stormed out of the gate at 2-0, two solid scores, including the weekly high in week two. I quickly made him the top team in my rankings, because it appeared he suddenly had the best backfield in football. Yet, slowly but surely, those same backs started to struggle and so did Rich. He would drop two straight, before bouncing back with a pair of wins in week five and six.
However, in week seven, the wheels came off. First, he struggled, losing a sad 969 – 848 game to me. Worse yet, after that defeat, Terrell Owens, the league’s top fantasy wide receiver, was suspended for the year. A team already struggling to deal with a suspect WR2 spot, now had no WR1.
Rich would fail to hit 1,000 in the following week (one of only three times in Rich’s long history he would not score 1,000 in back-to-back games). His next two performances were only slightly better, but both still defeats and just like that, with three weeks to go, Rich was 4-6 riding a four-game slide.
Fortunately, he managed to pull a nice game out of his ass in week eleven, taking down Colby. This meant with two weeks remaining, he was only one game back of Burrier for the division lead. He was facing Rich, which was nice since if he won, he’d be in the division leader, but it also meant that if he lost, he no longer controlled his own destiny for the playoffs. Yet, he did not win and now he needed help.
In the season’s final week, Rich sat in the same basic position he did in 2003, needing a victory and lots of help. That year, he did it. In 2005, he needed to beat Masterson, but then he also needed Colby, David and Eric to all lose. Then he needed to maintain a tiny points lead over David and Eric.
Well, Calderon did beat Masterson and yes, Colby, David and Eric all lost. Yet, Rich only scored 988 points in his victory and lost the final playoff spot to David by only 95 fantasy points. Yep, just 95 points. How much did that cost Rich? Well…
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
That season, David earned the 8-seed and he stunned the world, taking down 1-seed Don, 1,239 – 1,136. If Calderon had found an extra 95 points in the regular season, he would have been the 8-seed and unlike so many teams on this list that never would have survived the quarterfinals if they made it, Rich would have also beaten Don. With Jamal Lewis hurt, he would have put in Bell (who had 122), but behind Hasselback’s 424 and Cadillac Williams’ 290, he would have scored 1,468 points and advanced to the semifinals to face 4-seed Griff.
Of course, I’ve gone ahead and did a little projecting of Rich’s lineup for the semifinals. Jamal Lewis was back from injury, so I put him back into Rich’s starting lineup for Bell (who was splitting with Mike Anderson by now). But in all honesty, it wouldn’t have made a difference…thanks to another Matt Hasselback performance (435), 244 from Lewis and 381 from Chris Cooley (who scored three touchdowns against Dallas), Rich would have pulled off the upset, beating 4-seed Griff 1,582 – 1,388 in the semifinals.
This would have meant that Rich would had to face 7-seed Colby. If you recall, Colby’s squad shit the bed in the title game, scoring only 739 points, losing to Griff. If you have guessed it by now, Calderon would have won easily. Led by the rookie of the year, Cadillac Williams and his 318 points, Rich would have defeated Colby, 1,368 – 739.
So basically, if Rich could have pulled just 48 more yards out of his butt during the regular season, he would have become the only 8-seed to win a championship.