Week 9 Fantasy Football Bad Beats: Taunted out of a W
Were you mere minutes away from a Week 9 win, only to have a phantom taunting penalty at the end of Monday's Steelers-Bears game ruin your night?
Well, as always, we're here for you. As is our very own Judge Andy Behrens, who is equally baffled by the inexplicable call that led to a slew of soul-crushing losses by way of kicker Chris Boswell. Gross!
Did you suffer a Bad Beat? You're not alone! Hit us up and tell us all about it using #FFLBadBeats.
Video Transcript
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, we're back again with the segment in which you definitely do not want to appear. You don't want any part of this thing, but you can watch as a curious onlooker. This is where we discuss your most gutting, agonizing fantasy losses. This is, of course, "Fantasy Bad Beats."
And, listen, it's bad to lose on Monday night, and it's bad to lose to a kicker on Monday night by a narrow margin, but it is particularly bad to lose by a narrow margin to a kicker who did not deserve to be kicking the field goal. Let me explain. We had a taunting penalty in the Bears-Steelers game, among the thousand other penalties that were called in the Bears-Steelers game. We had a taunting penalty that was imagined by an official. I don't even know how to describe it.
Cassius Marsh gets a sack late in the fourth quarter. It's a turning point moment for the Bears. And what does he do? Does he gesticulate wildly? Does he stand over Ben Roethlisberger? Point in his face? Yell things? Yell obscenities? No, he doesn't do any of that.
He stands for a moment, apparently facing the wrong direction. Maybe an official thought that he was taunting the Pittsburgh punter, who was running onto the field. Nobody knows. Nobody knows what this official saw, but Marsh was flagged for taunting. He literally said not one word. Not one word escaped his mouth, so it wasn't even spoken taunting. It was just implied taunting, apparently.
This, of course, is all part of-- listen, officials this year, there's a point of emphasis. And when there's a point of emphasis, we see a lot of flags. They are trying to crack down on taunting because people complained? No, nobody's ever complained about taunting. This is part of some imagined sportsmanship from the 1950s lesson that the NFL is giving us on taunting, so it's resulting in a lot of flags. And that's affecting real-life NFL outcomes, which of course is affecting fantasy outcomes.
Sure happened on Monday night because Chris Boswell was able to kick a field goal on a drive that was extended by this ridiculous penalty. So if you lost to Boswell on Monday night by a narrow margin-- and we're looking at you Michael and Ari and the Arizona Hawkeye and all the rest who lost on that miserable call to Chris Boswell-- you have my deepest sympathy. It should not have happened. NFL, you got to clean this up.
Listen, if you lose in some terrible, gutting, horrible fashion next week, remember your friends at "Fantasy Football Live." Hit us up. Use the hashtag FFLBadBeats.