Tag: Packer Cave

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Things Are Not What They Seem

Asterisk I spent the last two weeks occupied with an NFL Media team of system developers regarding an issue that cropped up with our 2014 league results. They were communicating with me while the NFL Draft was going on. It was pretty cool. The results of our troubleshooting were essentially equivalent to…finding out that Santa Claus isn’t real. This is going to be one of my most interesting and challenging posts to date. Buckle up.

Let’s go back to two weeks ago.

Over the weekend of April 25-26, I was closing the books on the 2014 season, as you know. I record game scores and some key stats each week throughout the season in an offline workbook. That weekend I reviewed all the results and stats to make sure everything was accurate. Once my audit was complete, I issued virtual trophies and updated TheLombardiThree.com. Hopefully you took some time to read the posts.

My last order of business on the season was to appraise our 2014 League Champion’s results and post an article on his season. That Sunday morning, April 26, the League Champion was no longer listed on NFL.com as Money Manziel – it now indicated that the White Wes Welkers had won. As a matter of fact, the entire results of the season changed overnight, not just the League Champion. See below.

2014 Altered Results

The only management setting I tweaked that weekend was the activation of some of the virtual trophies. Nothing else was touched. Once I saw these changes in the season results I immediately pulled out my record of the season and began my investigation. I discovered changes in the scores of 19 matchups over the entire season. One of which, in Week 12, resulted in a change in Win/Loss between Bagel Time and REDSKINS. The change in this single game completely altered the playoff standings, and ultimately the results of the season.

How the hell did this happen overnight?!?! This is the question I posed to NFL.com.

During the last two weeks, I worked closely with one of NFL Media’s reps and his developers to figure out what happened. There was a technical glitch. This discovery was both an education in how our stat corrections work over the season (there is a statute of limitations), and a shocking discovery that the results of every NFL Fantasy season are not what they seem. NFL.com’s finding is posted below.

Letter from NFL

These guys stuck with me working on this even after I told them to just forget it at one point. I highly respect them for both working patiently with me on this issue and for continuously reinforcing a positive relationship with the customer (us) at the same time. I was ready to pull the plug on this platform completely for our fantasy league. But after this encounter we’re sticking with em.

There are a few ways to look at this going forward.

(1) By including all of the statistical corrections throughout the season, past the statute of limitations setting, this hiccup altered the season to what some would argue were the true results. I have suggested to NFL.com that they make this a league setting that we can manage. I think we should include all stat corrections that come in past the 5-day statute of limitations, at least throughout the regular season. That is the most accurate outcome. And I think it would add a fun twist to the regular season.

Or,

(2) Our season originally ended exactly the way it should have. We have the league settings in place that we do to prevent season-altering systematic events to take place. There needs to be some sort of control over the weekly results, otherwise the league is basically on auto-pilot throughout the season. I have insisted that NFL.com change our results back to the way it was at the conclusion of the season.

No matter how you look at it, there is essentially an asterisk on every one of our seasons. There could be an unrecorded tackle, or unaccounted yard out there that may have affected the results of each one of our seasons in one way or another. Because of this incredibly coincidental timing, we were exposed to that reality. Kinda takes the grandeur out of it for me. For each one of us that won or lost a matchup by a mere point or two, who knows how your season truly ended up?

 

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Season 3 Trophies Have Been Issued

Season stats have been tabulated. Trophies have been issued. LockinUWL was the big winner with 6 trophies on the plus side including Best QB, Best RB, Best LB Performance and League Total Points. The big loser was last year’s champ, Reservations For Six. RFS shit trophy terds for Regular Season Loser, Single Game Low Score, and Least Points Scored on the season. Thanks for taking some of the heat off my lady, Schoolya’gain, for her 10-game losing streak. You were a very close second-to-last honey. You both sucked this year – seek counseling.

The trophy images are gooned up on the site. I will adjust them when NFL.com fixes their bugs. Click HERE to see your trophy case.

League Champion:  Money Manziel 8-8
2nd Place:  Eastside Forty-Ounces 10-6
3rd Place:  White Wes Welkers 10-6
League Total Points:  LockinUWL 3,016.95

Explosive Playoff Comeback:  Money Manziel +7 (From 8th to 1st)
Playoff Choke:  Air Jordy -7 (From 1st to 8th)

Regular Season Champion:  Air Jordy 10-3
Regular Season Total Points:  Air Jordy 2,473.60
Season High Score:  Eastside Forty-Ounces 262.00 (Week 14)
Longest Win Streak:  REDSKINS +6 (Weeks 7-12)

Regular Season Loser:  Reservations For Six 3-10
Longest Losing Streak:  Schoolya’gain -10 (Weeks 6-16)
Regular Season Low Score:  Reservations For Six 72.70 (Week 11)
Most Points Left on the Bench (Loss):  Packer Cave 134.50 (Week 14)
Dead Last:  Schoolya’gain 3-12
Least Points Scored:  Reservations For Six 2,222.10

Best overall QB:  LockinUWL 548.35 Aaron Rodgers
Best QB Performance:  LockinUWL 66.75 Aaron Rodgers (Week 10)

Best overall RB:  LockinUWL 387.50 Le’Veon Bell
Best RB Performance:  LockinUWL 49.50 Le’Veon Bell (Week 14)

Best overall WR:  REDSKINS 437.05 Antonio Brown
Best WR Performance:  Air Jordy 54.95 Jeremy Maclin (Week 8)

Best overall TE:  Lake Hickory Swallops 274.40 Rob Gronkowski
Best TE Performance:  Lake Hickory Swallops 45.90 Rob Gronkowski (Week 8)

Best overall K:  Packer Cave 170.00 Stephen Gostkowski
Best K Performance:  Packer Cave 21.00 Stephen Gostkowski (Week 5)

Best overall DEF:  Bagel Time 443.20 Buffalo Bills
Best DEF Performance:  White Wes Welkers 59.15 St. Louis Rams (Week 14)

Best overall LB:  Eastside Forty-Ounces 319.40 DeAndre Levy
Best LB Performance:  LockinUWL 36.00 Curtis Lofton (Week 14)

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TL3 QUARTERLY Volume 3 Issue 1

You Are Not Alone
Your running back is either (1) seriously injured, (2) facing an indefinite suspension, or (3) presently beating the shit out his fiancé, wife, mother, or one of a sundry of illegitimate children. This third scenario eventually placing him in scenario 2. He may even be beating the shit out of one of his colleagues on the field. There is nothing like the level of class and sportsmanship that comes with those millions of dollars in the NFL.

The only positive to come from all of this, fantasy-wise, is that you are not alone. The RB core has been debilitated over the first four weeks of play. Only a few of them were performing as expected anyway, so maybe we aren’t missing much. I don’t know. Maybe this hit too close to home for me – watching my #1 Draft Pick, again, go down early in a flaming heap of pathetic shit. Things are looking up though. Doug Martin made an appearance. Jamaal Charles looked like Jamaal Charles last night with 3 TDs against Belichick’s Brady Bunch. And word on the street is that we’ll see Rice, Peterson and Dwyer at some point this season. The NFL can’t keep a good criminal down.

PPR
More importantly, the first 4 weeks of play have shown that this is now a passing league and the Wide Receiver is king. The Point-Per-Reception (PPR) change this season has opened up a whole new level of scoring for us, and some longevity at that position’s value. This really does make sense – the tailback position has been devalued in recent years and there hasn’t been a running back drafted in the first round since 2012. Why not take advantage?

Breaking down the top 3 WRs and top TE for each team, let’s take a look at who has capitalized the most from this change. Some are doing more with less and some are not taking advantage of the available players out there. Reigning champ, RFS, can easily boost his PPR Strength from 155 to 139 with little to no effort. I hesitate saying that going in to Week 5 facing yours truly, but something must be said. 

PPR

Leaderboard
By Week 3 of our maiden season (2012) there were no undefeated teams. By Week 4 of last season (2013) everyone had a dink on their record. We are through 4 weeks in 2014 and still have 2 undefeated teams. Air Jordy and Packer Cave sit at the top of the leaderboard, tied for 1st at 4-0 with only 7.5 points separating them. These two dynamos are averaging 190 points per week, but the fact that they have faced the least amount of production to date shouldn’t worry the competition – yet. Air Jordy and Packer Cave’s opponents have scored a league-low average of 153 points and 143 points per week, respectively. This trend will likely continue for Air Jordy in Week 5 as he faces 12th-seated Reservations For Six. Packer Cave has a tougher matchup as he faces the 2-2 White Wes Welkers who have put up over 205 points twice in the last three weeks. 

Just one game back, IJamAllDay and E-40 at 3-1 have put up strong showings but both have had to endure losses to standout performances from Air Jordy and the Lake Hickory Swallops. The Swallops, taking down then undefeated IJAD, continue to improve each week, with production up 25% from Week 1. E-40 has worked the waiver wire intelligently and managed to scoop up every backup RB for the aforementioned core of RBs on the mend. We’ll have to see how this plays out for him. 

Speaking of waiver wire – did anyone notice a few weeks back when REDSKINS (formerly Genetic Black Jesus) stuck Josh Gordon in his back pocket? With Gordon’s suspension reduced to 10 weeks, versus the expected season-long hiatus, he will be available in Week 11. Being the #1 WR in 2013, this was essentially a bonus first-round draft pick for REDSKINS. Already having the 5th highest points in the league, and ranking 3rd in PPR strength, this pickup could wreak havoc on the last 6 matchups of the season. 

Don’t get discouraged yet. Don’t trade away your best players because you MAY get someone on the waiver wire. Don’t rely on NFL.com’s projections – they are shit. Do your homework. Don’t forget to utilize your two Reserve (RES) positions if needed. This allows for you to take any injured or suspended players and place them in a ‘Reserve’ spot in order to not have to drop them. This frees up that available space on your bench for a free agent. To bring that player back out of ‘Reserve’ you will obviously have to drop someone off your bench to make room for them. Only officially listed injured (IR) or suspended (SUS) players can be placed in Reserve. *I don’t agree with being able to place suspended players in Reserve, but I have no control of that feature. It’s two free spots, use them. 

Bye weeks are in play so pay extra attention to your lineups. Playing someone your best one week, then playing the next guy with 4 players on BYE is tremendously unfair to the other teams in the league, and violates the terms of the Constitution. Don’t be that guy.

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We Have Winners

So this Bench Swap experiment worked out after all. Well, for those of you who weren’t so blindingly loyal to an offensive line so atrocious that you stand no chance against the Lions at home. One shitty game was the deciding factor for 4 of the 6 teams at 11-5 who thought the Packers were gonna beat the Lions. The other 2 teams at 11-5 were the only teams to throw a bone to the Browns at home over the Ravens.

Yours truly actually submitted his form with an asterisk next to the Pack-Lions game, knowing that his allegiance to the Green and Gold was going to sink his chances at earning a Bench Swap. Loyalty sucks…and violates the #1 rule in fantasy football – play with your head, not with your heart.

More importantly, 2 teams have earned a Bench Swap! The winners are LockinUWL and Schoolya’gain at 12-4. See the Bench Swap page or the Constitution on the TheLombardiThree.com to learn how and when to exercise these Bench Swaps. They are eligible for use in Week 3, but will not help either team as Schoolya’ pulled off a nice win this week and Lockin’ has no one on his bench that performed well enough to warrant a Bench Swap. Keep a lookout over the next few weeks though as Schoolya’ and Lockin’ play the White Wes Welkers and Reservations For Six in Week 4, and Bagel Time and REDSKINS in Week 5. Watch out boys!

My advice: a win is a win, so use them as soon as you have the opportunity, as you may not have enough on the bench to use them later.

Well done this week everyone. Of note – everyone picked the Titans and Jaguars to lose, and only The Swallops picked the Jets to win. Till next year.

12-4 (WINNERS!)
LockinUWL
Schoolya’gain

11-5 (UUUGH – SO CLOSE!!)
Air Jordy
Bagel Time
Eastside Forty-Ounces
Lake Hickory Swallops
Packer Cave
White Wes Welkers

9-7
Money Manziel

8-8
IJamAllDay

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12 is the Magic Number

Well, that sucked again. But business first. There are still 3 deadbeat daddies out there who haven’t paid their child support. We need to incorporate some level of conformity to be fair to the rest of the players in the league, because halfway through the season (if your team sucks shit) you are that much less likely to pay your season dues at all. So that said, if League Dues aren’t paid by the conclusion of Week 4, I will disable the Add/Drop and Trade features on that team’s account. By the conclusion of Week 5 Roster Changes and Roster Options will be locked out. We are wrapping up Week 2 now so that gives you 2 full weeks to mow lawns, bag groceries, plant tulips, or whatever it is you have to do to pull together 25 bucks.

12 is the magic number people! Get those final Week 3 Ball Gazer forms to me before Thursday’s Buccs – Falcons matchup.

As far as Week 2 went, we were all toast by the conclusion of the 1:00 games. No one picked the Browns to beat the Saints, the Chargers to beat the Seahawks, or the Bears to beat the 49ers. The only 2 winners we all predicted accurately were the Broncos and Packers. Results follow. Nice work again E40.

9-6
Bagel Time
Eastside 40-Ounces

7-8
Air Jordy
IJamAllDay
Lake Hickory Swallops
Money Manziel

6-9
LockinUWL
Packer Cave
Schoolya’gain

5-10
White Wes Welkers

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No Bench Swaps Earned!

By the conclusion of the 1:00 PM ET games, there were no teams left eligible to earn a Bench Swap in Week 1. Out of the 11 submissions, 2 teams tied for “Least Worst” at 7-4, only 1 team picked the Texans, and no one picked the Dolphins or Titans.

Analysis: We aren’t very good at this. The Redskins aren’t very good at football.

7-4
Eastside Forty-Ounces
IJamAllDay

6-5
Schoolya’gain

5-6
LockinUWL
REDSKINS
White Wes Welkers

4-7
Air Jordy
Money Manziel
Packer Cave

3-8
Bagel Time
Lake Hickory Swallops

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Reminder – Ball Gazers Week 1

Friendly reminder…if you are interested in trying to earn a Bench Swap, Week 1 Ball Gazer submissions are due before tonight’s Green Bay @ Seattle matchup. I have only received 2 forms thus far from Packer Cave and the White Wes Welkers. See the Bench Swaps page for details and forms. I have updated the forms to include the new team names. Week 1 is also attached below.

Ball Gazers Week 1

FYI – the forms are in beta test/mode. I am pretty sure the interactive functions on the form will not work on a Mac, or on our mobile platform, but you can print, fill out and scan the form, or just send me your list of winners via email. Or you can comment somewhere directly on this site or the league homepage on NFL.com. As long as we have some timestamp of your picks. Shit, call me up and leave a message or shoot me a text with your picks. Anything works! Let’s not overcomplicate things. More user-friendly PDF forms are in the works.

Peace Cochise.

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DRAFT REPORT CARDS

Nice work today everyone. According to NFL.com Schoolya’gain and REDSKINS are tied for first place (T1) post draft. You should have gotten your email by now. Share this jibberish with me so I can share with the world. I’ll add screen shots below as I receive them.

Don’t forget to submit your Ball Gazers this week in order to win a Bench Swap. Forms are due before Thursday night’s game.

 REDSKINS RCSchoolya'gain RCphoto 2 (2)photo 1photo 3photo 2 (1)photo (4)photo 1 (2)photo 1 (1)photo 2

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Draft Lottery Winner

The Live Draft will be Saturday morning August 30th at 11am eastern. That’s 8am for the west coasters and somewhere in between for you middle-America bozos. According to the TL3 calendar, that’s 7 days out. This is another reminder to GET – YOUR – SHIT – TOGETHER.

Air Jordy and Packer Cave have run a series of online and offline randomizers and the winner of the 1st Overall Draft Pick is….
MONEY MANZIEL

The rest of the teams fall in to place based on the rules of the Constitution. The following draft order can be reviewed on the league homepage under League / Draft Info. The Weekly Schedule was also randomized.

1. Money Manziel
2. Reservations For Six
3. Schoolya’gain
4. White Wes Welkers
5. Air Jordy
6. Bagel Time
7. IJamAllDay
8. Lake Hickory Swallops
9. REDSKINS
10. LockinUWL
11. Packer Cave
12. Eastside Forty-Ounces

I do have an update on league membership. We have discharged the Lincoln Co. Chavezes, Put a Bird On It and The Goonies to seek out professional help. Let’s face it, those cats had a problem. They were addicted to NOT playing fantasy football well. Keep up the average effort boys and girls.

We have subsequently added Eastside Forty-Ounces! E40 has several years of fantasy experience and will be tough competition. Don’t sleep on this FNG.

Correction: I have to amend last week’s post to clearly identify this year’s Draft Party MC. The Regal Beagles have updated their appellation to the White Wes Welkers. Clever play on words buddy (hint: Game of Thrones). Big fan of the show, so me likey. The NFC North would likely be on that side of the wall.

Hope all is well. Looking forward to the usual BS on Draft Day next Saturday. I got a pack of blacks and a beat cd, get yo’ freestyle ready.

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TL3 Newssheet Issue 5

Another season in the books, another newssheet, more stats, more charts, more tables, and like Lieutenant Dan, I’m rollin’! This season’s final issue is packed with this crap. Oh… and there is a little puff piece on our 2013 League Champion

RFS Team Logo 3.1

Dude went on a 7-game streak of terror to close this thing out and did it only scoring the 6th most points this season. Not to mention he did it without a single top-ranked player. For full coverage of his extraordinary run check out Faceless.

Congrats are in order to my personal favorite squad who vociferously “Schooledya’gain” over our second season. The Stepdads and Bagel Time donned 3rd and 4th place finishes, after barely making the playoffs seated 7th and 8th, respectively, sharing the trophy for Playoff Comeback. A listing of all the 2013 League Trophies, as well as a peek at the 2014 Draft Landscape, and a statistical look at our first two seasons in League History, all accompany this final, 2013 season issue of the Lombardi Newssheet.

League Commissioner,
The Stepdads

See Newssheets Archive for this Issue.