With the regular season now concluded for most leagues and the playoffs starting, it seems like a good time to try and put some perspective on the year past. If I had to pick one word to characterize this year in fantasy football, it would be :WEIRD!

Now, some things really didn't change a lot. I usually have a pretty decent team and make the playoffs, and this year was no exception. As I write this, I'm 10-3, seeded #1 in my league, and with a first-round bye this weekend. So what's so unusual this year? Well, if this was a year where things were fairly normal in fantasyland, I'd probably be on the outside looking in, and cussing at my bad luck. This year, more than any in the past,living outside the box has been really important.

When the season started, I really liked my team. We use a QB, 2RB,2WR flex, TE, DST and K lineup and I had what I thought were some solid if not spectacular guys at the best positions. I figured to go the tradional route and start 3 RBS and 2WRs each week, and I had enough depth to cover the bye weeks. My DST is the Steelers, so no problems there. QB? We'll get to that later.

So, how did that work out for me? You judge. One of those RBs was Deuce, and we all know how long he lasted this year. A second was Travis Henry. OK, QUIT LAUGHING, DAMMIT! The third is Edge.

As you can see, it became readily apparent that playing three backs wasn't going to help a lot, and I was going to be lucky to have two decent ones most week. A little luck did enter in however; I managed ot pick up Earnest Graham about a week before he became the full time starter, so that took off a little pressure.

As for the receivers? Well, some problems there too. Colston is one of them, and he's been mediocre much of the year, partially because Brees spent much of the first half of the season stinking up the joint. Driver was another of my big guns gioing into the season, and while you certainly can't complain much about his yardage, most of Favre's TD passes have been going to either Jennings, Jones or his TEs. Then, of course, there was my favorite guy, Housh, who has once again shown who the TRUE #1 guy is for the Bengals, and it's not Mucho Moutho.

Bye now, you may be wondering"how did that team get anywhere near the playoffs". OK, let's go back to that QB position now. Can you say "Tom Brady"? Well, I could, and did. And just to show that you can never have too much of a good thing, my "backup" QB is Big Ben.

In addition, I also grabbed another receiver that I'd been sandbagging late in my draft: Wes Welker, and got Ben Watson as my TE. omeone dropped Nick Folk early in the season, so I promptly snagged him as my kicker, figuring Dallas was going a long way this year, and he'd probably get a lot of points.

So...about the time Welker started getting hot as WR, I started playing three wides, with Housh and Welker starting every week, and alternating Colston and Driver as the situation dictated. I managed to have Colston in for several weeks after Brees woke up, and he had some big yardage and catches games...and we get .5 PPR.

I can't remember a year past where playing three wides for most of the year has worked so well. But then, I can't remember a year either where so many of the top RBs people count on: Alexander, LJ, Thomas Jones, Rudi Johnson, Caddy, Ronnie Brown, Deuce, just to name a few..have either stunk up the joint for all or paert of the season or been injured and been non factors. Heck, even the usually reliable LT started out really slow and had to have a lot of his owners wondering when he was going to break out.

Meanwhile, QBs have been flourishing, particularly Brady and Romo. Big Ben has reappeared under the new system in Pittsburgh which gives him more input into play calling. Derek Anderson has been a premier fantasy player. Yeah, THAT Derek Anderson, the one that plays for the BROWNS. Brett Favre has shown that those who gave him up for dead are probably in the second division in their league. Without SA, Matt Hasselbeck has gone pass happy. Heck, Peyton Manning is really only average this year...when has that happened?

I don't know if this is just an abberation, or a sign of things to come. For now, i'm just going to sit back, enjoy the first round bye, and smile over the fact that during the next two rounds of our league playoffs after this one, Brady will be facing the Doplhins and Jets.

Good luck to all of you in the playoffs.