ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through the Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: What is your toughest fantasy playoff loss?

JASON WOOD

2018, I rolled into the Finals of my longest-running local league thanks, in large part, to Todd Gurley's dominant season. Through 14 weeks, Gurley was the No. 1 fantasy running back, averaging 26 (PPR) points per game. He helped me advance out of the semifinals with a 124-yard, 2-touchdown showing against my beloved Eagles. I was the 1-seed with a stacked team and ready to take home the crown. But the rub, as many of you probably remember, is that Gurley suffered a knee injury against the Eagles, and didn't play the final two games of the season. But what made things worse is my finals opponent was able to outbid me for C.J. Anderson on waivers, and he opted to start Anderson -- fresh off waivers, in the Finals -- against me. Anderson had 163 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, while my fill-in for Gurley was a total whiff. I lost the championship by 5 points. I'm still not over it.

Wood is Senior Editor at Footballguys.com and has been with the company since its start in 2000. For more than 20 years, Footballguys has provided rankings, projections, and analysis to help fantasy managers dominate their leagues.

DAVID DOREY

I've played fantasy football for 33 years now, and there's been plenty of good and bad endings to leagues. I play in one league each year that has me and a childhood friend in it, we just both join a random ESPN league to play against each other mainly. In 2008, we had both advanced to the league championship and were closely tied going into Monday night. I was ahead by like 5 points and the game was in the final minute. We were watching it and on the phone with each other. And on the final series, Brandon Marshall was thrown four straight completions, pretty much just fell down on each one, and I lost by less than a point. It's not that I lost money, it is that he brings that game up every year for the last 15 years.

Dorey co-founded The Huddle.com in 1997. He's ranked every player and projected every game for the last 23 years and is the author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. David has appeared on numerous radio, television, newspaper and magazines over the last two decades.

MIKE NAZAREK

My personal ALWAYS START YOUR STUDS rule factors into my toughest playoff loss. This dates back to 1989 for me when I sat Green Bay Packers stud wide receiver Sterling Sharpe in my Championship game and lost because of it. Sharpe had struggled in recent weeks that season, but was one of the top receivers. I let a "poor" match-up cloud my judgment, but have learned my lesson. I'd rather lose due to a poor game from my stud than lose because of a stupid "starting" decision. Thus, this is one rule I NEVER break.

Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc, celebrating 25 years online! His company offers a preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, a multi-use fantasy drafting program including auction values, weekly in-season newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its web site, www.ffmastermind.com. He has been playing fantasy football since 1988 and is a four-peat champion of the SI.com Experts Fantasy League, a nationally published writer in several fantasy magazines and a former columnist for SI.com. He's also won nearly $30K in recent seasons of the FFPC High Stakes Main Event. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.

SCOTT PIANOWSKI

This happened to my good friend Jon, not me, but it's too good not to share. Patriots and Bills, late in 1998 season. New England works a late comeback courtesy of some questionable flags. The Bills are so disgusted, they leave the field and don't contest the extra point. Kicker Adam Vinatieri runs in a 2-pointer, undefended. Had Vinatieri kicked the single point, Jon is fine. But because Vinatieri scored two points, Jon lost his game to the league average (we had an odd number of teams that year) and missed the playoffs. Sometimes, there is no justice.

Pianowski has been with Yahoo Sports since 2008, covering a variety of sports. On the rare occasions when the computer is turned off, he enjoys word games, poker, music, film, game theory, and a variety of condiments. He lives in suburban Detroit. Pianowski was inducted into the FSWA Hall of Fame in 2021.

COLT WILLIAMS

Although I've been playing fantasy football for a long time, I can't say that I've come across an unforgettable loss personally. However, one of my league mates just this year had the most points scored in the league, came in with the highest average weekly score, and came out of Week 15 with his lowest score of the season thanks to Austin Ekeler, Derrick Henry (who set an NFL record of touching the ball 20 times and producing less than 15 yards), Stefon Diggs, and Tony Pollard.

Williams is working towards a degree in economics and statistics at Sonoma State. A United States Air Force veteran, he’s been playing fantasy football since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @_ColtWilliams.

ANDY RICHARDSON

I remember it like it was last week. Oh wait - it was. Week 14, League Championship game for my FFPC league (Weeks 15-17 are an overall tournament). Facing an undefeated juggernaut with Hurts, McCaffrey, Kittle et al, I'm leading by 10 points with 5 minutes left in the Dolphins-Titans Monday night game. He has Raheem Mostert, who's been held in check by a Tennessee defense dramatically exceeding expectations. Titans stop the Dolphins and force a punt. Whatever else happens in the game, he's not gonna make up his deficit in the time left. Except a Titans rookie at the last minute, with Dolphins around him, inexplicably tries to grab a bouncing punt inside his own 10-yard line, touching it (not fielding it) and letting the Dolphins recover it -- not in the end zone, which would have been fine, but at the 5-yard line. Mostert scores. Tennessee gets the kickoff and on the first play Will Levis throws a wild pitch to Derrick Henry at eye level, which is also fumbled, and recovered by Miami, not in the end zone, which would have been fine, but at the 5-yard line. Mostert scores again. Tennessee ends up incredibly scoring 2 TDs in the last three minutes to win, but I barely noticed; the damage had been done. I lose by 4. I might never get over it.

Richardson has been a contributing writer and editor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and www.fantasyindex.com since 2002. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual experts draft and auction leagues since their inception. He previews all the NFL games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays during the NFL season.