The Week 16 Championship Debate

[leftypower]

Never been a fan of wk 17 Championship. Too many unknown variables with NFL teams already locked into playoff seeding and nothing left to play for. A Championship should never be decided when a dominate team for 16 weeks suddenly has two or three of his best players sit. .... that's makes no sense to me. If you're gonna do that then screw the 16 weeks beforehand, except for seeding - then just have a draft between the playoff teams from whomever is actually playing in week 17 - top seed top pick.

 

[Barilko]

Other solution is play double headers

Also if anyone worries about unbalanced schedules loose the divisions

 

[TREFF]

Never been a fan of wk 17 Championship. Too many unknown variables with NFL teams already locked into playoff seeding and nothing left to play for. A Championship should never be decided when a dominate team for 16 weeks suddenly has two or three of his best players sit. .... that's makes no sense to me. If you're gonna do that then screw the 16 weeks beforehand, except for seeding - then just have a draft between the playoff teams from whomever is actually playing in week 17 - top seed top pick.

That could be fun....

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Or just change it to roto... so the best team always wins!!!

 

[averagejoe]

My very first fantasy league back in 2001, we had 3 divisons. Division winners made the playoffs and had a bye. 3 other teams were wild cards, 2 with next best record and 1 with most points not already in the playoffs. The 3 wild cards played each other in round 1.

The format eliminated the complaint about a team with most points not making the playoffs.

 

[TREFF]

My very first fantasy league back in 2001, we had 3 divisons. Division winners made the playoffs and had a bye. 3 other teams were wild cards, 2 with next best record and 1 with most points not already in the playoffs. The 3 wild cards played each other in round 1.

The format eliminated the complaint about a team with most points not making the playoffs.

So a triple threat death match? With the winner playing the #1 seed and #2 vs #3?? Cool

 

[averagejoe]

So a triple threat death match? With the winner playing the #1 seed and #2 vs #3?? Cool

The other cool thing about my first league was there was no free agency until after week 3. So you had to roll with the team you drafted for 3 weeks.

After week 3, all 12 owners had a supplemental draft of 4 rounds based on the original draft order. If you wanted to pick up a free agent, you had to drop a player.

Since that was my first year playing FF, I thought all leagues were like that .

 

[tlance]

THIs is a little outside the box, but TKO's idea gave me another that is a bit more traditional. Here goes

Regular season ends week 11. Top 2 seeds earn a double bye, 3 and 4 get a single bye

Week 12: 8 plays 5 and 7 plays 6
Week 13: winner of 8v5 plays 4, winner 7v6 plays 3 (reseeding optional)
Week 14: 1 plays winner of 8,4,5, 2 plays winner of 3,6,7 (again, reseeding optional)
Weeks 15 and 16: 2 week championship

So, you get a balanced schedule, more teams with a fighting shot in the playoffs, but still a huge advantage with the byes for the higher seeds.

 

[averagejoe]

Other solution is play double headers

I wish we could play double-headers. Too bad ESPN doesn't allow that format.

 

[SteelersPride]

Never been a fan of wk 17 Championship. Too many unknown variables with NFL teams already locked into playoff seeding and nothing left to play for. A Championship should never be decided when a dominate team for 16 weeks suddenly has two or three of his best players sit. .... that's makes no sense to me. If you're gonna do that then screw the 16 weeks beforehand, except for seeding - then just have a draft between the playoff teams from whomever is actually playing in week 17 - top seed top pick.

this is basically my sentiment on this discussion

 

[wildturkey]

Week 17 games for FF is dog doodoo. There's a reason most don't do it and that reason is its stupid and a pain in the ass. Tell your league mates to stop being stubborn contrarians. Trying to figure out what players are sitting, which teams might not give a fuck, etc is just too much to deal with this late in the season. It's too much randomness added into a game that's already got a big chunk of random chance to it.

 

[femurov]

Week 17 games for FF is dog doodoo. There's a reason most don't do it and that reason is its stupid and a pain in the ass. Tell your league mates to stop being stubborn contrarians. Trying to figure out what players are sitting, which teams might not give a fuck, etc is just too much to deal with this late in the season
. It's too much randomness added into a game that's already got a big chunk of random chance to it.

I am being the stubborn contrarian.

And I still haven't heard a valid argument against it, other than some players may sit, which happens every other week of the season because of injury.

 

[Schmoopy1000]

we just have a 6 team playoffs.
1 & 2 seed get a bye 1st week of playoffs.
16 week season.

We never use the final week of football.

 

[leftypower]

I am being the stubborn contrarian.
And I still haven't heard a valid argument against it, other than some players may sit, which happens every other week of the season because of injury.

Not sure what other rationale against could be any stronger. In season injuries happen - it's part of the game you should prepare for. But if your best player(s) arbitrarily sits (or only plays token snaps) strictly because of the teams playoff ranking (which certainly will happen to someone), then your banking an entire season on what you can get off waivers for wk 17 - heck of a way to potentially lose - but to each his own. ... carry on.

 

[SteelersPride]

I am being the stubborn contrarian.

And I still haven't heard a valid argument against it, other than some players may sit, which happens every other week of the season because of injury.

alot of players sit. thats my argument and sole argument. It is completely unfair to lose your epic season because Kamara and breese sit or only play a half.

There is a huge difference bw injuries, and healthy scratches

 

[wildturkey]

I am being the stubborn contrarian.

And I still haven't heard a valid argument against it, other than some players may sit, which happens every other week of the season because of injury.

Sitting due to injuries is different from sitting because we've locked in a playoff spot and our coach has decided to bench us. It's also frustrating when said coaches can't figure out how long they will play and which spots will sit. Sometimes its just a QB. Sometimes its everyone. Sometimes a half of a stud RB is still better than the duds available on the wire. Then there's the other side where some 5 win team just wants to get to Cancun and halfasses their effort like its a preseason game, which you have no insight about until you actually see the game. That's just too much to put up with, especially for a championship.

Don't be weird. Be like us cool kids. We smoke cigs by the dumpsters in between classes

 

[averagejoe]

I am being the stubborn contrarian.

And I still haven't heard a valid argument against it, other than some players may sit, which happens every other week of the season because of injury.

How about this: the likelihood that a top seeded fantasy playoff loses goes up in week 17.

In fact, happened to me last season. 2 key players sitting in week 17, so I lost to an inferior opponent.

 

[femurov]

Maybe in leagues that start 7 or 8 players, this could be more of a problem, but our league has a lot of starters. My league starts 16 players and has a total roster of 22. Between the two championship teams this year there are 2 players that will be sitting because of this...

Drew Brees and Mark Ingram. Both were on my roster last week and both were dumped because it was made very clear that they would not be playing this week. I probably would not have started Ingram. I have had backups in place for this scenario since week 8 or so. I wrote up a long winded message on our fantasy board, mostly recapping the years of arguments that we have had, but one of my main points is that depth is very important in fantasy football. If 1 or 2 players is going to kill your chances, then you probably didn't have the best team. I've been hurt more by injuries than I have by people not playing because their team had things wrapped up. Except the year that the Colts had everything wrapped up in week 15 and Manning got pulled at halftime to prevent injury and I ended up getting bounced from the playoffs. Do we bump the championship back to week 13 or 14 to prevent that? It happens. Learn to roll with it.

 

[leftypower]

Obviously you already had/have your mind made up so why the question in the first place ? Sure, if 'them's the rules' - You either learn to adapt and roll with it - or get out. I'd just chose the later. .... good luck.

 

[SteelersPride]

Maybe in leagues that start 7 or 8 players, this could be more of a problem, but our league has a lot of starters. My league starts 16 players and has a total roster of 22. Between the two championship teams this year there are 2 players that will be sitting because of this...

Drew Brees and Mark Ingram. Both were on my roster last week and both were dumped because it was made very clear that they would not be playing this week. I probably would not have started Ingram. I have had backups in place for this scenario since week 8 or so. I wrote up a long winded message on our fantasy board, mostly recapping the years of arguments that we have had, but one of my main points is that depth is very important in fantasy football. If 1 or 2 players is going to kill your chances, then you probably didn't have the best team. I've been hurt more by injuries than I have by people not playing because their team had things wrapped up. Except the year that the Colts had everything wrapped up in week 15 and Manning got pulled at halftime to prevent injury and I ended up getting bounced from the playoffs. Do we bump the championship back to week 13 or 14 to prevent that? It happens. Learn to roll with it.

I’m sorry if u lose ur top 1-2 scorers it’s gonna kill anyone’s chances regardless of the rest of their team. U def had ur mind made up here