After six consecutive seasons of doing nothing but living and breathing fantasy football, people in the Rebels’ Front Office, specifically me, entered the 2018 Season burnt out from the sport. While I still loved fantasy football and expected our team to compete for a championship in 2018, I entered this season with a different approach. Unlike in years past when the team would begin scouting in early June, the 2018 California Rebels chose not to begin scouting, or conduct any scouting for that matter. It was a bold and risky move by the Rebels’ Front Office, but everyone in the front office believed that we could get by talent alone in 2018. We would soon find out that that would not be the case.

The 2018 Yuma Scorpion Offseason began with the league saying goodbye to longtime league member Steve Kopf. Steve decided after 2017, that he would sell his GMEN franchise and move on in life. To replace his historic franchise, the league reached out to Commissioner Schaal’s lifelong friend Josh Peter and asked if he would like to join the Yuma Scorpions in 2018. As he mentioned in the forward of this book, Josh was initially hesitant of taking on a team. However, after some Rebels’ magic from the team’s owner, I was able to convince Josh to take on a team. He would take on the GMEN franchise and relocate them to Los Alamos, New Mexico and rename the franchise the Los Alamos Atomic Thunder. He would immediately enter the league with the same intensity that the California Rebels play with each year. I was super excited that Josh had finally joined the league.

The league also needed to find a replacement for the Cincinnati Harambes as their Owner Reese Snyder, chose to not play in 2018. In the league’s search to find a replacement, I once again reached out to a lifelong friend, this time my friend Ben Tidgren. Ben had helped me start up a fantasy basketball league in the past and while that league failed, he did find the idea of fantasy football more appealing. He didn’t need as strong of a pitch as Josh did as he willingly took on a team in January 2018. He would move his team to his home state of Texas, place his franchise in Austin, and name them the Austin Oilers. I was once again excited to have some lifelong friends finally join the Yuma Scorpions and experience the California Rebels firsthand.

With the league members now set, still, at 10 teams, the Yuma Scorpions held their annual draft lottery in late March of 2018. The Detroit Titans entered the lottery with the best chance of winning after an abysmal 2017 campaign. The Titans finished the 2017 Season with a 3-10 record, hoping that 2018 brought greener pastures; however, these greener pastures all relied on the outcome of the 2018 Yuma Draft Lottery.

The Rebels entered the lottery with the third-worst odds after securing a third-place finish for the second consecutive year. I didn’t have any expectations heading in the draft lottery, as I felt the team would be selected to pick late in the draft. This feeling changed all of a sudden when the Rebels’ name was not called within the first four lottery selections. The team kept rising in the lottery, their chances to draft Los Angeles Rams’ RB Todd Gurley increasing after every selection. Finally, the team’s name was called at the number two selection. The Rebels would be picking second in the draft for the second straight year, but this time, actually earning the right to draft at #2. Seattle Leathernecks’ Owner Nathan Simmons, who saw his team picking fifth in the draft, couldn’t believe that the Rebels climbed that high in the lottery. My comment towards him was that I couldn’t believe it either. The Rebels gained their first victory of 2018 back in March.

Having obtained the second overall pick in the draft, the Rebels felt that they could control the outcome of the first round of the draft. Their league rival, USMC won the draft lottery, and therefore, the Rebels felt they could talk USMC into or out of a specific player. The Rebels wanted RB Todd Gurley, but they felt that USMC was going to grab him. With Gurley off the board, the Rebels were left with RB Le’Veon Bell, RB David Johnson, and WR Antonio Brown to choose from. While Bell was the team’s Season MVP in 2017, his playing status in 2017 was uncertain due to a contract issue with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

With this in mind, the Rebels moved Bell down their draft board. It wasn’t until late in the pre-draft process that the team considered drafting RB David Johnson. The team viewed Johnson as the number one player in fantasy football because he was the number one player in fantasy until a wrist injury forced him to miss all but one game in 2017. The team felt that Johnson was poised for another historic campaign, and the memories of his 2015 title run with the Rebels loomed fresh in the minds of Dan Thompson, Matthew Nevers, and myself. We believe we had found our man and we were going to build our team around RB David Johnson in 2018.

Besides pre-draft strategies and the Yuma Draft Lottery, the 2018 Offseason had one major change for the Rebels. In March of 2018, the California Rebels finally transitioned away from the “fighting Rebel” logo that the team had been using since the 2013 Season. It was gone. Completely gone. In its place, the Rebels adopted a fiercer looking Rebel, a solider who looked ready for battle. The team also made their official colors navy blue and rebel gray. The logo was met with overwhelming support and it seems to be a logo that will stick around for the long haul.

In the two weeks before the 2018 Yuma Scorpions Draft, news struck that confirmed the fear I felt all offseason. The reigning Yuma Bowl Champion OAB declined to rejoin the league in 2017. Furthermore, 2017 also proved to be the last year for Nick Cambria and his team, Cambria. Similar to 2016, the league found itself short of members just days before the league was scheduled to draft. Not wanting to play with eight teams, Nathan and I began reaching out to anyone we knew in hopes of finding two new owners to join the Yuma Scorpions.

I sent out a tweet asking anyone to join, but it ended up being Seattle Leathernecks’ Owner Nathan Simmons who would be credited with finding the league’s ninth and tenth teams for the 2018 Season. Jon Dvorak, a Carroll High School alum would join the Yuma Scorpions and place his team in Painesville, Ohio and take on the name of the Raiders. Colby Wiederin, a Kuemper High School alum would also join, moving his team down to Miami and naming his team the Gamecocks. The league was back at ten teams and everything was now set for the 2018 Yuma Scorpions Draft.

On Sunday, August 26, 2018, I prepared myself for the upcoming league draft by beginning a new draft day tradition. Gone were the days of wearing the team issued polo on draft day. Instead, I began making it a tradition of wearing a full-on suit on the day of the draft. Wearing a suit made draft day feel more important, even adding a sense of reality to the sport and the day. I was super excited for the draft and the newest players who would wear the California Rebels’ uniform.

As the minutes ticked down, I began to FaceTime all the league members as we all prepared for the draft. Every single one of the owners that I face timed laughed at the sight of me wearing a suit. I didn’t care. I knew I looked good, but more importantly, I felt great and very prepared for the draft, despite doing the least amount of pre-draft scouting since the 2011 NFL Season. Dan Thompson and I knew we were the smartest team in the league and because of this, we knew we could dominate the draft on talent alone.

As league commissioner, I officially opened the 2018 Yuma Draft by placing the Los Angeles USMC on the clock. Despite my best efforts of trying to figure out who USMC would draft #1 overall, USMC would not confirm to my sources who they were picking until an hour before the draft began. With the draft now open, the Los Angeles USMC selected hometown hero, RB Todd Gurley of the Los Angeles Rams, with the league’s top selection. I was disappointed that the Rebels would not have the opportunity to draft Gurley, but I anticipated Gurley would be gone anyway. Because of my anticipation, the Rebels quickly made their decision once they were on the clock. The California Rebels selected 2015 playoff hero RB David Johnson with the second overall pick. This pick was a shock to almost everyone. Everyone believed that the Rebels would have drafted Steelers’ RB Le’Veon Bell second overall, or at least WR Antonio Brown. But David Johnson? No one suspected this pick, and no team was more frustrated with our pick than the Seattle Leathernecks. One could visibly see the frustration in Leathernecks’ Owner Nathan Simmons’ face after our pick. He was upset that Matt Pauk, the owner of the Detroit Titans was now going to get Le’Veon Bell as a draft steal. I immediately told my league mates that the Rebels felt Johnson was going to have a better year than Bell would. Nathan wanted to hear none of it. He stayed frustrated for the next few rounds.

As the second round began, the Rebels sat and watched patiently as they were set to pick second to last in this round. It was the cost of drafting second overall and while its no fun waiting and watching everyone draft the players I wanted, I did, however, find amusement when the Detroit Titans drafted Atlanta Falcons’ RB Devonta Freeman with the pick before the Rebels, leaving Kansas City Chiefs’ RB Kareem Hunt available for the Rebels’ taking. The team wasn’t planning on drafting two running backs with their first two picks, but in no way could the Rebels have let Hunt slip to their rival USMC. We had to draft Hunt and we were happy to do so. With the duo of Hunt and Johnson, Dan Thompson, Coach Nevers, and I all believed we had the most talented backfield in the league. We were going to win by running the ball.

With the Rebels’ third-round pick, the Rebels drafted Green Bay Packers’ WR Davante Adams. Adams was now the number one WR in Green Bay thanks to the departure of Yuma Bowl VI hero WR Jordy Nelson. With Adams being the lone man for the Packers, the Rebels believed that they had just drafted a top-five wide receiver in the third round. After three rounds the 2018 Rebels were shaping up nicely with three NFL superstars on their roster. I was happy with every single pick we had made to this point and it continued into the fifth round.

After Quarterback Deshaun Watson went down for the Rebels midway through the 2017 Season, the team fell into a revolving door at the quarterback position. QB Phillip Rivers, Jacoby Brissett, and Aaron Rodgers all tried to help the Rebels win, but they all failed to live up to Coach Nevers expectations because they had failed to produce the same fantasy production that Deshaun Watson had given the team during the first half of the 2017 Season. With the team losing out on a Yuma Bowl IX berth because of the quarterback position, the team entered the 2018 Season poised to lock up a franchise quarterback. They felt they had found their guy in the fifth round in drafting Deshaun Watson, but it wouldn’t be until the twelfth round that the team solved their franchise quarterback problem in Quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

By finding not one, but two franchise quarterbacks in the draft, the California Rebels rounded out the 2018 Yuma Scorpion Draft by gathering depth at the wide receiver and running back positions. The Rebels drafted RB Rex Burkhead in the seventh, WR Robby Anderson in the ninth, and RB Chris Carson in the eleventh round. Together all seventeen picks by the Rebels formed what the team believed to be a championship roster once again. Their goal of continuing their dynasty was only one week away from beginning.

The Rebels opened the 2018 Season on the road against the newly relocated and formed Los Alamos Atomic Thunder. The Thunder were led by QB Matt Ryan, WR Julio Jones, and TE Travis Kelce. The Rebels viewed this Week 1 opponent as nothing more than a below- average opponent despite the several stars the Atomic Thunder rostered. With this being said, the Rebels severally overlooked the Thunder in this Week 1 contest.

The matchup began on Thursday Night with the Atomic Thunder playing both QB Matt Ryan and WR Julio Jones. Despite losing to the Eagles 18-12, the Falcons, more specifically, Julio Jones, put up a great statistical performance. Jones would finish with 29 fantasy points after posting a 10 reception for 169 receiving yards and 11 rushing yards stat line. Ryan would give the Thunder an additional 16 points to put them up 45-0 over the Rebels heading in the Sunday games. While I was happy with how Matt Ryan performed, the same could not have been said about WR Julio Jones. I was very upset with the performance Jones gave the Thunder.

As Sunday came around, the Thunders’ luck continued to shine as nearly everyone on their team was living up to their projected totals and or going over them. The Rebels, on the other hand, struggled from the start. QB Deshaun Watson got the start over Patrick Mahomes for the Rebels and this seemed to be the first coaching mistake the Rebels made that day. Watson played poorly against the New England Patriots, posting only 176 passing yards, one touchdown pass, and one interception. What made his performance worse was that later that day QB Patrick Mahomes ended up throwing four touchdowns for 256 passing yards. While this was great to see if you were a Chiefs fan, as an owner of a fantasy football team, it was disappointing as Mahomes’ great performance was all for nothing as he was left on the bench.

Overall, Sunday, September 9, 2018, was not the Rebels’ best day. The team would see both RB David Johnson and RB Kareem Hunt fail to live up to the team’s expectations, as well as, the continuing quarterback fiasco. The Thunder would end up blowing out the Rebels 117-74. Los Alamos Atomic Thunder’s Owner Josh Peter made sure to rub his team’s first win in face of the Rebels; even tweeting out if the Rebels knew they were supposed to be playing a game that week. It was not a great week, but Coach Nevers quickly reminded his team of their long-term mission. Week 1 was not going to define this team, rather it would help them as they would be given the number one waiver priority heading into Week 2.

After traveling to Oakland, California to watch the Oakland Raiders take on the Los Angeles Rams in Jon Gruden’s first NFL game in ten years, I felt I knew who the Rebels would snag with the number one waiver priority. Throughout the entire game, I watched and saw how the Raiders were using TE Jared Cook. He was all over the field and most importantly, he was seeing lots of targets and catching all the passes thrown his way. It seemed like the obvious choice to make in claiming Cook off of waivers, but General Manager Dan Thompson had other ideas. Thompson believed that the team had a greater need at the wide receiver position as the team’s WR #2 Chris Hogan was already showing signs that he was going to be the team’s biggest draft bust of 2018. With this being said, the Rebels decided to pass on TE Jared Cook and instead opted to claim New York Jets’ WR Quincey Enunwa.

With Enunwa becoming the newest player to join the “Rebel Cause,” the team traveled to Painesville, Ohio to take on the Raiders in a Week 2 matchup. Both the Rebels and the Raiders entered the week with a Week One loss, and while both teams wanted to claim victory in Week 2, this game had the feel of a pivotal must-win game for the Rebels. The humiliating loss to the upstart Atomic Thunder in Week One crushed the spirit of the Rebels and a win versus the Raiders was needed to help save the Rebels’ 2018 Season.

Coach Nevers learned from his Week 1 mistake by making Quarterback Patrick Mahomes the team’s starting quarterback for their Week 2 matchup. When Mahomes’ game versus the Steelers got underway it was apparent from the start the Rebels found a gem in quarterback Patrick Mahomes. In a 42-37 win over Pittsburgh, Mahomes threw for 326 passing yards and six touchdown passes. Fellow Rebels’ teammate RB Kareem Hunt added 75 rushing yards and a five-yard touchdown to help lead the Rebels to a 157-113 win over the Painesville Raiders. While it was just Week 2, the Rebels felt they made a statement win to move to 1-1 on the young season.

With a blowout win against the Raiders in Week 2, the Rebels went into their home opener feeling high levels of confidence. The team was scheduled to play the equally exciting Miami Gamecocks who entered Week 3 with the league’s best offense.

Despite having the league’s best offense quarterbacked by Andrew Luck, the Miami Gamecocks entered their Week 3 matchup against the Rebels with Ryan Fitzpatrick as the team’s starting quarterback. Both Matthew Nevers and I were puzzled by the move, but Fitzpatrick was displaying some high levels of “Fitz- Magic” over the first two weeks of the season so it made some sense for the Gamecocks to give Fitzpatrick the start over Andrew Luck.

As for the Rebels, Quarterback Patrick Mahomes once again got the start for the club, and he once again did not disappoint. Against the 49ers, Mahomes passed for 314 yards and three passing touchdowns, an equivalent of 32 fantasy points. RB Kareem Hunt also got into the mix, adding two rushing touchdowns on forty-four rushing yards (16 fantasy points). The duo of Mahomes and Hunt looked as if they were going to lead the Rebels to victory once again, but they were not the biggest story coming out of Los Angeles that week.

A spectacular waiver wire pickup by General Manager Dan Thompson, the Chicago Bears Defense two weeks into the year, already looked as if they were a league-winning defense. Thompson added the Bears Defense to the Rebels lineup entering Week 3, and much like Mahomes and Hunt, the Bears did not disappoint against the Cardinals. Collectively, the Bears Defense recorded three interceptions, two forced fumbles, and four sacks for a score of 14 fantasy points. The Bears nearly added a pick-six at the very end, but an offsides penalty negated the touchdown for the Bears. Nevertheless, the pickup by Dan Thompson made an immediate impact for the Rebels against their new division rival the Miami Gamecocks.

However, as mentioned before, the Miami Gamecocks were starting QB Ryan Fitzpatrick in Week 3 and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers did not play until Monday Night. Entering Monday night, the Rebels held a 24-point lead over the Gamecocks, and it appeared that the game could go either way. But as the game progressed and Ryan Fitzpatrick threw interception after interception in the first half, it looked as if the Rebels were on their way to a Week 3 victory. As the Steelers-Buccaneers’ game went to halftime, I turned off the broadcast, thinking that the Rebels had defeated the Gamecocks. It wasn’t until the game was over that I received a text from Gamecocks’ Owner Colby Wiederin, notifying me of the final game results. The Gamecocks ended up defeating the Rebels 147-137, thanks to Ryan Fitzpatrick’s three touchdown passes in the second half and his 411 passing yards overall.

The Rebels were now 1-2 on the season and while there was still a lot of season left to play, this Monday Night collapse by the Rebels hit much harder than defeats in the past. It appeared that the Rebels were not as strong as the preseason polls had predicted them to be, and a lot of it had to do with weaknesses at the RB and WR positions. If the Rebels were going to go anywhere in 2018, they were going to need to improve those two positions and they were going to need to improve the positions as soon as possible. No one was panicking around Los Angeles, but concerns were starting to grow inside Rebels’ Headquarters.

However, because of the frustrating loss to the Commandos in Week 7, General Manager Dan Thompson decided enough was enough and decided the time was now for a big midseason trade that would help propel the Rebels over their scoring inconstancies. As a trade partner, the Rebels called up their cross-town rival USMC for a possible trade that involved star running back Todd Gurley. USMC’s Owner David Schaal had been discussing his desire to trade Gurley for the past couple weeks and Dan Thompson was not going to let USMC trade Gurley to anyone but the Rebels.

The trade became official the day following the Rebels’ loss to Anchorage. The Rebels would give up RB David Johnson, WR Taylor Gabriel, and WR Chris Hogan, in exchange for RB Todd Gurley and WR Amari Cooper. It was a blockbuster trade that addressed the needs of the Rebels at both the wide receiver and running back positions. Nearly every team in the league saw this trade as a problem, but none of the teams decided to veto the trade down. Gurley and Cooper were heading to the other side of Los Angeles to help bring a championship to the Rebels.

The Rebels’ first game with their new stars was a Yuma Bowl VI rematch against the Las Vegas Razorbacks. The Razorbacks who controlled the Yuma Scorpions in 2017 because of Todd Gurley, were now forced to contain him if they wanted any chance at defeating the California Rebels. The Razorbacks got off to a good start in their quest to defeat the Rebels on Thursday Night when newly acquired quarterback Deshaun Watson and WR DeAndre Hopkins combined for 61 fantasy points behind Watson’s 5 touchdown performance in which the world saw two of those touchdowns going to Hopkins. I immediately regretted cutting Watson just two days earlier as now it felt that the Rebels were on their way to their second straight loss.

Regardless of the emotions, I felt following the Thursday Night Football matchup in Week 8, Coach Nevers had the rest of the Rebels believing their way to victory. Mahomes once again put on a show, passing for four touchdowns and 303 passing yards. Kareem Hunt scored on a receiving touchdown, and WR Davante Adams added 20 fantasy points on a 5 catch 133 yards receiving stat line. Despite the trio’s best efforts, it was new Rebels’ star Todd Gurley who stole the show. Gurley rushed for 114 yards and added 6 catches for 81 yards and a touchdown for a total of 33 fantasy points. The Razorbacks made it close, but it was the Rebels who came away with the victory 159-141.

A divisional rematch occurred in Week 9 when the Los Alamos Atomic Thunder arrived in Los Angeles to take on the Rebels. Powered by QB Matt Ryan, RB James White, WR Julio Jones, and TE Travis Kelce, the upstart Atomic Thunder held an 8-1 record, tied for the best start in league history. The Thunder on paper was the best team in the league, but Coach Nevers thought otherwise. Matthew Nevers motivated his team to not only believe that they would win but to go out and show it.

It was a back and forth contest all game, and the matchup would be decided on Sunday Night Football. The Rebels held a small lead entering the game as each team had one player left to play; James White for the Thunder and Davante Adams for the Rebels. The Patriots held WR Davante Adams in check for most of the game, finishing with only six catches for 40 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown catch from Quarterback Aaron Rodgers. I was feeling all sorts of emotions throughout this game, and I started to feel like the Rebels would once again fall to the Thunder as RB James White was running all over the Packers Defense. White would finish with two touchdowns and 28 fantasy points. However, White’s performance would not be enough to propel the Atomic Thunder to victory as the Rebels snuck away with a three-point win, 172-169. The Rebels now entered the final month of the regular season with an impressive 6-3 record. The division and number one seed were still anyone’s game, and General Manager Dan Thompson would make sure that his team had the best chance at both the division and the number one seed.

The trade deadline was two weeks away and the Rebels were once again in contention for a title. While the team had WR Davante Adams and WR Amari Cooper on their roster as their WR 1 and WR 2, the team still felt that they could improve at the WR position. As the Rebels looked at their potential playoff competition, the Miami Gamecocks, the Los Alamos Atomic Thunder, and the Seattle Leathernecks, they noticed that all three teams were stacked at the WR position. To help keep pace with these three leading teams, the Rebels set their eyes on Houston Texans’ WR DeAndre Hopkins.

It was Tuesday, November 6, 2018, Dan Thompson called up the Las Vegas Razorbacks early in the morning to inquire about their star wide receiver. The Rebels wanted him, and they were willing to pay any price, including potentially rigging the 2019 Draft Lottery. Dan Thompson used his connections to pursued Razorbacks’ Owner Cole Kautzky into trading DeAndre Hopkins to the Rebels in exchange for Lions WR Kenny Golladay, Ravens WR Michael Crabtree, and Bears WR Taylor Gabriel who was recently required back by the Rebels. On top of the three players the Razorbacks would be receiving in this trade, Dan Thompson also made sure to include a potential reunion of RB Todd Gurley and the Razorbacks in 2019. All of this was very intriguing to the Razorbacks and the team quickly accepted the terms of the Rebels offer. Hopkins was now heading back to Los Angeles for the first time since 2014.

The Hopkins to the Rebels trade set off a domino effect across the Yuma Scorpions. Later that same day, RB James Connor was traded from the Razorbacks to Seattle, and WR AJ Green was traded from USMC to the Painesville Raiders. While everyone in the Rebels Organization was happy to have Hopkins on our team, the full ramifications of this trade would not be realized until Hopkins played his first game for the Rebels in Week 11.

Following a Week 10 loss at the Seattle Leathernecks, the Rebels once again went back on the road in Week 11 to face the Miami Gamecocks. This game was expected to be a shootout as both the Rebels and the Gamecocks had players playing in the highly anticipated Monday Night showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Rams. However, trouble and scandal stuck the league, and more specifically me, the day before this spectacular game was set to be played.

News broke out that the recent DeAndre Hopkins trade was made in a collisional effort to sabotage the championship hopes of the California Rebels’ rival the Seattle Leathernecks. Screenshots of texts were published that showed GM Dan Thompson persuading Razorbacks’ Owner Cole Kautzky into trading DeAndre Hopkins to the Rebels so that the Rebels would win the Yuma Bowl instead of the Leathernecks. As these screenshots were released, teams across the league started accusing the league’s commissioner of corruption, and several teams were contemplating leaving the league at season’s end because of the conflict of interest Rebels management had with the league’s front office.

I was pissed when this news broke out as my puppet strings were now exposed. I knew what I had to do to save the league. Immediately after this news broke out, I set a press conference that announced that I would be resigning as Yuma Scorpions Commissioner at the season’s end. In this press conference, I also said that I wish the fans and league owners across the Yuma Scorpions would not tear this league apart because of a bad call I had made as commissioner. It was the only card left to play, and to my chagrin, it worked.

While chaos erupted in the Yuma Scorpions’ Front Office, the Rebels still had to play a game against the Miami Gamecocks. The game was indeed a back and forth shootout, but despite Patrick Mahomes’ 478 passing yards, 6 touchdowns, and 60 fantasy points, the Rebels ended up losing to the Miami Gamecocks 191-157. This marked the Rebels’ second consecutive loss and their fifth on the season. Standing at 6-5, the Rebels season was hanging in the balance, and by the looks of what occurred in the league’s front office in Week 11, it looked as if these hinges were swinging in the direction against the Rebels.

Over the next two weeks, the hinges on the Rebels’ 2018 Season continued to loosen. The first knock was a Week 12 loss at home to the Austin Oilers. This marked the team’s third straight loss and virtually eliminated the team from winning the Southern Division and one of the top seeds in the 2018 Yuma Scorpion Playoffs. With the team standing at 6-6 heading into the final week of the season, the team had clinched a playoff berth and was locked in as the sixth and final seed in the playoffs. The team was playing for bragging rights against Los Angeles USMC and while the team would go on to win in Week 13 over USMC 153-85 and finish the regular season at 7-6; Week 13 of the 2018 Season is better remembered as the week the Rebels’ championship hopes died.

Two days before the majority of the Week 13 games were set to be played, news broke out that Kansas City Chiefs Star Running Back Kareem Hunt was being investigated for domestic abuse following a video that shows Hunt kicking and punching a female. As soon as I heard the news, I knew that Hunt was done for the year and that the Rebels’ championship hopes were gone. This late in the year and past the trade deadline, there were no other options for the Rebels at running back that could match Kareem Hunt’s production. We had to go into the playoffs with who we had and hope for the best.

The First Round of the 2018 Yuma Scorpion Playoffs had the Rebels traveling to Miami to take on the Gamecocks for the third time this season. It was not the matchup I or any of the Rebels’ Front Office was hoping for as the Rebels were already 0-2 against the Gamecocks that season. I knew that it was going to be a close game, but I had hope that the Rebels could overcome and come away with a playoff victory.

While I was standing back and waiting for the games to begin, Head Coach Matthew Nevers was stuck debating between whether to start the team’s star defense, the Chicago Bears or play the Denver Broncos Defense in their place. The Bears had the best fantasy defense in 2018 and it wasn’t even close. However, in Week 14 they were set to host the visiting Los Angeles Rams and this matchup against one of the NFL’s top offenses worried Coach Nevers. Because of the worry that the Bears would get into a shootout with the Rams, Head Coach Matthew Nevers decided to play the Broncos Defense against the struggling San Francisco 49ers. This would be a decision that would come back and haunt the Rebels Organization.

When the games began it was clear that Miami’s star duo of QB Andrew Luck and WR TY Hilton would not be stopped that day. Together, the two would combine for 63 fantasy points as the Gamecocks would take a large lead heading into the late afternoon playoff games. By the time I saw both Hilton Luck’s scores, I knew that the Rebels were on their way to a first-round playoff exit for the first time since 2012. However, a feeling of optimism occurred when Amari Cooper and the Dallas Cowboys began to comeback against the visiting Philadelphia Eagles.

Cooper, who was starting at the flex position for the Rebels, went off for 10 catches for 217 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns, an equivalent of 51 fantasy points. It looked as if Cooper had given the Rebels a fighting chance against the Gamecocks. It would now come down to TE Trey Burton and RB Todd Gurley to help punch the Rebels’ second-round ticket to Seattle. The Rams-Bears contest was a slow back and forth game that consisted mostly of defense. The 15-6 final score could say it all as RB Todd Gurley was limited to just 8 fantasy points and TE Trey Burton finished with four fantasy points. The Rebels would end up losing to the Miami Gamecocks in a high scoring first-round matchup 179-168.

The game could have ended up being a two-point Rebels’ victory had Coach Nevers decided to play his stud (the Chicago Bears) over the Denver Broncos Defense. The Bears finished with 15 fantasy points while the Broncos Defense was limited to only 2 fantasy points. Had the Rebels played the better defense, the team was sure to have made a run at the Yuma Bowl in 2018, but unfortunately, an up and down 2018 campaign ended in a first-round playoff loss down in Miami.

The 2018 California Rebels Season is regarded as the first “losing season” for the Rebels under the tenure of Head Coach Matthew Nevers. Despite finishing the regular season with a record above .500 and qualifying for the playoffs, the 2018 California Rebels Season felt like a losing season because of how inconsistent, and unfortunate several Rebel games and matchups went for the team. Much of the blame can be put on the Rebels’ Front Office for not doing a better job at scouting during the offseason and preseason. Others blame Head Coach Matthew Nevers for several bone-headed decisions throughout the 2018 Season, but I for one, but all the blame of 2018 Season failure on myself because of all the distractions I caused for the Rebels with my role in the Yuma Scorpions Front Office. Nevertheless, all the failure and blame everyone felt at the end of the 2018 Season would end up becoming motivational fuel for the team as they entered the 2019 campaign.