Week 5 Fantasy Football Bad Beats: Hey, stop pushing me!

Did your fantasy team's hopes get pushed off a cliff when the Browns defense pushed Austin Ekeler into the end zone?

Well, we here at Yahoo Fantasy are here for you, yet again, and always. We want to know all about it (so we can laugh at you) so we can help you get through it. Judge Andy Behrens can assist you through these troubled times, in Week 5 and every week of the 2021 fantasy football season.

An opponent's late-game touchdown is always tough to take, but when the player is being forced in by the DEFENSE? Well, that's just brutal. And that's precisely what happened to our pal Odori, who was forced to take the L when Austin Ekeler was forced into the paydirt at the end of Sunday's Chargers-Browns match-up.

And in keeping with the late TD theme, this week’s Honorable Mention goes to our buddy Kevin, who watched his huge lead evaporate courtesy of Lamar Jackson - who rallied the Ravens over the Colts, while sinking the hopes of several fantasy managers during this Monday night comeback.

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: We are back with the segment in which you do not want to appear. You don't want your name here. You don't want your fantasy roster here. This is rough. This is where we discuss your most heartbreaking, agonizing fantasy losses. This is "Fantasy Bad Beats."

And we had a new scenario this week, one that I don't think we've seen before in the meeting between the Chargers and the Browns. Now we've seen the Westbrook scenario, the Brian Westbrook scenario, where a running back declines a touchdown because they're just trying to milk clock, kick a field goal, get out of town. And we've also seen the scenario where a defense allows a touchdown because they want their offense to get the ball back with a chance to score at the end of the game.

I don't know that we've ever seen a scenario in which a player attempts to decline a touchdown and is then thrown into the end zone by the opposing defense, but that is exactly what we got with Austin Ekeler and the Cleveland Browns. The score is 42-41. There's 90 seconds left in the game. Cleveland's defense has not accomplished a single thing that it intended to do the entire game until Ekeler attempts to take a knee at the goal line, milk some clock, and the Chargers can just escape with a victory.

And then Cleveland collectively heaves my coworker Austin Ekeler into the end zone, and it's his third touchdown of the game. He has just a monster fantasy day, 119 scrimmage yards, three touchdowns. Monster performance. In fact, let's just let Austin explain it himself.

AUSTIN EKELER: To the fantasy owners, I get it. I definitely get why you'd be upset. I'd be upset too. Like, come on, get in there. Hey, well, guess what, I got it in there. So, look, we still ended up scoring. Regardless of what the mindset was, it doesn't matter. The points were scored, you know, as your RB1 for two weeks in a row now.

So it happened. And, look, you know, you can't get greedy. You can't get greedy. It's for the betterment of the team. But if our offense is playing well, we're winning games, probably gonna score more points. That was part of the winning edge that we were having that week.

ANDY BEHRENS: And so many of you out-- and I'm looking at you, Odori. So many of you out there lost because Cleveland not only invited a touchdown against them, but actually sort of scored an own touchdown in one of the strangest plays that we've ever seen. That is just an absolutely brutal fantasy beat.

Also, shoutout to anyone, like you, Kevin, who just got absolutely trounced on Monday night in a ridiculously high-scoring affair. Lamar Jackson passes for like a zillion yards and multiple touchdowns. Poor Kevin, he thinks he's got a win. He's ahead by almost 90 going into the Monday Night game. Loses to Lamar and Mark Andrews' massive performances. Dishonorable mention to you.

Remember, folks, when things don't go your way next week, if things don't go your way, think of your friends at "Fantasy Football Live." Hit us up with the hashtag FFLBadBeats.