Week 7 Recap (oh, and a Mea Culpa )

How 'bout them (two) Flyers?!?! For only the second time in league history a team had two 40+ point players. Yup, it was my Flyers and it was a good thing Burrow (41 points) and Lockett (45) were in gear because the rest of my crew was wallowing in mediocrity. The only other time we've had two guys blow up in the same week for a team was back in Week 13 of 2015 the S'menn had 40 points from Cam Newton and 43 out of Allen Robinson. 

The league's Numbers page shows those sorts of records (or at least lets you dig 'em up). The data only goes back to 2004 when we started on MFL but prior to that 40 points was a good week for a team never-mind a player so I doubt we had anyone threaten that record in the old days. 161 points, btw, is tied for sixth best all time. The Legends scored that same total three weeks ago.  

Sidebar, your Honor? the Holes hold the records for most points in a regular season games (181 in Week 12 of 2018) and the most points in a playoff game (138 in Week 16 , the Hughes Bowl, also in 2018). 2018 Holes=Best Hughes team ever?

Week 7 Thoughts.....

The standings are starting to shake out. This was one of those non-division weeks (more rare this year, more on that later). The Barenholtz Division looks close to being locked up. The Nats won again and are 7-0, four games up with six to play. Dan goes up against some good scoring clubs in the next couple of weeks. We'll see how he stands at the other end of that stretch. OTH, with a four game lead it may not matter at this point. 

Notice that the Nats have scored fewer points than the Flyers (873->817) yet have a (much) better Power Rank (41.23->37.52). System gets most things right I'd say. And that's one of them.

The Bliz lost OBJ early but it may not have mattered as they fell and dropped a game off their lead in the Kuhlmann. They might get McCaffrey back this week which would set their needle pointing up again. My impression is that the Sticks and Strawmenn are finding their footing, though, and either could make up that two game deficit before the final stretch run. Speaking of the Strawmenn..when I see a team is under-performing in wins compared to their points it usually is due to 'points against'. Not so here. The Smenn have the second fewest points against average in the league. Odd. Seems like schedules & bad luck at play here. 

Note to Hogan...DK Metcalf's 90 yard sprint to catch that Cards guy at the five does not earn you any points! It should I guess, but that's not what you're paying him for. Take your loss and move on. Your team looks better than mine overall, anyway. I like your chance in our division even with me holding the tiebreak.

James actually went back and forth between starting Mahomes and Herbert this week. That's surprising...or is it? Turned out Herbert had 41 to Mahomes' 14. 😧 WTH is the world coming to? And how ingenious would James have looked had he started Herbert?  Legend(ary), indeed.

The Holes, benefiting from James' wrong but understandable choice, are back to being on the + side of the ledger and seem to be more or less in control of the Hamman.

LEAGUE STUFF:
Lots to unpack in this section. First things first...here's Item #1, the short version:

I saw that the Bombers and R'backs are scheduled to play each other in  consecutive weeks but I'm gonna let it ride.

Now here is Item #1, the long version:

I've been kicking around some ideas lately. One of them is the schedule and how to fix the out-of-whack divisional match up weeks. With the three team divisions there is obviously no way to have the first and last three weeks on the schedule devoted to division games as we've had in the past. It's kind of like the MLB and their 15 team leagues. There has to be someone playing interleague games every day. In the Hughes League there couldn't be more than four of the six games as division games.

In looking at what I can do to make things better I color-coded the 2020 division games and published the schedule. (You can see it at this link). As I started to shift things I noticed that the schedule as it currently stands has the Bombers and R'backs playing each other in the final two weeks of the season! Obviously that's less than ideal, to put it mildly. It's something I should have caught this summer. I guess I was too concerned with making it through a season like this one. Whatever the reason, I am fully at fault.

I had two options. I could go ahead and swap out weeks near the end of this year's schedule. Swapping  Week 9 or 10 for Week 12 would put a bit of space between the two Bombers-R'backs games. Or I could leave the schedule as is and just take my lumps for the oversight. I asked a few non-involved owners (my unofficial official competition committee) what they thought and they leaned the way I did. Let the schedule stand.

If I was a commish only I might make the swap of weeks. But now that I'm back as an owner I have to look at things differently. I could see a situation where multiple games could have their outcomes changed by switching weeks. A team not even involved in the mix-up could score 100 points in Week 10, for example, and beat their originally scheduled opponent 100-70. Swapping games might just align that 100 point team with a different opponent who scores 101. And so on.

All-in-all, letting the schedule stand is for the best. The good news is that I played around with some schedule weeks and came up with a 2021 schedule that has more division games at the beginning and end. It's not perfect but it's much better than this year when some teams were done with a division opponent by Week Five. And as we go forward I can shuffle some weeks from year to year to avoid the schedule being static. You can see the tentative 2021 schedule at this link. I call it tentative because I still may tweak it a bit.

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 I had a situation come up on Sunday (for the second time this season) which will require a tweak as well.  James found himself unable to turn in a lineup for the Legends on Sunday morning due to an 'IR violation'. The issue traced back to Sterling Shepard having been activated very late in the day on Thursday by the Giants. Since players being 'locked' once their game kicks off technically includes coming off our league IR, James was stuck simply because he wasn't watching the transactions data or the Thursday night pregame show. (Heck, I monitor Shepard closely since I have him in two leagues and I didn't know either).

James couldn't start Shepard retroactively anyway (his game kickoff was long past) so I forced his activation and James was able to submit his lineup. It's an odd quirk in the system and the only way to 'automate' a solution is to change the setting that blocks lineup submissions when a team has a 'violation'. I'm not sure I want to do that because that 'solution' might cause more problems than the 'Thursday Night Conundrum' causes. Meanwhile, if you find yourself in that situation going forward just contact me ASAP and I will 'unlock' your team for you.

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OK, sit down and chill a bit, I've got ideas. In the never-ending quest to make the league better I listen to the vox populi and bounce them around in my normally empty head until they actually make (some) sense.

Here's what has been percolating lately:

Idea One...add a team to the playoffs, a seventh team. This third wildcard would be the highest scoring team not already qualified (you knew I'd still be lobbying for this, didn't you). It would entail giving only one bye in the first round but wouldn't add a week to the playoffs or anything dumb like that. Like so... #1 gets the bye, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6, 4 plays 5. 

I know byes are big. OTOH, I hate seeing a good team left out of the playoff mix. Oh sure, you could see (in theory) an 0-13 team get the seven slot but if they had the highest (or fourth/fifth highest) PPG for the year that would mean they had terrible luck. Thoughts (but not prayers) are always appreciated on this stuff. 

Idea Two...and this was floated last year..a consolation playoff bracket  for teams that missed the playoffs. The six (or five) teams that miss out on the champs bracket would face off for the right to hold the #1 draft pick or alternatively, pick the slot in the draft they'd prefer. 

This would keep owners involved all the way to the end of the regular season and beyond. Teams out of playoff contention could possibly qualify for a consolation bracket bye.

Week Six Recap (Part Two)

Just gonna clean up some hanging threads I meant to include in Tuesday's post...

If the playoffs were to start this week, here is how they would shake out...

Seed-Team-Game

• #1 Nats Bye
• #2 Blizzard Bye
• #3 Flyers vs #6
• #4 Holes vs #5
• #5 Heroes vs #4
• #6 Legends vs #3

Tough-Luck-Team-That-Would-Have-Had-A-Game-Had-You-Guys-Voted-Better
Strawmenn 112 PPG (Third In League)

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Here is the latest update to the Dalvin Cook Rule possible eligibles...

I will update this weekly when I remember to

Christian McCaffrey-Bliz (IR) Latest word is a return in Week 9..if that holds he will get into enough games that he won't be a Cook-ster.

Nick Chubb-Sticks. (IR) Played 4 weeks. Word today is he is on track for a mid-November return. If he plays one game before the end of the Sticks' season, he won't qualify. Latest word from Rotowire: Chubb is two weeks into the expected six-week recovery timetable he was handed upon originally spraining the MCL in his right knee. It's encouraging to see that the 24-year-old has avoided any setbacks in his recovery thus far, a hint that fantasy managers can still anticipate him making a return mid-November.

Le'Veon Bell-Bombers (IR) Played two games and is about to resume active career with KC. Won't be a Cook guy. An asshole, yes, a Cook guy, no.

Micheal Thomas-Rbacks. Second verse, same as the first-->He has played one game but has not been on the NFL IR list. He is back practicing (we've heard that before). At this point he is very unlikely to be eligible for DC Rule. I'm not sure why the Saints never did IR him but I gotta tell ya, David can't buy a f'ing break.

Chris Godwin-Nats. He is back playing for the Bucs and although his injury status is still a week-to-week thing he's gonna get his five games in easily.

Saquon Barkley-Holes. (IR) Played two games and is done for 2020. He will be eligible to be kept under the rule. 

And if you haven't read Tuesday's post...what the heck is wrong with you? An informed owner is a rewarded owner. Just scroll down a bit and be enlightened!

Week 6 Recap

I'd rather be lucky than good. Case in point...the worst 17 point quarterback 'performance' I've ever had the pleasure to witness. Wow, I'm soooo glad I spent $100+ on Andy Dalton. He was terrible on Monday Night Football. And that's an insult to 'terrible'.

But sometimes, terrible is all you need. Dalton kept trying to hit Michael Gallup for a TD but somehow he never could connect with the Strawmenn's wide out. Mix that in with the fact that the S'menn's other wide out, Dre Hopkins, only had one significant catch, and he got wedged out before he could score on that one and you have the formula for a 'I'm gonna not look back' win for the Flyers.

That allowed them to keep pace with the Heroes in the Lombardi. Both clubs are 4-1 and now have a game lead over the Legends who bowed to the usually luck-less Pirates. Hogan's crew was a 'gang of three' this weekend. They got 40(!) points from Derrick Henry, 26 kicked in by D'Andre Swift and 33(!) from Justin Jefferson (who?) while the other five midgets all had single digits. 

Meanwhile the Sticks scored the second highest score of the week (118) and lost that game. Sad. But not as sad as Padilla's plight. The Strawmenn are third in points scored. And they are 2-4 and have a huge hill to climb to make the playoffs. Sometimes the schedule just works against you.

Sidenote while I'm thinking about it: I'm curious as to how an NFL team can give up 601 offensive yards in a game. WTF Texans?

Even luckier than the Flyers on Monday night were the Bliz. Dalton's junk TD to Amari Cooper late in the Cowboys-Cardinals game gave Paz juuussstt enough for win #5. That pushed them to a three game lead in the Kuhlmann Division. 

The Nationals continue to roll along, crushing the Barenholtz Division and leading the league in points scored and riding along atop the Power Rankings. Their next three games, against the Heroes, Sticks, and Blizzard will tell the tale. I wouldn't bet against them.

Let's hear it for the Bombers! Their first win comes over the Holes and  actually keeps them within two games of the top in our version of the NFC East. Stranger things have happened. Well, maybe not but what was I saying about luck?

League Stuff... I don't really have any league stuff. Waiver prices continue to trend upward. We'll see how that where goes now that there is even less on the waiver wire than there was with 18 man rosters.... this is beginning to look like my 16 team x 26 man roster dynasty league.

Waivers, Spam or Not Spam

 

My email on this subject got bounced as spam for a few owners. Here is the content:

I received a question about how the waiver claims were assigned Wednesday night. I thought it might be a good idea to post a few things. First of all, the below link will take you to a page I made of the relevant paragraphs on the MFL Help Center's Waivers FAQ:

https://ehfl.000webhostapp.com/ConditionalBidding.htm

Then I pulled the Previously Processed Waivers Report and tweaked it a bit by putting successful claims in red. You can follow the system's processes easily. It takes the highest bid, awards that player, then moves to next highest, awards that player and so on.

https://ehfl.000webhostapp.com/Oct14WaiverClaims.htm

You can view the same report through the website.

It's sort of convoluted but it works as intended.

If you have questions, gimme a couple of days, will ya? My head hurts.

We need a Johnny U pic I think.

Week Five Recap

Aaaand we're hitting the mid-season in a week or so, gonna turn for home. I honestly had my doubts we'd make it this far. From this point on I think things will get kind of dicey. They've reshuffled the NFL schedule and the next step open to them is probably adding weeks to the end of it. We'll see.  

Meanwhile, we have a few trends to explore in the Hughes. 

Oh, that Lombardi Division! Everyone at
3-2. The Flyers have the EHFL's most points scored, and the EHFL's  most points against. That second stat better end because, with Dak Prescott down for good, the first stat is bound to change. Overall the edge right now goes to the Heroes who have a win over the Legends.

Both the Flyers' and Legends' wins came with a fair amount of pucker as the Heroes and Giants made life interesting at the end.

The other close division is the Hamman. Holes had their turn putting the Bombers in the barrel and moved themselves to a game up on the R'backs. Now that I'm thinking about it, this new schedule format with the odd number of teams in each division will take some getting used to. Some teams have played three division games while others have only played one. It'll all work out in the end but in the meantime, it's throwing me off. ¯\_(ヅ)_/¯

Bliz had been rolling along. then they met the Strawmenn and found themselves on the short end of an ass whipping. Sticks got one of those 'take-it-and-don't ask-questions' wins when they scored 78 and still beat the Rbacks. The Sticks got 32 from Kyler Murray, 21 from Jamison Crowder, and 25 from their other six starters. Those wins kept them both in the race. They better make some hay before Christian McCaffrey is back for Paz.

The Nats are still undefeated, the last of that breed in the league. It was the second time they took the Pirates to the woodshed in the last three weeks. Again, this schedule is going to need some tweaking next year. Our esteemed defending champs are not exactly chumps, but the Giants better put some wind in their sails if they want a shot at defending the crown.

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Want a laugh? The graphic below is the trade analysis I ran for an offer I got in my third league (click to enlarge). In 41 years of doing this, that's BY FAR the worst trade offer I've ever seen. Not just received, but ever seen. And as shitty as it looks, its actually worse because that league has inflexible position requirements. I would have had to drop another receiver, Allen Robinson, Tyler Boyd. or Darrius Slayton.

I don't know the guy at all. Turns out he's really nice. He emailed me after I sent my polite "Sorry, but I'm not seeing much upside." rejection. He asked me if I'd let him know honestly what I thought of the offer. So I told him...not one single guy I was getting was worth starting and  not many of them were even worth holding on to. Certainly not in a 3-keepr, non-dynasty league. I mentioned that there were at least four QBs on the waiver wire better than Goff, etc, etc. 

Got an email back tonight and he talked about how he found that folks' different perspective on player value was interesting. And this is the co-commish I find out.

Well, alrighty then.

League Stuff... We are going to a 19-player roster beginning on Thursday as FCFS waivers open. I thought long and hard about the use of provisional starters. I haven't ruled that out but I don't think I want to go that route unless we absolutely have to... I really didn't even want to go to bigger rosters because of the effect that has on waivers. The talent pool is pretty shallow out there as it is. But we'll do what we need to in trying to keep our heads above water.. I'm gonna be happy when we get back to a more judicious waiver balance next year. These huge amounts to pull down players gives me facial tics. But I'm gonna get into it I guess if I have to. I used to think bidding $21 on anyone was over the top. LOL... 

Stay safe, stay flexible, and read your damn email!

Special Edition

Yes, this is a wall of text but it's important, please read it.

I'm not surprised at how the NFL schedule has gotten scrambled. My advice is, as it was months ago, stay flexible! The latest news that I saw (Sunday night) showed a major schedule shake-up coming as a result of the postponed NE-Den game.

I received a suggestion (question) concerning 'substitute players' who would be used in a lineup should a game get cancelled, etc. The situation in which this would come into play is seen with tomorrow night's Bills-Titans match-up. Rescheduled from Sunday, there is a chance that someone could test positive prior to the game and the NFL would call it off. Anyone with a player from either of those teams would be S-O-L.

As it stands now there is no way to set that up within the MFL system (at least as far as I can see). It would be something that I would have to do manually. Owners would have to designate 'subs' prior to the start of the week's games in advance (see below) and then if a game was postponed/cancelled to a later week I'd go in and change the team's starters.

Honestly, it's not something I'd really like to get into. For many reasons. First and foremost, I don't like 'un-automating' anything. It would be easy enough to have owners email the league with 'subs' I suppose. But, again, I'd have to go in and make changes retroactively. It's worth considering. I'd be happy to hear everyone's thoughts. My thought is that: a) 18 player rosters, later lineup 'lock', and the expanded IR should give everyone enough room on their rosters to handle potential problems; b) fantasy football is all about risk/reward (and some luck). I hate seeing someone lose a player in their lineup through no fault of their own but stuff happens. If news of a potential issue with a game comes up you need to factor that into your choices. 

Bottom line, though...I'm ready to do what is needed to make the season work, and work fairly for all. If we go to backups it would only be for this season. There would be guidelines in place to make sure it worked as expected i.e. we would only allow them in situations where a game is re-scheduled for a Tuesday. If the NFL 'doubles up' on Monday night like they did last week there would not be backups allowed. Remember, in normal times if you start guys in a Monday night game and they turn an ankle in warmups you are out of luck unless you have an option also playing on Monday night. That shouldn't change.

It would require two things from owners who are in the situation described. ...an email to the whole league, and listing them in the comments section of your lineup submission. Obviously you couldn't select any player whose game has been played (or even started). You couldn't, for example, list a Thursday night player as a backup on Sunday morning. I will use the timestamp on your lineup submission to determine legal backups. Even more obviously you wouldn't name subs for guys you are not starting or are not in a game that has not been pushed to a Tuesday. And you don't get to use the higher scoring player just for fun.

A much less radical move to help this situation would be to expand rosters by a player, to 19. I'm going to put a NON-BINDING poll on the webpage. It will be up for just today and tomorrow. If we go this route I want it in place before Wednesday's waivers. Be aware that I'm using to poll to try and get on consensus but I'm not going to necessarily implement anything right now.

I'll be back with a weekly recap later this week. As always, feel free to send your comments/suggestions my way.

And there goes my season.

Weekend Update

I noticed a few teams have IR violations...if a player is listed officially as IR, Out, Covid, or Holdout, you can put him on our league IR list. If the NFL changes his status to Doubtful, or anything other than listed above, you'll need to activate or drop him. If you don't you won't be able to submit a lineup.

Dalvin Cook Rule tracker...

This season's massive injury plague got me to thinking I had better track some of the guys who might come under the DC Rules come next summer. Here is the rule in full:

“Dalvin Cook Rule”: A player will be granted an additional year as a ‘keeper’ in the following circumstances:

· He is a first or second round draftee or keeper and

· The current or prior season is his first with your team and

· He is IR’d by his NFL team and

· He was active for five or fewer games during the Hughes League regular season.

A player qualifying under the above rule will be given the same Draft Value he had for the year he is injured. A qualifying player who is traded either before or after his injury will not be granted the standard two-round ‘bump’ afforded traded players.

I will update this weekly (if I remember to):

Christian McCaffrey-Bliz (IR) He has played two weeks. Is scheduled to return within a couple of weeks. Not likely to be eligible for DC Rule. 

Nick Chubb-Sticks. (IR) Played 4 weeks. A return in six weeks has been mentioned. That would put him right about Week 10 or 11. If he plays one more game he would not be eligible for DC Rule. 

Le'Veon Bell-Bombers (IR) Played one game and is targeted to return soon. Barring further injuries he's not likely to be eligible.

Micheal Thomas-Rbacks. He has played one game but has not been on the NFL IR list. He is back practicing. At this point he is very unlikely to be eligible for DC Rule. 

Chris Godwin-Nats. He has played two games, ruled out for Week 5. Has not been on NFL IR list. Unless he ends up being IR'd by the Bucs he won't be eligible.

Saquon Barkley-Holes. (IR) Played two games and is done for 2020. He will be eligible to be kept under the rule. 

Several other first and second rounders have had dings and/or missed time: Joe Mixon-Legends; Julio Jones-Sticks; Leonard Fournette-Flyers; and DeVonte Adams-Giants. None appear to be in danger of not playing for at least five games before the regular season ends. None have been on the NFL IR list.

Week Four Recap

Looks like things are starting to take shape here in the good ol' EHFL. The Bliz and Nats have 4-0 strangleholds on their divisions. No surprises there, although I figured the Kuhlmann crew would be better overall than they currently are showing. The Heroes lead the Lombardi despite having scored the fewest points among those three. I point you to the one thing an owner can't control...Points Against. The Heores have the fewest in the division. Which reminds me...If I (or anyone) end up with the second highest PPG and miss the playoffs there will be hell to pay. And a 2021 rule change, I swear. LOL  OTOH..no way Dak Prescott keeps putting up these silly numbers so I'll slide back before long.

Meanwhile there's the Hamman Division. The Holes and R'backs plug away at .500 while the Bombers limp along at 0-4 But 0-4 is not automatically a death knell. Being two games back with nine to play means that things can change before we're done. Sure, the Bombers have trouble putting up points but they also are getting scored on at the highest rate in the league. That can't continue.

League Stuff and Notes To Know.... Nice to see some of you playing the IR list like a harp... Players continue to fall out like those fainting goats. Austin Ekeler, Nick Chubb, Calvin Ridley, Sony Michael and a couple others are down for the count. I'm thinking this isn't normal. Maybe it's the same every year and I'm just overreacting... Point of order here-remember that the new IR rules in the NFL allow for short stays on it (three weeks I think) which means you'll need to monitor your players and activate them if their status changes to 'Questionable' or better. You'll know because the system won't take a lineup if you have a violation....I'm wondering any of the rules we put in place just for 2020 will be requested to be made permanent... 

By now you're aware that the NFL schedule has had a wrinkle. The cancelled Pittsburgh-Tennessee game has shuffled some bye weeks so check your roster and avoid getting caught short...the guy who 'hosts' the custom scripts I use on the league page had server problems and has been moving them to a new domain. There may be a time when something doesn't work correctly and if you spot something I'd appreciate a shout. I'm trying to keep up with the changes he's making but I may miss something. Thanks.

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Last week the Legends picked up a player on Sunday morning (two actually, but one claim, Jordan Reed,was fine) The system recorded the pickup of Tre'Quan Smith twice. Something I've never seen happen. It wasn't like he picked him up, dropped him, and them picked him up again. The transactions list just shows two claims recorded at the same time. And each claim cost the usual $10. I'm not sure what's behind this. I suspect it has to do with how busy the MFL servers get on Sunday morning. Wednesday night waivers kind of fall the same way. They are standard across a lot of leagues and that's why we sometimes see a delay in ours getting processed.

But it had been a long, long time since the system itself has hiccuped. Strangely the total number of claims James made for the week was correct (two), but he was charged for three.Just something odd to keep an eye on. BTW..you can see all the waiver claims, waiver costs, and any adjustments I make to the totals by going to Reports->Franchise->Blind Bid Report. I believe it will show you the league-wide report.