Laces Out – The Lombardi Three

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)

For those that don’t know, our league name was established in honor of the three consecutive NFL titles that Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers won in ’65, ’66 and ’67. The latter titles were Super Bowls I and II. Hence the league name and password 656667. Moving on.

The opening 4 weeks of regular season league play is complete. We are set up to play 14 weeks of regular season league play, then the top 6 teams compete in a ‘playoffs’ setting which is played over the last 3 weeks of the NFL’s regular season. The bottom 6 teams play in a consolation bracket during those last 3 weeks. So, your goal is to make the top 6 in order to compete for League Champion. The league officially ends at the conclusion of the NFL’s regular season.

Week 4 certainly had its share of blowouts, and for now, the league is showing signs of a few standout leaders. Although, no one is undefeated. LockinUWL has had a solid start and has outscored his opponents by an average of 41.2 points a week. He also holds the top score in Week 3 at 181.4 points, inflating the previous statistic. The Stepdads are 3-1 but only have one player in the top 30 for fantasy points this season. Reservations For Six has been outscored by a total of 53.9 points this season and still sits with a winning record at 3-1. There are only 2 winless teams left, and coincidentally, they have had the most points scored against them through week 4. All that said, there is tremendous evidence of variation in the league and this is still anyone’s game.

Performance indicators are starting to surface. Your top draft picks should be showing some consistency in one direction or the other, injuries are playing out, and undrafted league rookies have been staking their claim.

I added some working notes below for next season and hope you have some suggestions to make it more fun and competitive. Of present note is Reserve positions. I can still set up 1 or 2 reserve positions in our lineups, and I can do it now. I thought I had set this up at the beginning of the season, but I guess that setting didn’t take or I missed something. 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, and free 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 injured players can be placed in ‘Reserve’.

*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. Talkin’ to you Regal Beagles and Laces Out! You both have 4 players on Bye this week.

Some notes for next season:
Add another Wide Receiver position
Add Special Teams stats (I thought I had this set up preseason)
Add 1 or 2 Reserve positions for injured players (again, I thought I had set this up preseason)
**I can still set this up but it must be voted in. I won’t establish mid-season without at least a 10/12 vote.
Maybe add Defensive Line, Linebacker and/or Defensive Back positions

Looking forward to everyone’s feedback, your vote on Reserve positions, questions, general bitching about your shitty team’s performance, or commentary on the unending debauchery between the NFL referees and the Green Bay Packers. The Packers got the other end of the wheel barrow handle this week against the Saints and the Refs blew 2 challenges and a 4th quarter fumble. Just sayin’, something’s amiss.

LM,
The Stepdads – because we beat you, and you hate us