The Extra Point

With the huge popularity of Fantasy Football, I just wanted to throw out an idea for those of you in leagues run by popular websites like ESPN or Yahoo.  Fantasy is supposed to mimic real life, right?  Player does well in the real game, then he does well in Fantasy.  Then why, why, why do the big leagues all reward Touchdown’s way more than other stats!  Look at these two lines:

49 rushing yards  1-7 receiving  2 TD (3,14)

92 rushing yards  0 Rec  1 TD (14)

Who helped the team win more?  And don’t get stuck on “Well, points win you ballgames, so it is the guy who got you more points”.  I mean, honestly, would a coach rather have the first, or the second line.  Yards get you the ability to score 3-yards TD’s.  Yet, and here is the kicker, in a league such as ESPN, the line on top scores 16 points, while the line on the bottom scores 15.  (just for ccomparison sake, the league I am in the bottom line wins 24 points to 20 points). 

Marion Barber (the 1st line above is his Week 9 line) is outscoring Jullius Jones (the 2nd line is Mr. Jones Week 9 line) in ESPN fantasy 138 - 130.  Whose season stats would you rather have?

567 yds. rushing  14 rec.  146 rec. yards  

993 yds. rushing  8 rec.  132 rec. yards

Pretty easy choice, huh?  (again, Marion Barber on the top, Julius Jones on the bottom)   But because Barber is the short-yardage favorite of his coach, he has that aforementioned 138-130 Fantasy Point lead.  Stop the insanity people!  Fantasy is a lot more fun rooting for every play - not just rooting for who gets the ball when the Cowboys are inside the 5!  If your league doesn’t account for this, get together with some buddies and make up some fair rules, where every play has an impact on the bottom fantasy-line. 

Just in case you were wondering, in The ExtraPoint league, Jones has 263 points to Barber’s 206, which looking at the above lines, seems a lot more fair.  Before next football season, we will post our rules so you can see how much fun it is to have every play accounted for.