IJamAllDay – Page 4 – The Lombardi Three

The opening 4 weeks of regular season league play is complete and, as most of you would assume, I’ve been itching to send out a league memo. I assure you the timing on this has nothing to do with the fact that The Stepdads have just taken down the undefeated, league-leading returning champ in good fashion. Gloating – check.

Player performance indicators have surfaced. Your draft picks should be showing some consistency in one direction or the other, injuries are playing out, and undrafted free agents and league rookies have been staking their claim in the lineup. We are also witnessing perhaps the greatest regular season performance by a QB in NFL History, and the complete collapse of those special teams that nobody likes…the Giants, the Steelers. Trash talk – check.

Through Week 4 our league is showing signs of two powerhouse leaders, the aforementioned returning champion, Genetic Black Jesus, and IJamAllDay. Both squads have imposingly amassed more than 700 points through 4 weeks. IJamAllDay has been outscoring his opponents by an average of 56.8 points per week and holds the top score in Week 4 at 235.65 points, inflating the previous statistic. Bagel Time and Packer Cave are also 3-1 but both teams have had the least points scored against them in the league, indicating scheduling has played a minor role in their wins to date. There is only 1 winless team left, and coincidentally, The Goonies have had the most points scored against them through week 4. The Goonies have indicated that they think my memos are too lengthy and that they rarely read them. 0-4, go figure. All that said, 11 out of 14 teams in the league are separated by a single win, demonstrating tremendous evidence of variation in the league and that this is still anyone’s game. Don’t get discouraged early. Don’t rely on NFL.com’s projections. They are shit. Do your homework. Be good or be good at it. Brief analysis / pep talk – check.

Don’t forget to utilize your two Reserve (RES) positions if needed. Basically, this allows for you to take any injured players and place them in a ‘Reserve’ spot in order to not have to drop them. This frees up that available space on your roster for a free agent. To bring that player back out of ‘Reserve’ you will obviously have to drop someone off your roster to make room for them. Only officially listed injured players can be placed in Reserve. It’s two free spots, use them. Friendly reminder – check.

*Bye weeks are in play so pay extra attention to your lineups and don’t make the epic mistake of playing someone who is off that week. This is a cardinal sin in my opinion and could get you replaced on next year’s league roster. Don’t be a deadbeat coach. Scolding – check.

Looking forward to everyone’s feedback, questions, commentary, and/or general bitching about your shitty draft return on investment. I feel you dog.

LM,
The Stepdads

Postscript (PS or P.S. for you numb nuts out there)

Very interesting statistic of note – Week 4 of last season was the week that perfectly separated the top half of the league and the bottom half of the league. The 6 winners in Week 4 went on to be the top 6 teams and compete in the playoffs. The 6 losers in Week 4 went on to eventually miss the playoffs and muddled their way through a meaningless consolation playoff. This was the only week last season that was perfectly split like that.

I wanted to get this out prior to the long holiday weekend to give you something to chew on during this extended break. Don’t be overwhelmed by this email, as they only come 3 or 4 times a season. And, really?! Find a better League Manager. Let’s get rolling.

In conjunction with my introductory memo on the 2013 season, I have made some significant modifications to the league, the team rosters and the scoring settings. We have added 4 new teams, dropped 1 and combined 1, expanding the Lombardi Three from a 12 to a 14 team league.

Introducing the new teams:

Young neophyte, dimly named, The New Guy (seriously bro, come up with a better name)
Jackie Treehorn’s sleeper squad, the Lake Hickory Swallops
Straight from the spirit world, Navaho tenderfoot, Chavez Chavez
Portland’s parturient, “still waiting to register…any day now…”

We dismissed Don’t Be Butt Hurt to cover his ever-pressing rectal examination schedule, and IJamAllDay and Laces Out have pooled efforts in an attempt to better their chances as each team competes for the prominence and grandeur that comes with the title, 2013 League Champion.

The draft will be the same scenario as last year; however, we will bump up the time to 2 minutes per pick. Last year flew by at 45 seconds per pick. We will certainly host a LIVE DRAFT PARTY on location, and set up Google Hangout for those who can’t make it. Draft day will likely be sometime in mid to late August, no later than the weekend of August 24^th. This allows for some previews of the preseason commotion, room to avoid fluke preseason injuries, and 2 weeks to make any trades and plan strategy prior to the regular season start.

I have decided to take the best of both worlds when it comes to the draft order. Some of you may have seen the sneak peek I left on the league home page yesterday. I wanted to maintain real-world conventions by giving the worst teams the higher draft status, but I also wanted to reward the league champion. That said, the draft order will be winner, loser, winner, loser, and so on. The new teams will fill in at the bottom of the order. Subsequent draft rounds will be flipped like last year. See table below.

The current weekly matchups on our league page are all subject to change. Much of this was automatically activated by NFL.com. I will go in and refresh this when we get closer to the draft, so don’t pay too much attention to what you see now. Just start thinking about your draft picks.

The fantasy playoffs will compete with the top 8 teams (bottom 6 playing in a consolation bracket) and the playoffs will begin one week earlier in Week 14, with the playoffs taking place over weeks 14-16 of the NFL regular season. This will avoid the issue we had last year in Week 17 when the NFL teams typically bench their key players to rest them for the NFL playoffs and you get screwed because your best guy is taking a nap.

As promised, I have made the following roster and scoring changes.

Roster Changes

Added 1 additional WR (now 3 WRs)
Added 1 Linebacker (LB) position
Added 2 Reserve Positions for injured players

Scoring Changes

KICK PUNT RETURNS*
- Kickoff and Punt Return Yards: 1 pt for every 20 yards
- Kickoff and Punt Return TDs: 6 pts for every TD

*All individual players are eligible to earn these statistics. This is key. Last year you may have had a WR or RB who was returning punts and you weren’t getting the credit for those yards. This will make an otherwise average player that much more valuable if he is adding points in the kick and punt return position.

KICKING*
- Point-after Attempt Missed: -1 pt (negative)
- Field Goal Missed: -1 pt (negative)

*As you all know, I analyzed just about every matchup last season and recognized that more than a few came down to a point or two. Why not add the real-time drama of the end-of-game FG to the fantasy game. I’d love to see one of these pad-less strokes miss a FG at the end of the game and drop some team a point out of the win.

DEFENSE*
- Fumbles Forced: 1 pt
- Blocked Kicks: 3 pts
- Kickoff and Punt Return Yards: 1 pt for every 20 yards
- Points Allowed 0: 25 pts
- Points Allowed 1-6: 20 pts
- Points Allowed 7-13: 15 pts
- Points Allowed 14-20: 10 pts
- Points Allowed 21-27: 5 pts
- Points Allowed 28 or more: 0 pts

*No negative points. The worst you can do on DEF is net zero. I’ve enjoyed playing leagues in the past where the DEF output actually had a decent impact on the matchup. The way we were set up last year, the DEF put up pretty indistinct numbers unless you had a rare, blowout game. With the NFL progressing to more of a high-scoring, pass-first offense, I thought we could up the ante on points allowed.

INDIVIDUAL DEFENSIVE PLAYER (new LB position)*
- Tackle: 2 pts
- Assisted Tackles: 1 pt
- Sack: 3 pts
- Tackles for Loss Bonus: 1 pt
- Sack Yards: 1 pt for every 5 yards
- Defense Interception: 2pts
- Forced Fumble (resulting in a turnover): 2 pts
- Fumbles Recovery: 2 pts
- Touchdown (Interception return): 6 pts
- Touchdown (Fumble return): 6 pts
- Touchdown (Blocked kick): 6 pts
- Safety: 2 pts
- Blocked Kick (punt, FG, PAT): 2 pts
- Interception Return: 1 pt for every 10 yards
- Fumble Return: 1 pt for every 10 yards
- 10+ Tackles Bonus: 5 pts
- 2+ Sacks Bonus: 3 pts

*This is a new, experimental position this year for us. It may look like a point here or two, but this is really a ton of available points, so we’ll see how it goes. Remember, this is only one player and it is rare that they get a tackle, force a fumble, recover the fumble, and run it back 40 yards for a TD (netting 16 pts.) all in the same play. However, I did some analysis on last year’s top LBs and the way these points are set up, the LB can net as much as the top RBs. Something to think about…a good LB may be just as valuable as a good RB.

As always, I’m looking forward to everyone’s feedback, your take on the outlined changes, questions and/or concerns, general bitching about your shitty job and shitty summer vacation, your bad haircut, commentary on former Packer, now Viking receiver, Greg Jennings and what’s wrong with Jermichael Finley’s hands. Oh, and upload an image for your team already, or I’ll do it for you. Let’s see how that goes.

See you all again in about a month to finalize the draft date and location. Travel safe.

-LM, The Stepdads (because we beat you and you hate us)