Fifteen years later, Shaheen still fighting to finish on top

SOLON, Ohio — After two consecutive seasons away from postseason play, one would tend to think Ryan Shaheen views his 2017 campaign as a success. After all, he finished with eight wins, the most he’s tallied since 2014, and valiantly qualified for the six-man Tiger Township Fantasy Football League playoffs for the first time in his career. To Shaheen, though, he feels like he left quite a bit on the table, especially at the tail-end of the regular season. And, when you think about it, you can’t really blame him. “I was (freaking) pissed off because my team (crapped) the (gosh-darn) bed,” Shaheen told Chibby’s Corner in an exclusive interview. “I had the second seed locked up, and all I had to do was not score 50 points less than Stefano (Faiella) (in Week 13) or lose my matchup. Well, I lost my matchup and lost to Fano by like 80 points.” Shaheen finished a respectable 8-5 on the year, earning the No. 3 seed in the 2017 TTFFL Playoffs. However, his late-season run was tarnished by his regular-season finale loss to Nick Sobevski. He scored just 87.9 points in the setback, allowing Faiella, another 8-5 squad, to slip his way into the No. 2 seed and claim a first-round bye. Shaheen, meanwhile, was forced to accept a date with sixth-seeded Cee Jay Julian, a first-round contest he would lose to the eventual league runner-up. He finished sixth in the final league standings. Certainly the sting of back-to-back losses to end a season can hang around awhile. But in Shaheen’s case, it actually turned out to be a more pleasant ending than what could have happened. “In retrospect, my feelings from the overall season were better because if (quarterback Carson) Wentz went down with an ACL in Week 1 of the playoffs and I had the bye, I don’t know what I’d be doing with myself right now,” Shaheen said. Wentz was terrific for Shaheen all season long, scoring an average of over 25 points per game (Weeks 1-14) while finishing as the No. 5 quarterback in fantasy, and No. 1-2 for most of the year. Between him and Eagles teammate Zach Ertz, the No. 3 tight end in 2017, Shaheen rode the pair’s coattails throughout the season. But after Wentz sustained a season-ending injury in Week 14 - the first round of the playoffs - Shaheen’s group didn’t pack much of a punch. Granted, his heart was somewhat spared, as he wasn’t forced to forge on without the talented signal caller. “I felt like my entire team was basically Carson,” Shaheen said. “His connection with Ertz was my go-to. They carried me most weeks. Other than that, I had a lot of inconsistent performers.” Receivers Michael Crabtree and Jordy Nelson struggled to find proper footing for Shaheen, while running backs Jordan Howard and DeMarco Murray were hit or miss. All of them failed to create much of a spark. The Ohio State University graduate is now 15 years into his fascinating TTFFL career. He’s a two-time runner-up (2008, 11) and third-place finisher (2012, 13) in what was perhaps the league’s all-time best non-title-winning stretch. After that, though, Shaheen went through a pair of lean years, winning a combined nine games in 2015 and 2016. Of course, Shaheen has yet to climb to the mountaintop. To his credit, though, he has never shied away from his determination to finally etch his name on the Guy Julian Memorial Trophy, nor his frustration when things go awry. With each passing season, the pressure mounts more and more. Shaheen would have to be deaf not to hear the chatter around him regarding the matter. “It’s there,” Shaheen said in reference to thoughts about an elusive championship. “I just think, eventually, I’ll get my team for a year that’ll go off. We’ll get one.” Can 2018 finally be the year for Shaheen? It’s a question the TTFFL has asked for some time now. Shaheen understands that, too, stating a championship continues to be, and always will be, the top priority for his franchise. Undoubtably, a Shaheen breakthrough would go down as one of the most memorable and treasured moments in TTFFL history. Until then, though, Shaheen will have to continue to carry the weight of an ever-growing monkey on his back. “Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever have a better team than the first ‘Given, Not Earned’ from Casey Irwin with Stefano Faiella and Cam Newton,” Shaheen said. “That team was the best team I’ll ever have, in my opinion. Sometimes you just have to get a little more lucky, and we have to put together a great team like that again.”