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I have a good friend who I persuaded to try their first high stakes fantasy football league this season (Chicago Auction League). His team is (Dallas Cowboys) 9-3 and one game behind first place team. (Wildcats). Cowboys plays Wildcats in week 13 but Wildcats has a significant point lead so even if Cowboys finishes tied for best record at 10-3 they will likely not make playoffs because there are other teams with more fantasy points. I completely agree with emphasizing points over record.
Here is my question. The owner that played Wildcats in week 12 started Benn at WR over Crabtree and Branch. Also started Lions vs Packers instead of Panthers vs Colts. These decisions were the difference in the Wildcats winning and keeping a one game lead going in to week 13. Would any of you even question those type of line-up decisions? The team that played the Wildcats was not close to having a chance to make the playoffs and the Wildcats needed to win to virtually assure having the best won/loss record. Is it worth the trouble to question the effort of owners who are out of the playoff race, especially when they have match-ups against teams that are in close playoff races?
So I persuaded my friend to spend almost 900 dollars to join his first high stakes league and his first experience may be finishing tied for best record at 10-3, not making playoffs and having an owner appear to not try to set their best line-up in a crucial week 12 match-up against the team my friend is in a close playoff race with.

First, the player I believe you are referring to is not an owner who would "appear to not try to set their best line-up in a crucial week 12 match-up". He is a stand up guy and would play for the win whenever possible. You are thinking way to much into it. Benn had 5 catches the week before and 5 targets in the game. The Lions, well, he is from Michigan, it is the biggest game Detroit has had in forever. He wants to watch his team on Thanksgiving pound the Packers or at least get some sacks and picks in a shoot out. Rooting for your team on the best football day of the year. That my friend is what fantasy football is all about. Everyone should quit worrying about how much effort or lack of someone else puts in. When we make those assumptions we are usually wrong anyway. Just have fun with it but make sure you take care of God, family and work first. It is just a game.

I agree questioning someones effort can be a touchy subject. But choosing a D to go against Aaron Rodgers and one of the best offenses in NFL history instead of a D going against Curtis Painter and one of the worst offenses in the NFL this year made me wonder. The WR decision was more questionable. Crabtree had scored 16.7, 16.4, 10.1,5.1 and 19 in his last 5 games. Deon Branch had scored 20.4 9.9 13.6 16.8 in 4 of last 6 games. Branch or Crabtrree have been dramatically better starts than Benn almost every week this season. I do not understand how someone that is paying attention could think the odds favored Benn scoring more points than Crabtree or Branch.
If I was playing a team in a close playoff race and set a line-up like that, I would expect someone to at least ask me about it.