It took a few days longer than I expected, but here are some of the responses from the quaterback horror stories you sent in from last week's Four Downs. Thanks for responding, and I'm sure some of these have gotten worse with Kyle Orton (ankle) and Matt Schaub (knee) getting hurt in Week 9.
From Doug ...
In our little 8-team league, I was "lucky" enough to find Carson Palmer in the 8th round of the draft when I had been targeting Jay Cutler, so I passed on him for Palmer. Then, In the final round, I picked up Phillip Rivers as a bye week replacement. Then I got cold feet and dropped Rivers for Jon Kitna before week 1. Luckily, I've settled down with Matt Schaub and Ben Roethlisberger off waivers. From Brad ... I drafted D. Anderson and Favre, feeling lucky to get Favre in the 8th round - After an 0-2 start I traded Wes Welker and Favre to another team for Palmer and Brandon Jacobs - Jacobs has been great, but I am about to drop Palmer as it looks as he is done for the year. In week 3, I picked up JT O'Sullivan carrying 3 QB's, hoping Palmer or Anderson would come around. A few weeks later I needed a roster space due to bye issues and chose to drop Anderson as I thought Palmer had better upside and DA was playing the Giants that weekend - he was claimed off waivers and we all know how well he played on Monday night. I managed to grab Orton in week 6 and, although he has been great I was forced to start O'Sullivan this week - which looked like a good play against Seattle. From Vince ... I drafted Carson Palmer and Matt Hasselback. Do I need to continue? Kerry Collins in week 4. Gus Ferrotte was my hero in weeks 6 and 7. And was fortunate enough to pick up JT O' Sit hit down for week 8. QBs only get 4 points for TDs in my league, so I guess it could be worse. Bottom line is 8 weeks and 59 fantasy points for the QB position. My best week was 15 points when Ferotte threw 4 INTs! Did I mention my team is 1-6. Still alive in week 8. From Nick ... I play in a 16 team dynasty league where we keep 10 players each year. I Entered the season feelig pretty good at the QB position with Carson Palmer and Vince Young.... I am now stuck with starting Kerry Collins.. If thats not bad enough I also have Steven Jackson and Larry Johnson as my starting RB's nothing like being the pre-season favorite to last place in the league....The only bright spot was I drafted Steve Slaton with my second pick in the first round and was able to trade him and Palmer for Jay Cutler only to have Cutler get hurt the first game after I traded for him....Wow what a season.... From Michael ... I drafted Derek Anderson as my starting QB. Later on in the draft I proceeded to pick up Jon Kitna as my backup. I dropped Kitna after he went on IR and picked up Brad Johnson. I also started Gus Frerotte the week he played the Lions. Its been a mess. From Bill ... So I know you guys wanted to hear horror stories about fantasy team's QB situation, however I'd like to share the horror story that is my entire team! This year, almost every week I have lost players to injury and somehow I have managed to be 3-4 (hopefully 4-4 by the end of tomorrow).Week 1: Lost Nate Burleson for the season.
Week 1: Lost Marques Colston until Week 7
Week 3: Lost Brian Westbrook till Week 5
Week 3: Lost Willie Parker, still out
Week 3: David Patten leaves game hurt
Week 3: Bryant Johnson sustains injury after the game
Week 4: Lost Brandon Lloyd
Week 5: Lost Justin Gage after Game 4
Week 5: Domenik Hixon leaves game injured
Week 5: Deion Branch leaves game injured
Week 5: Brian Westbrook reinjured
Week 6: Lost Kellen Winslow to injury and suspension
Week 6: Eli Manning injured during Browns game, hurts overall score
Week 7: Devin Hester leaves game
Week 7: Steve Heiden injures bicep
So...basically my teams has been the walking wounded since Week 1. In Week 6 I did not have my #1 (Westbrook), #2 (Colston), #3 (Parker) and #5 (Winslow) draft choices playing. I haven't had Willie Parker for over a month, Marques Colston is turning out to be a bust and Westbrook is always questionable. It has been a rough season for me injury wise, but somehow, through the waiver wire (thanks to the excellent columns you guys write) I've been able to win a few games.
Hope this makes it into the blog! From Mark ... Funny thing happened at the draft this year. I thought I had managed to come up with a good strategy, although my positioning made it difficult to put into effect, and ended up with appeared like a pretty solid squad including an awesome #1 & #2 option at QB. I had Matt Hasselbeck as my #1 and David Garrard as my #2. Other than the vital signs that Garrard has shown over the past 3 games or so, it's not been good.From Marlon ...
Luckily I was not so stubborn that I would stick with Hass & Garrard too long. I picked up Kerry Collins who didn't lose weeks for me and had very solid output from Gore & Lynch at RB, Calvin Johnson & Larry Fitz at WR to reel off a few wins in a row. I wasn't completely dominating but I wasn't out of it by October either. I've managed to pick up Schaub since then and Garrard has recently shown signs that he's back to the guy who led me to draft him as my backup in the first place.
If only things continue along this route, I should do okay this year. My friends who ended up with Brady are not in the same boat, but neither obsess quite as much as I do about ff.
Thought you might enjoy the story.
I had the worst season last year and i managed to trade my franchise player to aquire Tom Brady before the draft. filled my roster and managed to get carson palmer in round 6 which i thought was a steal. Thanks to the way the season is progressing i was surviving by a hair with the play of jt o sulivan the 49ers qb but now he got benched! back to the toilet bowl for me. From Chris ...They say hope springs eternal at every draft but soon thereafter all hope was lost for my team. I was more than happy with the first two quarterbacks I drafted in my 12 team league. Carson Palmer…Check, Vince Young…check, and as an afterthought, Chad Pennington would be nice as a bye week replacement. Little did I know that Chad would be steering the ship on this team come week 5. I had picked up Brian Griese, and he was my savior for one blessed week until he went down in flames as well. I can only apologize now to Pennington for what will surely be a season ending injury at the hands of my fantasy QB death touch. From Nathan and Natalie ... Here is my (still going) QB nightmares. I had a pretty good draft, I thought. Westbrook, Wayne, A. Johnson, Willie Parker, and I picked up Carson Palmer whom I thought would put up some great numbers finally with all of his great weapons. I learned that he belongs on my blacklist of players I will never pick again (My list includes players like: Cedric Benson, Julius Jones, Chad Johnson, and Cadillac Williams--- you know, "fool me once. . . ."). I felt really good about picking up Favre in later rounds as my backup who I felt really good about. Palmer has just plain sucked! In week 4 I benched Favre and played Palmer, I figured it was a better matchup for Palmer in a rivalry game. Of course that was the game the Favre EXPLODED for 6 touchdowns, to make matters worse. . . I was out of town and couldn't check in the last minute like I always do on players, Palmer was a last minute inactive. So I ended up losing 46 points because of this, which cause me to lose since I only scored 65 points that week. Since then I have had to rely on Favre, who has proved he is human. Luckily he has been serviceable as a QB and has given me some points on a weekly basis. Now I am riding the old, tired back of Favre and hoping he can throw to the guys on his team. I still hold Palmer but in reality there is no one out there who I can count on more then Favre, and it sucks!!
From Nate ... I’m the co-owner of The Big Brown Sharks – the defending champions in the Corrupt Forever League. I’ll try to keep this short – we were part of the contingency which drafted Brady in the 1<sup>st</sup> round (#3 overall). Since his untimely injury, we are still searching for a weekly quarterback. Through week 8, here are our starting QB’s: Week 1: Tom Brady Week 2: Matt Cassel Week 3: JT O’Sullivan Week 4: JT O’Sullivan Desperate – we traded Wes Welker for Matt Hasselbeck. The worst trade of the century. Week 5: Matt Hasselbeck Week 6: Matt Ryan Week 7: Brad Johnson Week 8: Marc Bulger Yes, we have started 75% of starting NFL quarterbacks named Matt. If your name is Matt, and you’re starting a game in the NFL, The Big Brown Sharks are looking for you. Now, if Kurt Warner goes down we might be in business. (Matt Leinart) Amazingly, we are 4-4. From Noah ... I was burned last season by poor quarterback play, so this year I resolved to draft a top QB in the 3rd round. Carson Palmer was the best QB left at that point and I took him. Later, I drafted Vince Young as my backup. Needless to say, I've been mixing and matching this year again despite my best intentions. Despite a 0-2 start (thanks to early-season busts like Palmer, S-Jax, Braylon and McGahee), I have rebounded to reel off 6 straight W's playing J.T. O'Sullivan and Gus Frerotte at QB. I think that's more of a testament to the overall poor QB play in the league this year, where no single QB has catapulted other teams to the top.
From Rob ... Here’s a good one: I’m playing in a point-per-reception league with pretty good QB scoring, and unfortunately ended up drafting Derek Anderson and Marc Bulger. But hey, there’s always trades, right? And luckily, in a PPR league with Reggie Wayne, Steve Smith, Marques Colston, Laveranues Coles, and other assorted #2-worthy receivers, I had plenty of trade bait. Imagine my glee when I found a team with weak receivers and not one, not two, but THREE solid QB’s – Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Matt Schaub. I immediately hit the trade screen, offered a couple of #2 receivers that were an improvement on their starters, and mentioned that we had a lot of options and we could surely work something out. Silence. OK, I thought, the offer must have been insulting. I’ll step it up. I offered Smith and a #2 for Rodgers. Nothing. After an email, I get a response – “I don’t trade.” The very thought confused me. Surely they just haven’t thought it through, right? Any logical player could see this was crazy. I typed out an email in essay form, detailing how they lose nothing, since we only play one QB. I pointed out that even if they were to use their bench QB’s to play optimal matchups, they’d still be better off with the guaranteed 10-12 point per week boost they’d get from the trade. I offered my entire WR stable to choose from. “I don’t trade.” I was blown away – angry, yet confused. Surely there was a reason for this. Maybe their season was going so well they didn’t need – nope, less than .500. Well maybe I posed a threat to – nope, not in the same division. Did I get drunk and make out with their mom while blacked out? I must have, that’s the only explanation that a reasonable human being could have for acting this way. I offered an apology. “I don’t trade.” I hope the fantasy football gods are having a good laugh at my expense by finding the only person in the world who won’t accept a lopsided trade and making them the only team that can afford to lose a quarterback.
From Erich ...
It's been quite a humiliating quarterback year for me. First, I drafted Tom Brady in the 2nd round, then picked up Matt Hasselback as his back up later on in the draft. I then made a couple of trades and got Carson Palmer. After that didn't work out i magically found Jon Kitna on the waiver wire, which obviously didn't work out as well as I'd hope too. Now I'm stuck with Orlovsky (A lot of teams in my league have 3 quarterbacks) and have JaMarcus Russell as well. How's that for quarterback woes. From Troy ... I drafted Carson Palmer, Vince Young and Jeff Garcia in our fantasy football draft. Carson went down (was hoping he would return, but looks unlikely), Vince lost his job to Kerry Collins and I dropped Garcia thinking he lost his job to Griese? Ended up having to pickup Gus Ferotte to run my team, now they are talking about Tavaris Jackson taking that job back? So in desparation I pick up Brad Johnson, oh what a mistake. So in another desparation move I trade Steve Slaton and Joey Galloway for Brett Favre, now he is being suggested to sit. What a nightmare, I have five QB's Favre, Palmer, Ferotte, Johnson and V. Young, what a mess! From Roger ... In my league, quarterbacks went faster than I was ready to draft them and I kept missing on the “sleepers” I wanted. I ended up drafting three to see who would emerge, Jon Kitna, Matt Hasselbeck, Jason Campbell. Kitna was getting me 20 points a week the first two weeks and I thought I would be fine with him and hasselbeck (once he got his receivers back). David Garrard was dropped in my league after the first week so I replaced Campbell with Garrard. Well, come week 4 Kitna and Hasselbeck were on a bye and Garrard was averaging 8 pts a week so I dropped Garrard to take a flyer on Trent Green who was just named the starter. Of course Green got me 8 points, Garrard’s 25 points would have gotten me a win against a team who is now 6-1. Week 5 I plugged Kitna back in, he got 1 point and was benched, injured and eventually put on IR. Hasselbeck also got hurt that week and hasn’t played since. Week 6 I picked up Gus Frerotte because he was playing Detroit and his 16 points helped me get my first win since my 2-0 start. Week 7 I picked up Derek Anderson fresh off his big Monday Night against the Giants. He got me 13 points, I lost. Week 8 I picked up Jeff Garcia fresh off his big game vs Seattle and started him vs Dallas beat-up secondary. His 9 points make me wish I had gone with Anderson vs Jax who would have had me 15 points and made it more likely that a nice game out of Reggie Wayne tonight would have stolen me a win. I now have Garcia, Anderson, and Frerotte the rest of the way…we’ll see. Luckily with all my quarterback issues I’ve had Joseph Addai and Anquan Boldin to steady the ship? Good times. From Dan ... I had Drew Brees as a 5th round keeper for this year. I also drafted Reggie Bush to get double points. My team was the highest scoring team after the first 5 weeks, but my record was .500. So I decided to trade Brees for Tony Romo who then broke his pinkie. So then I was left with Gus Frerotte, who was on a bye this week, and almost had to go with Dan Orlovsky, but I traded Romo for Peyton Manning. I should have never traded Brees in the first place. From Brandon ... It started a sunny afternoon in Las Vegas when I took Tom Brady with the 6th overall pick in the draft. I was so confident with Tom Brady that I stacked my team with RB's and WR's for the rest of the draft without picking up a backup QB. Then we all know what happened Week 1. After the first week I offered trades to about everybody in the league to try and get a top rated QB. I threw my bait in the pond and I caught, what I thought would be the deal of the season, no body would beat me now. I traded Ronnie Brown RB for Carson Palmer QB. I was very happy and could not believe this team traded his top QB for at the time a backup RB. Well we all know how that turned out, over the next 3 weeks, Ronnie Brown scored 50 points to Carson Palmer's 20 points. I Picked up Matt Schaub week 4 and decided to play M. Schaub week 5 (0 points) instead of C. Palmer (19 points). The Sunday of Week 5, I was going to be on an airplane all day and would not be able to check my lineup. I check all the news Saturday night and Sunday morning before boarding my plan at 8:00 am PST. I didn't find any news saying that M. Schaub was hospitalized and would not play. Ouch! a big zero for week 5 at QB. Weeks 6, 7 and 8 with M. Schaub have been great! so lets recap.Week 1 - T. Brady = 3 points
Week 2 - C. Palmer = 1 point
Week 3 - C. Palmer = 19 points (not bad) Week 4 - C. Palmer = 0 points Week 5 - M. Schaub = 0 points
QB total = 23 points through 5 weeks.
Just to show you how bad my QB play has been, through the same 5 weeks, my starting Kicker as a total of 53 points.
From Alex ...
My quaterback horror story goes all the way back to my draft. It began with me taking Matt Hasselbeck in the 8th round, thinking that he would be a good bargain at that point. In the second to last round, I took Jason Campbell with the idea that if he learned Jim Zorn's offence, he'd have some good potential.
By the time Week 1 rolls around, Hasselbeck (11 points) has no viable WRs, Jason Campbell (11 points) has a below average game, and then the nightmare began.
With Tom Brady out for the year after Week 1, I decided to make a play for Matt Cassel. I figured, he plays for the Pats, so he could still post some solid numbers. I ended up dropping Campbell for Cassel, which really came back to bite me this week, as I'm on my way to a 1-7 record courtesy of Campbell's 300+ yard, 1 TD performance against the lowly Lions.
From there, here's how it's turned out (with fantasy points in brackets):
- Week 2: Started Matt Cassel (6) over Matt Hasselbeck (4)
- Week 3: Again, started Matt Cassel (7) over Matt Hasselbeck (13)
- Week 4: With Cassel and Hasselbeck on a bye, desperately dropped Cassel for Damon Huard! (12)
- Week 5: Dropped Huard to leave me with only Hasselbeck (2)
- Week 6: With Hasselbeck injured, picked up Gus Frerotte! (15) for my best output at QB to date...
- Week 7: Frustrated with Hasselbeck's injury, dropped him and Frerotte for the newly appointed
temporary starter Brad Johnson (9) and Derek Anderson (13).
- Finally this week, I clean house again and start Trent Edwards (6) over Matt Ryan (19)
I am in a very competitive league, and replacement QBs were very hard to come by, as can be seen. I also tried desperately to trade for a QB, but no one was willing to cut me a deal. Now, I'm looking toward next season in my keeper league thanks to my QB play this season. As the numbers clearly show, I haven't owned a QB that has posted 20+ fantasy points for me in a given week. So, needless to say, if that's not a quarterback horror story, then I don't know what is.
