Last Week's Question: Keeping score
in a fluctuating league
My column for Week 1
featured a question from Shawn, who runs a league that has more
in common with daily fantasy sports (DFS) than the traditional season-long
leagues about which I usually write. Shawn says that anywhere from
8 to 20 of his friends and acquaintances play in this league each
week, and the rules are very simple. Participants can choose any
players they want to fill out a fairly standard lineup (1 QB, 2
RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex, 1 K, and 1 Def). There are no salary caps;
choices are made according to the preferences of the owners. If
multiple participants want to start Peyton Manning at QB, they can.
In fact, you could go through the season starting Manning in even
weeks and Drew Brees in odd weeks if that's how you wanted to roll.
I'm surprised leagues such as this one (i.e. leagues allowing player
overlap between teams) aren't more common. Part of the appeal of
the DFS model is the idea of not having a draft for the season,
but choosing players based on upcoming defensive match-ups, so there's
no reason to assume that the teams will look alike simply because
the owners all have access to the same players.
Question: "Would you rather have Calvin Johnson or Brandon
Marshall for the season?"
Answer: "I'll take Johnson please."
Follow-up Question: "But would you rather have Johnson this
week if the Lions are playing against the Seahawks and the Bears
are up against the Cowboys?"
Follow-up Answer: "Hmmm . . ."
Shawn's league isn't causing problems for anyone but him. As the
commissioner, he has to enter the changing rosters of the teams
each week by hand to find out which of his owners scored the highest.
I featured his question in the hope that a reader of this column
would be able to point him to a website that would allow his owners
to enter their lineups in weeks when they wanted to play, lock the
lineups during games, and then allow them to draft whole new teams
the next week (without regard to which players may have been drafted
in the meantime by competing owners).
Unfortunately, I struck out. No one came through with any suggestions,
so I did a little research at two of the most popular league-hosting
websites: ESPN and MyFantasyLeague.
Both websites were able to accommodate leagues of twenty members
(which is the highest number of owners that Shawn reported having
to deal with), but ESPN did not appear to have a way of supporting
a league that would allow twenty owners to own the same running
back at the same time. I called customer service at ESPN to find
out whether I was missing something, and the representative who
took my call was plainly baffled by my request. "Why would
you let two owners claim Adrian Peterson?" he wondered.
As nearly as I can tell, however, the MyFantasyLeague website would
be able to support a league such as the one Shawn described. On
the "League Set-up" screen at MyFantasyLeague, the penultimate
option reads "Rosters are not used -- instead, this is a contest-type
league, whereby an owner can start any NFL player ___ times per
season." I have seen leagues in which owners are allowed to
use players once (sometimes twice) in a season, and this option
appears to be set up with such leagues in mind. (It's a fun challenge
to think about when you would use Jimmy Graham if you could only
have him active for one week in 2014.) I suspect that if Shawn checked
that option and allowed players to be started 16 times per season,
he would be on his way to developing an interface that would enable
his owners to enter their own teams each week. Regrettably, I didn't
have time to test that theory. I look forward to confirmation from
Shawn (or anyone who runs a similar league) if I am correct.
And if anyone has a belated
answer to Shawn's question, I'll be happy to post it next week.
This Week's Question: Peter's response
to a "fluke loss" in his fantasy league playoffs
A reader named Peter describes himself as a "sore and bitter
10-3 first-place team owner who got bounced in a fluke loss by a
clearly inferior team after a first week playoff bye."
If you thought the New England Patriots (16-0) were a better team
than the New York Giants (10-6) back in Super Bowl XLII, and if
it still bugs you that the Giants won that game, then you may be
sympathetic to Peter's position. I'll let him speak for himself:
Everyone knows the playoffs aren’t perfect,
whether we are talking NFL or fantasy. It’s that one game,
60 minutes and ‘what happens, happens’ thing. The huge
upset, the choke or whatever, a one-game playoff where the heavy
underdog beats the huge favorite is always a great story…until
the huge favorite is you. Then there is the whining by the owner
of the perfect 13-0 season who got bounced in the first round by
a fluke…isn’t the 13-0 (now 13-1) team really the best
team anyway?
So from this beginning, or bad ending, rises this idea on how to
fix the fantasy football playoff system! The basics are for standard
league play: 13 weeks [of] ‘regular season’ and 3 weeks
of ‘playoffs’.
Point one: The winner will be the team with the best record after
16 weeks, and all 16 weeks count on their record.
The ‘playoff’ schedule will be as follows:
First week (wk14) : 1st plays 2nd, 3rd plays 4th, 5th plays 6th,
7th plays 8th etc.
Second week(wk 15): 1st plays 2nd, 3rd plays 4th, 5th plays 6th,
7th plays 8th etc.
Third week (wk16): 1st plays 2nd, 3rd plays 4th, 5th plays 6th,
7th plays 8th etc.
After the third week, week 16, the team with the best 16-week record
is the champ! If there are ties in records, standard tie-breakers
come into play.
After the first week of playoffs, week 14, if there were any changes
in the standings, they will result in changes in the schedule of
‘who-plays-who’ and not in the ‘1st-plays-2nd
etc..’ idea.
This results in a nice mix of rewarding an excellent season, or
rewarding your season’s efforts whatever the outcome, but
still giving teams a chance to compete and advance through a playoff
system. This also eliminates bye weeks which some like and some
do not. (I do not.) This system also eliminates the fluke loss that
does not reward a team for a great season. It can allow for a second-place
or even third- or fourth-place team to be champion if the final
regular season standings are close. Any team within 3 games of the
first-place team has a chance at a championship. But it gives the
edge to the first place team since they have to lose more than once
in the playoffs to lose the championship. And a first place team
will be a lock champion if they are 4 games ahead or more, which
is also fitting, since they could lose 3 games and still have the
best record.
For example: Say our 13-0 team A plays the second place 10-3 team
B. Team B wins and is now 11-3, and team A loses and is 13-1. Second-place
team B plays first-place team A in week 15 (second round). And team
B wins again making them 12-3 and team A 13-2. Now week 16 becomes
the winner-take-all game for team A and team B because if team B
wins again, they will be 13-3, team A will be 13-3, but team b has
beaten team A 3 times at least, not including regular season, so
team B is champion based on tie-breakers!
If this is a 12-team league, make the regular season 11 games. Everyone
plays everyone else once, a balanced schedule. Then have 5 weeks
of ‘king of the hill’ style playoffs as described above.
This will allow 3rd, 4th , 5th and 6th place teams a more reasonable
shot at the title. As before, no one gets a bye (I hate byes; I
want to PLAY!) and no one ever gets bounced out of the playoffs.
Peter is eager for feedback on his idea. Anyone interested in commenting
on his playoff proposal, modifying it, or countering with a proposal
of their own is welcome to email
me. I'll include the best responses in my column for Week 3.
Survivor Picks - Week 2 (Courtesy of
Matthew Schiff)
Phew! How many of you turned on the Eagles game at halftime and
were seriously worried that your Survival Pool pick was going to
be a loser in Week One? I for one was having mixed feelings. On
the one hand, as a Giants fan, I love to see Philly lose. But on
the other hand, as someone who is here to help you win your pool,
I was angry. I stuck my neck out for you, gave you all the reasons
why this game was a sure bet, and boom, the birds managed to lay
a goose egg in the first thirty minutes. Luckily Chip Kelly and
his boys posted 34 unanswered points in the second half. I must
note that the Bills were surprisingly good against a Bears team
that many expect to win the NFC North. Buffalo won’t be the
team that you automatically look for when choosing your survival
pick this year.
Trap Game: NY Jets at Green Bay
Last week the Dolphins proved that they can compete against the
perennial divisional champion Patriots by roaring back from a 20-3
deficit with 30 unanswered points. While the NY Jets probably won’t
do that against a Packers team that was exposed in their opener
by the Super Bowl Champion Seahawks, their league-leading defense
will keep them alive in a game in which Geno Smith no longer has
to put the team on his back to win. Couple that with the questionable
status of Eddie Lacy, who suffered his second concussion in two
years and is still awaiting approval to play, and this game should
give you pause (though I understand how tempting it will be for
those who burned their Denver selection in Week One). Last season
(2013) was the first time that the Packers had a losing record at
home (3-4-1) since the 2006 season. Will that trend continue this
year? But the more important question is, “Are the Packers
on the decline?”
#3: New Orleans at Cleveland (1-0: Pit):
Well, it only took one game for Ben Tate to get injured. Now the
Browns will be relying on a combination of Terrance West and Isaiah
Crowell to run the ball. While Brian Hoyer was respectable in his
first game back since his season-ending injury last year, it would
be a big surprise to see Josh Gordon lining up on the wing in response
to the impending new drug policy that the NFL and the players association
should be ratifying before kickoff. Meanwhile, Drew Brees and his
new wideout Brandin Cooks look to get comfortable outside in the
elements (something the Saints haven’t been good at in recent
years) against a Browns defense that allowed the second most yards
in Week One (499). It won’t get any easier for Cleveland fans
this week, especially since the Saints, who are better than the
Steelers on offense, should have no problem shutting down a Browns
team that has more bark than bite in its game.
#2: Seattle at San Diego (0-1: Chi):
It looks like this is the week to choose between last year’s
Super Bowl teams as your survival pick. With so many games too close
to call, and only the Broncos a double-digit favorite, your next
best bet seems to be the Seahawks who dismantled Aaron Rodgers in
the league opener. Who says that Marshawn Lynch is done? Clearly,
he doesn’t think so, and with Russell Wilson looking like
he is becoming an elite quarterback (with a potent weapon in Percy
Harvin), the Seahawks seem likely to bury the Chargers in a familiar
0-2 hole at the beginning of the season. San Diego will try its
best to match the Hawks, but take NFC’s best team on the road
if you used Denver last week.
Image by Tilt Creative (Ty Schiff)
#1: Denver over Kansas City (1-0: PHI):
Peyton Manning started this season with his patented statistical
pyrotechnics by throwing three touchdowns to second year tight
end Julius Thomas. This week, Andy Reid and his punch-less Chiefs
visit Mile High and hope that Dwayne Bowe, reactivated after his
one-week suspension, returns to his 2011 form to help balance
out a rushing attack that was held in check in the loss to Tennessee.
The Chiefs don’t have the manpower to match up against this
high-powered Bronco offense. And with the prospect that Wes Welker
will play thanks to the newly revised drug policy in the NFL and
removal of his four-game suspension, there will be way too many
skill players to cover in a game that will probably be over before
halftime.
Mike Davis has been writing about fantasy football since 1999.
As a landlocked Oklahoman who longs for the sound of ocean waves,
he also writes about ocean colonization under the pen name Studio
Dongo. The latest installment in his science fiction series can
be found here.
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