The Mashup is back for week 6 with a scoring clarification. Last night it was brought to my attention by (a somewhat incredulous) Kent that special teams units that muff punts should get penalized 3 points for losing a fumble since it was their unit that lost it. The appeal, however, was denied. Lost fumbles are offensive statistics and recovered fumbles are defensive statistics. Consider for example an botched snap recovered by the running back. If the defense recovers the fumble, its -3 for the quarterback. However, if the running back recovers the fumble, no penalty for losing the fumble, but the running back does NOT get credit for recovering one as he is NOT a defensive player. The same thing would be true if a quarterback or running back makes a tackle on something such as an interception return. If were were playing in an individual defensive player (or IDP) league, that would be different, but since we only consider defenses as collective units, we do not take into account offensive things done by defensive players (except for touchdowns) and vice versa. Defenses get scored as a unit on defensive things. Offensive players do not get credit for defensive things. Another example would be if a receiver were to play safety on a Hail Mary type situation and happened to intercept the pass. He would NOT get credit for the interception as he is not a defensive player.
This would be the case if we were using Yahoo, ESPN, or any other superior scoring system. Should anyone really feel the need to challenge this, they are more than welcome to introduce a league bill that can be voted on, either to take effect this season or next.
As far as the action goes on the field (and of course the fantasy field), week 6 finally saw some teams that were getting big heads about themselves come back down to Earth. The Lions run at perfection was halted by the 49ers, thanks in no small part to a handshake that turned into a backslap, that turned into a shove, that turned into Jim Schwartz challenging Jim Harbaugh to a fight amid a mass of people not unlike the end of a prize boxing match. Elsewhere, everybody can relax. The Redskins are not in first place anymore. The world is not supposed to end until 2012 anyway, right? They were soundly beaten by the former Dream Team thanks to Sexy Rexy Grossman's 4 interception day and (hopeful) relegation to the bench for the rest of the season. Green Bay continues its quest for perfection, practically having a bye week against the hapless Rams.
In MIISFFL, the Pub Dogs division looks to be what the Greene Turtles division was from last year. 5 teams currently sit at .500 and only Matt one game back at 2-4. In the Greene Turtles, there is more clear separation as now Zach takes the lead at 5-1, and could very well be 6-0 save for a narrow defeat in week 1 (even scoring 149 points in the losing effort). Another exciting week in the books, so now we can get to the match recaps.
The Supreme Team may have been griping about one muffed kick, but considering that he was playing Zach, it didn't really matter. Ron Mexico pots another 140 in a 50 point drubbing of last year's champ. And you know what the really scary thing is? This 140 came IN SPITE of single digits from his quarterback and top 2 wide receivers. It is really scary to imagine how good this team is. Probably the happiest guys in the leauge are me and Patrick Deegan...the only two guys that Zach does NOT play this year in the regular season...a lot of good that's done us at 3-3 apiece. In any event, this game might be signaling a changing of the guard. Kent rallied from a sub .500 record last year to squeak into the playoffs and take advantage of opponents with injured quarterbacks. This year, he loses by half-a-hundy to a team with a quarterback taking the week off. Zach leads the league in scoring by 55 points and by almost 200 to the next guy...yikes.
The 09 champ is back at .500 for the first time this season pulling upstart Sean back to the middle of the pack. Right now, it looks like Caputo's Corner is getting the better end of that Gore and Holmes for Forte deal with the Supreme Team as the two combined for 37 points this week compared to Forte who scored just a respectable 15. It didn't help Sean that Brady only went for 13 points as perhaps we really don't know what to expect from Sean on a week to week basis...truly an Unknown Quantity if there ever was one. In week 1, he scores 160 in a win over Gaz. The next 5 weeks have been under 115, but he still won 3 of them. Just like last season, Caputo's Corner took one on the chin in the first couple weeks, but rebounded to have the best record in the league. Perhaps history is repeating itself. The next test is a rematch with a KSo team in week 7 that put Caputo's Corner to 0-2.
Speaking of KSo, he is enjoying one of his best seasons in years. Back in the States on his way to Guam (yes...Guam), KSo took advantage of the layover to lay one on JP, as Techmo might be the only thing Bo knows after losing 2 in a row following a 4-0 start. Aaron Rodgers did his job scoring 28 points, but as the Packers went easy on the Rams, the rest of the team did not pick up the slack. KSo had no such production out of the quarterback position, but 20 points out of the kicker proved be the difference in a 17 point win. Yes, folks, even when KSo wins, he has the kicker to thank. All those years of scouting kickers for potential first round draft picks are finally paying off. As for JP, a rematch with Zach awaits as Zach looks to avenge his only defeat of the season in a battle of the top two scorers in MIISFFL and what looks to be the marquee matchup of week 7.
It's the Running of the Sheep as The Extreme Team is falling fast, and Patrick Small took advantage scoring his first win since week 1. What happened to Tom's squad remains a mystery...perhaps dealing Gore and Bradshaw to the Supreme Team in exchange for a now banged up Andre Johnson might have something to do with it. That's the danger with trades and drop-adds in FFL. You could get exactly what you want, only to have your prize prospect blow out his knee in the first game he plays for you. Andrew Johnson and Kenny Britt are on crutches, and after being 3-0 the Extreme Team might be on life support now two games behind Zach for the division lead and in a large glut of 3-3 teams vying for just 1 wild card spot at the moment.
Jeff is only the second to last recap of the week this week! Unfortunately for him, he wishes he were last as Gaz took his clothes off and diffused the bomb yet again. Pierre Thomas (a castaway from Caputo's Corner) did the damage for Jeff as a -1 kept him outside explosion distance and Gaz got good scores from Cincinnati defense (Cincinnati?) and Mendenhall. Don't look now, but as soon as Gaz started the KSo-patented concede the season approach, he has now won 3 in a row, albeit in less than convincing fashion. His self-confidence is so think you could shave it with a razor. As for Jeff, he knows he might need some waterproof matches now as it does not appear that a .500 record will win his division with the way Zach is bulldozing his way through the Greene Turtles division.
Finally, we cannot forget about the teacher bowl, won by the birthday boy Patrick Deegan (happy birthday Pat!). Once again, the offensive explosions evident in the first two weeks of the season were not on display in this match as Matt was only able to scrounge up a paltry 77 points. Pat only scored 93, but far more balanced scoring from his team proved to be the difference. Matt got 20 from Ray Rice, but that was pretty much it. Pat completes the season sweep of Matt and looks to go 4-0 in teacher bowls as he matches up with Caputo's Corner during League Meeting Week in November.
Big time decisions will be made in week 7 as the plot thickens, and we reach the halfway point of the MIISFFL regular season. Has it been that long already? Here are the matchups to look forward to:
Kent-Matt (Can the champ exert his Supremeness over the rookie?)
Nick-KSo (Revenge match from week 2 for the 09 Champs)
Tom-Jeff (Extreme Team meets a bomb...get ready to explode)
Gaz-Sean (The Battle of Northern Virginia)
Zach-JP (A revenge match for Zach...really?)
Patrick Small-Patrick Deegan (I guarantee that Patrick is going to win)
That's a wrap on this week's edition of the Mashup. Don't forget that the LEAGUE MEETING is getting closer and closer. Mark your calendars now!
I AM SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MYSELF!
Fin
There was no appeal, Nick. What occurred was me pointing out an obvious flaw in the scoring system and you arguing against me (ironically arguing the opposite of the principle you once argued vehemently in favor of - against me, no less, but we'll get to that).
ReplyDeleteSo once upon a time the scoring for fantasy defenses and special teams units sucked balls. In those primitive days, the value of your D/ST's points against was simply the final score. That meant that if your D/ST's OFFENSE gave up a defensive score, your defense - despite not being on the field - was penalized for it. This has allegedly changed. HOWEVER (imagine the shittiest Stephen A. Smith impersonation here), the extra point following a defensive score inexplicably counts against the defense. How could this be so?
Well, our esteemed commissioner once argued that PATs CAN, despite the rules of organized football, exist in a vacuum - that is to say, they can occur without the touchdown preceding them. Then, when it was made clear to him that that was indeed not the case, he still argued (feebly) that the defense had a chance to block the PAT - but how many times have you seen a blocked PAT in an NFL game in your LIFE? Maybe two or three times. He even attacked my integrity at this point, saying I'd want credit for the blocked PAT, but my stance remained staunch: like the touchdown the predicated it, the PAT did not exist in the football game in which my D/ST was playing.
Finally, he arrived at the crux of his argument, which I will paraphrase: Because SOME roster spot member of a fantasy team was on the field at the time the PAT was surrender, someone MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE for it being scored. This is a stance he occupied until Monday night.
As it is currently calibrated, this league penalizes roster spots who lose fumbles 3 points. Arbitrarily, the D/ST is exempted from this rule. But Kent, you might ask, was not a roster spot member of a fantasy team on the field at the time the fumble occurred, meaning said roster spot should be penalized the 3 points? If we had a consistent rule, then yes, Virginia, that would be correct. But apparently this dogmatic stance on accountability isn't so dogmatic, after all.
For the record, this will be coming to a vote. Zach has already seconded that, in Maddenian terms, a fumble is a fumble, and as Nick once posited, there should be fantasy accountability for ALL positions on ALL plays, including fumbles - even if it *shudder* benefits Kent.
OK...despite your claims to the contrary, I have been nothing but consistent on all of this. I'm not trying to pull a reverse Ryan Bloom and interpret rules solely to your detriment. Believe me, I don't think that strongly about it...really.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, I am not arguing in favor of your interpretation of the rule or against. I'm just positing an explanation for something that has been on the books (and not really discussed due to the rarity of the incidence) for the first 2 years of MIISFFL and the first 6 weeks of this season. You asked me to explain it and I did. I am happy to explain rules, but it would be nice if you were not so argumentative when asking for a rules interpretation. You don't ask, "can you explain this rule to me please?" Instead you just send me a text that says...and I quote "That kickoff fumble better get a -3 for Zach."
Now if you want to codify defense and special teams getting charged for lost fumbles in the same way as offense, by all means bring a vote. This has been, after all, a democratic league ever since I ascended to the commisioner's chair.
That last post was from Nick...for some reason I still have issues posting comments on my own blog. I can't figure it out...
ReplyDeleteOk, "despite [my] claims to the contrary?" I provided like DNA evidence that you're a bigger flip-flopper than Mitt Romney. But that's neither here nor there. As I said, defensive scoring will be voted on in the off-season (you should never change rules in the middle of a season - particularly scoring rules). And this was a democratic league since before you inherited my commissioner's chair.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, the terseness in my text message was based entirely on the history of your ridiculous stances on defensive scoring in fantasy football detailed above. You could say I already smelled the bullshit brewing, and verily it came to pass, as predicted by my tone (to the extent text messages have tone).
ReplyDelete