Regular Season Re-cap: Drop the Mike

I dropped the ball recently on the weekly re-caps but now that we are heading into the playoffs I thought I’d do a regular season re-cap to set the stage. In case you missed it, LeVeon Bell held out for the season, Hue Jackson got fired because he never won, Mike McCarthy got fired because he won but not as much as we would like, Kareem Hunt got booted for misconduct, and Patrick Mahomes is the next Peyton Manning.

Playoff Match-up Previews!

Trader Joey (3) v. Swandog Millionaires (6)

• A classic for the ages. These teams haven’t played each other since… *checks calendar* last week. Trader Joey is back in the playoffs after a resurgent season following last year’s last place performance. For the third year in a row my team has fallen ass-backwards into the last playoff spot available (thanks to some convenient rule changes). Another thing to note, Joey and I have twice had the number 1 and 2 overall picks in the draft respectively. This year he took Saquon, and I took Gurley. The performance of the two will decide who moves on next week.

Condeadleeza Rice (4) v. Darren McFadden (5)

• Both of these teams are entering the playoffs for the first time in the league’s young history. Darren McFadden dominated their way to the five spot thanks to some solid sleeper picks in the draft like Patrick Mahomes, and waiver wire adds like Tyler Boyd. Condeadleeza Rice is as solid a roster from top to bottom that you could hope for in this league. They drafted three guys who could slot into the WR 1 spot, and had some savvy waiver wire adds like Philip Lindsay and Calvin Ridley to really round things out.

What Went Wrong?

Every week that a team is eliminated from playoff contention I’m going to be looking back at their season and trying to figure out what went wrong.

Worse Than UMass Football

• With names like Aaron Rodgers, Leonard Fournette, George Kittle, and AJ Green on the roster, it’s hard to believe this team could only put together one win. But things turned sour early when both Fournette and Dalvin Cook missed significant time with injuries. The first overall pick could really help this team get back on track.

Better Than the Raiders

• Last year this team muscled their way to a championship after ripping off a massive eight game win streak. Despite a lack of star power last year they were able to make the right waiver wire moves to propel them to victory. In the offseason, in a move for more star power, they traded their first, second, and third picks for Melvin Gordon. A couple of misfires at the draft and the inability to re-create the waiver wire magic of yesteryear sunk this team’s season.

Loser City

• Loser City’s season never left the station as they lost one of their keepers during training camp. Then the first game of the season they could only muster 60 points. Following that, they had four straight losses before a win in Week 6. All this to say, how the hell are they not in last place? It’s a hell of a fight to put up all season long after that kind of start.

Worse Than the Millionaires

• This team’s season kicked off with a big trade in the offseason for Kareem Hunt. They tried to put their best foot forward with two late round running back keepers but they ended up on their backs with two straight losses to start the season. They had the opportunity to make the playoffs late in the season, but punted it away with back to back losses and failing to surpass 80 points in each.