One of the John Madden‘s credos was to never take points off the board. If you have the field goal, never take a penalty against your opponent to try for a touchdown because too many things could go wrong, Madden reasoned.

And that makes some sense, especially if your quarterback is Mark Sanchez or Tony Romo. Why would you ever allow those guys to ruin a perfectly good drive? But 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh did just that Monday night when the Steelers were penalized for, uh, trying to block the 49ers’ field-goal attempt. (If anybody can make sense of that rule, hit me up on Twitter.)

Instead of a field goal for David Akers, the 49ers took the first-and-goal and eventually got in the end zone on Frank Gore‘s touchdown run. Great for Gore owners, who received a much-needed score. Not so great for my pal, Mikey, who needed nine points from Akers on Monday night. He got eight, thanks to exchanging that field goal for a touchdown. Mikey will be watching the fantasy playoffs from the couch now (not sure how that’s different, but still) and always will curse Harbaugh’s name.

I know he’s not the only one who has a fantasy tale of woe. And today, we won’t leave it just for those who had their seasons ruined by the Monday night game. Let’s talk about all of those guys who let us down. The guys like Eli Manning, Jordy Nelson and Victor Cruz. You’re among friends here, so let it out. You’ll feel better once you talk about it.

You can receive daily fantasy advice and life coaching from Rank via Twitter or via Facebook. Be sure to catch the latest on the Dave Dameshek Football Program.

Posted in: Fantasy  |