Monday Night torment

I watched the second half of last night's Monday Night Football game with special interest. After Sunday night's game I needed 24 points to win my epic fantasy football battle. In the middle of Monday I needed 26 points, as the Patriots D lost a turnover. Yeah, it sounds weird to write too. When I logged in to see the early game results (TiVo was recording Gossip Girl), I saw that the turnover had returned. I needed 24 points to win, and Brandon Marshall/Philip Rivers had to do it. I thought it could be done, but Monday nights are fickle.

Rivers scored an early touchdown, but Marshall earned me zero points in the first half. Rivers had 172 yards passing and a TD, so I was down 12. The rest of the half would be slightly tormenting.

Early in the half Rivers put together what looked like a good drive. They stalled out. The lead was down to 11. Marshall finally caught a couple of passes, cutting the lead to single digits. Rivers would make a great throw then seemingly would get sacked on the next play. In the fourth quarter he lost a fumble, which made the lead double digits again. Marshall caught a couple of passes but couldn't score. The fourth quarter started. I was getting nervous.

The Chargers stalled again. The Broncos were on one of those destined drives, when they made every third down conversation and knew what to do to counter the defense. I waited for Marshall. The game score was 27-23. I wanted the Broncos to score a touchdown because a) there was a chance that Marshall would catch it and b) the Broncos' stifling D would go into prevent mode with a two-score lead. That was my premise. Marshall didn't catch the TD pass. In fact, I didn't think there was a TD at all. Brandon Stokely caught a pass at the goal line. He got a foot past the line but the ball didn't cross the plane. The initial call was a TD, and announcers are good at letting you know what was called because it's harder to overturn a call. They didn't overturn the call. The Chargers got the ball back with about three minutes to go.

I was down by seven points. Rivers had to get a TD for me to win. There couldn't be a running TD and a two-point pass. He completed a couple of passes and got a fortunate pass-interference call. The ball was near the 30-yard line.
The Chargers have no offensive line. Rivers was under constant pressure. On one play he rolled right and Tomlinson took off. He was covered by a linebacker. Rivers just had to float the ball to the end zone and I was a winner. He jumped to throw even though there wasn't anyone near him. The ball ended up falling short. On the next play he was sacked. I was toast.

Now I have a 2-4 fantasy team that's good enough to be 4-2. In six weeks my team has given up the most points, including six-TD performances by Brees and Brady. I can't help but be a little bitter at the weekend's results. Missouri was disappointing, and the Titans were so bad that David Lynch didn't believe it. And the Broncos wouldn't let me get my garbage touchdown. Football sucks.