Footballguys Blog » Running Backs (RB): Best “Losers” in Fantasy Football

June 25, 2008

Running Backs (RB): Best “Losers” in Fantasy Football

Filed under: FBG, Game Log Dominator, Fantasy Football, Losing Efforts, RBs, Losers, Footballguys — Jason Wood @ 9:39 pm

The biggest difference between fantasy football and real football is that your team can consist of a bunch of losers and yet still blow the doors off your opponent. Sounds controversial? Not when you realize that I mean it literally. At the end of the day, we fantasy owners don’t really care whether the team’s our players suit up for get the WIN on Sunday, as long as our individual players rack up the stats. Sure, there is often a correlation between winning the game and putting up big offensive numbers, but it’s not always the case.

So just to get us back in the mindset of talking fantasy football, let’s take a moment to honor the best “losers” in fantasy football over the last 10 years.

Table 1: Best individual fantasy performances by a RB in a losing effort (1998-2007)

Rank	First	Last	Year	Week	Team	Opp	Result	Rush	RuYds	Recs	RecYds	TDs	FPTs
1	Priest	Holmes	2002	12	KC	SEA	L,32-39	23	197	7	110	3	48.7
2	Barry	Sanders	1998	2	DET	CIN	L,28-34	26	185	1	44	3	40.9
3	Priest	Holmes	2001	13	KC	OAK	L,26-28	28	168	5	109	2	39.7
4	Ronnie	Brown	2007	3	MIA	NYJ	L,28-31	23	112	6	99	3	39.1
5	Priest	Holmes	2002	3	KC	NE	L,38-41	30	180	5	18	3	37.8
6	Marshall	Faulk	2000	16	STL	TB	L,35-38	22	79	4	53	4	37.2
7	Travis	Henry	2002	1	BUF	NYJ	L,31-37	31	149	6	29	3	35.8
8	Ricky	Williams	2002	13	MIA	BUF	L,21-38	27	228	4	7	2	35.5
9	Deuce	McAllister	2003	12	NO	PHI	L,20-33	19	184	4	48	2	35.2
10	Deuce	McAllister	2002	8	NO	ATL	L,35-37	17	115	5	56	3	35.1
11	Larry	Johnson	2005	14	KC	DAL	L,28-31	26	143	3	28	3	35.1
12	Ahman	Green	2003	10	GB	PHI	L,14-17	29	192	3	32	2	34.4
13	Marcel	Shipp	2002	15	ARI	STL	L,28-30	26	79	2	79	3	33.8
14	Tim	Biakabutuka	1999	4	CAR	WAS	L,36-38	12	142	1	12	3	33.4
15	LaDainian	Tomlinson	2003	4	SD	OAK	L,31-34	28	187	7	24	1	33.2
16	Priest	Holmes	2002	7	KC	DEN	L,34-37	24	113	7	38	3	33.1
17	Priest	Holmes	2004	1	KC	DEN	L,24-34	26	151	2	-2	3	32.9
18	LaDainian	Tomlinson	2003	15	SD	GB	L,21-38	20	51	11	144	2	31.5
19	Clinton	Portis	2002	13	DEN	SD	L,27-30	23	159	3	34	2	31.3
20	Ricky	Williams	2002	17	MIA	NE	L,24-27	31	185	2	7	2	31.2

The first thing that should jump out at you from this list is that talent trumps winning or losing. Some of the best RBs in the last decade appear multiple times on this list. The next thing I couldn’t help but notice is that Kansas City represents 30% (6 out of 20) of the list; which tells us two things we already knew…1) The Chiefs haven’t been a very good team over the last decade and 2) They’ve had excellent runners in spite of that.

Does this have any deep meaning for your fantasy draft preparation? No, it’s just a fun and quick use of our newest stat engine: The Game Log Dominator.

June 25, 2008

Running Backs (RB): Best “Losers” in Fantasy Football

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